The ancients said: A man's life is but one spring and autumn for grass and trees. Black hair cannot be retained, and a youthful face fades in the blink of an eye. Fame, fortune, and power are ultimately like a gust of wind scattering fallen flowers; only upon death does one regret not having enjoyed life to the fullest in youth! Filled with endless remorse.
Yet those who seek pleasure in time often suffer in old age or die young due to unrestrained indulgence, as the saying goes: Born for the cunt, living for the cunt, and finally dying on the cunt.
As a man tallying the world's greatest joys on his fingers, the first must be the carnal delights between the sheets. Who does not yearn for a life of endless tenderness day and night? Who does not crave embracing a naked, warm, soft body until the sun is high? And when you reach the point of seeing through society's true nature, you realize that all driving forces in this world arise from the opening and closing of a woman's legs!
Ordinary people are born to suffer, toiling like oxen and horses daily for survival—what happiness is there in that? Precisely for this reason, the ancient gods who created heaven and earth designed procreation as an act of boundless pleasure through the union of man and woman, granting all beings the innate right to joy. Regardless of status, this one matter grants equal access.
The old saying goes that the door between a woman's legs is the gate through which souls reincarnate and the gate that takes lives. To the wise, if this inch of pleasurable flesh between a woman's legs vanished from the world, men's lifespans would surely shorten! Look at those enlightened monks—how many reach forty or fifty without graying hair? How many remain robust at seventy or eighty? Some claim monks, despite renouncing the world, often fail to stay chaste and steal women like common men, depleting their vital essence and thus dying young. Then look at the eunuchs in the capital! Eunuchs neither consort with women nor engage in sodomy; their members are completely severed. By rights, they should live youthfully for centuries, yet their faces wrinkle deeper than anyone's, their hair turns white earliest, and bearing the title of "eunuch," they resemble withered old women! In the capital, only commoners receive longevity plaques; never has a centenarian archway been erected for a castrated man.
Thus, the fleshly act of man and woman uniting harms no one. Yet regrettably, the Compendium of Materia Medica omits this, allowing people to spout nonsense for their own ends. Some call it nourishing yin and strengthening yang; others deem it a bone-scraping steel blade. In my view, this thing is not only greatly restorative but its medicinal properties rival precious ginseng and spiritual herbs! Both involve the mutual complement of yin and yang, acting in harmony.
Ginseng and spiritual herbs are great tonics but cannot be consumed gluttonously like rice! Overindulgence without regard for dosage or timing can still kill. The same holds for carnal pleasures: only with measured, steady flow can yin and yang, water and fire, harmonize and nourish; ceaseless debauchery will quickly exhaust essence and blood, pitting water and fire against each other, harming both yin and yang. Sexual love, used to temper life, has miraculous effects in invigorating meridians and relieving boredom; but without restraint, it leads to depleting kidney essence and exhausting qi and blood.
Men who treat women as medicine must master the measure: neither too distant nor too indulgent; do not withhold love, yet do not pounce like a starving ghost without care. Nor should one be bound by false moralists: "Man-woman love and fleshly desires are human nature—what shame is there?"
Yet when truly stripping a woman bare and pinning her down, with your cock burning hot, remind yourself: "There is land that cannot be plowed fully, but no ox that cannot be worked to death! Having tasted the joy, know when to stop!" Thus, your vital essence will neither stagnate nor deplete.
The Daoists say: Only what is both pleasurable and health-preserving is the true path!
Though the pleasures of man and woman parallel ginseng and spiritual herbs, they are opposites: ginseng and herbs must be "wild" from deep mountains to be potent; those "cultivated" in pharmacies lack full efficacy. Yet this medicine called woman is most restorative when "cultivated"; the "wild" ones not only lack efficacy but may cost your life!
What is "cultivated"? It means your own legitimate wife or concubine at home—no need to spend silver each time, nor scheme and cajole; you can pull her to bed whenever you wish! Lie, kneel, or stand as you please; no one cares how you indulge. Ignore knocks at the door; play freely on the bed without fear. A union leaves you thoroughly satisfied, harms no vital energy, allows ejaculation to beget sons and continue the lineage. Pleasure from scalp to toes, body relaxed and open—this is true nourishment for body and mind.
Those "wild" ones differ. Whether the neighbor's beauty or the brothel's wanton. As the saying goes, "Home chicken lacks the flavor of wild pheasant"; seeing one's wife age, her flesh loosen, indeed cannot match the youthful, firm, juicy flesh outside. One inevitably craves a taste of the wild! Especially encountering top-tier sluts who make you toss sleepless at night, racking your mind to embrace and toy with them, to taste thrusting between their legs, to hear the lewd words and moans from their flirtatious eyes and faces.
