《雲笈七籤》Vol. 108

Chisongzi

Chisongzi was the Rain Master in the age of Shennong, the god in charge of rainfall. He consumed water-jade, a kind of jade believed to possess spiritual power, and taught this method to Shennong. He could enter fire and let it burn him without being harmed. Later he went to Mount Kunlun and often dwelled in the stone chamber of the Queen Mother of the West, moving up and down with the wind and rain. The daughter of the Yan Emperor followed him and also attained the Dao and became an immortal; the two departed together. In the time of Gaoxin, a legendary ruler, Chisongzi again served as Rain Master. Legend says that the present-day Rain Master is he.

Ning Fengzi

Ning Fengzi was a man of the Yellow Emperor’s age. Tradition holds that he served as the Yellow Emperor’s Director of Pottery, the official in charge of ceramic production. Someone once met him and tended the fire for him, and discovered that he could produce five-colored smoke. After a long time, that person taught this to Ning Fengzi. Ning Fengzi then kept adding fuel and burned himself away, rising and descending with the smoke. When people examined the ashes, they found what seemed to be his bones still remaining, so they gathered his bones and buried them in Ningbei Mountain; for this reason he was called Ning Fengzi.

Ma Shihuang

Ma Shihuang was a horse doctor in the Yellow Emperor’s age. He was thoroughly familiar with horses’ forms and Qi, and could diagnose whether a horse’s illness would lead to life or death; after his treatment, the horses always recovered. Later a dragon came before him, with drooping ears and open mouth. Shihuang said, “This dragon is ill and knows I can cure it, so it has come to me.” He needled the dragon under the lip and inside the mouth, and also had it drink a licorice decoction; the dragon’s illness was cured. After that, several times sick dragons came near his dwelling, told him their ailments, and asked him to treat them. One day, Shihuang was carried away on the back of a dragon.

Chijiang Ziyu

Chijiang Ziyu was a man of the Yellow Emperor’s age. He did not eat the five grains, but only ate the flowers of various plants and trees. In the age of Emperor Yao, he worked as a carpenter and could move up and down with the wind and rain. Sometimes he sold cords and ropes in the marketplace, and for this reason he was also called “Jiaofu.”

Woquan

Woquan was an herb gatherer on Huai Mountain and liked to eat pine nuts. He had hair several inches long on his body, and each of his eyes was square in shape. He could fly and could also overtake galloping horses. He once gave pine nuts to Yao, but Yao had no time to eat them. The “pine” mentioned here is the jian pine. Legend says that those who ate these pine nuts at that time all lived to be two or three hundred years old.

Rong Cheng Gong

Rong Cheng Gong claimed to be the Yellow Emperor’s teacher. He met King Mu of Zhou and was skilled in teaching the arts of supplementation and guidance—cultivation methods for regulating body and mind and guiding the breath—and he drew Jing and Qi from the Mysterious Female, which symbolizes the source that generates the myriad things. The essential point of cultivation is to keep the “Valley Spirit,” which symbolizes the Dao that is empty and still yet able to generate, from dying, to guard life and fully nourish Jing and Qi. Legend says that in this way white hair can turn black again and fallen teeth can grow back. His teachings were the same as Laozi’s, and some say that Laozi once studied under him.

Fang Hui (the main text is not included below)

Fang Hui was a recluse in the time of Yao. Yao invited him to serve as a Lüshi (an office overseeing the affairs of a region). He refined and ingested mica powder, and he also used it to treat the sick among the people. He lived in seclusion on Wuzuo Mountain.

In the final years of Qi of Xia, Fang Hui served as an official in the palace and was kidnapped and locked indoors. His captors sought the Dao from him; Fang Hui taught and transformed them, and so was able to leave. He also sealed the door with the Fang Hui seal. People of the time said that if one obtained a lump of the mud Fang Hui used to seal a door, that door could never be opened again.

Juanzi

Juanzi was a native of Qi. He favored the practice of ingesting medicinal substances and absorbing their essences. He lived to three hundred years of age and later appeared in Qi. He wrote the Scripture of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity in forty-eight chapters. He once fished at Heze and obtained a talisman from the belly of a carp. Thereafter he lived in seclusion on Dang Mountain and could command wind and rain. He had once received the immortal method of the Boyang Pill.

