Zhu Yuliang

Zhu Yuliang is from Suizhou, Hubei Province. When he was young, his family was poor. He was invited by his mother and elder brother to settle in Wudang Mountain. At the age of thirteen, he became a monk and studied Taoism in the Imperial Hall on the Golden Summit. The Imperial Scripture Hall is the place in the history of Wudang Taoism where the mountain's secret room and the Taoist secret elixir "Wudang Mountain Eight Treasures Purple Gold Ingot" were researched and stored. Therefore, the successive abbots of the Imperial Scripture Hall have all been the genuine inheritors of the secret medicine of the Wudang Sect. After Zhu Yuliang became a monk, his master, who was of the highest rank, saw his intelligence and honesty and passed on the secret recipe of the "Eight Treasures of Wudang Mountain Purple Gold Ingots" to him, making him a genuine successor of his generation. In the first year of the Republic of China (1912 AD), Zhou Fengsheng, the pacifying commissioner of Xiangyang, took advantage of the chaotic situation and colluded with the British, Japanese and foreign invaders. He led troops to Wudang Mountain, attempting to blow up the Golden Hall and plunder cultural relics in an attempt to make a fortune. Zhu Yuliang, along with all the Taoists on the mountain, vowed to defend the Golden Hall to the death. They risked their lives in the fierce battles against soldiers and bandits, and were highly praised by the masses. Zhu Yuliang later served as the abbot of the Imperial Scripture Hall. He was known for his quiet and simple life, untainted by the mundane world, and renowned far and wide for the purple gold ingots he produced. Over several years, they raised funds to renovate more than thirty rooms of the Imperial Scripture Hall and the Huanglong Cave Taoist Temple, and purchased over thirty mu of farmland. Around the tenth year of the Republic of China, Zhou Xianhai, the leader of the Red Gang in Laojuntang Township, often acted as a rogue and extorted money in various palaces and temples on Wudang Mountain, making the Taoists live in misery every day. In the first month of the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), Zhou Xianhai and his group went to the Imperial Hall of Taihe Palace for a visit. They stayed there for five days. Every day, they asked Zhu Yuliang to burn opium for them. After the opium was enough, they had to accompany them in gambling. Moreover, Zhu, the head of the court, could only lose and never win. In five days, Zhu Dangjia was forced to lose more than half of the temple land of the Imperial Scripture Hall. But Zhou was still not willing to give up and insisted on winning to the end. Zhu Yuliang and the Daoists were so furious that they beat Zhou Yanding severely. Zhu, unable to bear it any longer, along with four local farmers, Gao Shihai and Chen Guoyou, killed Zhou Xianhai and then fled far away. In 1932, Zhu Yuliang returned to Wudang Mountain and continued to serve as the abbot of the Imperial Scripture Hall. In his later years, he lived at Fuzhen Temple (also known as Taizi Slope). In 1961, he passed away there at the age of 74.