Biography of Grand Protector Wen 地祗上将温太保传

Revised and supplemented by Huang Gongjin, a Taoist priest of the Southern Song Dynasty.

One volume, included in the Daozang in the category of Genealogies and Records in the Dongshen Section.

Biography of Grand Protector Wen

This book records the deeds of Supreme General Wen Taibao of the Earthly Spirits. Wen Qiong, courtesy name Ziwang, was a native of Pingyang, Wenzhou. He was once a valiant general under Guo Ziyi, a famous commander of the Tang Dynasty. Later, being suspected by Guo Ziyi, he fled to Mount Tai, where he slaughtered oxen and sold wine. After being instructed by an immortal, he became Taibao of the Eastern Yue.

During the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the people of Wenzhou prayed for rain to relieve the drought, performed rituals to thank Heaven, and memorialized to the Dark Emperor to recommend Wen Qiong. Between the Xuanyhe reign period (1119–1125), Master Xuqing Zhang Jixian further created for him the Ritual of the Earthly Spirits and Director of Justice as well as talismans, spells and formulae, placing him in command of ghostly troops to assist Celestial Master Xuqing and other immortals in performing rituals to benefit the world, specializing in beheading demons, subduing monsters, slaying ghosts and driving away plagues.

Accordingly, Wen Taibao was indeed a divine general worshipped by the Zhengyi Dao sect in the Song Dynasty. Attached after this biography is an essay entitled Supplement to the Biography of Wen Taibao, in which Huang Gongjin collected what he had seen and heard to supplement the missing parts of the original text.