The story of Chijingzi

Chijingzi lived in the Yunxiao Cave on Mount Taihua, one of the Twelve Golden Immortals of Yuxu Palace. When Yin Jiao and Yin Hong were being taken to the execution ground, he and Guangchengzi saw two red lights rising into the clouds and came down together to save them.

When the flying sand had cleared, Chijingzi took Yin Hong back to Mount Taihua and taught him the arts of the Dao and of arms. Yin Hong lived in the Yunxiao Cave for years while the fires of Chaoge burned their way west to Qi.

When Yao Bin drew Jiang Ziya’s soul away in the Soul-Scattering Formation, Chijingzi was sent to recover it. He broke into the formation and carried off the straw figure, but left behind the Taiji Diagram he had borrowed from Laozi.

Chijingzi brought the figure back to Western Qi and restored two souls and six spirits to Jiang Ziya, then returned to the Soul-Scattering Formation the same night. He unrolled the Taiji Diagram to still the black sand, knocked Yao Bin down with the Yin-Yang Mirror, cut off his head, and recovered the lost diagram.

When Zhao Gongming came riding his black tiger, Chijingzi went out to meet him too and was knocked down by the Sea-Stilling Pearls. The Three Xiao then set out the Nine-Bend Yellow River Formation; he entered it with the rest and was taken by the Hunyuan Golden Dipper, and was freed only when the two sect-heads broke the formation.

Recovering on Mount Taihua, Chijingzi sent Yin Hong down to help King Wu, giving him the Yin-Yang Mirror, the purple-corded immortal robe and the water-and-fire blade. Yin Hong swore before the mountain that if he changed his mind his limbs would turn to ash.

Shen Gongbao stopped Yin Hong on the road and persuaded him to keep faith with Shang. Yin Hong wounded Zhou officers one after another with the mirror and the robe; Yang Jian recognised where the mirror had come from and went to Mount Taihua to tell Chijingzi.

Chijingzi came to the ground between the armies and first urged Yin Hong to go back. After the argument master and disciple crossed swords, and Yin Hong turned the Yin-Yang Mirror on his own master, so that Chijingzi had to withdraw to Western Qi by the earth-travelling golden light.

Chijingzi later borrowed the Taiji Diagram and lured Yin Hong into it. Neither the mirror nor the robe in his hands was of any use there; the oath sworn before the mountain came true, and his body turned to ash inside the diagram.

After Yin Hong’s death Chijingzi took back the Yin-Yang Mirror, the purple-corded robe and the water-and-fire blade, and returned with his fellows to the reed pavilion to await Randeng’s orders.

When Tongtian Jiaozhu set out the Zhuxian Formation before Jiepai Pass, Chijingzi went with Yuanshi Tianzun, Laozi, Jieyin and Zhunti; together the four pressed Tongtian back, and the Zhuxian Formation was broken.

Before the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation, Yuanshi gave the four swords — Zhuxian, Luxian, Xianxian and Juexian — to Guangchengzi, Chijingzi, Yuding Zhenren and Daoxing Tianzun, telling them to charge in and raise the blades once the pagoda rose before the eight-trigram terrace. Chijingzi again held Luxian.

When the pagoda rose, Chijingzi raised the Luxian sword and charged in, cutting down Jie disciples until the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation came apart.

After the formation fell, Chijingzi was not enfeoffed at the investiture terrace. Investiture of the Gods says nothing of him beyond this; he returned to the Yunxiao Cave on Mount Taihua.