Xia Jue

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Xia Jue (夏珏)
Alias(es)	Jade-Scepter Young Master; Jade-Faced Yama 394 427
Species/Race	Half-demon, born to a human father and a demon mother 1891 1962
Gender	Male 35 227
Affiliation	Azure Tide Sect; Enforcement Hall; Xia Household by birth 35 648 1958
Occupation/Role	Ning Hai’s eldest personal disciple; chief enforcer and later identified as Hall Master of the Enforcement Hall 35 394 494
Age	A little over 140 when publicly identified as a Nascent Soul cultivator; a little over 200 during his confrontation with Li 394 1960
Spirit Root	Primordial origin spirit root 1375
Innate Talents	Sound Control and Soul Subjugation 398
Life-Bound Treasure	Azure Jade Flute 394
Status	Last shown alive but suffering backlash from the Forbidden Zone; his death is not explicitly depicted in the supplied passages 1963
First Appearance	Earliest documented appearance in the supplied context: Chapter 35 35

Power Progression

Xia Jue conceals his cultivation, so his publicly observed realms do not provide a complete measure of his strength 1958 1960.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Golden Core / Core Formation	228 1958	Reached Core Formation roughly seventy years before Chapter 228. His first subsequent Secret Realm expedition yielded three spirit artifacts, including the paired Sound-Mixing Bells. His cultivation began accelerating unusually after entering Golden Core.
Preparation for Nascent Soul	161	Had spent the preceding twenty years largely remaining in the sect while preparing for his breakthrough.
Nascent Soul	394 398	Confirmed at a bone age slightly above 140. Already possessed the Azure Jade Flute and secretly disclosed his two innate talents to Su Jiu.
Ancient sound-attack inheritance	468	Received an inheritance on the White Pavilion’s third floor, expanding his knowledge of sound-attack techniques.
Late Nascent Soul	1013	Retrospectively identified as his realm during an earlier meeting with Jiao Zhu, before his Out-of-Body breakthrough.
Major-realm breakthrough suppressed	994	His spiritual qi entered a state preceding advancement, but he deliberately suppressed it.
Out-of-Body	1013	The Merfolk Queen confirmed that he had advanced beyond Late Nascent Soul by his return to the palace.
Spirit Severing	1375	Su Jiu understood him to be at this realm, but questioned the label because of his immense spiritual reserves, unusually wide meridians, and extraordinary spirit root.
Undisclosed true cultivation	1957 1958 1960	Later revelations establish that his cultivation rose without deliberate effort or actual lightning tribulations. He concealed enough strength to match Li in combat; no exact final realm is given.

Background / History

Childhood in the Xia Household

Xia Jue was the only son of the Xia Household’s former head. His father died on the day he was born, and his mother disappeared after giving birth. Relatives seeking control of the household hired a fraud to declare him an inauspicious child who would bring death to his family, stripping him of his inheritance 1958.

He was abandoned in a secluded courtyard with an elderly, sick servant. Food was sometimes deliberately withheld, and the servant died when Xia Jue was five. When other children attempted to bully him, he fought back; the resulting confrontation led the household head to attempt to kill him with a fireball 1958.

Ning Hai intervened and took him into the Azure Tide Sect as his first disciple. That night, Xia Jue experienced a warm light enveloping him and noticed Ning Hai’s pallor the next morning. He understood the connection only much later, when the seal within his body was fully lifted 1892 1958.

Rise within the Azure Tide Sect

The Enforcement Hall was placed entirely under Xia Jue’s authority in the year he turned fifty. As his cultivation accelerated after Golden Core, he investigated his abnormal body while hiding his actual cultivation 1958.

His appearance at a Grand Tournament made him especially famous among the Heavenly Music Pavilion’s disciples. Female cultivators continued visiting the Azure Tide Sect to inquire about him for ten years afterward, prompting him to travel frequently. He later reduced his travels while preparing to enter Nascent Soul 161.

Past-Life Involvement

Xia Jue initially encountered memories of his previous life through dreams of Su Jiu lying in blood. Those dreams grew clearer as he became closer to her, and his memories returned after his seal was fully broken and Li approached him 1959.

In that previous life, Li had sealed Su Jiu’s innate gifts, leaving her with a water spirit root and few distinguishing abilities. Xia Jue believed Li’s claim that Su Jiu threatened the sect and participated in planning her fate. He later discovered that the false Heavenly Dao had planted suggestions in his consciousness, turning him into a pawn against her 1959.