When Liu An, King of Huainan, was young, he obtained Juanzi’s writings but could not understand their essential purport. The three chapters of Qinxin, however, are clear and well ordered.

Xiaofu

Xiaofu was a native of Jizhou. When young, he mended shoes in the market of Western Zhou and did so for several decades, yet no one knew his origins. Later, someone was astonished that his face did not age and came to ask for his techniques, but no one was able to learn them. Only Mother Liang learned his method for controlling fire.

As Xiaofu was about to ascend Sanliang Mountain, he took leave of Mother Liang, arranged several dozen fires, and then ascended to heaven. Most people in the region of the western settlements sacrificed to him.

Shimen

Shimen was a disciple of Xiaofu. He too could command fire and lived by eating peach and plum blossoms. Later he served as Dragon Master—an official in charge of dragons—for Kongjia of Xia. Kongjia could not make him comply with his wishes, so he killed him and buried him in the wild.

One day wind and rain came to welcome Shimen; after the wind and rain ceased, all the trees on the mountain had been burned away. Kongjia offered sacrifices and prayed, and later, as he was leaving, he died on the road.

Wuguang

Wuguang was a man of the Xia dynasty. His ears were seven cun long. He loved playing the qin and ingested a soup made from the roots of cattails and leeks.

When Tang of Shang campaigned against Jie of Xia, he once sought Wuguang’s counsel. Wuguang said, “This is not something I should do.” Tang asked who could devise strategy, and Wuguang said he did not know. Tang then asked about Yi Yin, and Wuguang replied, “He is strong in action and can endure humiliation; I do not know him.”

After Tang of Shang destroyed Jie, he planned to yield the world to Wuguang, saying, “The wise devise plans, the brave accomplish undertakings, and the virtuous occupy the position—this is the way of antiquity. Why do you not accomplish this? Please be my assistant.”

Wuguang declined, saying, “Deposing a ruler is unrighteous; killing people is inhumane. For others to risk danger and suffer hardship while I enjoy the fruits is not upright. I have heard that a stipend contrary to Dao and righteousness must not be accepted, and that in an age without the Dao one should not occupy office—how much less should I be honored as ruler? I cannot bear to accept it.” Thereupon he took a stone on his back, cast himself into the Liao River, and from then on remained hidden. More than four hundred years later…

By the time of Wu Ding, he appeared again. Wu Ding wanted to appoint him as minister, but he refused. Wu Ding then sent a carriage to welcome him and intended to bring him by force; he regarded this as contrary to ritual propriety, so he threw himself into the river and departed, later traveling at Mount Shangfu.

Qiu Sheng

No one knows where Qiu Sheng was from. In the time of Tang of Shang, he served as Wood Officer (an official in charge of timber affairs) for more than thirty years, yet his body grew even stronger. Everyone knew he was long-lived, and together they honored him as a teacher. He said that he often ate pine resin and lived on the northern mountain of Shixiang, where he personally built a stone chamber. Later, King Wu of Zhou visited his stone chamber and offered sacrifices to him.

Qiong Shu

Qiong Shu was a Fengshi (an official title) of the Zhou. He could circulate qi and refine his form; he boiled and refined stone marrow and ingested it, a substance called stalactite. He lived for several hundred years and often went in and out of Taishi Mountain. In the mountain there was a stone bed that he used for lying down to rest and as a pillow.

Ma Dan

Ma Dan was from the region of Jin and the Di people. In the time of Marquis Wen, he served as a dafu (grand officer); in the time of Duke Xian, he also served as Muzheng. Duke Xian destroyed the Di and killed Crown Prince Gong, so Ma Dan left. When Zhao Xuanzi was in power, he rode in an anche (a comfortable, steady carriage) into the Jin capital and visited the various dafu. Duke Ling wanted to give him office but coerced him in a manner contrary to ritual propriety. Suddenly a violent wind lifted the roof, and Ma Dan entered the whirlwind and departed. The northerners revered him and established a shrine to offer sacrifices to him.

