The story of Zhunti Daoren

Like Jieyin Daoren, Zhunti Daoren held a barren stretch of the west in his early years. His seat was quiet and his disciples few; he preached and chanted all day, waiting for the world to shift.

On the day Hongjun Daozu opened his seat at Zixiao Palace the summons reached the west, and Zhunti set out with Jieyin, crossing the sand for several days to hear him.

Only six mats had been laid in the hall, and by the time Zhunti and Jieyin came the seats were taken. Hongyun gave up his own mat first, and Zhunti used the moment to press Kunpeng out of the front rank, so that Jieyin and Zhunti could sit down side by side.

When the three sermons were done, Zhunti received a stream of Primordial Purple Qi from Hongjun and a number of treasures, and took his leave with Jieyin for the barren west.

Home again, Zhunti founded the Western Sect with Jieyin and took in followers widely; but few ever came to that barren country, their numbers were slow to grow, and the seat stayed empty all day.

During the Investiture war, Jiang Ziya led the Western Qi army east and was halted at Jinji Ridge by Kong Xuan, a wandering immortal in Shang service. Battle after battle went against him, with officers and treasures lost.

Kong Xuan held the ridge for Shang, but he was no disciple of the Jie Sect. Behind him appeared the Five-Coloured Divine Light, and as it swayed it swallowed the treasures and weapons the Zhou camp threw at him one after another.

Jiang Ziya lost engagement after engagement, officers and treasures alike falling to Kong Xuan. The Western Qi army could neither advance nor withdraw and lay below Jinji Ridge for days, its confidence shaken.

Hearing of it, Zhunti came from the west to Jinji Ridge, showed his dharma-body and met Kong Xuan face to face. The Five-Coloured Divine Light came over him and left him unmoved, and he took several exchanges without giving ground.

After a hard passage Zhunti pinned Kong Xuan with the instrument he carried so that he could not slip away. Kong Xuan, his strength spent, had no choice but to leave the field with Zhunti and go west.

After Jinji Ridge the Western Qi army moved east again. Jiang Ziya took his men past the barrier and pressed on towards Chaoge, and the spirits of the army lifted a little.

With his followers falling one after another, Tongtian Jiaozhu angrily set out the Zhuxian Sword Formation at Jiepai Pass, hanging one blade at each gate; the sword-qi was so severe that ordinary cultivators dared not come near.

Zhunti and Jieyin went before the formation and met Laozi and Yuanshi Tianzun. The four agreed to take one gate each, strike at the same moment, and take the four swords together.

Demonic vapour filled the ground and sword-light crossed. Zhunti fought his way forward through several hard engagements, and with the other three took the four swords down one at a time and carried them out.

Tongtian Jiaozhu then set out the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation beyond Tong Pass. Zhunti went to it again, met Laozi, Yuanshi and Jieyin, and the four attacked from separate quarters, breaking whatever stood in the way.

As resistance inside weakened, Zhunti took the chance to draw several disciples with an affinity for his teaching out of the formation, took them into his own house and carried them west.

When the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation had fallen and Hongjun appeared to stop the fighting, Zhunti left the field with Jieyin and their new followers and returned to the barren west, troubling himself no further about what remained of the Jie Sect.

On the road he brought Kong Xuan and the new followers back together to the western seat. The Western Sect grew in numbers because of it, and the traffic between its halls thickened.

In the later accounts that fold Buddhism into the Honghuang system, Zhunti is usually matched with Cundi, teaching in the west. That identification comes from later novelists; the text of Investiture of the Gods says no such thing.

After this there is little record of Zhunti in the world. Only the incense at the old Western seat continued, and those who later told of the Investiture calamity still spoke of the affair of Kong Xuan.