Condensed Jade Sect

Biodata

Power Progression

History

Foundation and Xuanji’s Restoration

The Condensed Jade Sect was founded roughly three thousand years before the later Earth Pass Island conflicts. An early sect master possessed Pseudo-Nascent Soul strength and led its rapid rise 506.

Before Xuanji established its later dominance, the sect suffered a severe decline: its previous sect master and Xuanji’s master were killed, enemies surrounded it, and it approached collapse. Xuanji rebuilt it into a power whose influence extended across several archipelagos 774.

When Qing Chen arrived, the sect was described as the foremost sect in the Azure Wave Archipelago. This did not mean uncontested rule: four Golden Core powers maintained their own territories and checked one another’s expansion 38 118.

Subordinate Lineages and Rebellions

The sect governed through direct holdings, stationed officials, and affiliated cultivation lineages. Some subordinate forces retained substantial autonomy. The Yue Household, protected by a False Core expert, surrendered nearby Luofu Island to the sect but remained a powerful local authority on Mysterious Mountain Island 118.

A campaign against the Xu Household captured Sea Prosperity Island, but Blackwood Island’s False Core vice island master broke the War Treasure Ship’s sealing formation and rescued the household’s Foundation Establishment cultivators and key figures. Larger military commitments prevented immediate retaliation against Blackwood Island 180.

Qing Chen later presented evidence that the Yue Household had colluded with Blackwood Island, Si Snake Island, and the Impermanence Sect. Xu Jiuling and Gu Jianchun helped organize its suppression, using the Canhe Dragon-Imprisoning Formation to contain its forces. The household was ultimately destroyed, leaving Yue Chengfeng to pursue revenge through an enemy intelligence network 263 279 432.

Siege of Earth Jade Island

Simultaneous attacks by Blackwood Island and the Impermanence Sect devastated affiliated forces and breached the sect’s borders. Withered Earth Island—one of its only two third-tier islands at the time—was captured, while enemy agents sought potential defectors among its officials 431 432.

Twelve Golden Core True Persons besieged Earth Jade Island while Xuanji attempted his breakthrough. The defenders relied on their elders, five War Treasure Ships, and the Xuanji Heaven-Illuminating Formation. Ji Cangming’s betrayal severely damaged one treasure ship and weakened the defensive line 438 440 443.

Xuanji completed his dharma Nascent Soul and killed two opposing experts. Afterward, he proposed taking other Golden Core sects’ third-tier islands and combining their resources with Fourth Tier Spirit-Raising Talismans to create a heaven-grade island 444 447.

Qing Chen’s Administration

Qing Chen reorganized the sect into three halls and nine divisions. Its administration came to oversee seventy-two directly administered islands and 144 vassal islands, excluding numerous Yellow Grade islands 576.

His reforms removed seniority-abusing elders from substantive authority by placing them in the Attendant Hall. He also granted amnesty to those willing to submit, distributed unreclaimed spirit fields to rogue cultivators in exchange for fixed taxes, and established Condensed Jade Sect Academies on the former sites of the Dian Cang Sect, Blackwood Island, and the Impermanence Sect 587.

Expansion into Neighboring Waters

Qing Chen launched a campaign against Lesser Cold Temple with three Golden Core commanders and promised participating cultivators equipment, doubled stipends, and shares of the spoils. The temple’s outer guard islands fell under the sect’s ships and battle formations, and its eventual conquest alarmed neighboring powers 673 675 690.

A prolonged border war later concealed Xin Bairen’s diplomatic mission to recruit neighboring sects for a joint attack on Cold Mountain Temple. Several powers accepted because they hoped the campaign would overextend and weaken the Condensed Jade Sect 717.

During Qing Chen’s absence, Wan Hun and Budong advanced from Little Cold Island and Xuanchi Island against Cold Mountain Temple’s outlying holdings. Budong commanded essentially all forces belonging to Qing Chen’s faction 737.

Internal Power Struggle

Despite retaining the deputy sect master’s title, Qing Chen lost much of his institutional authority when Xuanji divided his powers. Wan Hun, Yuji, and the newly advanced Golden Core cultivator Chi Xuntian took control of much of the administration. Yuji replaced Xin Bairen at the head of Tianshu Hall, while Qing Chen’s remaining territorial authority centered on Hidden Earth Island and Earth Pass Island 772.

