The Great Elixir of Ninefold Numinous Cinnabar 九转灵砂大丹

The compiler is unknown, but it is believed to have been written between the Tang and Song dynasties. Consisting of one volume, it is included in the Methods category of the The Dongshen Section in The Daozang.

This book details the method of refining the Ninefold Transforming Spirit Cinnabar Great Elixir. First, make preparations: stir-fry and grind mercury and sulfur into fine powder of blue gold head, build furnaces and cast cauldrons, refine and decoct cinnabar, and make silver beads with fine silver.

Once the preparations are completed, start refining the ninefold elixir. For the first transformation, first combine silver beads with decocted spirit cinnabar to form the medicinal base, put it into the furnace, seal and fix it tightly, heat up the fire and refine it to obtain the Initial True Elixir. Then, take the elixir refined from the previous transformation as the raw material, add more cinnabar and mercury, and conduct heating and refining. In this way, one obtains successively the Second Transformation Righteous Yang Elixir, the Third Transformation Absolute True Elixir, the Fourth Transformation Numinous Wonder Elixir, the Fifth Transformation Water Immortal Elixir, the Sixth Transformation Profound Communication Elixir, the Seventh Transformation Precious Divine Elixir, the Eighth Transformation Divine Treasure Elixir, and the Ninth Transformation Ascension to Immortality Elixir. The book records in detail the medicinal ingredients required for each transformation and the methods of adding ingredients and refining by heating. It is claimed that starting from the fifth transformation, the obtained elixir can transmute mercury into gold. When the ninefold elixir is finally refined, ingesting it enables one to ascend to immortality.