Lu Tong

Lu Tong is said to have been the madman of Chu, Jie Yu. He loved nourishing life, ate the fruit of the tuolu tree and turnip seeds, and traveled among famous mountains. For generations people said they had seen him on Mount Emei in Shu; it was said that he had lived for several hundred years.

Ge You

Ge You was a Qiang man. In the time of King Cheng of Zhou, he liked to carve wooden sheep and sell them. One early morning he mounted a wooden sheep and entered Shu. The princes and nobles of Shu followed him to Mount Sui. Mount Sui is southwest of Mount Emei and rises so high that no end can be seen. Those who followed him never returned; they all became immortals. A local saying goes, “If one can obtain a peach from Mount Sui, even if one does not become an immortal, it is enough to be called a hero.” At the foot of the mountain there are several dozen shrines.

Qin Gao

Qin Gao was a man of Zhao. He was skilled at playing the qin and once served as a retainer of King Kang of Song. He practiced the life-nourishing arts of Juan and Peng. He roamed the Jizhou and Zhuojun region for more than two hundred years. Later he took leave of the crowd, saying that he would enter the Zhuo River to fetch a dragon offspring, and he agreed on a date with his disciples. On that day, his disciples fasted and purified themselves, waited by the water, and set out offerings. Qin Gao indeed came riding a red carp and sat in the shrine; at the time more than ten thousand people watched. He stayed for a month, then entered the water and departed. (In another edition, “Zhuo River” is written “Dang River.”)

Master Kou

Mr. Kou was from the state of Song. He made his living by fishing and lived by the Sui River for more than a hundred years. When he caught fish, he sometimes released them, sometimes sold them, and sometimes ate them himself. He often dressed neatly and liked to grow lychee trees and eat the flowers and fruit of the lychee. Duke Jing of Song asked him about the method of cultivating the Dao, but he refused to answer, so Duke Jing of Song killed him. Several decades later, Mr. Kou was again sitting at the gate of the Song capital playing the qin; he played for dozens of days before leaving. Every household in Song offered sacrifices to him.

An Qisheng

An Qisheng was a native of Fuxiang in Langya and sold medicine by the coast of the Eastern Sea. People of the time called him “the Thousand-Year-Old Man.” When Qin Shi Huang toured the east, he asked to meet him and conversed with him for three days and three nights, granting him money and jade disks worth tens of millions. When An Qisheng left the Fuxiang Pavilion, he left all the gifts behind, wrote only a letter, and left a pair of red jade shoes as a return gift. The letter said, “After a thousand years, come find me at the foot of Mount Penglai.”

Qin Shi Huang then sent Xu Shi, Lu Sheng, and several hundred others to sea to search for him, but before they reached Mount Penglai they encountered wind and waves and had to turn back. Later, Qin Shi Huang built shrines at Fuxiang Pavilion and in many places along the coast.

Gui Fu

Gui Fu was from Xianglin. His complexion was sometimes black, sometimes white, sometimes yellow, and sometimes red. People in the Nanhai region who saw him all respected and served him. He often took cassia and mallow, then blended them with turtle brain to make pills; for every thousand pills he made, he used ten jin of cassia. In later generations, people often still saw him. Today, in southern Jingzhou, cassia pills still exist.

Xiaqiu Zhong

Xiaqiu Zhong was from Ning and sold medicine there for more than a hundred years; people all considered him long-lived. Later an earthquake occurred, and the house where he lived collapsed; his house and those of dozens of households in the same lane, all near the water, were completely destroyed. After Xiaqiu Zhong died, someone threw his corpse into the water and took away his medicine to sell. Xiaqiu Zhong, wearing a leather coat, followed the man to retrieve the medicine. The man who had thrown away the corpse was frightened and kowtowed, begging for forgiveness. Xiaqiu Zhong said, “I do not resent you; it is only that you have let people know who I am. I will leave now.” Later, as a courier for the Hu king of Fuyu—a messenger who transmitted official documents and news—he came again to Ning. People in the north called him a “banished immortal,” an immortal exiled to the human world.

