The ancient immortals once said:
"The medicine of deathlessness-the Dao lies in divine elixirs.
Golden liquid and return elixirs stream with immortal radiance; soaring high, one ascends the heavenly hills. Yellow and white substances form in an instant, and female and male must be distinguished amid their tangled variations...
The great medicine within the cauldron seethes with nine colors, harmonizing yin and yang. Containing the eight powers of Cloud Blossom Dragon Ointment, it can put the circling mysterious qi to use.
Mercury, lead, and tin undergo a thousand changes and ten thousand transformations.
As for the effects of the Supreme Sage Return Elixir,
they encompass mystery spirit cavern height, nether body hidden transformation, and dragon blossom spirit illumination.
Those who consume the elixir can ascend the radiant heavens and stride aloft, roam cloud-wreathed ridges at leisure, grow jade radiance upon their faces and wondrous hair upon their bodies, even spit water and rinse their mouths with fire, fly without wings, divide their forms and transform in countless ways-all as they please!
Its wonders are difficult to record; none of its marvels may be overlooked.
Great indeed are these spiritual essentials, beyond any complete account!"
Thus, although the external alchemical arts of yellow and white were unlike orthodox cultivation of the Immortal Dao, without venturing out of mystery and into mystery, without great awakening and spiritual inspiration, one could never attain the station of immortality through external alchemy.
Yet they remained a shared method of nurturing life that bridged Daoist and lay alike and distinguished the three ultimates, held in the highest esteem by lofty perfected cultivators, with flourishing traditions of study.
When compounding the divine medicines of external alchemy,
there were also the six taboos, three prohibitions, five avoidances, and other exceedingly tedious restrictions.
If even one tiny error