The Ten Absolute Formations

T he Ten Absolute Formations stood finished on the plain before Xiqi — ten killing arrays raised by ten immortals of Jin'ao Island, who had come west to fight for the failing house of Shang. On the Zhou side no one could agree who should lead the breaking of them, and while the immortals were still deferring to one another a Daoist came down out of the sky, riding a deer on the wind, trailing a strange fragrance. They knew him at once: Randeng of Spirit Vulture Mountain, the eldest among them. He took the command-seal from Jiang Ziya's hands — I have come to spare you the labor, and to loose my friends from the danger they stand in, and to settle a matter of my own — and then he sat down to plan how the ten arrays might be opened, and sighed, because he had already done the arithmetic. This ordeal will cost me ten of my own. When the assembled immortals were still deferring to one another over who should command the breaking of the formations, a Daoist came through the air, riding a deer upon the clouds, a fragrant wind about him. They knew him for Randeng of the Yuanjue Cave on Spirit Vulture Mountain, and came down to receive him. Randeng said the Ten Absolute Formations were fierce, and asked in whose charge the breaking would be; Jiang Ziya bowed and said he awaited his instruction. Randeng answered that he had come to hold the command-seal in Ziya's stead, to deliver his friends from their peril, and to fulfill a thought of his own; Ziya reverently handed over the seal. Then, as Randeng laid his plans for breaking the arrays, he sighed within himself: "This tribulation is certain to cost the lives of ten of my friends."

The first array was Heaven Absolute, and its master, Qin Wan, rode out of it on a spotted deer — his face the blue of indigo, his hair the red of cinnabar, a four-edged golden mace in his hand. Randeng looked down his line of immortals and saw no one there whose fate it was to break this one first. Then a man dropped from the air: Deng Hua, fifth disciple of the Jade Void Palace, a painted halberd in his grip, come by his own master's order to break Heaven Absolute. Randeng nodded and held his tongue, for the count was fixed beforehand and there was no way out of it. Deng Hua and Qin Wan traded a few passes; then Qin Wan turned and fled back into his array, and Deng Hua chased him in. Inside stood a plank platform, and on it a three-tongued banner. Qin Wan mounted it, took the banner in both hands, and hurled it downward. Thunder crashed. Deng Hua's mind went dark, and he fell where he stood; Qin Wan came down, took his head, carried it out, and called to know who else of Kunlun dared look upon his array. A few years of the Way, Randeng grieved, and this is the end of them. Within the Heaven Absolute array a bell sounded, the gate opened, and out rode Qin Wan on a yellow-dappled deer, his face like indigo, his hair like cinnabar, bearing a four-edged golden mace. Randeng looked to left and right and thought privately that there was no one present fated to break this array first. Before he had finished the thought, a figure fell from the sky — Deng Hua, the fifth disciple of the Jade Void Palace, carrying a square-heaven painted halberd, who saluted and said he had come by his master's command to break the Heaven Absolute. Randeng nodded, thinking: the number is fixed beforehand; how can he escape this doom? Deng Hua and Qin Wan fought only a few rounds before Qin Wan fled into the array; Deng Hua pursued him in. Qin Wan mounted the plank platform, where a table held a three-headed banner; he took it up, turned it several times, and cast it down. Thunder crashed together, and Deng Hua, dazed and senseless, not knowing east from west, fell to the ground. Qin Wan descended, took his head, and carried it out, crying: "Who under Kunlun's teaching dares look again upon my Heaven Absolute?" Randeng, seeing the head, sighed: "Pitiable — several years of cultivation, and today this is the end."