The Wine Guest

The Wine Guest was the proprietor of a wine shop in a market in Liang. The wine he brewed was always excellent; when business was thriving, he could earn ten thousand cash a day. Later someone committed a fault and was driven away by the Wine Guest; from then on, the wine in the shop often turned sour and spoiled, and the shopkeeper became impoverished. Many merchants in the Liang market married their daughters to him and welcomed him into their households. Sometimes he left, and sometimes he returned.

More than a hundred years later, the Wine Guest returned to serve as the deputy official of Liang, a local post, and urged the people to plant more taro and vegetables. Three years later, a great famine did occur; because the people had planted these crops, no one starved to death. After another five years, he untied his official seal and ribbon and left; thereafter no one knew where he went.

Ren Guang

Ren Guang was a native of Shangcai. He was skilled at consuming elixir pills and once sold elixir pills in the capital region. Only after eighty-nine years did he realize that he was the Ren Guang of former times, and he still spoke of past events as before. Several more decades passed, and an elder recognized him. Zhao Jianzi invited him to return together with him. He often lived on Baiti Mountain, and for three generations no one knew where he had later gone. The people of the Jin region often took the elixir pills he had refined.

Zhu Jiweng

Zhu Jiweng was a native of Luoyang and lived at the foot of North Mountain in Shixiang. He raised chickens for more than a hundred years; all the chickens had names, and there were over a thousand in total. In the evening the flock roosted in the trees; by day he let them out to move about. As long as he called the chickens’ names by category, they would each come. He sold chickens and eggs and accumulated tens of millions of coins, after which he left the money behind and departed. Later he built fish ponds in the Wu region and also ascended Mount Wu. Hundreds of white cranes and peacocks often stayed by his side.

Zhu Zhong

Zhu Zhong was a native of Kuaiji and often sold pearls in the marketplace. In the time of Empress Gao of Han, the court issued an edict seeking three-cun pearls. When Zhu Zhong read the edict, he laughed and said, “This is exactly what is wanted.” He brought a three-cun pearl to the palace gate, submitted a memorial, and presented it. The pearl was of excellent quality and surpassed what the court had sought, so Zhu Zhong was awarded five hundred pieces of gold. Princess Luyuan then privately offered him seven hundred pieces of gold for pearls. Zhu Zhong presented a four-cun pearl, delivered it to the palace gate, and then left. The court issued an edict to Kuaiji to summon him, but no one knew where he had gone. In the time of Emperor Jing, he came again to present several dozen three-cun pearls, then left at once; no one knew where he went.

Xiu Yanggong

Xiu Yanggong was a man of the Wei region and lived in a stone chamber on Mount Huayin. He lay on a suspended stone couch; the couch was worn through and sunken, yet he did not move at all. He often took Huangjing (a medicinal herb) and consumed it. Later, Emperor Jing treated him with the courtesy due to a Daoist and invited him to stay in the princely residence. After several years, Emperor Jing still had not been able to learn his Daoist arts, so he issued an edict asking Xiu Yanggong when he would leave. Before the words were finished, Xiu Yanggong transformed on the couch into a white stone sheep. Under the stone sheep’s flank was inscribed: “Xiu Yanggong takes leave of the Son of Heaven.” Later the stone sheep was placed on Tongling Terrace, and afterward it disappeared again; no one knew where it went.

Jiqiu Jun

Jiqiu Jun was a Daoist at the foot of Mount Tai. In the time of Emperor Wu of Han, he received imperial gifts for his Daoist arts. His hair turned from white to black, and his lost teeth grew back. Later he left. When Emperor Wu made an eastern tour to Mount Tai, Jiqiu Jun wore a Zhangfu (ancient ceremonial cap) and yellow clothes, and came carrying a qin to welcome him. After paying his respects to Emperor Wu, he said: “Your Majesty should not go up the mountain; otherwise you will injure your toe.” After going a few li, Emperor Wu’s left toe indeed broke. The emperor tabooed the matter and did not make it public; he only sacrificed to Jiqiu Jun and then returned, and he built a shrine for him and assigned one hundred households to be responsible for the sacrifices.

