Cui Jue

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Mortal Life

Cui Jue served as magistrate of Qi County in Luo Prefecture, identified as present-day Qi County in Hebi City, Henan Province. His mother had encouraged him to study from childhood so that he could become a good official and secure justice for others 40 49.

Three years before the tiger trial, Yatou accused her son Mengshan of attempting to murder her. Cui Jue initially condemned Mengshan’s conduct, but accepted his claim that his mother was mad and had mistaken a tiger for her son. He ordered hunters to kill the tiger, Sihuang, without adequately investigating Yatou’s injuries or Mengshan’s circumstances. Yatou subsequently endured three more years of abuse and hunger 47 48.

His wife died seven years before Du Yu’s visit to the legend. He never remarried, instead devoting himself to public safety and development in Qi County 51.

His mother’s commitment to justice arose from two unresolved family tragedies. A hunter abducted her younger sister, but an official refused to investigate because he considered women lowly. Later, her first child—Cui Jue’s elder brother—was abducted. Officials found the abductor dead and hastily concluded that wild beasts had also eaten the missing child. Cui Jue only learns of this elder brother when his mother explains why she wants him to become a Judge of the Underworld 51.

The Recorded Tiger Legend

The Bureau’s account of “Cui Jue Slays the Tiger” places the decisive trial in the nineteenth year of Zhenguan. In that version, an old woman reports that a tiger has eaten her son. Cui Jue questions the animal, spares it after its acknowledgment of the charges, and assigns it to care for the woman as her adopted son. Lady Houtu recognizes his judgment and appoints him chief of the judges 40.

The present-day Cui Jue regards that appointment as both a blessing and a loss: it gave him immortality and immense power, but cost him the person who mattered most to him. He consequently seeks a different outcome for his mortal life 40.

The Knot in His Heart

The person Cui Jue cannot let go of is his mother, not his deceased wife. He fears that immediate ascension would leave her without anyone to care for her in old age or see to her burial, after a lifetime of hardship had finally given way to comfort 51.

Du Yu advises him to ask his mother what she wants rather than deciding on her behalf. She encourages him to accept Lady Houtu’s offer, explaining that an eternally just Judge of the Underworld would fulfill her lifelong wish and constitute the greatest filial devotion he could offer. His accumulated salary is sufficient to support her remaining years. Understanding her wishes dissolves the knot in his heart before it fully forms, and he returns to Du Yu with renewed resolve 51 52.

The change carries into the present: Cui Jue later tells Du Yu that the knot has been untied and that he has been in exceptionally good spirits 65.

Memories Across Timelines

The final timeline explanation clarifies that the Du Yu whom Cui Jue remembered from Zhenguan Year Nineteen before the protagonist’s mission was a previous-generation Du Yu, not the protagonist himself. Successive generations resemble one another and experience similar legends, producing apparent temporal paradoxes 456.

In the Second-Generation Du Yu’s history, Cui Jue likewise uses the young man to try to change his own life, while that Du Yu uses Cui Jue to seek priority in reincarnation. The arrangement sends him into the Bureau as an undercover agent, where he unexpectedly discovers his ability to enter legends 456.

Appearance

Cui Jue has a scholar’s face and an oppressive presence. His younger self looks much the same as his immortal self, though his eyes lack their present-day depth 2 40.

• White robes — Worn at his first appearance before Du Yu 2.
• Brocade robes — Worn when he confronts the intruders at the Legend Management Bureau 38.

Personality

Cui Jue can be warm and accommodating toward subordinates. When Qi County receives three new Misfits, he treats them as members of a shared household, offers help with their problems, and allows them to keep their pasts private. He dismisses Du Yu’s extravagant criminal confessions as storyteller’s tales rather than immediately punishing him 40 41.

His mortal self is also dangerously confident in his judgment. He insists that he has never decided a case wrongly and initially treats Sihuang’s nature as a tiger as proof of its bloodthirstiness. Du Yu’s evidence and his mother’s disappointment force him to reconsider; he ultimately reopens the case and accepts an unconventional solution 48 49.

As an immortal, Cui Jue is proud of his authority but capable of reassessing a stronger opponent. He enters the Bureau confrontation confident that almost any Underworld dispute lies within his power to settle, then changes tactics when he realizes Chi Ghost’s cultivation exceeds his own 38 39.

He remains deeply attached to the person lost through his appointment. He is willing to sacrifice his position and immortality for another life, and openly warns Du Yu that the task he offers is extremely dangerous rather than concealing the risk 2 40.

His attachment is rooted in filial duty. Once Du Yu helps him recognize his mother’s own wishes, he is able to reconcile serving the Underworld with honoring her 51 52.

