Xuan Jiu

Xuan Jiu is the oldest and most accomplished of Saint Defier's three lords, an initial-stage Avacaniya cultivator whose inborn divination can read even deeply hidden fates. His confidence in that gift leads him to investigate Su Ming, but the prediction exacts a unique life-price and draws Xuan Jiu into the curse that destroys him.

Biography

Arid Triad and the dying aeon

Introduced through a contest of divine thoughts with Sovereign of Dawn Yan Pei, Xuan Jiu is said to have remained a Lord Saint Defier since the universe's creation and never passed down his legacy. Later, when Yan Pei sends warning of Su Ming's approach, Xuan Jiu reads the warning as attempted pressure and decides to calculate the danger himself. He casts his inborn Art with nine beast bones. Su Ming's fate resists him so strongly that the bones crumble, his hand and fingers are destroyed, he ages, and he coughs nine mouthfuls of blood before extracting a cyclone from space and predicting death through the "broken army." (Chapters 1274, 1307–1311)

The result proves unstable: Xuan Jiu admits that drawing out Su Ming's life required exchanging his own and can be done only once. When Su Ming remains alive despite the foreseen death, backlash severely damages Xuan Jiu. A later Curse spreading through Xuan Jiu, Xiao Song, and Fei Hua consumes their lives and cultivation, concentrating its worst effects on him. He refuses to accept defeat even as both hands dissolve and his body festers, but ultimately becomes a puddle of black water. Fei Hua's later summary is blunt: Xuan Jiu died, Xiao Song went mad, and all three lost. (Chapters 1311, 1330–1341)

Appearance and personality

Xuan Jiu is an old man with a hoarse voice described as carrying the flow of time. He is ancient, analytical, proud of a divination record that has never failed, and stubborn enough to endure mutilation rather than release a calculation. Determination sustains the Art but also prevents retreat when its backlash becomes unmistakable.

Abilities and cultivation

Xuan Jiu remains at the initial stage of Avacaniya Realm, but his heart cultivation approaches the realm's boundary, making him stronger than the other comparable lords. His inborn divination uses nine beast bones to draw a target's preordained fate from space. It can reach even sleeping ancient monsters, yet Su Ming's obscured existence imposes extreme costs: ruined fingers and hand, accelerated aging, nine mouthfuls of blood, severe constitutional damage, and a once-in-a-lifetime exchange of life. The forecast is not infallible, as Su Ming survives its apparent conclusion. Xuan Jiu also participates in a curse working with the other lords, but the returning curse consumes life and cultivation instead of granting lasting power. (Chapters 1307–1332)

Relationships

• Su Ming: Xuan Jiu treats him as a threat to calculate and later curse. Su Ming's resistance turns both methods back on him and culminates in his death. (Chapters 1307–1341)
• Xiao Song and Fei Hua: They are his fellow Lord Saint Defiers and partners in the curse. Their connection spreads the backlash among them, with Xuan Jiu receiving the concentrated damage. (Chapters 1307, 1330–1341)
• Yan Pei: Xuan Jiu bests him in a divine-thought game but distrusts his later warning, reading it as a strategic attempt to pressure Saint Defier. (Chapters 1274, 1307)

Items

• Nine beast bones: Casting implements for Xuan Jiu's inborn prediction Art. They crumble when Su Ming's fate resists calculation, showing that they facilitate rather than guarantee the result. (Chapters 1307–1311)