The Yang Changxuan 杨常炫

Yang Changxuan was a native of Shanxi Province in the late Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).

As recorded in Records of Wudang Mountain (Wudangshan Zhi): He was a graduate of the imperial examination (holding the title of "Jinshi," the highest academic degree in imperial China, which qualified him for official positions). In the final years of the Ming Dynasty, he abandoned his official post, ascended to the summit of Huashan, paid homage to Huangdi (the "Yellow Emperor," a legendary ancestor of the Chinese nation, revered in Taoism) and Laozi (the founder of Taoism), and became a Taoist monk.

Later, he moved to Songshan Mountain and Wudang Mountain, and formed a close friendship with Bai Xuanfu, the abbot of Wudang Mountain.

He practiced the art of taking essence (a concept in Taoist health preservation, referring to absorbing vital energy from nature or through dietary adjustments) and consuming Chinese mugwort (or other medicinal herbs, a common practice in traditional Taoist alchemy and health maintenance), and devoted himself to cultivating the "Quanzhen Inner Alchemy" (a core practice of the Quanzhen School of Taoism, focusing on refining one’s inner vital energy to achieve spiritual and physical transcendence). After living in the mountains for six years, he traveled and sojourned in the regions along the Yangtze and Han rivers.

He once sponsored the publication of Liu Dongyang’s Complete True Collection (Liu Dongyang Zongzhen Ji), which was then circulated among the people.