(The mysterious immortal Zuo Ci.) Suddenly appeared, dashing away)
Speaking of Zuo Ci, everyone is certainly not unfamiliar,
There are many gods and immortals in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but compared to the old immortals of Nanhua who hastily appeared, Yu Ji, who pretended to be a god and died inexplicably, Zuo Ci's story is the most ethereal and legendary.
(The Book of Heaven, which I once considered to be the most precious treasure in the entire Three Kingdoms)
First of all, his appearance is quite extraordinary, first teasing Cao Cao with citrus (Cao Cao opens empty shells, while Zuo Ci opens it but tastes sweet), and then introduces his own history: "Poor Dao in the Xichuan Jialing Emei Mountain, learning the Tao for thirty years, overheard a voice in the stone wall calling my name; and see, not see." And so on for a few days. Suddenly, the heavenly thunder shattered the stone wall, and three volumes of the Book of Heaven were obtained, known as the Book of Heaven. The name of the upper volume is 'Heavenly Escape', the name of the middle volume is 'Earth Escape', and the name of the lower volume is 'Ren 遁'. Heaven can soar across the clouds and the wind, soaring too vainly; the earth can penetrate mountains and stones; people can travel all over the world, hide shapes, fly swords and throw knives, and take the first rank. ”
(Zuo Ci divided the cup and invited Cao Cao to drink together, in the movie "Heaven and Earth Xuanmen", Uncle Jiu also showed such a Taoist technique)
Then what did a Daoist monk who jumped out of the Three Realms and was not in the Five Elements do to Cao Cao? Crossing the people to cultivate the Tao, you Cao Cao is a person with a relationship, go with me! And it is not okay not to go, although Zuo Ci Dao does not ask about mortal affairs, but he is a staunch supporter of the Han Dynasty, if you dare not go with him - "Yizhou Liu Xuande is the emperor's concubine, why not let this person with him?" Otherwise, the poor way should fly the sword to take the head of Ru also. "Feelings this grandfather is still a fan of Liu Bei, this is for Liu Bei to fight the Jiangshan came." However, how could Cao Cao be such a figure be threatened by a Daoist monk from an unknown source, and directly command him to pull down and kill! In the face of this fierce and inward-looking Han thief, Zuo Ci performed his own Daoist skills like a child: first the King Kong was not bad, the sword and axe could not enter, and then the valley was cleared, seven days and seven nights did not drink or eat without any color, and before the feast, he cosified a magic pen Ma Liang, took dragon liver, fished for sea bass, planted purple ginger, and warmly invited Cao Cao to drink a glass of wine.
When zuo ci was finally killed, zuo ci returned a handful of skin and carried out a wave of zombie attacks on the execution ground--"Cao Cao personally led five hundred armored soldiers (these five hundred people were all zuo ci's double body) to surround them, and all of them were beheaded." Everyone gathered a green qi in their necks, gathered in one place in the heavens, turned into a Zuo Ci, beckoned the white crane to the air, rode a mount, clapped their hands and laughed: "The ground rat follows the golden tiger, and once the adulterous male is suspended!" 'Command the multitudes to shoot them with bows and arrows. Suddenly, the wind blew wildly, and the stones and sand were lifted; the corpses that were beheaded jumped up, held their heads in their hands, and rushed to the martial hall to fight Cao Cao. Civilian and military generals, covered their faces in shock, did not care for each other. ”
Teasing Cao Cao is certainly fun, but although Zuo Ci is an immortal, he cannot change his life against the sky, and can only disgust Cao Cao and float away, showing the style of the immortal.
(In fact, Zuo Ci was an alchemist, and his apprentice was Ge Xuan, a famous Taoist priest in Chinese history and the ancestor of the Lingbao Sect.)
Of course, this story is very exciting, but these plots are not original to Luo Guanzhong, and many of Zuo Ci's deeds were first seen in the "Legend of the Immortals" written by Ge Hong, a famous alchemist and alchemist in the Western Jin Dynasty. In Ge Hong's pen, Zuo Ci was a master alchemist who was proficient in alchemy, alchemy arose in the Han Dynasty, and reached its peak during the Wei and Jin dynasties, Ge Hong himself was a good alchemist, and the "Baopuzi" he wrote was a famous alchemy book, and Ge Hong's alchemy was most likely from the family tradition, after all, his uncle Ge Xuan was a famous Taoist and alchemist in Chinese history (Ge Xuan and Zhang Daoling, Xu Xun, and Sa Shoujian were known as the four heavenly masters of Chinese Taoism), and who was Ge Xuan's master? It was Zuo Ci.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zuo Ci learned the Taoist techniques of the Book of Heavenly Beings, while in the Biography of the Immortals, Zuo Ci practiced the elixir after obtaining the Nine Dan Golden Liquid Sutra, and after taking it, he was "ever-changing and invincible." ”
Unlike the novel, Zuo Ci and Liu Bei did not have any involvement, let alone take the initiative to provoke Cao Cao, but instead Cao Cao heard about Zuo Ci's miraculous powers and wanted to learn Taoism from him, zuo Ci refused to say, "Learning the Tao should be pure and inactive, and it is not appropriate for His Holiness." The enraged Cao Cao then tried to get Zuo Ci's life, and the content after that was roughly similar to that of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but the "Biography of the Immortals" also recorded the story of Zuo Ci leaving Cao Cao and wandering around, of course, mostly describing his miraculous powers.