Cui Wenzi

Cui Wenzi was a man of Taishan, and for generations his family loved the teachings of Huang-Lao. He once lived at the foot of Mount Qian, and later succeeded in making Huang-Lao pills, selling medicine at the Shifu Shrine. When he went to the marketplace, he claimed to be three hundred years old.

Later an epidemic spread, and the common people died in numbers of tens of thousands. The local officials asked Cui Wenzi to treat them. Holding aloft a red banner and carrying yellow medicinal powder, he traveled throughout the villages. After the people took the powder, their illnesses were cured, and those saved numbered in the tens of thousands. Later he left that place and went to the Shu region to sell yellow medicine. For this reason people treasured Cui Wenzi’s red pills and powders, believing these medicines truly approached the miraculous.

Chixuzi

Chixuzi was a man of Feng. For generations local people had seen him, and they said he was the official in charge of fish under Duke Mu of Qin. He often predicted disasters in Feng, as well as floods and droughts, and more than nine out of ten of his predictions came true. I, your servant Xiang, once invited him, honored him as a teacher, and studied under him.

As Chixuzi grew older, he enjoyed eating pine seeds, asparagus root, and mineral clay. After consuming them, his lost teeth grew back and his white hair turned black. Later he consumed the Qi of rosy clouds and no longer ate the five grains. After that, he went to the foot of Mount Wu, lived there for more than ten years, and then no one knew where he had gone.

Duzi

Duzi was a man of Ye. When young, he gathered pine seeds and poria on Black Mountain and ate them, living for several hundred years. Sometimes he looked young, sometimes aged; sometimes handsome, sometimes ugly—so that people realized he was an immortal.

He often went to a house in Yangdu to sell wine. The daughter of that household had eyebrows that grew together, delicate and long; everyone thought her appearance strange and said she resembled a celestial being. Once, Duzi led a yellow calf to her house. The young woman liked him very much and became his companion. She followed Duzi out to gather peaches and plums and returned only after a night had passed; the fruits she brought back were all packed in a string of pouches and were very sweet.

The townspeople followed them. After leaving the city, they all tried to seize the calf by the ears to stop them, but they could not catch up. Duzi later appeared in the marketplace for several more decades, and then departed. Someone saw him at the foot of Mount Pan, where he was selling peaches and plums in winter.

Qilongming

Qilongming was a man of Hunting. At twenty, he found more than ten young dragons in a pond, shaped like geckos, and raised them, building a thatched hut to watch over them. The dragons gradually grew and left one by one.

More than fifty years later, a flood washed away his thatched hut. One morning, Qilongming came to the vicinity of Hunting riding a dragon and said, “I am the grandson of Feng Bochang. If the people here do not move away beyond five hundred li, they will certainly die.” Some did not believe him and considered this demonic talk. In the eighth month, the flood indeed arrived, and the dead numbered in the tens of thousands.

Zhuzhu

Zhuzhu did not know where he was from. He and a Daoist priest climbed Mount Dang together, saying there was cinnabar there and that tens of thousands of jin could be mined. When the local official of Dang learned of this, he went up the mountain and sealed off the cinnabar…

Flames flew out from the pillar, just like fire. When Zhang Junming heard of it, he obtained some cinnabar sand and took it. Three years later he obtained divine cinnabar; after swallowing it, it seemed as though flying snow rose from his body. Five years later he could fly, and he departed together with the pillar.

Lu Piweng (The Deer-Hide Old Man)

Lu Piweng was a man of Zichuan. When young, he served as a petty clerk in the government office. He was skilled in carpentry, and his craftsmanship was ingenious: in a mere raise of the hand he could make devices. On Mount Cen there was a spring of divine water that ordinary people could not reach. The clerk reported this to the commandery governor, summoned thirty carpenters, brought axes and other tools, and built turning wheels and suspended pavilions. His designs were ingenious, and after several tens of days he completed a four-tier stairway leading to the summit.

