Spirit Master

Biodata

Spirit Art Realms

Spirit Arts have five ranked realms 81.

Background

Spirit Arts are largely inherited through families. Spirit Master clans retain substantial independence even when their members work within the official Special Capture Division 3. Many traditionally cultivated in seclusion, often living in Secret Realms for their greater spiritual energy 3 88.

As sinister anomalies multiplied, Spirit Masters emerged to fight them and became part of the force that replaced the old Divine Constabulary Hall with the Special Capture Division 3. The decline of spiritual energy after the upheaval fifty years earlier weakened Spirit Arts and made advancement more difficult. Some Spirit Masters revised their arts, some studied martial arts, and others abandoned spiritual energy to pursue uncanny power, becoming Illusionists 40.

Abilities & Skills

Spirit Arts

Spirit Masters use spiritual energy to perform arts with effects beyond ordinary martial techniques 3 112.

• Combat — Spirit Arts can strike broad areas; a single attack may kill dozens or hundreds of zombies and evil ghosts. Zong Lin’s Red Sun Suppresses Evil burns more than a hundred evil creatures in one use 16 41.
• Specialized effects — Documented Spirit Arts can heal injuries, establish formations, and aid in refining Rune Soldiers and Spirit Talismans 112.
• Limitations — Declining spiritual energy has sharply reduced some arts’ effectiveness. Liu Shan reports needing seven or eight attacks to kill a Netherworld monster that formerly took two 40 210.

Runes and Spirit Talismans

• Spirit Masters carve runes into weapons, creating Rune Soldiers that martial artists can empower with Internal Energy or True Qi 17.
• Spirit Talismans can provide immediate effects: the Nine Heavens Sweet Rain Talisman, made by a high-level Spirit Master, heals wounds and dispels evil influences 121.
• Expending many combat talismans allows Spirit Masters to kill large groups of ghosts quickly 79.

Spirit–Martial Cultivation

The Zong family developed the Spirit Nurturing Art to improve Spirit Masters’ physical strength and reactions against Evil Warrior assassinations. It became the starting point for their Spirit Martial Scripture, an attempt to combine Spirit Arts with martial arts 91 109.

• Li Yuan, initially unable to activate a Spirit Stone during an aptitude test, gains perception and control of spiritual energy after bringing the Spirit Nurturing Art to Great Accomplishment 18 109.
• He combines Water Blade with Yellow Springs sword energy to create Yellow Springs Water Blade, then lowers its cultivation requirement so other Spirit Masters can use it without Martial Dao True Intent 110 111.
• The perfected Spirit Martial Scripture gives Li Yuan Spirit Martial Twinbirth, binding his Spirit Martial strength to his martial path so it does not weaken with changes in the world 114.

Notable Practitioners

• Zong Wencheng — Special Capture Division guest whose tracking art traces a Corpse Fiend to an artificially created Yin Cave 3.
• Zong Lin — Zong family Spirit Master skilled in fire arts and one of Jiujiang’s strongest resident Spirit Masters 16 79.
• Zong Yuhu — Young Spirit Master skilled in lightning arts; his spiritual energy is comparable to Zong Lin’s 77 79.
• Zong Zhang — Uses the Star Gazing Jade Plate to examine Li Yuan’s fate and creates the Spirit Nurturing Art 91 109.
• Zong Wenshan — Zong family patriarch who cultivates both Spirit Arts and martial arts and leads the compilation of the Spirit Martial Scripture 91.
• Ning Zhao Long — Described as the strongest Spirit Master in the Xiang Kingdom; he reaches the Law Manifestation Realm and teaches Secret Realm Reforging 145 146.
• Liu Shan — Spirit Master stationed at Dongkang City who treats wounded defenders despite the weakening of her family’s arts 210.