Expanded Record of the Yellow Emperor 广黄帝本行记

Compiled by Wang Guan, the Assistant Magistrate of Jin'an in Langzhou during the The Tang Dynasty. This work is the very three-volume Expanded Records of Xuanyuan's Deeds by Wang Guan recorded in the New Book of Tang · Bibliographical Treatise.

In the existing version of the The Daozang, the first two volumes are lost, with only the original last volume surviving, which is included in the Biographical Category of the The Dongzhen Section.

Expanded Record of the Yellow Emperor

Titled "Cultivating Virtue and Dao", this volume mainly narrates the story of Xuanyuan the Yellow Emperor seeking the true Dao and visiting recluses in his later years, ultimately attaining the true Dao and becoming an immortal. The book states that after pacifying and governing the world, the Yellow Emperor traveled far and wide to seek out true immortals and recluses: he received the Inner Script of the Three Emperors from Master Zifu, the Methods of the Nine Eggplants from Master Zhonghuang, and the Spirit Immortal Ganoderma Chart from the Yellow Canopy Lad. He also obtained the Nine Cycle Elixir Formula from the Mysterious Maiden, the Dragon Pride Classic from Master Ningfeng, and inquired about the way of longevity and eternal vision from Guangchengzi and the Heavenly True August Personage. Later, the Yellow Emperor cultivated the Dao and compiled books; in his final years, he cast nine tripods, refined immortal elixirs and took them, rode a dragon to ascend to heaven, and was enfeoffed as the Supreme One True Lord. His descendants inherited his legacy for a total of 1,250 years.

The events recorded in the book are mainly drawn from historical texts and Taoist scriptures such as the Zhuangzi, Liezi, Biographies of Immortals, Classic of Mountains and Seas, Records of the Grand Historian, Numinous Treasure Five Talisman Classic, and True Form Diagrams of the Five Great Mountains. The narrative ends in the gengxin year, the second year of the Guangming reign of the Great Tang (881 CE).