Qing Chen’s growing strength nevertheless made direct resistance dangerous. When Lin Changsheng delivered his order for five million mortals to be transferred to Earth Pass Island, Wan Hun agreed to provide six million. The sect mobilized its disciples and vassals to complete the transfer; months later, the sealed city housing them contained no mortals, while blood qi, resentment demons, and monsters appeared 787.

Final Leadership and Merger

Thirty years before the Nascent Soul Ceremony preparations described later, Budong became sect master at Xuanji’s insistence. Xuanji took the position of Second Grand Supreme and pressed for Qing Chen to become First Grand Supreme 1013.

Qing Chen’s reputation subsequently became a major source of the sect’s authority. On his return to Cangming Island, more than three thousand sect cultivators knelt to receive him; cultivators from across the island swelled the gathering to over ten thousand 1040.

Qing Chen ultimately announced the sect’s merger into the Demon Lotus Sect as an independent Condensed Jade Hall. True Lord Budong became its first hall master and received the title Immortality Wisdom King, one of the Four Great Devil Lords 1082.

Organization

Senior Authority

Three Halls

The three-hall structure operated beneath the sect master and Grand Elder. The Elder Hall nominally ranked first 576.

Nine Divisions

Although grouped as nine divisions, these departments retained “Hall” in their names 576.

Internal Factions

• Master–disciple factions — Built around teaching relationships, personal guidance, and preferential resource access 152.
• Lineage factions — Organized around cultivation families whose members supported one another’s advancement 152.
• Ascetic cultivator factions — More self-contained groups; Elder Shangshan belonged to this lineage 152 402.
• Third Grand Elder’s camp — Included Daoist Wine, Gu Jianchun, Xu Jiuling, and, before its suppression, the Yue Household 152.
• Qing Chen’s faction — Developed its own network of trusted officials. After his authority was curtailed, its members rallied around Budong, Xue Qingxia, Sun Wudi, and Xin Bairen 575 772.

Disciples and Cultivation

Original Disciple System

• Recruits who failed to reach middle Qi Refining within eight years were assigned miscellaneous duties, substantially reducing their cultivation time 38.
• Spiritual-root quality strongly affected recruitment by masters. Foundation Establishment cultivators had limited disciple places and generally preferred high-grade roots 152.
• Among seven or eight hundred Inner Sect disciples, roughly one in ten could attain Foundation Establishment—far above the ordinary rate of fewer than one in a hundred Qi Refining cultivators 176.
• Foundation Establishment protectors received stipends comparable to hall leaders but generally lacked command authority. Their role emphasized dangerous deployments rather than administration 179.

Jade Pivot Jade Heart Spirit Concentration Art

• The sect’s defining cultivation method supports advancement to the Nascent Soul realm. It steadies the mind, accelerates cultivation, and helps preserve the practitioner’s Dao heart in danger 38.
• Initially introduced as high-grade earth-tier, it is later described as a supreme-grade Earth Rank legacy art 38 551.
• Its associated techniques include the Jade Heart Soul-Slaying Blade, Xuanji Immortal-Binding Rope, and Ice-Jade Soul-Locking Needles 551.
• Its tenth level includes the low-grade Heaven Grade Xuanpo Divine Light. Driven by Xuanji’s Nascent Soul true essence, it shattered two mid-grade magic treasures and annihilated two late Golden Core opponents 551.
• The art also records the Jade Pivot Dharma Nascent Soul secret technique used during Xuanji’s breakthrough 444.

Scripture Repository and Resources

• The Scripture Repository held thirty or forty high-tier mystic-grade secret techniques, accumulated over several thousand years 260.
• Recorded arts included the Purple Cloud Mystic Art, Blood Cliff Scripture, One-Qi Dragon-Locking Grasping Hand, and Spirit-Concentrating Art 260.
• A high-tier mystic-grade technique cost more than ten thousand contribution points. Contribution points were substantially more valuable than spirit stones 303.
• The General Affairs Hall’s exchange catalogue included magical artifacts, spiritual materials, pills, and talismans 116.
• Ordinary elders preparing for Core Formation generally secured a Kan-Li Golden Core and Purity Incense. More valuable aids, including the Golden Jade Liquid Returning Pill and Dragon-Tiger Golden Core, were difficult even for Golden Core cultivators to obtain 303.

