Secret of Spirit Gold from Xuanpu Mountain 玄圃山灵金秘录

The original author is unstated.

It is verified to be a Taoist text of the Zhengyi Dao from the late Tang Dynasty. Originally in three volumes, it was included in the Various Arts category of The Dongxuan Section of The Daozang. The book opens with a preface written by Huangfu Peng in the first year of the Xiantong reign (860 AD), which states that The Secret Record of Divine Gold embodies the profound and mysterious divine wonders of Xuanyuan Mountain. Legend has it that Xuanyuan Mountain is also known as the Kunlun Mountain, where there reigns the divine ruler Emperor Xutuo, along with fourteen pure deities who preside over the twelve provinces and control fortune and misfortune under heaven.

Secret of Spirit Gold from Xuanpu Mountain

The methods recorded in this book center on writing Taoist Talismans and reciting incantations to summon Emperor Xutuo and his twenty-four divine generals. Divided into three volumes, it contains fourteen methods: "The eight methods in the first volume can emulate heaven and earth, arouse thunder and lightning, alter celestial phenomena, dispel haze, dam river currents, freeze ice rivers, extinguish raging fires, and command snow and frost. The eight methods in the second volume can secure victory in battles, conceal soldiers, gush forth mountain springs, shoot fire arrows, summon Yin snow, transform men and horses, contract the earth's veins, and walk upon rivers and lakes. The eight methods in the third volume can summon radiant light, conceal one's physical form, transform substances, attach to dreams and souls, dispel deadly poisons, subdue flood dragons and mythical serpents, eliminate goblins and spirits, and tame powerful evil apparitions."

Beyond the fourteen core methods, additional magical arts are attached, including the Unobstructed Method, the Feigned Death Method, the Jar-Entering Method, the Art of Fetching Fish from a Basin, the Art of Making Paper Cranes Fly, and the Art of Hovering in the Air. It is evident that all the contents recorded in this book are Taoist miscellaneous arts.