Nie Shidao (聂师道), a Taoist priest of the Tang Dynasty, was a native of Shexian County, Xin'an (now Anhui Province). At the age of thirteen, he joined the Taoist sect, and at the age of fifteen, he was awarded the seal of approval. Later, he traveled all over the world in search of immortality and Taoism. One spring traveled to Nanyue Hengshan, temporarily lodging Zhaoshan Guan, from the Guan set off into the hole in the source of the spirit. At that time, it was spring, and Shidao had heard people say that Cai Zhenzhen, who had become an immortal, used to live in seclusion in a place not far away from here. There were many exotic flowers and trees growing there, and the woodcutters often saw Mr. Cai still there. Shidao is very happy about this, in the view of seven days in the valley do not eat, get up in the morning, alone into the by.

  Shidao in the mountains slowly walking, smell the flowers have a strange fragrance, do not realize that it is already late in the day. Suddenly, he came to a big stream and saw a woodcutter sitting on the beach by the water, so he wanted to go up and get close to him. The woodcutter had just picked up his woodcutter's burden and was about to walk across the stream, and turned back expecting to pay his respects." The woodcutter said, "Jun Cai lives in the very depths of the mountains, beyond human reach." Shidao said, "I have climbed up the cliffs by climbing the vines and have come here. As long as there is a mountain, it must be passable, even if it is anything near or far." The woodcutter added, "It's getting dark, let's go for the time being, after crossing this mountain, there are people on the east side, you can borrow a room." Shidao wanted to follow the woodcutter, and the woodcutter quickly went down to the water, which was very shallow, but Shidao wanted to go down to the water, which was extremely deep, and therefore did not dare to go forward. The woodcutter said, "O you, it will be fifty years before you can cross this water." After seeing the woodcutter wade across the stream and disappear, Shidao turned back and walked east.

  Walked more than ten miles, looked ahead to see three thatched cottages, chickens and dogs roaming around the fence. Only when I got closer did I see a farmer in his thirties. Seeing Shidao come to the deep mountains alone, he was very surprised and asked, "May I ask where you are going?" Shidao replied, "I have come to seek the hermitage of Cai Zhen." The master said, "Have you seen any woodcutters on the way?" The master said, "Have you seen the woodcutter on the way?" He replied, "Yes, I have." The master told him, "He is Cai Zhen Zhen, who has just passed by here." Upon hearing this, Shidao went to the hermitage of Taoist Cai and said, "It is really a bad fate for a mortal to meet an immortal sage and not be able to recognize him." Then he said to the farmer, "It's almost night, the mountains are deep and the forests are dark, there's no other place to stay, so I hope the master will make it easy for me." The master asked him where he came from, and Shidao told him the reason why he came to Nanyue from Xin'an River to look for Xianzhen, and only then did the master agree to let him enter the house. He then instructed Shidao to sit on the bed by the fireplace and said, "Living in the mountains, I happened to run out of food, and the man who went to look for food has not yet returned." Shidao said, "I have been abstaining from food and fasting for many hours, and I am not thinking of what to eat." I only saw a soup pot by the fireplace and several yellow porcelain boxes. The master said, "The contents of the boxes are edible, please take whatever you like." When I opened one of the boxes, I saw that it was tea. The master said, "Please use the boiling water in the tripod to make tea." Shidao followed the instructions, a drink, only to feel the smell and ordinary tea is different. After a period of time, and want to drink tea, and then go to open the box, but can not open, all over the other boxes, also can not open. Shidao heart strange, think here is not like the usual village home, but do not dare to say. The next day, Shidao woke up early in the morning. The master slept in another house, the sun is very high still do not get up, just pass the message: "This place has always been quiet, coincidentally, I have contracted a disease, can not entertain you, the front of the village has a lot of homes, or to go there."

  Shidao followed the master's instructions, a few miles ahead, and there are no homes, all the precipitous cliffs, so turn around, looking for the old road, but no longer recognize where is last night's place to sleep. Another thirty miles or so, suddenly came across an old man, saw Shidao is very happy, invited him to sit down on the rocks, and asked the purpose of entering the mountain. Shidao then recounted what he had encountered earlier. The old man told him, "Cai Zhen Zhen's father and son live in seclusion in this mountain, and the place where you stayed yesterday is his son's home." He also said, "You have the body of a man, and you have the body of a man, and you have the body of a man. He also said, "Your Taoist qi is very strong, but your immortal bones have not yet been cultivated. Into the mountain, hungry and thirsty, how can you live long?" Stopped for a while, the old man folded a stem of grass to Shi Dao to eat, the grass is shaped like a child Yin, more than a foot long, chewing in the mouth taste sweet. He also asked Shidao to drink from the spring. Shidao just drink, a look up, the old man has lost sight of.

