Slaying Serpents in the Suburbs, Eradicating Harm for the People: The Legendary Life of Xu Xun, One of the Four Great Celestial Masters of Taoism 🌟

In the history of Chinese Taoism, Celestial Master Xu Xun is renowned for his feats of slaying flood dragons, controlling floods, and eradicating harm for the people 🐉⚔️, revered as one of the Four Great Celestial Masters of Taoism. The life story of this legendary figure remains astonishing to this day. ✨

An Early Years Marked by Extraordinary Talent

Xu Xun, also known as Celestial Master Xu, was from Nanchang, Jiangxi during the Jin Dynasty. Legend has it that before his birth, his mother dreamed of a golden phoenix 🦜 placing a precious pearl into her palm—an extraordinary omen foretelling the arrival of a remarkable individual. From childhood, Xu Xun displayed exceptional intelligence, an open-minded character, and handsome features, already showing signs of an immortal’s demeanor. 👼

At the age of seven, witnessing the moving scene of a mother deer protecting her young 🦌, he was deeply touched 💔. He immediately destroyed his bow and arrows 🏹, vowing never to take life again, and from then on devoted himself solely to study. He extensively read Confucian classics, mastered astronomy and geography 🌌, and was particularly proficient in the studies of the Five Elements, Yin-Yang, and the Eight Trigrams, demonstrating extraordinary scholarly accomplishment. 📚

Seeking the Dao and Cultivation

In pursuit of higher Daoist teachings, Xu Xun heard that Wu Meng in Xi’an County had obtained the secret methods of the immortal Ding Yi and went to study under him. After passing various tests set by Wu Meng, he was finally accepted as a disciple and received the teachings of the Three Pure Ones’ Elixir Methods. Later, he further studied the Dao under Cheng Yu, seeking and obtaining the Supreme Numinous Treasure Jingming Dharma. 🧘♂️

In the following years, Xu Xun continuously traveled and cultivated, helping people everywhere and accumulating merit. At the age of forty-two, in the first year of the Taikang era of the Western Jin Dynasty (280 AD), he reluctantly accepted an official appointment and became the magistrate of Qingyang County. During his tenure, he educated the people with filial piety, brotherly respect, benevolence, and kindness ❤️, even using talismanic water to cure illnesses 💧, deeply winning the people’s hearts. When he left his post to return to Nanchang, the people saw him off for miles. Some fervent followers even returned to Nanchang with him, and some went so far as to change their surnames to Xu—such was his local influence. 🙌

The Legend of Slaying Flood Dragons and Taming Floods

Celestial Master Xu is most celebrated for his heroic deeds of slaying flood dragons and controlling floods. After leaving office, hearing repeatedly of flood dragons causing trouble in the surrounding areas, he would take up his sword and go forth ⚔️, engaging in battles of wits and courage with the creatures. Xu Xun slew more flood dragons than any other Taoist immortal, nearly wiping out their entire kind 😮. The surviving flood dragons hid in the deep waters, not daring to emerge again.

To permanently end the threat, Celestial Master Xu summoned and commanded spirits and deities to cast a large iron pillar and eight iron chains in a well in the southern part of the city, imprisoning the flood dragons 🔗. This is the origin of the Dragon-Locking Well in the Wanshou Palace in Nanchang, Jiangxi. 🏯

The Ultimate Ascension with His Entire Family

In 374 AD, Xu Xun was 136 years old. The Jade Emperor dispatched two celestial officials to inform him that his accumulated merits in the mortal world were complete 🌈, his name recorded in the celestial jade registers, and he was thus eligible to ascend to the immortal realm. Celestial Master Xu made an astonishing decision—to ascend to immortality with his entire family of forty-two members, including chickens and dogs 🐕🐓, and even his house! 🏡✨

Posthumous Honors and Influence

During the wave of posthumous honors in the Song Dynasty, Emperor Huizong of Song bestowed upon Xu Xun the title “Perfected Lord of Divine Power and Wondrous Strategy.” In the late Song and early Yuan period, the Daoist priest Liu Yu founded the Jingming Sect. Greatly admiring Celestial Master Xu’s teachings, he honored Xu Xun as the First Generation Patriarch, considering himself the Second. During the Yuan Dynasty, the Jingming Sect was incorporated into the Zhengyi Dao (Way of Orthodox Unity). 🙏

The legendary stories of Celestial Master Xu Xun not only depict the cultivation journey of a lofty Daoist adept but also embody his fearless spirit of aiding the world, saving the people, and slaying monsters and eliminating evils. These legends continue to be passed down within Taoist culture and folk beliefs to this day. 📜