The Wang Zihua 汪子华

Wang Zihua (711-789), styled Shimei, was a native of Ruyang in Caizhou (now Runan County, Henan Province) during the Mid-Tang Dynasty.

At the age of forty, he took the imperial examination for the Jinshi degree three times but failed to pass each time. Consequently, he and Yan Zhenqing (a renowned Tang Dynasty calligrapher and official) became disciples of Mr. Baiyun (Master of the White Clouds) Zhang Yue together, studying the doctrines of Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor) and Laozi (founder of Taoism)—the core teachings of Taoism. Later, he went to Tiantai Mountain to practice Taoism under Sima Chengzhen. When the An Lushan Rebellion (a major uprising that shook the Tang Dynasty) broke out, he abandoned his family, wandered around, and eventually lived in seclusion on Zhurong Peak of Nanyue Mountain (Mount Heng).

He practiced Taoism there for nine years without descending the mountain. After attaining Taoist enlightenment, he continued his cultivation for twenty-eight years, finally succeeding in refining the Taoist elixir and completing his Taoist attainments.

Wang Zihua passed away in the first month of the fifth year of the Zhenyuan era (789) at the age of seventy-six.

In later generations, he was honored with titles such as "True Lord Wang, the Fire Master" or "Fire Master of Thunder and Lightning".

(Source: Supplementary Series of the Comprehensive Mirror of Real Immortals and Practitioners Through the Ages, Volume 5)