Thus you first flirt with glances, then throw real gold and silver, secretly arrange trysts, and commit adultery like a thief in hiding. No matter how bold your lust, when carrying your rock-hard cock to another's door, your heart tightens like a rat's! During the tryst, though knowing no one is around, you suspect eyes watching from behind, fearing exposure; the sweat of passion is scant, but cold sweat of fear soaks your crotch. Worse, it haunts your days and invades your dreams; your mind abandons proper business, your heroic spirit vanishes, replaced by a rat-like demeanor! Sooner or later, you'll leap naked into an abyss, inviting catastrophe! Secretly harming virtue, openly breaking the law. If caught in bed and hacked to death, no one to pay the price; your body severed, your wife left in the world to be toyed with by other men—such tragedies are countless! Thus, when lust rules, never forsake the near for the far or favor the new over the old!
All this rambling aims to tell readers not to misunderstand this book's intent. It uses tales of carnal chaos to sound an alarm, urging restraint of wicked desires, not to teach wanton indulgence; it guards the threshold against lewdness, not to champion libertines and sluts!
Some ask: If seeking to curb evil fire, why not write a proper Daoist text to uphold morals, instead of such explicit erotic fiction?
You do not know! To change customs, one must lead by the donkey's temperament; only then do words enter the mind. In today's world, who cares for sage classics? All love wild histories and secrets! Even in wild histories, they tire of loyal ministers and filial sons' preachings, craving tales of adultery and exposed flesh. Society's rot runs to the bone! If one preaches great principles to urge virtue, not only will none spend to buy it—even giving it free as charity ends with it torn for pickling jars or wiping asses; none will read it closely!
Better to use these lascivious tales of man-woman union to stir inner cravings! As you stare at two pale bodies, cock pounding, juices splashing, thrusting with relish, eyes glazed, suddenly jab a few sharp needles below, jolting you to gasp and inwardly cry: "This licentious pleasure is thrilling, yet if it costs this dog's life of joy, becoming a ghost under the peony, it is not worth it."
Then, when depicting the thunderous retribution and grisly ends of adulterers, coldly hint: "Coveting others' wives and daughters brings such evil karma! Better to train one's own wanton wife at home. Why lose wife and army, trading life and fortune for the King's romantic debt!"
Once the mind turns here, the evil path naturally ends. With the evil path severed, the man cherishes his wife, the woman respects her man; the righteous moral path of the Book of Songs lies entirely within the square inch of the marital bed! This is the supreme method of "addressing the matter at hand, curing desire with desire." Indeed, not only we writers of romantic histories use this; even the sages in the classics mastered it long ago.
Recall the Warring States period, when King Xuan of Qi met Mencius. Mencius passionately preached the great way of benevolent rule; the King, a vulgar man obsessed with silver and women, had no interest in governance and merely humored him: "Good, yes! Teacher, you speak truly well…"
Mencius pressed: "Since Your Majesty finds it good, why not act?"
The King spread his hands: "I have a flaw—I love wealth and hate to spend!"
Mencius immediately recounted how Duke Liu, also fond of wealth, filled granaries for those guarding homes and sacks for those campaigning afar…
Hearing the endless chatter, the King cast aside decorum and blurted: "I have another flaw—I love women with ample breasts and slender waists! I have no mind for court affairs, only daily enjoyment of beauties!"
At this, the King cared not for the infamy of tyrants like Jie of Xia or Zhou of Shang, clearly unwilling to hear more politically correct preachings. Had this been a false moralist, he would have glared and cursed: "Since antiquity, kings who loved women lost their realms; commoners who loved women died without intact corpses!" Hearing such farting words, the King would think: "I am terminally ill and incurable; no need for this pedant's farting—get lost!"
Unexpectedly, hearing this, Mencius did not anger but began recounting gossip of how King Tai of Zhou fled with his wife Jiang on horseback. Mencius embellished vividly, leaving the King scratching his ears and unable to stop! Mencius said that though King Tai fled with his beloved wife in his arms, this lecherous ruler did not lose his state because he empathized—fleeing with his wife, he ordered all men to flee with theirs. While King Tai vigorously pleasured Jiang in his tent, the common folk in the camp did likewise in their straw beds! This is the true sage king spreading spring wind and equal dew! Who could slander such a ruler, who shares joys with the people equally, as lecherous?
Hearing this, King Xuan of Qi felt utterly at ease, as if finding an idol and confidant; from then on, he willingly followed Mencius's advice, no longer seeing "I love women" as shameful.
The author's purpose in writing this novel is the same! This book depicts the lascivious postures of men and women stripped for union, portraying the sensual eroticism within bed curtains, inevitably carrying a scent of lust and fleshly desire, yet all serves to lead you to the final bloody outcome, thus understanding retribution and awakening reverence!
Otherwise, this book would be a dry, bitter olive; what use is any later sweetness? Bitter at first bite, who would keep chewing? These vivid depictions of fleshly desire are but a layer of cloyingly sweet candied date flesh wrapping the mind-awakening olive pit. Leading you to swallow it whole without spitting, only then can you slowly savor the "flavor" behind the words!
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