He places moral judgment above unquestioning obedience. Asked whether he would assassinate a powerful Underworld figure at Lady Houtu’s command, he refuses to commit without knowing the circumstances and argues that disputes should be addressed openly and honorably. He later advocates restraint during the conflict with the Eastern Peak Great Emperor and calls for a joint investigation rather than continued fighting 52 63 65.

Cui Jue also feels responsibility for Du Yu’s suffering. While evacuating wandering ghosts, he apologizes for making Du Yu an Operator and worries that he deprived him of a chance to reincarnate. Du Yu responds that he does not regret becoming an Operator and treasures the experiences it gave him 342.

Abilities & Skills

Underworld Judgment

Cui Jue personally reviews departed souls using the Soul-Reaping Brush and Book of Life and Death 2.

• Rules Du Yu’s death unjust after intervening in his hearing 2.
• Identifies Du Yu’s reincarnation wait as 726 years 2.
• Offers to use his influence to advance Du Yu’s place in the queue, but later says the first mission’s success cannot shorten the roughly seven-hundred-year wait 2 16.
• Supervises the Eastern Peak Great Emperor’s questioning with Horse-Face’s Nine-Turn Soul-Washing Whip, promising to stop the procedure if anyone asks an improper question. His standing as foremost judge makes the arrangement acceptable to those present 63.

Death-Urging Edict

An offensive technique written with the Soul-Reaping Brush as airborne talismanic script 38.

• Cui Jue channels yin energy into the brush while countless wailing souls enter it and the surrounding temperature falls 38.
• The edict collides with Chi Ghost’s Blood Wave Art; both attacks dissipate after an earth-shaking impact 38.
• Under Great Dark Heaven’s influence, he writes the character for “death” in midair and launches it at Du Yu. The Northern Yin Great Emperor blocks it with silver-white strands of hair 365.

Infinite Hell Formation

A restraining formation created by placing brush-written runes around a target 39.

• Binds Chi Ghost and appears to drain his strength, allowing Ox-Head to escape his grip 39.
• Holds against Chi Ghost’s initial attempt to break its runes 39.
• Requires Cui Jue to devote all his magic to maintaining it; he uses it to buy time for reinforcements 39.
• Collapses when Mei Ghost shatters a single rune 39.

Collective Barrier Defense

Cui Jue participates in the Eight Great Underworld Enforcers’ barrier containing the Red-Clad Girl and White Wolf. The Queen Mother of the West’s Infinite Thunderclaps push the Enforcers to the brink of collapse; she withdraws her magic before the barrier explodes 286 287.

Cultivation and Combat Limits

Cui Jue possesses tremendous divine abilities, but is not the strongest combatant encountered in the supplied account 2 38 39.

• Fights Chi Ghost at a level identified as that of True Immortals 38.
• Recognizes that Chi Ghost’s cultivation exceeds his own, even with Ox-Head and Horse-Face assisting him 39.
• Considers Xie Bi’an and Fan Wujiao no weaker than himself in magical combat 39.
• Recognizes Zhong Kui as the most skilled fighter among the Eight Great Underworld Enforcers, despite Cui Jue’s higher rank 63.
• Cannot evade the Northern Yin Great Emperor’s close-range counterattack after his edict is blocked 365.

Susceptibility to the Backward Heart Sutra

Great Dark Heaven’s backward recitation of the Heart Sutra can awaken and magnify even small regrets into murderous intent. Cui Jue falls under this influence and attacks Du Yu despite their close relationship. The precise grievance driving his attack is not specified in the encounter 365 366.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Soul-Reaping Brush — A magical brush used in soul judgment, the Death-Urging Edict, and the Infinite Hell Formation. Its attached talismans peel away when Cui Jue activates it 2 38 39.
• Book of Life and Death — A ledger-like book he summons into his hand; its pages turn on their own during Du Yu’s hearing 2.