Territory and Strongholds

• At the time of Qing Chen’s reorganization, the sect administered 72 direct islands and 144 vassal islands, with numerous Yellow Grade islands outside that tally 576.
• Xuanji described its wider domain as spanning a million li of sea, governing over a billion mortals and hundreds of thousands of cultivators 552.
• Later expansion incorporated nearly half the former waters of the Cold Mountain, Three Corpses, and Heavenly Illumination archipelagos into the Azure Wave Archipelago 1012.

Military Strength

War Treasure Ships

• Formation-powered spirit cannons gave the sect’s ships overwhelming force against smaller cultivation lineages 154.
• Five War Treasure Ships participated in the defense of Earth Jade Island, with Demon-Suppressing Runes along their keels 438.
• Their power depended on maintaining their formations and structural integrity: Blackwood Island’s vice island master broke one sealing formation, while Ji Cangming’s sabotage nearly halved another ship’s fighting strength 180 443.

Formations and Dao Soldiers

• Canhe Dragon-Imprisoning Formation — Used to blockade Mysterious Mountain Island and restrict Yue Household breakout attempts. Its power had to be allocated carefully between threatened fronts 279 285.
• Xuanji Heaven-Illuminating Formation — Activated by the elders to defend Earth Jade Island against the twelve attacking True Persons 440.
• Fourth-tier low-grade Island-Protecting Grand Array — Later formed a central part of Xuanji’s claimed ability to resist powerful Nascent Soul opponents 570.
• Dao soldier battle formations — Enabled forces transported on ordinary spirit boats to display strength that surprised Cold Mountain Temple’s Dharma Master Chanxin, who had expected such power to require War Treasure Ships 541.

Legacy Treasure

• Budong possessed the sect’s only high-grade magic treasure at the time of Xuanji’s breakthrough. Its activation required a body cultivator of the Wisdom King lineage 447.
• Later examination identified the treasure as a replica of the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda. Vajra Realm cultivation permitted only basic activation; Immortal Realm bodily strength was needed to unleash its greater power 900.

External Relations

• Demon Lotus Sect — Qing Chen’s separate power cooperated with Condensed Jade forces in military operations. The Condensed Jade Sect eventually merged into it 575 1082.
• Dian Cang Sect — Initially a potential threat requiring precautionary deployments. Its two Golden Core True Persons later joined Condensed Jade and became honorary Guest Elder Hall masters 230 576.
• Blackwood Island — A major military rival that sheltered the Xu Household’s senior cultivators and participated in attacks on Condensed Jade territory 180 431.
• Impermanence Sect — A longstanding enemy that tied down the sect’s forces, supported covert intelligence work, and led the siege of Earth Jade Island 230 432 440.
• Cold Mountain Temple — A neighboring power that became the target of territorial encroachment and Qing Chen’s proposed coalition campaign 717 737.
• Eight Serpent Sect — Engaged in border conflict with Qing Chen, then became involved in the anti–Cold Mountain Temple campaign 717 737.
• Vajra Zen Sect — A superior regional power whose intervention curtailed fighting. Qing Chen later recognized an effort to bind both him and the Condensed Jade Sect to its strategic interests 737 1038.
• Snake Spirit Way — Opposed the sect’s coercive practices, particularly the forced recruitment of cultivators and martial warriors for Earth Pass Island’s upgrading 506.

Governance and Abuses

• Coercive mobilization — Repeated conscription left subordinate lineages resentful and demoralized, limiting the forces available for the Chanda Island campaign 230.
• Predatory expansion — Qing Chen regarded killing, territorial seizure, appropriation of spirit veins, and oppression of rogue cultivators and small lineages as routine sect practices 524.
• Qin Household destruction — Jade slips recovered by Lin Changsheng recorded a secret agreement between the sect and the Qin Household, followed by the sect’s sudden hostility and near-extermination of the family. The reason for the reversal was not given 219.
• Selective enforcement — Officials tolerated the Earth Lotus Island Qing Household’s abduction of female cultivators, including Inner Sect disciples, because they feared a possible connection to Qing Chen 787.
• Mass mortal transfer — Under Qing Chen’s command, the sect transported six million mortals to Earth Pass Island. Their subsequent disappearance from a sealed city was accompanied by blood qi and the emergence of resentment demons and monsters 787.