_{- Teo, S. (2009). "Reactions against the Wuxia Genre," In Chinese Martial Arts Cinema: The Wuxia Tradition. Edinburgh University Press, pp. 38-57}

In this series, martial practitioners are cultivators who are skilled in martial arts. These sorts of cultivators tend to be ranked higher than others since in Wuxia/Xianxia worlds, fighting ability is generally coveted. The stronger your core, the better your skills and abilities are.

Basically alchemists who refine or forge herbs to create pills. 煉丹 (lian dan) is a term used for people who would concoct pills of immortality. Ancient alchemists used a cauldron (丹鼎; dan ding) for this. In this series of stories, they use spiritual powers to do so, also possessing a cultivation core.

Also known as "dan" (丹; elixir), pills tend to be used to heal a person or cure status effects. Some pills are also used to increase a cultivator's core abilities or even regrow torn limbs. That's right, Wuxia/Xianxia characters are indeed prone to doping.