Jie Zitui was surnamed Wang and given name Guang; he was a native of Jin. He remained hidden without seeking fame, admired Zhao Chengzi, and traveled with him. One morning there was a yellow sparrow on the gate; the Jin nobleman Chonger found this unusual. He left with him and lived outside for more than ten years, without shirking hardship or toil. When they returned, Jieshan Bose Zichang came in the morning and called out to Tui, saying: “It is time for you to go.” Tui bid farewell to his mother and entered the mountains, following Bose Zichang in his wanderings. This pattern of voluntary withdrawal from worldly recognition places Jie Zitui firmly within the early Taoist hermit tradition of the Spring and Autumn period, in which the highest virtue was expressed not through service but through principled refusal.

Later, Duke Wen sent thousands of people with jade and silk to honor him, but he did not come out. Thirty years later, he was seen by the East Sea coast, selling fans for Wang Su. Several decades later, no one knew where he was. His disappearance into anonymity echoes the lives of other Taoist immortals who withdrew from society after fulfilling their earthly roles, leaving behind only traces and rumors.

Wang Guang remained silent and reclusive, living to an advanced age. He emerged from Yibai Jun and associated with Qi Xianyou. Tui’s virtue, diligence, and humility — what did he seek or desire? He vanished into Jieshan Mountain, his traces drifting along the eastern coast. This quality of silent, purposeless wandering — seeking nothing, taking nothing — is the hallmark of the reclusive Taoist tradition that runs from the Spring and Autumn period through the Tang dynasty, in which the truest immortals are precisely those who leave no trace.

The Lie Xian Zhuan (列仙传, Biographies of Immortals) presents Jie Zitui not as a miracle-worker or a master of esoteric techniques, but as a man whose immortality was earned through moral integrity and voluntary obscurity. In this sense, his biography reflects the foundational Taoist teaching articulated by Laozi: that the sage does not contend, and therefore no one can contend with him.