Recovering those memories left him anguished. In the current life, he secretly resolved to reverse his role: instead of following Li’s plans, he would exploit them to help Su Jiu ascend 1959.

Appearance

• Build and features: Tall and straight, with picturesque features repeatedly compared to a flawless jade-like gentleman 713 1281.
• Usual clothing: Pristine white robes, including during combat and official Enforcement Hall visits 1013 1350.
• Characteristic expression: A faint, refined smile that often remains unchanged even while threatening or killing enemies 427 1526.
• Voice: Clear, mellow, and gentle; his quiet speech can remain audible to everyone present 398 426 807.
• Demonic appearance: Later wears an ink-black outer robe amid swirling demonic qi. During his confrontation with Su Jiu, three black markings appear on his face 1887 1892.

Personality

Xia Jue maintains an elegant, courteous exterior while keeping his emotions exceptionally controlled. His stern conduct on Enforcement Hall missions frightened away admirers, and Chu Qianqiu considered him so adept at concealing himself that he might be better suited to leading the sect than Ning Hai 35 737.

His enforcement can be impartial, but his methods are often ruthless. He retained Yu Shanshan despite her unwelcome pursuit because she had avoided major misconduct, yet ordered the highest level of torture for Yi Feng Chen while requiring that he remain alive 215 648. Feng Qi describes him as placing little value on the lives of people who recklessly court death 1316.

He prefers preparation and control to improvisation. Su Jiu regards him as a dependable teammate because of his meticulous judgment and the Enforcement Hall’s reliable intelligence; against enemies, he patiently targets psychological weaknesses rather than wasting strength 750 1424.

His attention to Su Jiu exposes a markedly gentler side. Tong Qi notices that he almost becomes another person around her, answering her questions with unusual kindness. The side stories confirm that this concern developed into love, although Xia Jue believed his identity as a demon made him unworthy of loving a deity 494 1963.

He does not view the Heavenly Dao as something on which he must simply depend. Instead, he considers all beings participants in a reciprocal relationship that sustains the Heavenly Dao itself 1211.

Abilities & Skills

Primordial Origin Spirit Root

• Holds balanced spiritual qi of all five elements and converts it between them as needed 1375.
• Can absorb an environment’s available elemental qi—for example, fire qi—and transform it into the other four attributes 1375.
• Automatically redistributes elemental qi to maintain internal balance when one attribute is consumed 1375.
• Ranks above celestial and mutated spirit roots 1375.
• During recovery with Su Jiu, breaks down some of her ice spiritual qi, retains part, and returns part to her as innate origin qi 1375.

Sound Control and Sound Attacks

• Sound Control is one of his two confirmed innate talents; he reveals it privately to Su Jiu and asks her to keep it secret 398.
• Uses flute music to subdue enemies 35.
• His Xiao Flute Song penetrates defensive formations below the fifth tier 442.
• The song does not distinguish allies from enemies: companions sheltered within a formation suffer injuries from it during the Catfish Worm battle 442.
• Receives an ancient sound-attack inheritance and promises to record its techniques for the seventh floor of the Library Pavilion. He describes their potential as moving mountains and filling seas 468.

Soul Subjugation and Mental Resistance

• Soul Subjugation is his second confirmed innate talent; its specific mechanics are not explained in the supplied passages 398.
• Exerts mental pressure strong enough to contribute to the injured Jiao Zhu losing consciousness 1013.
• Resists the mind-reading and eye-based hypnosis described by an observer, who also cannot infer his thoughts from subtle movements 1721.

Swordsmanship and Flame Techniques

• His swordsmanship is exceptional despite his greater public reputation as a flute user; few sword-wielding cultivators at the same level can match him 35.
• Remains composed while destroying skeletons, performing at least as well as Su Jiu and surpassing Yun Chao in that battle 1371.
• Traps Shen Qingyue’s gu worm in spiritual qi and burns it to ashes 468.
• Uses the Northern Dark Heavenly Flame to reduce the Black Water Snake to ash 1014.
• Emits golden light that burns Hong Ming’s hand when Hong Ming attempts to seize him; the light’s source is not identified 951.

