Hongyun and the Primordial Purple Qi

When Hongjun first preached at Zixiao Palace only six mats had been set before the hall. Hongyun arrived early and took one, with Taiqing, Yuqing and Shangqing, Nüwa and Kunpeng holding the rest, so that the six mats were exactly filled.

Jieyin and Zhunti came a long way from the west, and by the time they reached the hall the places were settled. The two spoke in the hall of the length of the western road and the poverty of their teaching, and for a moment had nowhere to sit. The others kept silent, and the hall grew awkward.

Hearing them, Hongyun rose and gave his mat to Zhunti. Yuanshi Tianzun then objected that Kunpeng had no business sitting with the rest to discuss the Dao; Kunpeng was made to rise, and Jieyin took the place he left.

Kunpeng withdrew to the ranks behind, and never again had a seat at Zixiao Palace. He kept the loss of it in mind, said nothing more before the others, and left the mountain alone once the preaching had ended.

As the third sermon drew to a close, Hongjun divided seven streams of Primordial Purple Qi in the hall. Taiqing, Yuqing, Shangqing, Nüwa, Jieyin and Zhunti received one each, and the last entered Hongyun.

Hongyun took the purple qi, bowed his thanks to Hongjun, and left Zixiao Palace eastward with Zhenyuanzi. Those in the hall who had received nothing watched the two go, and afterwards some of them quietly asked after his road.

In the version common in Honghuang web fiction, Kunpeng and the party of Dijun and Taiyi overtook him at the sea of clouds and laid an ambush on his road back to the Fire Cloud Cave. Kunpeng bore him the grudge of the lost mat, and the others wanted the Primordial Purple Qi within him.

Hearing of it, Zhenyuanzi left the Wuzhuang Temple and travelled hard to help, but was held up again and again on the road and did not reach the sea of clouds before the fighting ended. Hongyun faced the ring alone and, fighting hard, began to fail.

Hongyun destroyed himself within the ring, and the blast scattered the cloud around him. The Primordial Purple Qi showed for an instant in the smoke and turbulence and was gone; the attackers searched the void and never found it again. When Zhenyuanzi arrived there was nothing above the sea of clouds but scattered wreckage.