Family Name: Xiāo 萧 (miserable; desolate; dreary; Chinese mugwort)

Given name: Huān 欢 (joyous, merry)

Courtesy name: Sōngfēn 松芬 (Song means pine tree. Fen means sweet smell, fragrance, aroma)

Affiliation: Qingshan Sect

Birthday: Sep 23rd

Age: 23 years old

Height: 179cm

Weapon: Yáoyè 摇曳 (Sword)

Family Name: Bái白 (white, snowy, pure)

Given name: Xūn 勋 (merit; meritorious service; achievement)

Courtesy name: Yìyàn 义彦 (Yi means justice, righteousness. Yan means man of virtue/ability)

Affiliation: Qingshan Sect (Previously Tian Lianhua Sect)

Birthday: Nov 18th

Age: 17 years old when he was sent over to the Qingshan sect. (27 years old at time of death in the original plot)

Height: 177cm (17 yrs old), 185cm (27 yrs old)

Weapon: Suìlàng 邃浪 (sword)

Family Name: Yáng 杨

Given name: 

Courtesy name: Zishān 子杉

Affiliation: Qingshan Sect

Birthday: July 18th

Age: 26 years old

Height: 181cm

Weapon: Zhǐguī 芷瑰

Family Name: Xiāo 萧 (miserable; desolate; dreary; Chinese mugwort)

Given name: Chàng 畅 (smoothly, freely, unrestrained)

Courtesy name: Xūsōng 胥松 (Xu means all, together, mutually. Song means pine tree.)

Affiliation: Qingshan Sect

Birthday: Aug 3rd

Age: Looks 35 years old

Height: 183cm

Weapon: Míngsuì 明遂

Family Name: Níng 宁 (calm, peaceful, serene, healthy)

Given name: 

Courtesy name: Fēnghuà 风桦 (Feng means wind air manners, atmosphere. Hua is a type of birch tree)

Affiliation: Qingshan Sect

Birthday: Mar 16th

Age: Looks 35 years old

Height: 181cm

Weapon: 

An orphaned street vendor boy.

Family Name: Lù 路

Given name: Hào 皓

Courtesy name: none

Affiliation: Uncle Su's Noodle House

Birthday: n/a

Age: 12 years old

The jovial owner of Uncle Su's Noodle House.

His maternal nephew is Lu Hao.

The mysterious owner of Yinping Bookstore.

Bai Yiyan's older half-brother.

Family Name: Bái白 (white, snowy, pure)

Given name: 

Courtesy name: Mùjūn 穆均 (Mu means majestic/solemn/reverent/calm. Jun means equal/fair.)

Affiliation: Qingshan Sect

Birthday:

Age: 27 years old

Height:

Weapon: Luòlián 落莲 (sword)

The original main character of the webnovel Transcending Heavens.

Língxiāo 凌骁 Name Meaning: The character "凌" comes from the idiom "壮志凌云," describing grand and ambitious ideal. 凌 means to 'rise high, approach, tower aloft'. 骁 means 'valiant, brave, spirited'.

A sect located deep in the mountainous Changqing Forest. Specializing in qi pill production and natural arts. A major sect that is part of the Orthodox Sect Alliance.

Qingshan 青山 means 'verdant mountains'

Notable Current Members: Xiao Songfen, Xiao Xusong, Ning Fenghua

Notable Former Members: Xiao Qiulin

A well respected sect known for their austerity and ascetic practices. A major sect that is part of the Orthodox Sect Alliance.

Tian Lianhua 天莲花 means 'heavenly lotus'

Notable Members: Bai Mujun, Bai Xiuxian, Bai Weifeng

Notable Former Members: Bai Yiyan

A small sect consisting of only male warriors. Known for setting aside their swords in favor of the brass knuckle fighting style. Originally founded by a monk who defected from a major temple.

Hóng Tàiyáng 红太阳 means "crimson sun"

Notable Members:

Notable Former Members: 

A majority female sect known for their cooperative sword fighting style. A sect part of the Orthodox Sect Alliance.

Huashan 华山 means 'flower mountain'

Notable Members: Yue Xunyi

Notable Former Members:

A wealthy sect known for their military might and protection services. A major sect that is part of the Orthodox Sect Alliance.

Notable Members: Wang Lingxiao

Notable Former Members:

A large group of allied sects that practice righteous cultivation. Despite its virtuous sounding name, there are a lot of unethical dealings behind the scenes and underlying political tension between participating sects for power.

There is an annual Orthodox Sect Alliance Conference that is usually hosted by the Qingshan Sect as they are the most neutral politically and have ample space to hold various competitions for cultivators as a show of good faith and to build camaraderie.

A large mountainous forest located in the northern part of the continent.

Modeled after the real-life Qilian Mountains:

A large town located at the edge of Changqing Forest. The closest town from the Qingshan Sect.

The largest fabric and tailor shop in Sanchuan.

An old bookstore in Sanchuan.

Xiao Songfen's sword. Yaoye’s hilt is carved with intertwining willow vines. Its blade is slender and luminous with a gentle nature. Yaoye’s scabbard is a simple dark wood color.

The characters for Yáoyè 摇曳 means "flickering", "fluttering", "gentle swaying"

The characters for Suìlàng 邃浪: Sui means "deep, distant, remote, profound". Lang means "wave, unrestrained, reckless".

Xiao Xusong's sword.

The characters for Míngsuì 明遂 mean glistening and piercing.

Many xianxia authors have their own structure for cultivation stage, etc.

Here is what I will use for this novel.

Cultivation Stages: stages are split into initial, lower, middle, upper, and peak.

Mortal:

• Qi Condensation (凝气)
  
  
• Foundation Establishment (筑基)
  
  
• Core Formation (结丹)
  
  
• Nascent (元婴)
  
  

Half-Immortal:

• Spirit Severing
  
  
• Dao Seeking
  
  

Immortal:

• Dao Immortal
  • Types of Dao Immortals:
    • Ghost
      
      
    • Human
      
      
    • Earthly
      
      
    • Heavenly
      
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• Deity/Gods
  • Lower Deity
    
    
  • Upper Deity
    
    
  • Supreme Deity
    
    
  
  
  

Realms: (listed from lowest to highest plane)

• Underworld Realm (ghosts, demon, subhuman beings)
  
  
• Lower Mortal Realm (where non cultivators reside)
  
  
• Upper Mortal Realm (where the majority of cultivators reside)
  
  
• Spiritual Realm (where most immortals and ancient beast clans reside)
  
  
• Divine Realm (where gods/deities reside as well as high-ranking Dao immortals that have ascended to Dao Ancestors)
  
  

As this is a xianxia novel, I tried to stay as close as I could to the ancient Chinese currency system, but there is some creative leeway as ancient Chinese currency systems had a lot of variance and conversion rates fluctuated with changes in dynasty/political regime/region/etc... (aka I gave up after reading so many research articles on ancient Chinese currency from different dynasties)

I will be generally sticking to the system below:

1000 copper cash coins = 1 silver tael

Silver taels were often used in bigger transactions while copper coins were used in smaller daily transactions.

16 silver taels = 1 gold tael

(1 tael weighs ~40g)

Taels often come in silver or gold pieces that come in the form of Yuanbao (元宝 yuánbǎo) as seen below)

The weight/values of these silver/gold yuanbao were commonly found as 50 taels, 10 taels, 5 taels, or 1 tael.