The Wang Quan 王荃

Wang Quan was a native of Pingyang in Qizhou (now part of Shaanxi Province) during the Northern Song Dynasty, with the courtesy name Zizhen.

His father served as a Dianzhongcheng (a mid-ranking official in the imperial court responsible for administrative and advisory duties), and all his brothers pursued careers through the imperial examination system. Only Wang Quan chose to study Taoism and became a Taoist priest (Huangguanshi, a title for Taoist practitioners wearing yellow hats, a symbol of Taoist identity).

As recorded in Volume 52 of Lishi Zhenxian Tidao Tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror of Immortals Who Attained Dao Through Cultivation in Successive Ages): "Wang Quan paid ritual homage to the statues of the Three Pure Ones (the highest deities in Taoism) every morning and evening, recited the Huangting Jing (Yellow Court Scripture, a core Taoist classic), and did not step out of his house for months on end."

Later, he traveled far to visit famous mountains and went west to Chengdu. A wealthy merchant surnamed Zheng admired him and hosted him at his residence for as long as eight years.

During the Yuanfeng era (1078-1084) of the Northern Song Dynasty, he was recommended to the imperial court and granted the title "Chongxu Chushi" (Hermit of Profound Emptiness).

Subsequently, he met Liu Haichan (a renowned Taoist master), and thus became his disciple. He received the Shangqing Jinglu (ritual certificates of the Shangqing School, a major Taoist sect) as well as alchemical formulas and Taoist doctrines from Liu. Wang Quan maintained a life of pure cultivation, which made him thin and gaunt. Later, through accumulating merits and practicing virtuous deeds, his reputation in the Taoist community grew increasingly prominent day by day.

He lived to the age of sixty-one.