Anqi Xiansheng was a native of Langya Fuxiang. He sold medicine along the coast of Donghai, and people at that time all called him a thousand-year-old man. When Emperor Qin Shi Huang toured the east, he requested an audience with Anqi Xiansheng and conversed with him for three days and nights. He was then bestowed gold, jade, and other valuables worth tens of thousands. After leaving, he placed all the gifts at Fuxiang Ting and left behind a letter. In return, he gave one pair of red jade slippers and said: “Seek me on Penglai Mountain after several years.” Emperor Qin Shi Huang immediately sent envoys such as Xu Shi and Lu Sheng, along with hundreds of others, to sail into the sea. However, before they reached Penglai Mountain, they were always met by storms and had to return. Temples were built at ten or more locations along the seashore near Fuxiang Ting.

Anqi Xiansheng’s encounter with Qin Shi Huang is one of the most famous immortal-emperor meetings in Chinese history. Like Fan Li, who abandoned the emperor’s rewards and disappeared into obscurity, Anqi left behind all the imperial gifts — gold, jade, and valuables — keeping only the freedom to vanish on his own terms. The immortal cannot be bought; he can only be sought.

His thousand years of selling medicine by the sea recalls the extraordinary longevity of Peng Zu, who sustained life across centuries through breath and inner cultivation. Both figures embody the Taoist ideal that the preservation of vital energy — not the accumulation of power — is the true path to immortality.

Liao liao Anqi, xuzhi gaoqing. Riding the light and adapting to nature, preserving vital energy to prolong life. Musing on Emperor Qin’s reign, he left treasures at Fuxiang Ting. About to travel to Penglai, vanishing into a shadowless and cool expanse.

This eulogy distills the essence of Anqi’s path: not power, not wealth, but the quiet mastery of vital energy and natural alignment. The same principle animates Qin Gao, who wandered freely for two centuries before descending into the river on a red carp, and Wang Ziqiao, who spent thirty years on Mount Songgao before ascending on a white crane. Like Ge You, who led nobles up a sacred mountain never to return, Anqi Xiansheng points toward Penglai — a destination that exists just beyond the reach of imperial power, accessible only to those who have truly let go.