Relationships

• Du Yu — A departed soul whose appearance awakens Cui Jue’s memories of Zhenguan Year Nineteen. Cui Jue sends him to the Bureau and later entrusts him with changing his past; Du Yu instead proposes letting the younger Cui Jue choose his future 2 40. Du Yu helps resolve his concern for his mother, and Cui Jue gratefully credits him with untying the knot in his heart, though he continues calling him by his legend identity, Yuan Xiangqin 51 65. Cui Jue later apologizes for drawing him into the Operator’s life, then attacks him under Great Dark Heaven’s influence and warns him to be careful before falling 342 365.
• Cui Jue’s mother — Raised him to pursue justice. Her questioning helps undermine his certainty about Yatou’s case and encourages him to reopen it 48 49. She is the person whose loss troubles his immortal self. Her encouragement to become a just Underworld judge resolves his younger self’s reluctance to ascend 51 52.
• Cui Jue’s wife — Died seven years before the tiger legend’s events. Cui Jue does not remarry, and she is not the person at the center of his unresolved attachment 51.
• Cui Jue’s elder brother — His mother’s first child, abducted before Cui Jue learned of his existence. Officials presumed that wild beasts had eaten him after finding the abductor’s corpse; his mother recounts this failed investigation as a reason for wanting an incorruptible Underworld judge 51.
• Lady Houtu — The deity associated with his appointment as Civil Judge. During Du Yu’s mission, she initially selects Du Yu, redirects the offer to Cui Jue, and receives an unexpected refusal 40 49 50. She grants him until nightfall to reconsider, and later accepts his conditional response to a hypothetical assassination order as passing her test 51 52.
• Li Neng — His constable in Qi County, responsible for supervising the Misfits and carrying out the orders to hunt Sihuang 41 44 47.
• Yatou and Sihuang — Victims of his earlier miscarriage of justice. At the reopened trial, he spares Sihuang and makes the tiger Yatou’s adopted son 47 49.
• Dong Qianqiu — Cui Jue intervenes when visitors attempt to take her from the Bureau 38.
• Ox-Head and Horse-Face — Fellow Underworld Enforcers who join his battle against Chi Ghost 38 39.
• Xie Bi’an and Fan Wujiao — Fellow Enforcers whose arrival he expects as reinforcement. They instead reveal that the visitors act for Lady Houtu and instruct Dong Qianqiu to accompany them 39.
• Zhong Kui — The second-ranking Underworld Enforcer and Military Judge. Zhong Kui addresses Cui Jue as Eldest Brother and remains comparatively polite toward him, but Cui Jue cannot dissuade him once he resolves to arrest the Eastern Peak Great Emperor 63 286.
• Eastern Peak Great Emperor of Mount Tai — Cui Jue supervises his questioning and objects to Zhong Kui taking advantage of his restrained condition. He offers Du Yu a personal assurance that he will find a way to keep the Eastern Emperor safe 63.
• Northern Yin Great Emperor of Fengdu — Blocks Cui Jue’s attack on Du Yu, then fatally pierces him with silver-white hair. He tells Du Yu that he barely knew Cui Jue and chose killing him as the most direct means of stopping the attack 365.
• Great Dark Heaven — His backward Heart Sutra causes Cui Jue’s sudden attack on Du Yu; the Northern Emperor identifies him as the force responsible for the incident 365 366.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Recruiting the Bureau’s Operator

• Meeting Du Yu unexpectedly restores Cui Jue’s memories of their encounter in Zhenguan Year Nineteen. He offers a dangerous task in exchange for help with reincarnation and sends Du Yu to the Bureau’s Netherworld Office at the Peak of No Return 2.
• He initially believes those memories prove Du Yu will survive the sun-shooting mission. He Suoyi corrects him: if Du Yu dies, the memories will disappear as well 4.
• After Du Yu returns injured, Cui Jue sends medicine and visits him. He explains that accepting a powerful faction’s medicine amounts to accepting its overture 16.
• Much later, Du Yu cites their meeting in Zhenguan Year Nineteen as the reason Cui Jue selected him, rejecting an account that presents the recruitment as a random choice 410.
• The final timeline explanation identifies the figure in Cui Jue’s preexisting memories as a previous-generation Du Yu and separately describes Cui Jue’s mutually self-interested arrangement with Second-Generation Du Yu 456.

Defending the Bureau

• Cui Jue confronts Chi Ghost when he attempts to remove Dong Qianqiu, exchanging attacks before restraining him with the Infinite Hell Formation 38 39.
• Mei Ghost breaks the formation. The confrontation ends when Black and White Impermanence identify Lady Houtu as the visitors’ mistress, and Dong Qianqiu agrees to leave 39.

Revisiting “Cui Jue Slays the Tiger”

