Ziying was a native of Shuxiang and skilled at diving into water to catch fish. He once caught a red carp, liked its beautiful color, and took it home, placing it in a pond. He often fed it with rice and grain. After one year, the fish grew more than a zhang long, then sprouted horns and wings — marking it as one of the divine creatures of the Taoist celestial hierarchy. Ziying was startled by this strange occurrence and bowed to thank it. The fish said: "I have come to welcome you. Get on my back, and I will take you up to the heavens together." It then began to rain heavily. Ziying climbed onto the fish's back, and they soared upward to achieve Taoist immortality and vanished. Every year he would return to his old home, eat and drink, see his wife and children, and the fish would come again to welcome him. This continued for seventy years — a testament to the Taoist cultivation ideal of transcending the world while remaining connected to human bonds. Therefore, in the Wu region every household made a sacred shrine to the divine fish and eventually established a temple dedicated to Ziying.

Ziying loved water; swimming and fishing were his occupation. A divine-scaled fish came to him, its color radiant and brilliant. He raised it and nurtured it until it grew horns and wings. Thus, he rode the clouded dragon, leaping beyond the celestial expanse.