Now Randeng sent one of his own: Manjusri of the Broad Law. He faced Qin Wan and spoke plainly — your Jie school was a free and easy company; why raise a thing like this to butcher living souls? I have come to break it, which means I must open the killing precept; it is not that we have thrown mercy away, only that an old debt has to be settled. Qin Wan swung his mace; Manjusri turned it aside, walked into the array on two white lotuses that rose to meet his feet, and let the three-tongued banner beat against him without effect. Then he threw the Dragon-Binding Stake into the air. It came down and bound Qin Wan upright and rigid. Disciple opens the killing precept today, Manjusri said, and took his head. Heaven Absolute was broken. On his black qilin Wen Zhong saw it and roared that his rage would be the death of him — Manjusri, stand and face me — and drove forward, but Huanglong Zhenren swung across on a crane and stopped him. Qin Wan killed my brother Deng Hua; now Qin Wan is dead; call it even. One array of ten is broken and nine still stand. This was to be a contest of arts. Fall back. Then Randeng commanded Manjusri, the Heavenly Worthy of Broad Law, to break the array. Manjusri said to Qin Wan: "Your Jie school lived unbound and content; why set this array to trap living beings? Since I have come to break it, I must open the killing precept. It is not that we cast off compassion — only to settle this prior cause. Do not repent it later." Qin Wan struck at him with his mace; Manjusri parried, saying, "So be it." After a few passes Qin Wan fled into the array; Manjusri pursued to its gate, hesitated at the cold mist and mournful wind within, then entered at the sound of the bell behind him. He pointed downward and two white lotuses grew from the ground; treading upon them, he drifted in. Qin Wan worked the three-headed banner as before but could not move him, and Manjusri manifested his transformed body. Then he said, "Qin Wan — today I cannot let you go; I must complete my killing precept," and cast the Dragon-Binding Stake into the air, which fixed Qin Wan fast and bound him upright. Saluting toward Kunlun, he said, "Your disciple today opens this killing precept," cut off Qin Wan's head with his sword, and carried it from the array. On his ink-black qilin Wen Zhong saw Qin Wan slain and cried out that it would be the death of him, spurring forward — "Manjusri, do not flee! I come!" — but Huanglong Zhenren flew up on his crane and stopped him: "Qin Wan's Heaven Absolute destroyed my junior Deng Hua; with Qin Wan dead, the two are matched. Of the ten arrays only one is broken, and nine are yet undecided. This was agreed to be a contest of arts; do not force it. Withdraw for now."

“Each array is opened the same way — a lesser life sent in first to die, then a master to break it. The dead do not come back; their names go to the roster instead.”

The second array was Earth Fury, and Randeng sent in a disciple named Han Dulong — and it took him the way the first array had taken Deng Hua. Zhao Jiang, its master, drew him inside, mounted his platform, and shook a five-direction banner; strange clouds rolled up, thunder cracked, fire fell from a canopy above while more came up from below, and in no time at all Han Dulong's body was ground to powder. His one soul rose and drifted off to the Terrace of Investiture, where the spirit who keeps that place led it in. Then Randeng sent Julousun, who walked in, opened the gate of heaven above his own head, wrapped himself in a saving cloud, and took out the Immortal-Binding Rope. His yellow-kerchiefed spirit-warriors seized Zhao Jiang bodily and hauled him up out of the array to the shed, and Earth Fury was broken. Wen Zhong lunged again; this time Yuding Zhenren talked him down. We came at the Jade Void's order to break ten arrays; two are broken and eight are dark; it was to be a contest of arts — why all this noise? And the marshal had nothing to say. At the Earth Fury array Zhao Jiang came forth on a plum-blossom deer, and Randeng ordered Han Dulong, a disciple of Daoxing Tianzun, to break it. They fought five or six rounds before Zhao Jiang fled into the array; Han Dulong pursued him in. Zhao Jiang mounted the plank platform and shook the five-direction banner; strange clouds rolled up on every side, thunder sounded, a fire-canopy pressed from above and struck from below, thunder and fire together — and in a moment Han Dulong's body was reduced to powder. His one soul went to the Terrace of Investiture, where the God of Pure Blessing led it in. Then Randeng sent Julousun. Julousun entered, and seeing the danger first opened the heaven-gate above him and brought forth an auspicious cloud to guard his body, then took out the Immortal-Binding Rope and had the Yellow-Kerchief Warriors carry Zhao Jiang up to the shed. Thus he broke the Earth Fury array; Zhao Jiang, thrown down beneath the shed, spat samadhi-fire from his seven orifices. Wen Zhong, seeing a second array broken and Zhao Jiang taken, roared on his ink-qilin and charged, but Yuding Zhenren said: "Elder Wen, there is no need. We came into the dust of the world at the Jade Void Palace's command to break ten arrays; only two are broken, and eight are not yet clear. It was said to be a contest of arts — why this show of temper?" And Wen Zhong was left with nothing to say.