• Cui Jue asks Du Yu to prevent the events that made him Grand Judge. Du Yu suggests presenting the choice to his younger self instead 40.
• Du Yu enters the legend as a Misfit serving the mortal Cui Jue. The legend’s immediate problem is that the old woman has not reported her son’s death, so the expected hearing has not begun 40 41.
• After discovering the earlier miscarriage of justice, Du Yu confronts Cui Jue and demonstrates that Sihuang is not indiscriminately bloodthirsty. Cui Jue reopens the case, hears Yatou’s account, and spares the tiger for killing Mengshan to protect her 48 49.
• At Du Yu’s suggestion, Cui Jue appoints Sihuang as Yatou’s adopted son. Lady Houtu then descends, but initially offers the Underworld position to Du Yu rather than Cui Jue 49.
• Du Yu persuades Lady Houtu to recruit Cui Jue as Civil Judge. Despite the offer of immediate ascension, the younger Cui Jue solemnly refuses because he cannot abandon someone important to him 50 51.
• At Du Yu’s intervention, Lady Houtu grants Cui Jue until that night to decide. Du Yu reveals that he comes from more than a thousand years in the future and explains the request made by Cui Jue’s immortal self 51.
• Cui Jue identifies his elderly mother as the person he cannot leave. Following Du Yu’s advice, he asks her wishes and learns that she wants him to become a just Underworld judge. His unresolved attachment dissolves, and he emerges ready to proceed with the appointment 51 52.
• Before Lady Houtu descends again, Du Yu relays her hypothetical question about assassinating a powerful Underworld figure. Cui Jue insists that right and wrong must determine his response and criticizes assassination as an improper way to settle a dispute 52.

Mediating the Underworld Conflict

• Cui Jue presides over the Eastern Peak Great Emperor’s questioning with the Nine-Turn Soul-Washing Whip, ensuring that questions remain within the agreed scope 63.
• When the questioning establishes the Eastern Emperor’s innocence but Zhong Kui still attempts to arrest him, Cui Jue objects and urges Du Yu to let him arrange the Eastern Emperor’s safety. Du Yu refuses to stand aside and fights Zhong Kui 63.
• Cui Jue subsequently calls for an end to the fighting and proposes uniting the Yamas and Ghost Emperors to identify the true instigator. Du Yu’s further investigation reveals inconsistencies in the King of Biancheng’s account and a suspicious computer-printed letter 65.
• After thanking Du Yu for resolving his personal attachment, Cui Jue joins the Enforcers in hearing Du Yu’s suspicion that the Bureau contains an insider. The group investigates its staff 65 67.
• Following the upheaval, Cui Jue praises Du Yu’s role in saving the Underworld’s leaders. On learning that the Jade Emperor was also targeted, he observes that formerly mortal rulers are more vulnerable to attacks made by altering their pasts than beings born with supernatural bodies 98.

Defending the Underworld Against Longing

• Cui Jue arrives with the other Enforcers and asks whether the Red-Clad Girl is the enemy confronting the Queen Mother of the West 286.
• The Eight Great Underworld Enforcers maintain a barrier around the Red-Clad Girl and White Wolf while the Queen Mother unleashes Infinite Thunderclaps. The strain nearly overwhelms them before she withdraws her magic 287.
• After White Wolf’s Reluctance and the Red-Clad Girl’s Longing are severed, Lady Houtu regains her memories and the Underworld is saved 287.

Evacuation and Regret

• While overseeing the evacuation of wandering ghosts, Cui Jue apologizes to Du Yu for making him an Operator, believing that his intervention deprived Du Yu of reincarnation and led him into suffering 342.
• Du Yu reassures him that he has no regrets and that the Operator’s life gave him his happiest memories. Cui Jue begins to express concern about Du Yu’s impending fate, then stops after noticing something in their exchange and returns to the evacuation 342.

The Backward Heart Sutra and Death

• Xiao Qi notifies Cui Jue that Du Yu is nearby, and he arrives to find him with the Northern Yin Great Emperor. Cui Jue requests a private conversation, but the Northern Emperor insists that he speak openly 365.
• Cui Jue draws close, apologizes, and abruptly attacks Du Yu with a Death-Urging Edict. The Northern Emperor blocks the attack and immediately impales Cui Jue with countless strands of silver-white hair 365.
• Cui Jue warns Du Yu to be careful before the hair is withdrawn and he falls bleeding. Du Yu tries to reach him and angrily challenges the Northern Emperor for killing him 365.
• The Northern Emperor attributes the attack to Great Dark Heaven’s backward Heart Sutra, which magnifies hidden regrets into murderous intent. He explains that the same influence threatens Du Yu through other immortals whose lives he has changed 365 366.

Notable Quotes

“I don't want to deceive you. What I need you to do really is dangerous.” 2

“Becoming the Grand Judge was certainly a good thing. Not only did I gain supreme magical power, I also gained immortality. But the price was losing the person who mattered most to me.” 40

“Although I do not know why Lady Houtu would resort to assassination, everything must be judged by right and wrong. If there is an issue, it can be addressed openly and honorably.” 52

“You really did untie the knot in my heart. I've been in wonderfully high spirits lately, though I still keep calling you Yuan Xiangqin.” 65

“Du Yu, you need to be careful...” 365

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