Yunzhongzi

Yunzhongzi cultivated in the Yuzhu Cave on Mount Zhongnan. Seeing a demonic vapour rise in the southeast one day, he had the Jinxia boy fetch a dry length of pine, carved a wooden sword from it with his own hands, and rode a cloud to Chaoge.

Yunzhongzi entered the palace, told King Zhou there was a demon within it, and left the pine sword behind with orders to hang it in the Fengong Tower. Though it was only cut from dry pine, its edge tormented Daji until she took to her bed in pain.

Daji told King Zhou the wooden sword was unlucky, and he had it taken down and burnt. Yunzhongzi had not gone far and knew at once that it had been burnt; he did not return to the palace, but noted the demon in it and the coming disorder of Shang.

Later the Earl of the West, Ji Chang, passing Mount Yan, found an infant in a thunderstorm, took him as his hundredth son and named him Lei Zhenzi. Yunzhongzi came soon after, carried the child back to Mount Zhongnan, and raised and taught him in the Yuzhu Cave.

Seven years later Ji Chang fled Chaoge and was cut off by pursuers near Lintong Pass. Yunzhongzi, moved by a sudden feeling in his cave, reckoned that Ji Chang was in danger and sent Lei Zhenzi to Tiger Cliff to find a weapon.

On the cliff Lei Zhenzi ate two immortal apricots by mistake, and wings of wind and thunder grew from his back while his face, nose and teeth changed with them. When he came back to the cave Yunzhongzi took out the Golden Staff, taught him its use, and wrote the words “wind” and “thunder” on the two wings.

Once Lei Zhenzi could handle the wings, he flew to Lintong Pass at his master’s order, drove off the pursuers with the Golden Staff, and carried Ji Chang over the hills on his back. Having brought him clear of danger, he returned to Mount Zhongnan as Yunzhongzi had told him.

When the Ten Absolutes and then the Nine-Bend Yellow River Formation were set out, Yunzhongzi did not lose the three flowers of his crown to the Hunyuan Golden Dipper. He stayed at Jueleng Ridge by order, refined the eight Heaven-Reaching Divine Fire Pillars, and waited for the beaten Wen Zhong to pass.

When Wen Zhong reached Jueleng Ridge, Yunzhongzi was already waiting for him. He urged Wen Zhong to surrender; Wen Zhong refused and walked in among the eight pillars. Yunzhongzi called thunder to open them, and forty-nine fire dragons came out of each.

Wen Zhong used the fire-avoiding art to stand among the pillars and rose in a shaft of escaping light. Yunzhongzi had already set Randeng’s purple-gold almsbowl over the top of them; Wen Zhong struck it, lost his crown and let his hair fall, and dropped back into the fire. Yunzhongzi called thunder from outside to drive the flames, and Wen Zhong died at Jueleng Ridge, his soul going to the investiture terrace.

Yunzhongzi gathered up the Heaven-Reaching Divine Fire Pillars, left Jueleng Ridge and returned to the Yuzhu Cave on Mount Zhongnan. He did not die on the Investiture battlefield, and Jiang Ziya did not enfeoff him as a general of the Heavenly Court.

Later Honghuang novels have kept the title “immortal of blessing and virtue”, and generally keep Yunzhongzi within the Chan Sect and the Mount Zhongnan line.