The Method of the Ninefold Golden Elixir 大洞炼真宝经九还金丹妙诀

Compiled by Chen Shaowei, a Taoist priest of the Tang Dynasty.

Originally one chapter of The Precious Scripture of Great Cavern for Cultivating Truth, the version in The Daozang was separated into an independent volume, included in the Methods category of the The Dongshen Section.

This text is divided into two chapters: Chapter on Verifying Qualities and Embracing the Origin and Chapter on Completing the Elixir and Returning to Truth. Each chapter is further divided into nine grades. The first three grades detail methods for extracting cinnabar to obtain mercury, refining mercury to fuse with gold, and processing gold to combine with medicines. They also describe the producing areas and properties of mineral medicines such as aerugo, azurite, black quartz, fossil stone, rock salt, and Glauber's salt. The middle three grades discuss the five metallic minerals, the subduing and refining of the four yellows, and the transformation of yang gold. It states that gold, silver, copper, iron, lead (and tin)—the five metals—contain intense yin toxins; ingesting them will damage muscles and bones, shortening one's lifespan. They must be subdued and refined with the four yellows (realgar, orpiment, arsenic sulfide, and sulfur) to transform the nature of the five metals into yang gold (cinnabar), which through further refinement becomes the return elixir. The final three grades elaborate on the secrets of combining the great elixir, controlling the furnace and cauldron's firing temperature, and verifying truth through the completed elixir. It claims that preparing and ingesting the elixir in accordance with the methods will enable one to ascend and attain true immortality.