Lu Piweng built a shrine on the summit and stayed there to live. He partitioned off two of the levels as his own dwelling, ate ganoderma herbs, and drank the divine spring. In this way nearly seventy years passed. The Zi River flooded three times, washing away many places. He called his clan and family up the mountain, bringing more than sixty people with him; when the flood receded, almost the entire commandery had been submerged, and the dead numbered in the tens of thousands. The clerk then bade farewell and sent his clansmen away, letting them go down the mountain. He himself put on a deer-skin garment and left, then returned to the pavilion.

More than a hundred years later, he went down the mountain to sell medicine in the marketplace.

Chang Rong

Chang Rong was a Daoist from the Changshan region and claimed to be a daughter of King Tang of Shang. She ate the roots of wild raspberry and traveled up and down the mountain. Those who saw her said she had lived more than two hundred years, yet her appearance was like that of a woman around twenty. She could gather purple gromwell and sell it to dye workshops; all the money she received she gave to orphans and widows, and she did so generation after generation. More than ten thousand people made offerings to her.

Xi Fu

Xi Fu was from Yan County in Nanjun and lived among the mountains. An immortal often stayed at his home and bought melons from him, and taught him how to prepare melon seeds: store the seeds together with cinnamon, aconite, and bitter orange, then take them separately. After more than twenty years, Xi Fu could fly and run swiftly, go up mountains, and enter water.

More than a hundred years later, he lived in seclusion on a mountaintop. He called to the elders by the stream and talked about the affairs of the world when he was young.

Shan Tu

Shan Tu was from Longxi. As a young man he loved riding horses, and once a horse trampled and broke his leg. In the mountains he met a Daoist, who taught him to make a powder from orpiment, angelica, notopterygium, pubescent angelica, and Sophora root and take it. After a year, he no longer craved food, his illness was cured, and his body became light and agile. He caught up with the Daoist and questioned him. The other declared himself an envoy of the Five Sacred Mountains, ordered to gather herbs in famous mountains, and asked Shan Tu whether he was willing to follow him, saying he could make him immortal.

Shan Tu followed the Daoist for more than sixty years. One day he returned home to mourn his mother; after the full year of mourning he left again, and afterward no one knew where he had gone.

Gu Chun

Gu Chun was from Yueyang and served as a court gentleman during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han. He died of an epidemic disease, but his corpse did not grow cold.

After he died, his family conducted the mourning and wore mourning garments, but they did not dare nail the coffin shut. Three years later, he put on his cap and sat at the county office. The people of the county were astonished; his family came to bring him home, but he refused to go back. When the coffin was opened, it contained only clothes, no corpse.

He stayed overnight at the county office for three nights, then left and went to Chang’an, where he lived at Hengmen. Someone recognized him and chased after him to greet him; he left again and went to Mount Taibai. On the mountain a shrine was built for him, and he often stayed overnight in it.

Yin Sheng

Yin Sheng was a beggar who often lingered under the Wei Bridge in Chang’an and in the marketplace. The townspeople grew tired of him and threw excrement at him, but in an instant he would appear again in the marketplace, his clothes not soiled in the least, just as before.

When the authorities learned of this, they tried to arrest him and lock him in restraints, but he went on begging in the marketplace. When the authorities tried to kill him, he left. The house of the household that had thrown excrement then collapsed by itself, crushing more than ten people to death. Thus a popular rhyme in Chang’an said: “When you see a beggar, give him good wine to drink, lest you meet with the disaster of a collapsing house.”

Zizhu

Zizhu spoke the Chu dialect in a soft, fine voice, and no one knew where he was from. He went to see the King of Jiangdu and declared: “Mr. Ning hired me as a retainer for three hundred years and has never paid me my wages.”

The King of Jiangdu thought he was mad and asked where Mr. Ning was. Zizhu said, “On Longmei Mountain.” The King sent officials to accompany him up the mountain. When they reached the summit of Longmei Mountain, they saw Mr. Ning: his whole body was covered with hair, his ears were broad, his hair hung loose, and he was playing the qin.

