Laozi and the Three Pure Ones

T he disciples came out to look at the Zhuxian Formation, and what they saw was four swords. One hung at the eastern gate — the Sword That Slays Immortals. One at the south — the Sword That Butchers Immortals. One at the west — the Sword That Traps Immortals. One at the north — the Sword That Ends Immortals. The array had gates before it and behind it, and gates within its gates, and out of every opening came a killing air, thick and settled, and a cold wind that went through the bone. It was not built to stop an army. It was built to kill gods, and there were only a handful of beings in all of heaven with rank enough to walk into it and come out the other side. The disciples came to look at the Zhuxian Formation (Zhūxiān Zhèn). They saw a Zhuxian Sword hung at the due east, a Luxian Sword at the due south, a Xianxian Sword at the due west, and a Juexian Sword at the due north. There were gates and doors before and behind; the killing air was dense, and a dark wind blew cold.

Onto the field came an old man on the back of a flat-horned green ox, the ox led by the Great Marshal of the Mysterious Capital, and the two of them drifted down out of the air as lightly as a leaf settling. This was Laozi. He gave the ox a slap and turned it toward the west, toward the gate of the Trapping Sword, and when he urged it forward its four hooves threw up auspicious light and white mist, purple vapor and red cloud, all of it boiling up around him. Then he shook open the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate, and it unrolled into a bridge of gold, and he rode across it into the killing gate with his head held high, the way a man walks into his own courtyard. On the flat-horned green ox sat a sage, and the Great Marshal of Xuandu (Xuándū) led the ox; they drifted down lightly. Laozi (Lǎozǐ) slapped the green ox and came toward the western Dui (duì) quarter; reaching the Xianxian Gate, he urged the ox onward, and its four hooves raised auspicious light and white mist, purple vapor and red cloud, rising in billows. Laozi then shook open the Taiji Diagram (Tàijí Tú), which became a golden bridge, and he entered the Xianxian Gate boldly.

Tongtian Jiaozhu, who had raised the formation, watched the old man cross into it as though it were an empty room, and the sight turned his whole face red and set his whole body burning. He brought his sword up in a hurry to meet him. In the middle of the fighting Laozi only laughed. "You don't understand the highest Way," he said. "What business have you founding a school?" — and he swung his crutch flat across the other man's face. He swung it again. For all his rage, Tongtian was giving ground to an old man with a stick. Tongtian Jiaozhu (Tōngtiān Jiàozhǔ) saw Laozi enter the formation as if entering a place with no one in it; without meaning to, his whole face flushed red and his whole body took fire, and he hurried his sword up to meet him. In the midst of the fight Laozi laughed and said: "You do not understand the utmost Way — how can you preside over founding a school?" and again brought the flat crutch striking at his face.

“One old man walked into a formation built to kill gods, and turned himself into four.”

Then Laozi took hold of the green ox and sprang clear of the ring, and he pushed back the fish-tail crown on his head, and from the crown three streams of breath rose up — and each stream of breath became a man. One breath, three immortals, standing in the air where a moment before there had been only an old man on an ox. Then Laozi went back to fighting Tongtian, and now he was not alone. Then Laozi took up the green ox and leaped out of the ring; he pushed his fish-tail crown, and three streams of qi issued from the crown of his head and became the Three Pure Ones (Sān Qīng). Laozi came again to fight Tongtian Jiaozhu.

They came dressed for a court in heaven. The lord of Highest Purity wore a crown of nine clouds and a crimson robe worked with white cranes, and rode a white beast, and carried a sword. The lord of Jade Purity wore a crown shaped like a wish-granting scepter and a pale yellow robe of the eight trigrams, and rode a heavenly horse, and held a scepter tipped with the numinous mushroom of long life. The lord of Great Purity wore a crown of the ninth heaven and a robe of purple mist stitched with the eight treasures, and rode a beast called the Earth-Roarer, and held a dragon-whisker fan in one hand and a jade scepter of three treasures in the other. Three immortals out of one, each fully furnished, each armed. The Shangqing Daoren wore a nine-cloud crown and a great-red robe of white-crane crimson gauze, and came riding a white beast, holding a sword. The Yuqing Daoren wore a ruyi crown and a pale-yellow eight-trigrams robe, and came riding a heavenly horse, holding a numinous-mushroom ruyi. The Taiqing Daoren wore a ninth-heaven crown and a robe of purple-mist, eight-treasure, ten-thousand-longevity silk, holding a dragon-whisker fan in one hand and a three-treasure jade ruyi in the other, riding the Earth-Roarer (Dìhǒu).

So there were four of them now against one — Laozi, and the three he had breathed into being — and they closed on Tongtian Jiaozhu from every side at once, above and below, left and right, leaving him no seam to strike through and no line along which to retreat. The founder of a school, master of a whole lineage of immortals, could do nothing now but turn his sword aside and turn it aside again. He had raised a formation to kill gods, and a single old man had walked into it and made himself four, and the wheel of the war of heaven turned another notch, the way it always turned in this story — grandly, without mercy, and against whoever had just made the proudest gesture. The four Celestial Worthies surrounded Tongtian Jiaozhu — now above, now below, now left, now right — and Tongtian Jiaozhu had only the strength to parry.