Joyful Union Sect

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Joyful Union Sect
Original Name	合欢宗
Type	Cultivation sect
Headquarters	Joyful Union Mountain, including the Joyful Union Hall, Waste-Pill Valley, and a secret realm 18 41 50
Leadership	Sect Master Ye Chenyu; Supreme Elder Jiang Yingyue 18 19
Affiliation	Inner disciples, outer disciples, direct disciples, true disciples, ordinary inner disciples, and menial disciples 46 50
Status	Active, but endangered by a planned Black Tortoise Sect annexation after the Sect Grand Tournament 39 40
First Appearance	Chapter 1

Background / History

The sect accepted Liu Fuyao as an inner disciple after identifying her Supreme Heavenly Spirit Root, while her former fiancé Lu Chen—judged to have a low-grade Five-Element Mixed Spirit Root—was assigned to the alchemy rooms as a handyman disciple 1. Its social order sharply favors inner disciples over servants and menial disciples, who can be punished, exploited, or killed with little consequence 1 29.

Before the current Sect Grand Tournament, the sect’s Nascent Soul patriarch died of old age despite having her lifespan extended with a Life-Extending Pill 19. The leadership concealed the loss while attempting to refine a Nascent Soul Pill, since the sect would be vulnerable to annexation without a Nascent Soul cultivator 18 19.

Sect Master Ye Chenyu and Supreme Elder Jiang Yingyue secretly ordered inner disciples to procure spirit herbs for pill refinement, while preserving Liu Fuyao as a possible future Nascent Soul cultivator through the Ruthless Dao 19 21. The crisis later became more urgent when intelligence revealed that the Black Tortoise Sect had learned of the patriarch’s death through an unknown traitor within the Joyful Union Sect 39 40.

The appearance of Little Xixi’s fire-element Heavenly Spirit Root sparked a struggle between the sect, the Sacred Pill Sect, and local cultivation families 31 32. After Sacred Pill Sect First Elder Lei Xuan abducted Xixi, Ye Chenyu and two elders pursued and injured him, escalating tensions between the two sects 32 33.

Organization

Leadership

• Ye Chenyu — Sect Master; directs the sect’s response to the Nascent Soul Pill crisis and the threat from the Black Tortoise Sect 18 19.
• Jiang Yingyue — Supreme Elder and high-level alchemist involved in the sect’s Nascent Soul Pill efforts; later reaches Peak Golden Core Realm 19 48.
• Su Mei — Great elder, Alchemical Master, and Lin Yue’s master 31 33.
• Two Great Elders — Senior figures who joined Ye Chenyu in pursuing Lei Xuan after Xixi’s abduction 31 33.

Disciple Ranks

Rank	Known details
Direct disciples	Elite disciples who may remain in secluded cultivation and respond immediately to the sect’s highest alarm 41.
True disciples	A rank above ordinary inner disciples 46.
Ordinary inner disciples	The lowest inner-disciple rank; Su Qingqing belongs to this group 46.
Outer disciples	Includes mountain-patrol, law-enforcement, and mission disciples; they lack access to the sect’s true inheritance 45 50.
Menial disciples	Low-status laborers assigned to places such as the alchemy rooms and Waste-Pill Repository 1 29.

Gender Restrictions

Male outer disciples are prohibited from entering the inner sect or receiving the sect’s true inheritance 50. Their prescribed path is to serve as cultivation furnaces for female inner disciples, though some may reach Foundation Establishment through their own efforts 50.

Cultivation & Alchemy

Dual Cultivation

The sect is renowned for dual cultivation and regards it alongside pill refinement as a core discipline 5. Its arts include harvesting methods and union methods, with the Yin-Yang Union Method described as its supreme orthodox dual-cultivation technique 21 37.

• Yin-Yang Union Method — A mutual method in which yin and yang energies circulate through both participants, benefiting each cultivator rather than simply draining one side 37.
• Nine-Yin Essence-Devouring Art — A harvesting technique used by Yun Feiyan to absorb another’s essence 36.
• Cultivation furnaces — Male outer disciples are institutionally expected to fill this role for female inner disciples 50.

Pill Refinement

The sect possesses skilled alchemists but struggles to refine high-grade breakthrough pills, particularly Nascent Soul Pills 18 19.