When Zizhu saw Mr. Ning, he bowed his head to the ground. The officials relayed the King of Jiangdu’s command. Mr. Ning said, “Zizhu is my neighbor and also my ninth-generation descendant. I am still mindful that your household will meet with violent death, and three women will be involved. Do not meddle in my affairs.” Just as he finished speaking, a wind suddenly arose with a sound like dogs barking. The officials ran down the mountain, and when they returned to the palace, the three had already killed one another. The King of Jiangdu then sacrificed three animals and established a shrine.

Tao Angong

Tao Angong was a foundry artisan in Liu’an. He often kindled fires for smelting and casting. One day the furnace fire suddenly scattered and rose upward, purple in color, mounting straight to the clouds. Tao Angong prostrated himself beside the furnace and prayed. Before long a Vermilion Bird alighted on the furnace and said, “Angong, Angong, your smelting art has reached Heaven. On the seventh day of the seventh month, one will come to welcome you; a red dragon will arrive.”

On the appointed day the red dragon indeed came, and heavy rain fell from the sky. Tao Angong mounted the red dragon and ascended toward the southeast. Tens of thousands of people in the city came out to see him off, all bidding him farewell.

Chifu

Chifu was a man of Barong and served as registrar of the Biji Shrine. He knew how to use mercury to refine elixir, and he took the elixir together with saltpeter. After thirty years he regained his youthful appearance, and his hair all turned red.

After several more decades, he went to Mount Hua to gather Yu Yuliang, which he took and also sold to others. The original text breaks off at the character cang.

Along the Wudian River, generation after generation has handed down accounts of people seeing him; in the palm of his hand was a red axe.

Hu Zixian

Hu Zixian was a diviner at the foot of the palace towers in Hanzhong and lived to be over a hundred. When he was about to depart, he said to an old woman who kept a tavern: “Pack your things quickly; I am going with you to keep an appointment with the King of Zhongling.” At night, an immortal came to Hu Zixian bringing two dogs made of thatch. Zixian gave one of them to the old tavern woman; when she mounted it, she discovered that it had turned into a dragon. They flew up to Mount Huayin, where Zixian often called out loudly: “Zixian and the old tavern woman are here!”

Master Fuju

No one knew where Master Fuju was from; his accent sounded like that of someone from the Yan or Dai region. He often carried mirror-polishing gear on his back and walked through the market of Wu, calling out that he polished mirrors, charging one coin for each mirror. Whenever he polished a mirror for someone, he would always ask whether the client had any illness; if someone was sick, he would take out purple pills and give them to the person. No one who took the medicine failed to recover. This went on for several decades. Later, when a great epidemic broke out, he went from house to house delivering medicine and saved tens of thousands of people, without accepting a single coin. Only then did the people of Wu realize that he was a true immortal.

Afterward, he climbed the sheer cliff of Mount Wu, hung medicine at the edge of the cliff, and then handed the medicine down to the people below. As he was leaving, he said to the people at the foot of the mountain: “I am returning to Mount Penglai to fetch divine water for you.” One early morning, white water flowed out from among the cliff rocks. Many people who drank this water quickly recovered from their illnesses. People established more than ten shrines for him.

Ruan Qiu

Ruan Qiu was a Daoist on Mount Sui. He wore leather garments, let his hair hang loose, had ears seven cun long, had no teeth in his mouth, and could walk four hundred li a day. For over a hundred years he cultivated wengcai and scallions in the mountains, and people never learned his origins. Sometimes he went down the mountain to Guangyang to sell medicine.

Zhu Huang of Guangyang suffered from a toxic abdominal mass disease, a belly ailment believed to be caused by accumulated noxious pathogens. Ruan Qiu gave him a seven-ingredient medicine; after Zhu Huang took it, he recovered, and the Three Corpses in his body—the Daoist spirits said to lurk within the body and hinder cultivation—were also expelled. Later, Ruan Qiu and Zhu Huang entered Mount Fuyang together, and only then did Zhu Huang realize that Ruan Qiu was a divine being. Later, earthquakes and landslides cut off the roads; Ruan Qiu had forewarned people of the disaster. People all revered him and built shrines for him.

