Deng Ruozhuo

Deng Ruozhuo, a Taoist priest of Wudang in the Song Dynasty, had his native place and life story unknown. According to the "Brief History of Taoism in Wudang", citing Ma Yongqing's "Nenzhenzi" of the Song Dynasty, Deng Ruo was poor at Wudang cultivation and was good at regulating the Yang spirit to travel. In the second year of the Chunhua era (991 AD), Deng Ruozhuo, the Yang God, went on a trip to a place he often visited and met two immortals discussing something. One said, "Next spring, the imperial court will list three prime ministers on the list of jinshi." Now there is a person who can hold the position of prime minister, but due to various restrictions, his ranking is the lowest. What do you think we should do about this? Another one said, "This status of superiority or inferiority is determined by fate and cannot be changed." However, there is still room to strive for the number of Jinshi admitted. The second-place candidate can be placed as the first-place candidate. When Deng Ruozhuo's Yang spirit returned, he told his apprentice about this matter, but did not inform him of how to strive for the position of jinshi. The following year, when the imperial court was issuing the imperial examination results, it happened that the crown prince was just one month old in the palace. Emperor Taizong of Song was in a good mood and indeed relaxed the number of candidates admitted to the jinshi examination by a large extent at once. Sure enough, three people were selected from among the jinshi to serve as prime ministers, namely Ding Wei, Wang Qinruo and Zhang Shixun. Among them, Zhang Shixun was from Junzhou at the foot of Wudang Mountain. Later, Zhang Shixun retired and returned to his hometown. He often visited Wudang Mountain. Deng Ruozhuo's disciples would often talk about this with him, which amazed Zhang Shixun greatly. The "Great Mountain Taihe Mountain Annals" of the Ming and Qing Dynasties records that Zhang Shixun later retired to Wudang and achieved immortality. This move was probably related to Deng Ruozhuo's foresight.