• A Foundation Establishment Pill is considered difficult enough that only an Alchemical Master can reliably refine one; Jiang Yingyue is stated to be the only sect member confident in doing so 21.
• Failed Nascent Soul Pill attempts produced dangerous waste pills that were sent to the Waste-Pill Repository 18.
• The sect sought large quantities of Foundation Establishment Pills before the tournament to promote Qi Refining disciples and meet the requirements of its defensive formation 47 48.

Protective Formation

The sect’s major defensive formation is the Greater Celestial Circuit Joyful Union Immortal-Ensnaring Formation 45.

• Requires at least 365 Foundation Establishment cultivators to activate 45 47.
• Previously trapped and killed a Nascent Soul intruder by disorienting him and draining his primordial yang 45.
• The sect was initially three Foundation Establishment cultivators short of activation during the current crisis 47.

Notable Locations

• Joyful Union Hall — Massive hall at the summit of Joyful Union Mountain, where senior disciples assemble during emergencies 41 50.
• Waste-Pill Valley — Remote sect area permeated by pill poison and used for storing discarded pills 18 21.
• Waste-Pill Repository — Repository guarded by menial disciples; it contains defective, dangerous, and discarded pills 18 40.
• Joyful Union Secret Realm — Restricted area where Jiang Yingyue and Ye Chenyu discuss the sect’s Nascent Soul Pill crisis 19 44.
• Outer Sect Plaza — Mid-mountain tournament ground reserved for outer disciples, who are barred from the summit matches 50.

Known Members

• Liu Fuyao — Sect Saintess; possesses a Supreme Heavenly Spirit Root and cultivates the Ruthless Dao 1 19.
• Yun Feiyan — Eldest senior sister and a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator before later reaching Golden Core Realm 32 50.
• Su Qingqing — Ordinary inner disciple and manager of the Outer Enforcement Hall 29 46.
• Jiang Yurou — Inner disciple involved in sending a poisoned waste Nascent Soul Pill to the Waste-Pill Repository 18 32.
• Lin Yue — Favored disciple of Elder Su Mei; possesses a high-grade Fire Spiritual Root and was one of the sect’s three great genius disciples 31.
• Pang Yong — Manager overseeing menial disciples and the alchemy-room workforce 1 41.
• Lu Chen — Menial disciple assigned to the alchemy rooms and later the Waste-Pill Repository; secretly possesses methods that allow him to restore discarded pills 1 18.

External Relations

• Black Tortoise Sect — Primary external threat. It plans to attack and annex the sect after the Sect Grand Tournament, having learned that the Nascent Soul patriarch is dead 39 40.
• Sacred Pill Sect — Rival sect whose First Elder Lei Xuan abducted Little Xixi after discovering her Heavenly Spirit Root; the resulting confrontation injured Lei and worsened relations 32 33.
• Blissful Sect — Its Saintess, Liu Yan’er, infiltrated the House of Ten Thousand Beauties to monitor the Joyful Union Sect after the Blissful Sect submitted to the Black Tortoise Sect 39.
• Lin Household — A Hehuan Town cultivation family with connections to the sect through Lin Yue and Elder Su Mei 31.
• Yun Household — A Hehuan Town cultivation family with multiple sect disciples, including Yun Feiyan and Yun Feier 28 32.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Nascent Soul Crisis

The sect’s failed Nascent Soul Pill refinement and the death of its patriarch place its survival in doubt 18 19. Ye Chenyu considers Liu Fuyao’s Ruthless Dao cultivation a second path toward restoring the sect’s Nascent Soul-level protection 19.

Little Xixi Incident

The sect attempts to claim Little Xixi after her Heavenly Spirit Root is exposed, but Lei Xuan of the Sacred Pill Sect abducts her first 31 32. Ye Chenyu and the elders respond directly, injuring Lei Xuan and recovering Xixi 33.

Preparation for War

The sect recalls its inner disciples, gathers Foundation Establishment Pills, and seeks enough Foundation Establishment cultivators to activate the Greater Celestial Circuit Joyful Union Immortal-Ensnaring Formation 44 47 48.

Sect Grand Tournament

The once-in-a-decade Sect Grand Tournament begins as the sect faces both internal instability and the looming Black Tortoise Sect invasion 18 49 50. Inner disciples compete at the summit, while outer disciples fight on Life-and-Death Arenas at the mid-mountain plaza 50.