Lingyang Ziming

Lingyang Ziming was a native of Zhixiang and enjoyed fishing in Xuan Creek. Once he caught a white dragon. Ziming was frightened, so he unhooked it, bowed, and released it. Later, he caught a white fish, and inside its belly was a letter that taught him methods of ingestion and cultivation. Thereupon Ziming went up Mount Huang, gathered Five Stone Fat—a mineral medicine used in Daoist ingestion practices—mixed it with boiling water, and ingested it. Three years later, the white dragon came to fetch him away. He lived on Mount Lingyang for more than a hundred years. That mountain rose more than a thousand zhang above the ground; he called loudly to the people below, telling them to climb halfway up the mountain...

Zi'an of Xizhong came to ask Ziming, “Is the fishing cart still there?” More than twenty years after this, Zi'an died, and people buried him in the mountains. A yellow crane flew over and perched on a tree beside his grave, crying out and calling, “Zi'an.”

Hanzi

Hanzi claimed to be from Shu and enjoyed hunting with dogs, and he knew how to judge good dogs. Once, a hunting dog ran into a cave, and Hanzi followed it inside. After traveling for more than ten days and nights and several hundred li, he emerged from the top of a mountain. On the mountain were towers, terraces, halls, and government offices, with dense green pines and immortal officials and guards drawn up in strict array. Hanzi saw his deceased wife, who was in charge of washing fish. She gave Hanzi a talismanic document (Fulu, a Daoist talisman-and-register text) and told him to take it back and give it to Lord Qiao, the magistrate of Chengdu. When Lord Qiao opened it, he found fish roe inside, so he put it in a pond to raise. A year later, the fish roe had all turned into dragons. Hanzi then returned the talismanic document to the mountain. By this time his dog’s coat had grown redder, and it had also grown long wings and feathers, and it often went back and forth with him. After more than a hundred years, Hanzi stayed on the mountain, frequently coming down to protect his own clan. The people of Shu erected a shrine for him at the cave mouth; there were often sounds of drum music and calling out, and people from as far as several tens of li to the southwest all came together to offer sacrifices.

Muyu

Muyu was from Nanheping Township in Julu Commandery. His mother was of humble origin and worked as a midwife. Once, while she was delivering a baby, the newborn opened its eyes, looked at her, and laughed loudly; the mother was terrified. That night she dreamed of a man wearing a large cap and a red headcloth, who said to her, “This is Lord Siming (the deity who governs human lifespan). I will repay your kindness by enabling your son Muyu to attain the Dao and become an immortal.” The mother secretly remembered this. Later she gave birth to a son and named him Muyu for this very reason. In the night when Muyu was fifteen, a carriage and horses came to welcome him. As the carriage departed, it passed by his mother’s house, and its occupant called to Muyu, “Come drive my carriage for me.” Then they left together. More than twenty years later, storks each morning carried fish two chi long and placed them at his mother’s door; the mother kept quiet and sold the fish. This went on for thirty years before the matter was discovered. It is said that the mother lived to be a hundred before she died.

Xuansu

Xuansu claimed to be from Hejian and ingested Baji and Ying (herbal substances used by Daoists for health cultivation). He sold medicine in the marketplace, seven pills for one qian, and was skilled at treating all kinds of illnesses. The Prince of Hejian suffered from an abdominal mass; he bought the medicine and took it, and purged out more than ten snakes. The prince asked what the medicine signified. Xuansu said, “Your Highness’s illness is a lingering misfortune left from six generations ago; it has descended upon you and was not brought on by yourself. You once released a suckling deer—that was the mother of a qilin. Your benevolent heart moved Heaven, and that is why you encountered my medicine.” An old retainer in the prince’s household said that his father had seen Xuansu in his lifetime, and that Xuansu’s body cast no shadow. The prince then had Xuansu stand in the sun to see, and indeed he had no shadow. The prince promised his daughter to him, but Xuansu fled at night; later someone saw him at the foot of Mount Chang.

Volume 108 of the Yunji Qiqian (Seven Slips from the Bookbag of the Clouds), a Daoist text.