Once Cheng Wei had to travel with the Emperor but he did not have the appropriate attire. He did not know what to do and he worried about this very much. His wife said, “You are only short one suit. Why do you worry so much?” She then obtained two pieces of fine silk through her supernormal capability and made the necessary suit for Cheng Wei.
Cheng Wei was fond of the practise of alchemy and transforming dan[1] but he was not so successful with his hobby. His wife once took out a little medicine from a bag. She put some mercury into a container and mixed the mercury and medicine together. She boiled the mixture for a while and the result was silver. Cheng Wei wanted his wife to teach him the secret recipe, but she refused. Based on a bone reading, she said that Cheng Wei did not have enough virtue to conduct himself well. Cheng Wei repeatedly coerced his wife to give him the secret recipe. She died suddenly and parted with her body. In reality, she had gone far away.
Cheng Wei’s wife preferred to die rather than pass the secret recipe to one who did not deserve it, even if it was her husband. She was righteous. In fact, only one who obtained the genuine Tao[2] has such extraordinary abilities. Cheng Wei only liked to make dan and perform alchemy: he was not a cultivator, so he could not obtain it. If a greedy person obtained the secret recipe of alchemy, then it would only result in harm.
Reference
Collection of Immortals
[1] dan (dahn) Energy cluster in a cultivator’s body, collected from other dimensions.
[2] Tao (daow) 1. Also known as "Dao," a Taoist term for "the Way of nature and the universe"; 2. enlightened being who has achieved this Tao.
The translation is from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2003/3/3/20675.html
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