Demonic Power and Concealed Growth

• His body absorbs surrounding spiritual power continuously, and his cultivation eventually rises without deliberate cultivation 1958.
• Does not experience the lightning tribulations he outwardly claims to undergo; he stages those supposed breakthroughs in secluded locations 1958.
• Fights Li with demonic qi, piercing her with an arrow and shattering her defensive barrier 1960.
• States that, as a half-demon, he can become neither an immortal nor a true demon 1960.

Formations, Space, and Instruction

• Creates a barrier with slower-flowing time to teach Su Jiu the Breath-Discerning Art, using three jade slips and guiding her through its foundational preparations 1438.
• Identifies the Seal-Breaking Formation in the Demon-Subduing Land and explains that it can bypass the Vermilion Bird Spirit Vein without using the formation eye 1877.
• Establishes and controls a Forbidden Zone. With sufficient strength, he can tear open the void and retrieve Su Jiu directly; losing the power to suppress it causes backlash against him 1963.
• Uses a teleportation array to send the unconscious Ning Hai back to the sect 1963.

Memory, Investigation, and Command

• Possesses a photographic memory from birth, retaining jade-slip contents after a single reading and recalling them a year later 996.
• Directs an informant network extending beyond the Spiritflight Continent and had investigated the Qian Ling Blood Condensation Bead for years 398.
• Reconstructs events from corpses and faint residual ice spiritual qi, helping him trace Su Jiu’s involvement in the Nine Nether Sea conflict 1013.
• Commands the Enforcement Hall’s Dark Division and authorizes lethal action against captured spies if the Soulguiding Sect refuses to acknowledge them 494.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Azure Jade Flute — His Life-Bound Treasure, ranked third on the Top-Grade Spirit Artifact Rankings. Its spirit appears as a proud, prickly adolescent boy who allows Su Jiu to handle the flute but refuses other outsiders 394 442.
• Modified demonic flute — Appears as translucent black jade during his fight with Su Jiu. Xia Jue says it was modified with special materials and claims that its spirit is asleep; Su Jiu cannot sense the spirit and doubts that explanation 1892.
• Voidfang Sword — A sword he uses to kill enemies without changing his gentle expression 1526.
• Paired Sound-Mixing Bells — Obtained after his Core Formation breakthrough. They confuse enemies and transmit voices without Message Talismans, provided their users have not entered a Secret Realm. He gives one to Su Jiu after the bells repeatedly become a source of trouble for female disciples 226 228.
• Ruined Formation Disk — Keeps the damaged disk after Su Jiu emerges injured from the White Pavilion 457.
• Su Jiu’s heart blood — Secretly obtains it during their Demon-Subduing Land confrontation and later introduces a drop into Li’s body. As the heart blood of a reincarnated deity, it can shatter Li’s soul 1961.

Relationships

• Su Jiu — Junior sister by sect generation and the woman he loves. He protects her, teaches her, and supports her freedom to make her own choices. Their bond collapses when she believes he has betrayed her; his side stories reveal that his later schemes revolve around defeating Li and enabling her ascension 50 739 1438 1952 1959 1963.
• Ning Hai — Master, rescuer, and the person who gave him a place in the Azure Tide Sect. Xia Jue gathers ingredients for a pill intended to protect Ning Hai from heart demons during a breakthrough and plans to temporarily manage the sect during his seclusion. He later sends the unconscious Ning Hai to safety 432 1958 1963.
• Feng Qi — Trusted Enforcement Hall subordinate who witnesses both his concealed nature and his affection for Su Jiu. After learning his secrets, Feng Qi refuses evacuation and remains with him, saying someone must collect his body 755 1550 1957 1963.
• Li — Biological mother and eventual enemy. She abandons him after birth and later uses him as a pawn. In the current life, he feigns cooperation, uncovers her plan to merge the Demon Realm with the Azure Realm, and kills her 1892 1959 1960 1962.
• Yun Huanling — Distrustful collaborator in Xia Jue’s final opposition to Li. Xia Jue reveals his half-demon identity and convinces him to lend his power to protect Su Jiu 1960.
• Chu Luohen — Sect elder with whom Xia Jue clashes over Su Jiu’s family background and guidance. Xia Jue urges him not to overrule her choices 739.
• Ning Fan — Fellow disciple under Ning Hai. Although they have met only a handful of times, Xia Jue speaks of him with admiration and later sets out to rescue him 469 1877.
• Shen Qingyue — Admirer and subordinate whom he watches with suspicion. He warns her against harming fellow disciples and later neutralizes the gu worm she puts in his ear 228 440 468.
• Xia Yun — Xia Household relative who resents living in his shadow. Xia Yun believes that, without Xia Jue, he would have been chosen and nurtured by the Azure Tide Sect 1305 1475.
• Yi Feng Chen — Prisoner who challenges the morality beneath Xia Jue’s righteous reputation and accuses him of being constrained only by the Xia Household’s obligations. Xia Jue silences him and orders prolonged torture 648.
• Yu Shanshan and Ming Yun — Unwanted admirers. He rejected Yu Shanshan a century earlier and later rebuffs Ming Yun’s attempts to approach him through her resemblance to Su Jiu 215 790.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Enforcement and Sect Affairs

