The Jade Cinnabar Cold Forest Jade Tree Container 碧玉朱砂寒林玉树匮

Originally attributed to Master Chen of Xishu, this book is believed to have been compiled around the Southern Song Dynasty. Consisting of one volume, it is included in the Methods category of the The Dongshen Section in The Daozang.

The Jade Cinnabar Cold Forest Jade Tree Container

This work details a method for nurturing cinnabar, which is quite intricate. Generally, lead, mercury, borax, and other medicinal materials are first mixed evenly and placed in a sealed container (kui); cinnabar is then added to the container, which is tightly sealed for nurturing until it transforms into a blue-subdued cinnabar. The subdued cinnabar is then mixed with raw cinnabar, placed back in the container, and forged with fire twice to produce white cinnabar, named "Unmelting White Snow". This white cinnabar is ground into powder as a medicinal ingredient, which "can be used to make a treasure-nurturing and life-prolonging container". When raw mercury is added and sealed for three days, mercury shoots one to two inches long will grow. The white cinnabar is then successively mixed with medicines and sealed for nurturing four more times, restoring its red color to become the Return Elixir (Huandan). The book states: "When cinnabar is nurtured seven times, it becomes extremely red, and the elixir essence is fully formed—hence the name Return Elixir, which is now complete in all aspects." Adding realgar to the Return Elixir can nurture Yellow Sprout (Huangya): "Yellow Sprout is highly spiritual; together with mercury shoots, it can be transmuted into gold."

It is claimed that this method originated from Qingcheng Mountain in Xishu and was passed down by Master Pu from the Taoist temple by West Lake in Hangzhou, "a time-tested secret recipe". The second half of the original book contains five sections on treasure-nurturing methods, including: Nurturing Geng Cinnabar in the Jade Cinnabar Container, Forging, Separating the Sacred Embryo, Transforming and Nurturing Mercuric Chloride, and Forming Mother Geng Cinnabar. It is said that by nurturing Geng Cinnabar with fire for nine days according to the method, the Geng Cinnabar transforms into a treasure—"when smelted, it does not break and attains a perfect pure color".