Great Grandmaster

Biodata

Power Progression

The following milestones document Xu Fan’s actual martial advancement, rather than the Great Grandmaster cultivation initially attributed to him by observers.

Cultivation Mechanics

Entry Requirements

• Innate foundation: Innate cultivation opens the body’s meridians and uses Martial Dao True Intention to temper the spirit, preparing it for the Divine Intention breakthrough 37 63.
• Realm breakthrough: Advancement involves condensing Divine Intention and transforming Innate True Qi into true essence 56.
• Multiple True Intentions: Practitioners can establish stronger foundations through several True Intentions. Lan Ci attributes her exceptional foundation to attaining Divine Intention with three; Han Tianling enters the realm using metal, fire, and saber True Intentions 37 41.
• Cultivation methods: Higher Vehicle martial arts can potentially lead to Great Grandmaster, but not every method of that class reaches the realm. The Gluttony Evil Desire Instruction and Azure Origin Spirit-Concentrating Art both fall short 27 34.

Nine Transformations of True Essence

• Great Grandmasters continually compress their true essence through nine transformations, improving its quality 70.
• Each transformation doubles true essence’s quality. Earlier discussion also describes each revolution as doubling its abundance; Xu Fan later explicitly reports increases in both quality and quantity 48 70 72.
• Cultivation can progress rapidly with exceptional resources: Han Tianling reaches third-turn true essence while cultivating in a secret realm’s spiritual pool 37.
• True Essence Pills restore true essence and help purify it, making them important cultivation aids at Great Grandmaster and higher realms 72.

Advancement Beyond the Realm

• Primal Core is the realm immediately above Divine Intention Great Grandmaster 37.
• The breakthrough is not assured by reaching Great Grandmaster: Yang Haitian spends nearly a century at this level before entering Primal Core 51.

Abilities & Skills

Divine Intention

Divine Intention distinguishes Great Grandmasters from Innate practitioners by giving their martial arts “Spirit” 48.

• Environmental influence: Divine Intention can affect heaven and earth within a limited area. Mu Fangjin’s approach manifests as a spreading fire cloud that raises the surrounding temperature 35.
• Direct offense: Mu Fangjin attacks Xu Fan with Divine Intention, which Xu Fan blocks using a Spirit Turtle Talisman 35.
• Martial integration: Divine Intention can merge with physical techniques. Xu Fan channels it into his Great Sun True Yang Fist during the Fallen Star Pagoda trial 76.
• Lasting traces: Mu Fangjin’s Divine Intention burns a clearing in the Yin Mountains, leaving evidence investigators recognize after his death 36.

Thousand-Li Enemy Search

This tracking ability captures a person’s lingering “spirit”, rather than relying on their visible appearance 22 37.

• Persistent tracking: Everyone leaves spiritual traces wherever they go. These traces can remain for a long time, and stronger individuals leave more conspicuous trails 28 37.
• Disguise detection: Altering bones, muscles, and appearance does not provide reliable protection against a Great Grandmaster’s spiritual tracking 25 28.
• Remote assistance: A Great Grandmaster can locate a target without personally pursuing them. Mu Fangjin finds Xu Fan and sends Mu Yunyang’s party after him 28 29 36.
• Death detection: The death of a tracked “spirit” establishes that its owner has died 22.
• Limits: Great Grandmasters can conceal or weaken spiritual traces, including through another Great Grandmaster’s intervention. They cannot completely erase their own traces, but a peer cannot capture their concealed spirit; a Primal Core expert can 22 37.
• Use against immortal cultivators: Xu Fan finds Qi Refinement cultivators particularly susceptible because they do not deliberately conceal their Divine Sense cultivation 56.

Technique-Dependent Powers

The realm can unlock effects specific to a practitioner’s martial art.

• Great Sun True Yang Art: Becomes more domineering after Divine Intention is cultivated and can produce the appearance of three suns in the sky 37.
• Six Desires Body-Burning Instruction: Gains the ability to influence desires and create illusions. Against comparable opponents, these effects chiefly provide harassment rather than decisive control 37.
• Great Sun Golden Body: Can reach at most its third refinement and third transformation at the Divine Intention realm; further development requires higher cultivation 84.

Comparison with Immortal Cultivation

• Realm does not determine every matchup: Weapon Lords can possess combat power far beyond ordinary practitioners at the same stage. Third-Transformation Great Grandmaster Jin Chuan believes his divine weapon’s Divine Ability can kill a Primal Core cultivator 67.
• Xu Fan is an exceptional case: At only the third revolution, his Divine Intention reaches Primal Core strength during the Fallen Star Pagoda trial 76.

Standing and Influence

• Regional importance: A Great Grandmaster is an influential figure at the province or circuit level. Their movements attract attention from Great Qin’s Northern Pacification Office and Imperial Astronomical Bureau 36.
• Factional strength: Before Mu Fangjin’s death, only the Clearwater Sect, Mystic Yang Sect, and Mu Household possess Great Grandmasters in Lingnan Circuit. The Mu Household subsequently loses its position and is swallowed by other clans 36 40.
• Official appointments: A multi-transformation Great Grandmaster is generally sufficient to serve as a circuit pacification commissioner, since Primal Core cultivators are concentrated in a few major factions 67.
• Hidden Dragon Ranking: Great Grandmasters can compete on the ranking, although Xu Fan’s initial placement at eleventh—then the only supposed Great Grandmaster in the top twenty—provokes challenges and skepticism 36 46.

Known Practitioners