Volume 1, Chapter 38 – Three Generations of Annotations

Bai Xiang studied the translated lines carefully and realized Bai Zhuqing hadn’t been talking nonsense.

The Scripture of Returning to Origin and Transforming Qi is broadly divided into three parts.

The first part consists of authorial remarks.

There are three authors in all, in chronological order: “Monk Yuanjue,” “Daoist Qu,” and “Chan Master Wenluo.”

Monk Yuanjue and Daoist Qu were ancients, and parts of their marginalia are missing; therefore, Chan Master Wenluo’s annotations are primary, theirs secondary. Over eighty percent of this section consists of Wenluo’s insights and his re-readings of earlier notes.

Of them, Monk Yuanjue claims to be the scripture’s author. He wrote of his reflections on the Daoist “Five-Dragon Method,” trying to combine the Buddhist Vajra with the Daoist Five Qi, to pursue a path centered on the “true self,” cultivating “inside and out,” and reaching for true immortality.

The so-called Five-Dragon Method refers to an early school within Daoist thought.

It holds that the five viscera are the Five Qi, and the Five Qi are five dragons. One is to lodge the five dragons in the “heart” and use human “spirit” to rein the heart-dragon; this yields wondrous effects.

Monk Yuanjue also recorded an example: in remote antiquity there was a nameless mountain, within it a nameless abbey. A group of Daoists kept it, and one of them learned the “Five-Dragon Heart Method” from his master. Day after day he trained with diligence, never slacking.

Later, war erupted in the mortal world; all his senior brothers went down the mountain. Only he remained at the abbey, spending each day either farming, hauling water, or cultivating—utterly unaware of the passing years in the hills.

Until people came again to the abbey, and upon seeing him were aghast, exclaiming, “Are we in the presence of Patriarch Guanyun?”

They fetched a portrait of a Daoist and compared it with him; even the Daoist himself was shocked to find it identical to the face he used to see in the mirror—the same youthful features as before.

They asked the reason. The visitors, frightened, said, “This painting was left by our grandfather, who charged us descendants to find this ‘Guanyun Abbey’ and bring Grandfather’s remains to rest here.”

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“When Grandfather left the painting, he said the Patriarch was his junior brother… but many years have now passed since the time Grandfather named. Seeing the Patriarch today matches the portrait without the slightest difference—dare we ask, have you sought the Way and attained immortality?”

Hearing this, the Daoist froze. Counting on his fingers against the details they gave, he found it had been more than two hundred years since his master and senior brothers had gone down the mountain!

He had practiced here in these green hills alone for over two centuries!

Taking this in, the Daoist smiled at the visitors and said, “So I have outlived a second century…”

Before the words fell, he aged in a rush. Skin wrinkled and split, flesh and bone hardened and shattered—before their eyes he crumbled into a heap of yellow earth.

Though none who later practiced the “Five-Dragon Heart Method” ever accomplished anything similar—and even the method’s general outline is incomplete—Monk Yuanjue swore this tale was no legend.

In his view, those who failed did not fail because the “Five-Dragon Heart Method” was at fault, but because their own “hearts” were at fault.

The idea is a little convoluted; put simply: if you do a thing with a mind free of distractions, then so long as you maintain the realm of the Five-Dragon Method, the thing must succeed.

But if you grasp the principle and know you are certain to succeed, your realm is broken; however you try to be free of distractions thereafter, you will not manage it.

Isn’t that even more metaphysical than the Great Yu Sword Dao’s spiritual blessing?

At this point, Bai Xiang finally understood why, despite the presence of Buddhism and Daoism, Sword Dao still rides on their necks.

Daoist arts this nebulous—by modern lights they’re straight-up heresy.

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And the Buddhist ones are even more far-out—the “Vajra method” Monk Yuanjue tried to fuse with the Five-Dragon Method is purely about hammering the flesh.

He believed the “Daoist Guanyun” had a real chance at immortality; that he later became a handful of dust was, on one hand, because his cultivation of mind was lacking and his realm broke, and on the other, because his body was too weak.