The third array, Wind Howl, could not be rushed, Randeng said. Its wind was no wind of the world but a wind of earth and water and fire, and inside it ten thousand blades rode the gale; they would have to borrow the Wind-Stilling Pearl before anyone could enter and live. So the pearl was fetched from a distant cave — nearly lost on the road, and recovered only by luck. When the day came, the man Randeng sent in first was a giant named Fang Bi, lately come over to Zhou, who knew nothing whatever of the arts inside. He ran in swinging his halberd. Dong Quan, the array's master, climbed his platform and worked a black banner; a black wind rose with a thousand blades in it, and with a single sound Fang Bi's four limbs were struck from his body and he fell dead. His soul went the way the others had gone, off to the Terrace of Investiture. Then Cihang Daoren went in with the Wind-Stilling Pearl on his crown, so that the black wind never rose against him at all, and cast down a pure crystal vase. A stream of black vapor, one sound — and Dong Quan was drawn inside it. When they poured the vase out, his robe and his hemp sandals were there, and the flesh of him had melted to pus. Wind Howl was broken. Randeng said the Wind Howl array could not be broken the next day: its wind was not of the world but a wind of earth, water, and fire, and within it ten thousand blades came at once; the Wind-Stilling Pearl had to be obtained first to still the wind. Lingbao, the Great Dharma Master, said a friend of his — Duè Zhenren, at the Eight-Treasure Cloud-Light Cave — held such a pearl, and envoys were sent to borrow it; on the road it was seized by two giant brothers and recovered only through Huang Feihu's aid, and so came at last to Randeng. When the immortals went out, Dong Quan came forth from the Wind Howl. Randeng, seeing no immortal fated to enter first, saw Huang Feihu bring the newly-won giant Fang Bi, and — sighing that heaven's number was fixed and nothing could escape it — ordered Fang Bi to break the array. Fang Bi, an ordinary mortal who knew nothing of its illusions, ran in with his halberd. Dong Quan mounted his platform and shook a black banner; a black wind rose bearing ten thousand blades, and with one sound Fang Bi's four limbs were cut into several pieces and he fell dead. His soul went to the Terrace of Investiture, led in by the God of Pure Blessing, Baijian. Then Randeng gave Cihang Daoren the Wind-Stilling Pearl. Cihang entered; with the pearl on his head the wind could not reach him, and without the wind the blades could not come. He cast a pure crystal vase into the air, mouth downward; a black vapor drew Dong Quan into it. Brought out and poured down, only his robe and hemp shoes remained — his flesh had melted to pus. So the Wind Howl array was broken.

So it ran, array after array. In Cold Ice the master brought down mountains of ice like blades and blocks of ice like fangs, and the disciple sent against him, a boy named Xue Ehu, was crushed to a paste of meat — the second student Daoxing Tianzun had now lost to these arrays, and he said so aloud, to no one. Then Samantabhadra went in behind a canopy of light whose golden lamps melted the ice, and beheaded the master with a hooked sword. In Golden Light the master hung twenty-one mirrors on poles and turned them until they threw a killing light; a disciple named Xiao Zhen went in, and the light took him, robe and body and all, until there was no trace of him left. Then Guangchengzi went in wrapped in the Eight-Trigram Robe, which the light could not pierce, and with the Heaven-Overturning Seal smashed nineteen of the mirrors to pieces before the seal came down on the master's own skull. Two more arrays broken; two more names carried off to the Terrace. At the Cold Ice array, Yuan Jiao its master shook a black banner: ice mountains like knife-mountains crashed down, ice blocks like wolf-fangs rose up, and whoever was caught between was ground to paste. Randeng sent Xue Ehu, a disciple of Daoxing Tianzun; he pursued Yuan Jiao inside and in one sound was crushed to a pulp, his soul going to the Terrace of Investiture. Daoxing Tianzun sighed: "Two of my disciples now perish in these two arrays." Then Samantabhadra entered; where the ice fell, a line of white light rose into an auspicious cloud, eight-cornered and hung with golden lamps, and the ice melted at the lamps and could not harm him; when the array was spent he beheaded Yuan Jiao with his Wu-hook sword. At the Golden Light array, the Holy Mother of Golden Light hung twenty-one mirrors upon poles; drawing up the cords, she loosed a golden light. Xiao Zhen, a disciple of the Jade Void Palace who had come down to break it, was struck, and robe and body vanished without a trace; his soul went to the Terrace. Then Guangchengzi entered, wrapping himself head to foot in the Eight-Trigram Immortal Robe, which the golden light could not pierce; with the Heaven-Overturning Seal he shattered nineteen of the mirrors, and when the Holy Mother snatched up the last two the seal struck her crown and her brains burst out. So the Cold Ice and Golden Light arrays were both broken.

