Interesting thread. Everyone has their own beliefs and theories on how the world works.
My two cents:
There are physical laws by which things are governed in the world. An example is gravity. Nothing defies the law of gravity. Even airplanes work by creating more lift that gravity, and the gravity never goes away. If you stop creating lift you fall. In space you are no longer affected by earths gravity in the same way, but you still technically have a net gravitational force on you depending on where you are in the universe.
There are also spiritual laws. Most of this has to do with people. As someone said above, we can not create life because it is something more than the physical properties that comprise us. There is some living element we can no reproduce. This is where most religions focus. Some religions might believe is Qi and Cultivation, I don’t know every religion that well. I’ll phrase it like this, we are more than the sum of our parts.
I am a Christian, so I can say that (where I am from) Christians don’t talk about QI and cultivation. They do talk about spiritual laws and forces that are in the Bible. An example is prayer. While it doesn’t work like a fantasy priest, with prayers resembling spells you can “cast,” there is power in prayers. I am not going to get into a whole theological explanation or debate, but I wanted to point this out. I also feel like my beliefs could contradict with other Christian beliefs...there are so many theories about how things work in the “spiritual realm.”
My personal take? While Qi/cultivation isn’t real, you can develop your spiritual side like a physical muscle. My Christian beliefs refer to this as faith. You can do things to increase your faith, and also increase your “spiritual power.” Again, this doesn’t work like a video game where Cristian’s eventually can blow skeletons up with their mind. We also don’t swing crucifixes at things as weapons (that I know of). It does do things that increase your power in the world by building your faith and relationship with God. I think most religions or spiritual beliefs think something along these lines.