If he had both realm and body, the case of “living several more centuries” might have been preserved.

As for how he “tempered the body to the extreme”—

It says he used many means, including “body forging,” “elixirs,” and the secret method of “body-pressing.”

“Weren’t ancient ‘elixirs’ basically heavy‑metal poison pills…”

Bai Zhuqing’s eyes had been following Bai Xiang; naturally she noticed where Bai Xiang was reading. She pouted and muttered at the side.

“And that ‘body‑pressing’—that’s Buddhist training from over a thousand years ago… dissolve mercury or gold and dunk a person in it. No wonder he died so early…”

That bizarre?

Bai Xiang hadn’t expected that either.

Figures it dropped off a small-time goon; this secret method is probably worthless.

Most likely no one at Jinchan Temple could cultivate it. Either it was thrown in to sweeten a trade, or that demonic type was curious and copied it to carry around.

So it’s still more reliable to go to Tao Shuohua.

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Settling her thoughts, Bai Xiang kept reading.

Monk Yuanjue fell into deviation, tormenting his own body at will; by his thirties he died suddenly, leaving behind this nameless scripture.

Later, “Daoist Qu” came into possession of the book in Tianding 940. It was in his hands that it was formally titled The Scripture of Returning to Origin and Transforming Qi.

Daoist Qu’s given name was Huang Ye. In Tianding 938, Great Yu was aflame with war again; he chose to descend the mountain and, by chance, acquired the book.

In chaotic times self‑protection arts are scarce. After receiving it, he studied it closely and decided that although Monk Yuanjue had gone astray, parts of his thinking were worth borrowing.

This Huang Ye was gifted; his phrasing was elegant, and he wielded the classics with ease.

His theory boils down to one line: Buddhist body‑cultivation is bluster; keep the Five‑Dragon Heart Method as the general outline and use Sword Dao routines to temper the body.

At this point it finally began to sound plausible.

Right—whether Buddhist or Daoist, under Human Principle (renli) there’s no supernormal Outward Aspect. The root of supernormal Outward Aspect lies in the Demon Pool and only Sword Dao can draw on it. Monk Yuanjue insisted on skirting Sword Dao to tinker on his own—no wonder he died, truly not unjust.

Daoist Qu refined the method’s theory: one must “cultivate inside and out.” The heart‑aspect inwardly cultivates the Five‑Dragon Method; the Outward Aspect outwardly cultivates Demon Pool methods. Combine the two to form a distinctive “qi,” and with it protect the Way for longevity, sweep aside foes, and be invincible.

But he didn’t complete it either.

First he suffered a training mishap that left him gravely wounded. While hiding in a ruined temple to heal, pursuers found him; before he could test his ideas, he died then and there.

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He left only a few last words, lamenting Heaven and Earth’s indifference and the world’s injustice; if there were a next life, he would reclaim this method and finish the Great Way.

Lastly come “Chan Master Wenluo’s” annotations.

They are also the most numerous.

Despite the volume, they can be boiled down to a short passage:

By prior practice, the Five‑Dragon Method conflicts with Sword Dao; train it after forging the sword and it easily draws demonic aura into the heart‑aspect, polluting the will. If one wishes to cultivate it, one must, before forging the sword, gather heavenly materials and earthly treasures and create new meridians from nothing within the body’s inner landscape.

Thus, with a brand‑new flow‑route for the mind‑current to warm and nourish, the two will no longer be in conflict.

He further stressed that the various Nurture‑the‑Spirit methods must advance in step.

[The human body is the essence of Heaven and Earth; exclusively chasing strengths or patching weaknesses is no wise course, but a heterodox path.]

[Skin, flesh, viscera, bone, marrow.]

[Spirit, soul, intent, corporeal soul, essence.]

[Only by integrating the principles and advancing all methods together is there any chance of attaining the unity of Heaven and Man and remaking the innate perfect body.]