The story of Puxian Zhenren

Puxian Zhenren cultivated in the White Crane Cave on Mount Jiugong, one of the Twelve Golden Immortals under Yuanshi Tianzun. He took Muzha as his disciple, handed down the art of the Wugou swords, and later sent him to help Zhou at Western Qi.

When the Ten Absolutes were set out, Yuan Jiao held the Cold Ice Formation. Xue Ehu, a disciple of Daoxing Tianzun, entered first and was crushed to pulp between closing walls of ice, and Randeng at once ordered Puxian Zhenren to break it.

Puxian chased Yuan Jiao into the Cold Ice Formation with drawn sword. The black banner waved and blocks of ice came down from above like a mountain of blades; Puxian sent white light from his fingers, the eight golden lamps on his auspicious cloud all lit at once, and the ice melted away layer by layer where the light struck.

Seeing the formation fail, Yuan Jiao turned to leave the platform. Puxian loosed the Wugou swords and cut him down below it, gathered up his cloud and lamps, and walked out of the Cold Ice Formation.

With the Cold Ice Formation broken, Puxian stayed at the reed pavilion with the Twelve Golden Immortals, waiting for Randeng to assign the formations that remained.

When the Three Xiao set out the Nine-Bend Yellow River Formation, Puxian entered with the Twelve Golden Immortals, was held by the Hunyuan Golden Dipper and lost his three flowers and five breaths. Laozi and Yuanshi broke the formation and he was freed with his fellows.

When Tongtian Jiaozhu set out the Zhuxian Formation at Jiepai Pass, Puxian came with Yuanshi Tianzun, Yuding Zhenren and the rest; the four sect-heads attacked Tongtian together and the Zhuxian Formation was broken.

In the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation, Lingya Xian held the Two Principles station, and Yuanshi gave Puxian the Taiji talisman. Puxian chased Lingya Xian into the formation, showed a three-headed six-armed dharma-body amid thunder and talisman-light, and bound him away with the long-rainbow cord.

Nanji Xianweng struck Lingya Xian with the Three-Treasure Jade Ruyi and he took the shape of a white elephant. Laozi had a name-tag hung round the elephant’s neck and gave it to Puxian as a mount, and the next day Puxian rode it into the field.

After Jinling Shengmu had killed Princess Longji and Hong Jin, Puxian closed on her with Wenshu and Cihang, and they fought her back and forth inside the formation until Randeng struck her down with the Sea-Stilling Pearls.

As the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation fell apart, the immortals of the Jie Sect were killed or scattered. Puxian stayed on the ground with the Chan immortals until Tongtian Jiaozhu gathered what was left of his followers and withdrew.

Neither Puxian nor Muzha was entered on the Investiture List. In the passage about taking the white elephant, Investiture of the Gods writes Puxian as the forerunner of the later bodhisattva Samantabhadra, and Honghuang fiction has kept that thread.