Taiji Zhenren's Ninefold Elixir Method 太极真人九转还丹经要诀

The author is unknown.

Judging from its content and language, it seems to have been written by Taoist priests of the Shangqing School during the Northern and Southern Dynasties or the Sui and Tang dynasties.

It consists of one volume and is included in the Methods category of the Dongshen Section of The Daozang.

The scripture is falsely attributed to Lord Wang of Xicheng, expounding the method of refining the Nine-Cycle Reversible Elixir. The process begins with making an earthen cauldron, building a room and erecting a stove. Then, alum, azurite, white quartz, cinnabar, realgar and orpiment are ground into fine powder and put into the cauldron in sequence, followed by pouring mercury over the mixture. After sealing the cauldron, the mixture is nurtured and refined with mild heat for ninety days and nights to form the reversible elixir. Once cooled, the cauldron is opened and the elixir is collected with a feather. It is claimed that taking the elixir with clear water facing east at dawn enables one to split into multiple bodies, become invisible and soar in the void. The elixir can also be used to transmute lead and tin into gold and silver. In addition, the elixir residue left in the cauldron is pounded together with white sand honey to make the Supreme Ultimate Life-Restoring Divine Pills, which are said to raise the dead, cure disabilities, blindness and deafness. At the end of the book, it also records the formulas for making the Yellow Emperor's Four-Fan Powder, the Queen Mother's Four-Boy Powder and Master Mao's Five Kinds of Ganoderma Lucidum Velvet. It is stated that preparing and taking these medicines in accordance with the formulas can help one abstain from grains, cure diseases, restore youth and be ranked as an immortal official. The elixir refining method recorded in this text is a typical practice of Taoism, and the selection and combination of its mineral ingredients conform to the theoretical system of the five elements in traditional Chinese philosophy.