• Arrives personally to investigate Yu Yin’s death from a master-servant contract, establishing his role as the sect’s chief enforcer 35.
• Reviews the recording of Luo Xi’s fatal tournament assault. After Bai Su intervenes, he releases Luo Xi but bars him from future sect Grand Tournaments and reports the incident to Ning Hai 70.
• Leads the investigation into the sealed Liu Household Village and takes the group to a neighboring village to trace the abnormalities 215.
• Supports Su Jiu during the inter-sect competitions, explaining the Talisman Competition’s format and expressing confidence that she alone can represent the Azure Tide Sect 807.

White Pavilion and Secret Realm Expedition

• Prioritizes gathering ingredients for Ning Hai’s breakthrough while allowing rival groups to exhaust themselves fighting over the sacred artifact 432.
• Uses a dangerous flute attack against the Catfish Worm despite its unavoidable harm to his allies 442.
• Guards the injured Su Jiu, kills two suspicious rogue cultivators, and exposes their Heavenly Demon Sect affiliation 457.
• Survives Shen Qingyue’s gu-worm attempt, receives the sound-attack inheritance, and kills Mao Er after learning of the stolen scroll and false accusation against Su Jiu 468.

Nine Nether Sea Pursuit

• Returns to the Merfolk Queen’s palace backed by the Enforcement Hall and presses for information about Su Jiu’s disappearance 1013.
• Uncovers Jiao Zhu and the Black Water Snake’s involvement, kills the snake, and seeks the spatial route leading to Su Jiu 1014.

Demon-Subduing Land Crisis

• Spends five years traveling the Azure Realm’s seas with Feng Qi and Enforcement Hall disciples, investigating suspicious locations and coastal accounts 1536.
• Sends warnings from the Demon-Subduing Land after his group becomes trapped near a dead tree, prompting the sect to organize assistance 1584.
• Explains that the running Seal-Breaking Formation will awaken the true demons buried beneath the land and requests reinforcements at Body Integration Realm or above 1877.
• Reveals his half-demon origin to Su Jiu, confronts her in the demons’ hidden base, and declares that he will not let her leave alive 1891 1892.
• Later revelations establish that this confrontation was intended to obtain her heart blood as a weapon against Li, rather than kill her 1961.

Heaven-Connecting Tower and Hidden Counterplot

• Appears before Su Jiu beside the apparent corpses of Ning Hai and Feng Qi, responding to her accusations with cruel taunts. He then draws her attention to Li’s ascent of the Heaven-Connecting Tower, prompting Su Jiu to pursue her 1952.
• Secretly secures Yun Huanling’s cooperation and turns against Li with the strength he had concealed from her 1960.
• Exploits Li’s lowered guard to introduce Su Jiu’s heart blood into her body and kill her 1961 1962.
• Suffers Forbidden Zone backlash, sends the unconscious Ning Hai back to the sect, and remains near the tower while Feng Qi chooses to stay beside him 1963.
• Later accounts credit him with killing Li and sending Su Jiu into the Heaven-Connecting Tower, allowing the Heaven-Connecting Path to open 1975.

Notable Quotes

“Sound Control and Soul Subjugation. Keep it a secret, Junior Sister.” 398

“I’m a half-demon, destined to become neither an immortal nor a demon. To Li, I’ve never been anything but a pawn. The laughable thing is that she still thinks I don’t know that.” 1960

Little junior sister, in this life, shall I help you soar straight into the clouds? 1959