In Blood-Melting a wandering adept named Qiao Kun offered himself, and the master's black sand fell on him and turned him to blood on the ground. Then Taiyi Zhenren went in, let a canopy of light burn the black sand to nothing, and dropped the Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Cover over the master until nine fire-dragons had burnt him to ash. Six arrays now, and six of the ten immortals of Jin'ao Island dead — and on the Zhou side six lesser lives spent to reach them, each one sent in first to learn the hard way what the array could do, each one's soul carried off to wait on the Terrace for a title. Wen Zhong could not bear it. He called the four remaining lords into his tent and wept before them — I hold the state's highest office, and to repay it with my life is only right, but six of my friends have come to grief, and my heart will not have it — and the tears came down like rain. It is heaven's number, the four told him. And they went back to their arrays. At the Blood-Melting array, Qiao Kun, a wandering adept of the White Cloud Cave, came forward of his own accord; its master, Sun Liang, cast down black sand that struck him and dissolved him into blood, and his soul went to the Terrace of Investiture. Then Taiyi Zhenren entered; a white light and auspicious cloud above his head consumed the black sand to nothing, and he cast the Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Cover over Sun Liang, clapped his hands, and nine fire-dragons coiled about it and burned him to ashes. Wen Zhong, outside his old camp, saw the sixth array broken and charged again, but Huanglong Zhenren stopped him: "Only six of the ten are broken; withdraw, and meet again tomorrow." Choking with rage, Wen Zhong returned to camp and called the four remaining array-masters into his tent, and wept before them: "I have received the state's grace and hold its highest office; to repay it with my body is only right. But today six of my friends have come to grief, and my heart cannot bear it." His tears fell like rain. "This is heaven's number," the four told him; "each of us has his own resolve." And they returned to their own arrays.

The breaking did not run straight to the end. Between the sixth array and the last the war turned aside into other duels — the Shang marshal fetched a mightier immortal to the field, and that quarrel had to run its course — and by the time the immortals came back to the arrays, three more had been broken and only the tenth still stood. The ninth to fall was Red Water, whose master flooded the ground from a gourd with a red water that ate whatever it touched. Daode Zhenjun stood on a single lotus petal and let the red water rage under him as though he rode a small boat, and when it could not reach him he opened the Five-Fire Seven-Feather Fan and fanned once; the master went up in a gust of red ash and blew away to the Terrace. Nine of the ten arrays were down. The breaking did not run without interruption: the war turned for a time to other combats, and by the time it came back to the arrays, three more had been broken, leaving only one. Daode Zhenjun, at Randeng's command, went against the Red Water array; its master, Wang Bian, mounted his platform and cast down a gourd, and red water covered the ground. Daode Zhenjun shook his sleeve, a lotus petal fell, and he stood upon it; however the red water surged above and below, it could not touch him, and an auspicious cloud above his head kept the water from his body, so that he rode as upon a small lotus-boat. When Wang Bian saw the array would not succeed and made to flee, Daode Zhenjun took out the Five-Fire Seven-Feather Fan — made of the fire of the air, of stone, of wood, of the samadhi, and of the human world, its ribs the feathers of seven birds — and fanned him once; Wang Bian cried out, turned to a gust of red ash, and went straight to the Terrace of Investiture. So the Red Water array was broken.

Only Red Sand was left, and Red Sand was the worst of them. Randeng told Jiang Ziya it could not be entered by any immortal without terrible loss — to break it safely it needed a man of fortune, and not just any man: it needed the living sovereign himself, King Wu. But the king is gentle and knows nothing of war, Ziya said. It has to be him, Randeng answered. He drew talismans on the king's chest and back and tucked another into his crown, sent Nezha and Leizhenzi in to guard him, and put him into the array. Zhang Shao, its master, threw a handful of red sand, and King Wu went down horse and all into a pit; Nezha rose on his wheels of wind and fire and was knocked down after him; Leizhenzi spread his wings and was knocked down too. All three were swallowed. He will suffer, Randeng said, but in a hundred days it lifts. And so the tenth array was not broken at all. It closed over a mortal king and held him, and the only thing that kept the red sand from cutting him to pieces was the paper on his skin — and behind the paper, the fact that heaven had already decided the house of Zhou would reign, and so the man at the bottom of the pit could not be allowed to die. Everyone else was. Their names were already waiting on the Terrace, in a hand not yet read aloud. Only the Red Sand array remained, and Randeng said it was a great and evil array that required a man of fortune, or the loss would be grievous — and that to break it the reigning sage-sovereign himself must go, for anyone else would meet more ill than good. Ziya objected that King Wu, in the gentle virtue of the former kings, knew nothing of arms and could not break such an array; Randeng said there was no time to delay. He had the king loosen his robe, drew a talisman with his middle finger upon the king's breast and back, tucked another into his coiled-dragon crown, and sent Nezha and Leizhenzi to guard him down. Its master, Zhang Shao, seeing three come on, mounted his platform and flung a handful of red sand full in their faces: King Wu was struck on the chest and fell, horse and man, into a pit; Nezha rose on his wind-and-fire wheels and was knocked down after him; Leizhenzi spread his thunder-wings and was knocked down too, so that the Red Sand array trapped all three. Randeng told Ziya the king had met a calamity but that it would lift in a hundred days — the three were fated to be confined there, and by the king's great fortune he would come to no harm. Zhang Shao sprinkled red sand upon King Wu day after day, sharp as knife-blades, but the talismans front and back guarded his body: a truly destined man of fortune could not be brought to his end.