**Before I talk about demonic cultivation, please note that I had trouble finding sources on it that weren’t from the mdzs wiki (which calls guidao demonic cultivation at the top of the page) or from a reddit thread from an mdzs forum. I am very likely missing important context about modao due to the fact that I have very little experience with Wuxia that involves it, and so I welcome anyone who knows more to correct me or add on.
The main difference, is that Wei Wuxian’s guidao, to be used properly, requires empathy for the ghosts (gui) that he utilizes. It is, essentially, Wei Wuxian expanding on his idea from his teens that Lan Qiren punished him for, where he says, “Spiritual qi is energy. Resentment is also energy. Spiritual qi is stored within the dantian and can be used for great feats, so why can’t resentment be used the same way?” (Chapter 4: The Elegant Flirt, 7seas translation) Wei Wuxian is asserting that a fourth way to handle a resentful spirit is to use existing resentful energy, like ghosts with a vendetta against the target, to destroy the target if the first two steps (fulfillment of their last wish, and suppression of the spirit) aren’t possible. But, imperatively, he never suggests creating the resentment- he specifically refers to the victims of the butcher being used against him in this scenario.
We can see him do this immediately after he gets out of the Burial Mounds when he reverses the protection talismans at the Wen camps so that the spirits massacred there by the Wen soldiers will instead be drawn in to take their revenge on the ones who killed them, and when he awakens Wen Ning’s corpse at the labor camps the Wens are imprisoned within using the lingering resentment in Wen Ning. He explicitly states that few others would have been able to come back as fierce as Wen Ning because of the sheer volume of resentment Wen Ning held within his body.
An important thing to note is that resentment here is literally the feeling of resentment. When someone cuts you off in the middle of speaking, or is needlessly rude to you and you get angry with them- that’s the resentment being referred to. In mdzs, resentment is a literal form of energy, because its strong enough to stop spirits from moving on, and the more they felt resentful, the stronger they are in the after-life if it’s keeping them tied to the living world.
Modao, demonic cultivation, is fundamentally different. Generally in Wuxia (fantasy cultivation novels with creatures and magic and whatnot) modao is different in that, typically, the energy is coming from imprisoned souls or sacrifices of human lives/body parts/etc. Its actively harmful to the spirits and people being used to create the resentment, which is what Xue Yang was doing in Yi City (and probably for the Jin as well.)
While Wei Wuxian is controlling sprits at some points using Chenqing, he doesn’t ever create resentment for the express purpose of using it. He’s killed people, tortured them, fought in a war, and used the fallen Wen soldiers to continue to fight against their living brethren, but he never sets out to create more spirits or go further in anyway. Xue Yang, however, intentionally poisons regular people, creates things to control fierce corpses (the spikes in Wen Ning’s and Song Lan’s heads) and just generally doesn’t care about other people in the slightest.
Wei Wuxian is a deeply empathetic person. The book states that one of the abilities that Wei Wuxian is most adept at compared to others is literally called Empathy, and its used twice that I can immediately remember. Once in Yi City with a-Qing’s spirit, and again as a paperman with Nie Mingjue’s dismembered head. It requires Wei Wuxian to form a connection with the dead soul to see their memories, and most won’t do it because of how dangerous it is. This technique isn’t guidao, but it is meant to exemplify the depths with which Wei Wuxian cares about others, including the dead.
Another scene that comes to mind to further support this message, is the flashback where Lan Wangji finds Wei Wuxian in an inn drinking surrounded by female spirits. He’s just chilling with ghosts in broad daylight like they’re all good friends! This scene serves a double purpose, but I’m specifically referring to the fact that he’s shown just hanging out with dead people, something a person who doesn’t have a respect for the dead wouldn’t do.
Unlike Xue Yang who unintentionally created a dead girl that tries to scare off people before they can suffer the same fate she did.
While Xue Yang was working off of Wei Wuxian’s notes, he wasn’t following Wei Wuxian’s core principle, and so he wasn’t following Wei Wuxian’s guidao path, but instead practicing demonic cultivation. So, I guess the biggest difference is the execution (ha) of getting resentment, however I could be missing more as I stated at the beginning of this post.
Tldr; Wei Wuxian wakes up or uses already disturbed spirits, while Xue Yang makes disturbed spirits.
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