On Cao Cao's side, zuo ci could not go on, Zuo Ci came to Jingzhou, who knew that Liu Biao had a bad impression of this warlock who pretended to be a ghost, thinking that Zuo Ci would deceive people's hearts, and also wanted to find an opportunity to slaughter him, so Zuo Ci could only show his hand in front of Liu Cao again, only to see that he used a pot of wine, a piece of meat was to ensure the food of tens of thousands of people, but the wine and meat did not decrease at all - "People each have three glasses of wine, one piece of breast, eat as usual, more than 10,000 people are full, and the wine in the vessel is as old as ever, and the wine is not reduced." There were dozens of guests in the seat, all of whom were very drunk. ”
Only then did Liu Biao know that Zuo Ci was not easy to provoke, and the matter of killing people would not be solved. In Jingzhou, it was not safe, so Zuo Ci bid farewell to Liu Biao and went to Jiangdong, and Sun Quan was quite courteous to Zuo Ci at first, but the left and right courtiers were very hostile to this old Daoist, and after some rumors, Sun Quan was going to kill Zuo Ci as well..." Ling Ci walked in front of the horse and wanted to assassinate him from behind. With clogs and green bamboo sticks, he walked slowly, often taking a hundred steps in front of the horse, spurring the horse, and wielding weapons to chase it away, but he could not reach it in the end. To know that there is a way, it is to stop. ”
This is Zuo Ci in the "Legend of the Immortals", although he relies on extraordinary Daoist techniques to resolve dangers again and again, but he always wanders around like a bereaved dog, it is estimated that he is really tired of being driven around, so Zuo Ci told Ge Xuan, "I am going to refine Dan", and when Jin Dan is refined, Zuo Ci will become an immortal. — "Ci told Ge Xian a public word: 'When entering the Huo Mountains, he will turn to Dan.' 'Dancheng, Sui Xian went to the end.' ”
So what kind of person was Zuo Ci in real history?
It is estimated that it will break your glasses, don't look at the yeshi notes and even the Zhengshi "Book of later Han" has written him as a god, in fact, Zuo Ci is just a plaything that Cao Cao has kept in captivity...
As for how he was blown into a god, we can only say that he took in a good apprentice Ge Xuan, and Ge Xuan had a good nephew Ge Hong who could write articles, and this trickle down, Zuo Ci became one of the most well-known living immortals in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
Zuo Ci's Laodi was once exposed by Cao Zhi, and Emperor Wen (Cao Pi) "Treatise on The Classics" said: Chen Siwang Cao Zhi's "Theory of Apologetics" Yun: "There are alchemists in the world, and there is a ganshi in Ganling, There is Zuo Ci in Lujiang, and there is Jian Jian in Yangcheng." That is to say, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, famous alchemists included Zuo Ci, Gan Shi, and Xi Jian, and Cao Cao gathered them all. These old men each have their own specialties: "They can only practice qi guidance, the art of cixiao's room, frugality and goodness, and they are all hundreds of years old." "Gan Shi this guy will practice qi guidance (estimated to be a kind of qigong self-cultivation technique), Zuo Ci is familiar with the "room technique" (eh, the specific content I will not say, you go to Baidu by yourself, anyway, the affairs of men and women are not forbidden for cultivators at that time, and they also pursue yin and yang harmony), Qiu Jian will break the valley, these goods are not very good at bragging, they all say that they are hundreds of years old.
The reason why they all called them all here was not to regard them as gods and immortals, but only because they were afraid of making trouble and confusing the people with demonic words. "Sincerely fearing this man's disciples, they take on adultery and deceit to deceive the people, and they do evil to confuse the people" "The king (Cao Cao) and the crown prince (Cao Pi) and the Yu brothers, Xian thought that they were laughing, but they did not believe it." "My father and brothers treated them like jokes and didn't believe them at all!
Therefore, the historical Zuo Ci did not have the romantic feelings of playing the human world and mocking the magnates, nor did he have the Taoist techniques of random change and unpredictable, and this old boy said that it sounded good to be a guest of the Cao family, and what he said was ugly? It is just Cao Cao's slave, and usually provides Cao's father and son with a joke and a fun. Emperor Weiwu was brilliant, generous and heroic, and how could zuo ci and other goods enter his eyes, but after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the imperial court was extremely wary of these alchemists who drew spells to catch ghosts and refine dan to collect disciples, after all, with Zhang Jiao, the initiator first, if you let it go, there may really be people who have been fooled by him, so Cao Cao has gathered the more famous alchemists in the world, not for the sake of immortality, or for the sake of your province's misfortune to the common people!
The historical Zuo Ci also does not have any immortal arts, to put it bluntly, this is an old sex ghost who teaches Cao Cao how to play with women (teaching the art of the room, of course, people are willing to learn two words), for such a person, Cao Cao naturally comes and goes without half respect, which is so powerful in the novel!
(In the game "True Three Kingdoms Matchless", Zuo Ci always sided with Liu Bei and made enemies of Cao Cao)
In this way, Zuo Ci's experience is somewhat similar to Sun Wukong (the Jade Emperor is also annoyed that Sun Wukong is making trouble in the Netherworld, so he simply summons him to the Heavenly Court and seals him as Bow Ma Wen, and he causes trouble all day long in the province). It's just that Sun Wukong still has the courage to rebel against the Heavenly Palace, while Zuo Ci obediently provides guidance in front of Cao's slaves and provides "room technique" guidance. However, Zuo Ci may not have dreamed that under the pen of his disciple Sun Gehong, he had become a dashing and uninhibited immortal, and future generations regarded himself as a master who was good at magic and admired great virtue!
Author: Yumemu