Cultivators Dying of Old Age

How exactly does this work exactly?

Realistically, as long as your body and mind are healthy, you should be able to live forever, but the stories always have arbitrary limits.

That would be fine... as long as old age MEANT something. In all the stories I’ve read, you could have a fully healthy guy literally a day from death, fighting at full power with no consequences, and then die as soon as the arbitrary time limit runs out.

What’s the reason for this? Is is explained outside of lore from something?

 

This why xianxia is trash, specifically the comics, the old are young handsome men there, sometimes old men are milfs too.

 

Nothing is limitless, everything must come to an end eventually, no matter how you take care of your body, cells got a limit a too, even for cultivators, from what I understand about cultivations, it is a way to prolong one's life and understand the secrets of the world while building a better body, and with each progress made they can increase their life, but if they can't make a progress then their body will come to end, I mean even the universe will come to an end at some point, no one can live forever

 

A rather interesting explanation I've read is that they have Shou Yuan (I think) which is like the arbitrary time limit that, while there's some of it left, the Heavens will let you live. When you're out of it, you will die. It was written in some heavenly books or on grim reaper's books? Something like that
But then again, you literally talking about a genre that's basically Eastern fantasy. Don't bring logic into it, especially if the premise is wrong.
They use concepts like Fate and karma that control the lives of all beings and it doesn't really matter how well the body works in front of fate, right?
To explain better: imagine it like this: there's thst xianxia universe. And it, like, doesn't work like ours. And it got humans for some reason. Maybe it didn't get vaccinated in time, whatever. So, it got humans. But they also work differently from us. Like, maybe they are not made of cells. Maybe they are m as e of a certain kind of stone instead, which is why you get to see so many "jade-like beauties" and stuff? And they live because the world cares about each of them so much, it personally watches over every single aspect of their lives, so when they have their time to die, it cuts their fate and they die

 

life force....
every cultivator have live force limit if they not level up, exilir, longevity technique or better ascending~ da lore? fate decide by heaven~ by practicing cultivation of immortality it against fate mortal lifespans~ put on mind cultivator not born as immortal~


nice bullshit eh?

 

It varies. Sometimes, cultivators grow old gradually till death. In other novels, the onset of senility occurs only at the very end of one's lifespan, but is almost instantaneous. There are also cases where cultivators die because their Dao is unable to stand the test of time. And they may also die suddenly without any indication (even if they are apparently healthy) if they have reached the maximum age stipulated for that boundary by the world rule.

 

What do you mean? Often in sects are depicted old ancestors who only come out in sect-destroying calamity, that's to conserve their lifeforce

 

From the many I’ve read, it’s that there is always a limit to what your body can handle. As time progress you cells eventually wear out and cease to function. Rather than a abrupt end, it is a slow decay for the cultivators who have hit their wall and not made a breakthrough. The reason they can fight in tip top shape before their deathbeds is often said to be because they exert every last bit of their life force to fight at full capacity. By forcing every last bit of energy your body has you can fight at peak level or even higher, we see this in the real world too where humans will override their natural limiter in life or death situations and often that comes at the cost of severely injuring ourselves in the process. The aim of cultivation is often immortality, yet that is so difficult to achieve that even the mc’s in cultivation novels with all their plot armor and deus ex machina may not even reach it. But that’s only my take on the subject based off what I’ve read, and it often varies book to book

 

When you see some sect elder go all "JUNIOR, YOU DARE!!",
you know that age is getting to them.

 

And now you reminded me of Ke Yunhai and I have sad feels. The oil was exhausted and the lamp was dry.

 

I believe I once read a novel that described old cultivators on the verge of dying as being akin to a rusty gun. They can still fire a devastating shot, but will inevitably breakdown afterwords. As for their life limit, one story I read said it wasn't an exact time, but an approximation of how long they will live. The human average is 79, from what I looked up just now, but health choices can lead to one living less then 50 or even over 100 years of age. That novel stated that a similar process took place with cultivators. As for the stories you've read that make it an absolute 'This is how long they will live' situation, each author has their own choices for their story.

 

your wrong lil toast. the lore for death is perfectly laid out. the real problem with old age is the lack of old mc to show how death works.

 

It depends on the universe. The life force and heavenly laws seem the most consistent though. Either the heavenly laws say that 'someone of this cultivation can only live this long' and they die if they surpass it. Or they have a certain amount of life force which is largely determined by cultivation not by their body. Once they run out they die. Sect Ancestors often shut themselves into sort of suspended animation to preserve the last bit of life force so that they can protect the sect in the event of a disaster.

 

Theoretically, you can die even if you have no disease or wound. That's when your cell stops splitting.

 

You’d be weak and fatigued for years up until that happened. You wouldn’t be fine one second and dead the next.

 

I think it's heavily implied in cultivation stories that your life span is mostly something determined by some higher power. I don't know if that higher power is the creator of the universe, or maybe heavens will, but whatever it is you basically get whatever you are doled out, and if you want more you have to raise your status in the hierarchy by cultivating to higher realms.

 

I'm pretty sure if your cells stop dividing it would be considered a disease.

 

That's because our cells didn't stop at the same time. Cultivation may act as an unnatural method to prolong this process. When it runs out of effect, all cells died together (there are many novels in which characters know exactly how much time they have left)
I don't mean this is what happened, I just make a possible theory.

This is a natural phenomenon, like your teeth or hair growth. How would it be considered a disease?
And as far as I know, there is no human has ever lived to the point they hit lifespan limit. Scientists just calculated from genes.

 

A disease would cover anything not working properly. Your teeth, nervous cells, cardiac cells not dividing would be normal. If your cells which are suppose to divide stop dividing it's likely considered a disease.