Zong Jue

Zong Jue is a Golden-Winged Great Peng whose strength and speed make him one of the Mortal Realm's two acknowledged supreme experts. Although later incorporated into the Bird Clan's hierarchy, he retains a personal code independent of its ruler and risks imperial punishment to repay kindness shown by Uncle Lan and Qin Yu's brothers.

Biography

Hegemon of the Chaotic Astral Ocean

Zong Jue rules Devil Peng Island without encouraging ceremonial deference, preferring visitors to call him by name rather than “island master.” When Qin Yu arrives after saving Lian Chong, Zong Jue questions the unusual flame and pill that reveal the depth of Qin Yu's inheritance. Learning of Uncle Lan changes his reserve into genuine warmth: he recognizes an old benefactor's influence, treats Qin Yu as a junior ally, and gives him a black identity card that grants privileged standing on the island. (Chapters 231–234)

His leadership combines overwhelming authority with stewardship. Zong Jue refuses to remove the top-grade core of Devil Peng Island's elemental-holy-rock deposit even though Qin Yu needs it, because extracting the core would stop a resource preserved by successive rulers for millions of years from renewing itself. Later, when Qin Yu reveals Ni Yang's Realm, Zong Jue mobilizes the normally divided Chaotic Astral Ocean in pursuit of the opportunity, but keeps the intelligence restricted to senior leaders so that greed does not throw the whole region into disorder. (Chapters 233–257)

Contest for Ni Yang's Realm

Zong Jue and Fang Tian converge on Mount Qingxu as peers seeking the Heaven-Sundering Diagram. Zong Jue breaks the defenders' confidence, takes command of the Chaotic Astral Ocean contingent, captures Reverend Ming Liang, and refuses to surrender the diagram merely because the Dragon Clan also helped. Yet he can negotiate when force reaches its useful limit: he agrees to an interrogation wager with Fang Tian and reassesses the field when the Sword Immortal Puppet's superior equipment makes a direct contest uncertain. (Chapters 257–263)

Inside Ni Yang's Realm, Zong Jue survives while many subordinates and rival entrants die, and his speed carries him through the Blue Clouds Road faster than the other principal contenders. In the Nine Heavens contest he uses the black scimitar Uncle Lan gave him, battles for the Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas, and clears the sixth trial room despite facing a level-six Golden Immortal Sword Spirit. He finishes third, receives divine-grade rewards, and emerges close to his next breakthrough, with his gratitude toward Uncle Lan strengthened by the weapon's role in keeping him alive. (Chapters 271–303)

A favor repaid under the Peng Demon Emperor

Centuries after ascending, Zong Jue is a prestigious Bird-Clan figure whose report inadvertently starts Hei Yu's persecution. He had praised Hei Yu as a rare variation divine beast with Peng inheritance, expecting the Peng Demon Emperor to value that potential; instead, the ruler immediately issues a death warrant. When Qin Yu's brothers confront him, Zong Jue answers directly, reconstructs the conversation as accurately as he can, and admits that his introduction caused the danger even though he neither intended nor understood the resulting order. (Chapters 403–404)

Zong Jue then chooses action over apology. He has sheltered Bai Xin without mistreating her, and secretly escorts her from the Imperial City to reunite with Hei Yu and Bai Ling. Imperial agents expose the attempt before the meeting can occur, but Zong Jue openly defies their rebuke and leaves because they lack both justification and power to kill a Golden-Winged Great Peng of his status. Summoned afterward, he acknowledges the disobedience without quibbling and explains it as repayment of Uncle Lan's grace, accepting a death threat if he crosses the emperor again. (Chapters 405–408)

Appearance and personality

Zong Jue appears as a composed man whose watery gaze and natural manner initially remind Qin Yu of Uncle Lan, though the pressure of an invincible expert remains beneath that calm. His earlier ferocity has been disciplined rather than erased: he is courteous to guests and protective of long-term resources, but becomes cold and uncompromising when rivals contest what he has decided to claim. Pride does not prevent accountability; in the Bird Clan, he admits his mistake concerning Hei Yu and risks his position to make amends. (Chapters 232–233, 255–260, 403–408)

Abilities and cultivation

Golden-Winged Great Peng cultivation

In the Mortal Realm, Zong Jue is a twelfth-tribulation loose demon and a super divine beast. Golden-Winged Great Peng inheritance gives him the realm's foremost speed: other great experts concede that only he can outpace Yu Liang, and he crosses the Blue Clouds Road faster than the other principal challengers. His attack power is likewise exceptional enough to threaten top formations and contend with Fang Tian, but the chapters do not assign his Peng form a named signature technique. After Ni Yang's Realm, he anticipates breaking through and ascending as a level-one Demon King. (Chapters 232–246, 257–261, 293–303)

His superiority is powerful but not absolute. Destroying the Ten Development Illusionary Formation alone would require either methodically breaking every base or exposing a secret weapon he reserves for mortal danger, so he initially delegates the work. Sword Immortal Lan Feng's top-grade equipment makes victory uncertain even for Zong Jue in true form, and Ni Yang's sixth trial injures him despite his success. In the upper realm, his status protects him from ordinary imperial agents but not from the Peng Demon Emperor, whose inherited treasure and level-eight cultivation leave Zong Jue genuinely afraid of execution. (Chapters 259–263, 296–301, 405–408)

Black scimitar

Uncle Lan's black scimitar is Zong Jue's principal documented weapon. Its toughness approaches that of a low-quality Divine Artifact and it nullifies part of the rebound from collisions, allowing Zong Jue to exchange blows with heavily equipped rivals and survive a trial that otherwise exceeds his apparent margin. It does not make him invulnerable: combined attacks still repel or injure him, and he credits survival of the sixth room to the weapon's protection rather than claiming the result as personal strength alone. (Chapters 262, 296–303)

Power progression

Relationships

• Qin Yu: Zong Jue becomes friendly after recognizing Uncle Lan's influence, cooperates with Qin Yu in the treasure struggle, and later helps Qin Yu's brothers because their elder once aided him.
• Fang Tian: His peer among the Mortal Realm's supreme experts. They cooperate against shared obstacles while bargaining and competing over the Heaven-Sundering Diagram and Ni Yang's inheritance.
• Hei Yu: Zong Jue admires Hei Yu's potential, inadvertently alerts the Peng Demon Emperor to him, and then accepts responsibility by trying to reunite Hei Yu's family.
• Bai Xin: Zong Jue shelters her in his mansion and attempts to escort her to her sister and Hei Yu, treating her as a person rather than merely the bait the imperial faction intends her to be.
• Lian Chong: His nephew and subordinate, whose rescue introduces Qin Yu to Devil Peng Island. Zong Jue respects Lian Chong's friendship with Qin Yu while making his own judgment of the newcomer.
• Peng Demon Emperor: His ruler and fellow Golden-Winged Great Peng. Zong Jue's rarity makes him a possible successor and buys him one warning, but his personal obligations lead him to violate the emperor's order.

Items

• Heaven-Sundering Diagram: Knowledge of the diagrams prompts Zong Jue to unite the Chaotic Astral Ocean, assault Mount Qingxu, and enter the struggle surrounding Ni Yang's Realm.
• Black scimitar: A weapon given by Uncle Lan whose exceptional toughness and reduction of rebound help Zong Jue survive Ni Yang's trials.