text: The oldest extant Chinese alchemistic texts, comprising the Taiqing corpus, , and , date from around the 2nd to 4th centuries.
  The Daoist Taiqing  (Great Clarity) tradition produced the earliest known textual corpus related to . Its main scriptures were the   (Scripture of Great Clarity), the   (Scripture of the Nine Elixirs), and the   (Scripture of the Golden Fluid), which early sources say were revealed to the Han  Zuo Ci at the end of the 2nd century. Both the Baopuzi (below) and the received versions of these scriptures in the Daoist Canon show that the Taiqing tradition developed in Jiangnan (lit. south of the Yangtze river), in close relation to local exorcistic and ritual practices.
  The Zhouyi Cantong Qi (Token for the Agreement of the Three According to the Book of Changes) or Cantong qi, is traditionally considered the earliest Chinese book on alchemy. Its original version is attributed to Wei Boyang in the mid-2nd century, but the received text was augmented during the Six Dynasties (220-589) period. Unlike the earlier Taiqing tradition, which focuses on ritual, the  is based on correlative cosmology and uses philosophical, astronomical, and alchemical emblems to describe the relation of the Dao to the universe. For instance, the two main emblems are   (Real Mercury) and   (Real Lead), respectively corresponding to Original Yin and Original Yang. This choice of mercury and lead as the prime ingredients for elixir alchemy limited later potential experiments and resulted in numerous cases of poisoning. It is quite possible that "many of the most brilliant and creative alchemists fell victim to their own experiments by taking dangerous elixirs". The new  view of the alchemical process not only influenced the later development of , but also paved the way for the rise of . From the Tang period onward, the  became main scripture of both  and  alchemies.
  The Daoist scholar Ge Hongs c. 318-330 Baopuzi' devotes two of its twenty chapters to  alchemy. Chapter 4,   "Gold and Cinnabar", focuses on the Taiqing corpus, whose methods are mostly based on minerals, and Chapter 16,   "The Yellow and the White", contains formulas centered on metals. Ge Hong says that the ritual context of the two sets of practices was similar, but the scriptures were transmitted by different lineages. In addition, the  quotes, summarizes, or mentions many other  methods, often from unknown sources.
  Chapter 4, "Gold and Cinnabar", provides a variety of formulas for elixirs of immortality. Most of them involve shijie  "liberation from the corpse", which generates "a new physical but immortal self (embodying the old personality) that leaves the adept's corpse like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis", and is verifiable when the corpse, light in weight as an empty cocoon, did not decay after death. Many  elixirs are based on arsenic and mercury compounds, which have "excellent embalming properties". Some less effective elixirs only provide longevity, cure disease, or allow the adept to perform miracles. The  lists a total of 56 chemical preparations and elixirs, 8 of which were poisonous, with hallucinations from mercury poisoning the most commonly reported symptom.
   Chapter 16, "The Yellow and the White", records several methods for preparing artificial alchemical gold and silver, which when ingested will provide immortality. It also includes a few elixir formulas with effects such as providing invulnerability or reversing the course of a stream. Ge Hong emphasizes that  alchemy grants access to higher spiritual realms and is therefore superior to other practices such as healing, exorcism, and meditation.