The participants treat members of each other’s families as their own and assist them in the ways an extended family would: providing mutual support and aid, support in political alliances, etc.
Sworn siblinghood, where individuals will refer to themselves as brother or sister, is not to be confused with familial relations like blood siblings or adoption. It is sometimes used in Chinese media, particularly danmei, to imply romantic relationships that could otherwise be prone to censorship.
TALISMANS: Strips of paper with spells written on them, often with cinnabar ink or blood. They can serve as seals or be used as one-time spells.
THE THREE REALMS: Traditionally, the universe is divided into Three Realms: the Heavenly Realm, the Mortal Realm, and the Ghost Realm. The Heavenly Realm refers to the Heavens and Celestial Court, where gods reside and rule, the Mortal Realm refers to the human world, and the Ghost Realm refers to the realm of the dead.
“TRUE GOLD FEARS NO FIRE”： An idiom/metaphor for a hero who is able to emerge from adversity uncorrupted.
VINEGAR: To say someone is drinking vinegar or tasting vinegar means they’re having jealous or bitter feelings. Generally used for a love interest growing jealous while watching the main character receive the attention of a rival suitor.
WHISK: A whisk held by a cultivator is not a baking tool but a Daoist symbol and martial arts weapon. Usually made of horsehair bound to a wooden stick, the whisk is based off a tool used to brush away flies without killing them and is symbolically meant for wandering Daoist monks to brush away thoughts that would lure them back to secular life. Wudang Daoist Monks created a fighting style based on wielding it as a weapon.
YIN ENERGY AND YANG ENERGY: Yin and yang is a concept in Chinese philosophy that describes the complementary interdependence of opposite/contrary forces. It can be applied to all forms of change and differences. Yang represents the sun, masculinity, and the living, while yin represents the shadows, femininity, and the dead, including spirits and ghosts. In fiction, imbalances between yin and yang energy can do serious harm to the body or act as the driving force for malevolent spirits seeking to replenish themselves of whichever they lack.
YUAN FESTIVALS: Yuan （元） means “the origins of the universe” in Chinese Foundation philosophy （Iching）。 The Yuan festivals divided the lunar year into three sections: the Upper （Shang）， the Middle （Zhong）， and the Lower （Xia）。 Each festival celebrates the divine forces that invigorate the world. Shangyuan celebrates the heavens, Zhongyuan celebrates the dead, and Xiayuan celebrates the waters.
ZHONGYUAN: Zhongyuan Jie （中元節）， or the Ghost Festival Hungry Ghost Festival, falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the Lunar Calendar （this usually falls around AugustSeptember on the Solar Calendar）。 The festival celebrates the underworld, and offerings are made to the dead to appease their spirits and help them move on.
Footnotes
1. Written with the character 风。
2. One of the foundational texts of Daoism, written in the 4th century BC.
3. “Chengzhu” is a title for the master/ruler of an independent city-state.
4. Originally a cutesy term for a very young, unrelated male child, this term has come to be used as slang for “penis.”
5. “Bladed mountain, sea of fire” is a reference to Diyu （地狱， “earth prison”）， which is an afterlife in Chinese mythology where evil humans are punished after death, similar to the Western concept of hell. The mountain of blades is one of the many punishments that exists within it.
6. A budaoweng （不倒翁， wobbly old man） is an oblong doll with a weight in the bottom so that it rolls back into an upright position whenever it is knocked down.
7. A common trope in Chinese fantasy, “Land of the Tender” generally refers to places where men find solace in feminine charms （such as brothels）， or the use of aphrodisiacs or seduction.
8. In familiar address, cousins often refer to each other as siblings.
9. An Le （安樂）： [安] means “safe,” “peace,” and “to settle” and is the same character from the Kingdom of Yong’an’s second syllable. [樂] means “happiness,” “joy.” Qi Rong is dissecting the parts of the title and drawing his own meaning from the characters.
10. “Fengshen” translates to “God of Wind.”
11. Night pearls, or yemingzhu, are luminescent fluorite crystals. To create them, rare, glow-in-the-dark fluorite is carved into smooth spheres and polished. These real-life valuable stones feature prominently in many Chinese myths and legends.