  Shidao can not help but once again lament their encounter with a different person in front of the wrong. But after drinking water and eating grass, the energy doubled, seems to be lighter and faster body, walk up and down the road is also much stronger. Along the mountain and then look for the original lodging place, the road has been covered by thorns and vines, the front can no longer go, so I had to exit the mountain, back to the fairy temple. View in the Taoist priests see him back, very surprised, said: "Nanyue near, poisonous insects and beasts a lot of people can rarely walk alone in the mountains, how you go more than a month before returning, we are very worried about you, looking forward to your safe return." Shidao heard this, very strange, replied: "I went out yesterday, only in the mountain experience a night ah." He told the story of meeting the woodcutter, staying overnight, and meeting the old man. Someone said: "and Cai Zhen Zhen together with two other Peng Zhen people, that old man is afraid that he is." The Taoist priests sighed again and said, "We have lived in this temple and practiced in vain, although we know that there is Cai Zhenren, but we do not have the fate to meet him. As soon as you entered the mountain, you soon met the three immortals; one day and one night in the mountain, and already one month and more ding on earth. It is really lucky!"

  From then on, Shidao practiced more diligently. In this way, he was also touched by the guidance of foreigners, and his Taoist skills became more and more refined, and he finally refined the inner elixir. In his later years, he lived in Yangzhou and had more than 500 disciples. One day, he suddenly passed away. The disciples converged the body into the coffin, only to feel as light as no one, only to realize that the master has been like a cicada shell as the body of the immortal. Soon after, some people from Jiangxi and Hunan sent messages that they had met Nie Shidao, and the last message said that they had seen Nie Shidao entering the cave spirit source. People then remembered the words of Woodcutter Tian "50 years later, then cross this water", and thought that Shidao and Cai, Peng three immortals together in the cave to cultivate the truth.

  唐朝道士聂师道，字通微，是新安歙县(今属安徽)人。十三岁便入道门，十五岁授了符篆。后来出游各处寻仙访道。某年春天云游到南岳衡山，暂借住招仙观，从观中出发进入洞灵源。当时止值春天，师道曾听人说，早成仙的蔡真人以往隐居在离此不远的地方。那儿长着许多奇花异树，樵夫们常常见到蔡真人仍在那儿。师道为此十分高兴，在观中七天辟谷不吃，早晨起来，独自一人进入由中。

  师道在山中徐徐行去，闻到花有异香，不觉天色已晚。忽然来到一条大溪旁，见有位樵夫临水坐在沙滩上，便想上前亲近。樵夫刚挑起樵担准备走过溪去，回头期望能拜谒致敬。”樵夫说：“蔡君住在山中极深处，人迹到不了”。师道说：“我攀着藤萝登上山崖，已经来到这里。只要有山，必定可以通行，哪怕什么远近。”樵夫又说：“天要黑了，暂且先走吧，过了这山，东边有人家，可以借宿。”师道想跟着樵夫走，，樵夫快速下水，那水很浅，但师道想下水，水却极深，因此不敢前去。樵夫说：“你呀，五十年后才能过这水。”目送樵夫涉水过溪没了身影，师道才回头往东走。

  走了十多里，远望见前面有三间茅屋，鸡犬在篱笆边闲游。走近才见到一个三十来岁的农夫。见师道一个人来到深山，很是惊讶，问道：“请问你要到哪里去?”师道回答：“是来寻访蔡真隐居处的。”主人说：“路上见到樵夫吗?”答：“见过呀。”主人告诉说：他就是蔡真人，刚才曾从这儿经过。”师道一听，遥向蔡道人隐处礼拜祝告，说：“凡夫俗子，面见仙圣，却认不出，真是命不好。”又对农夫说：“已近晚上了，这儿山深林黑，没其他地方可以投宿，望主人行个方便。”主人又问他从何处来，师道便把自己从新安江边来到南岳寻访仙真的缘由说了，主人这才同意他进屋。又指示师道在火炉边的床上坐，说：“住在山中，偶然吃完了食物，去寻食的人尚没有回来。”师道说：“我已经辟谷绝食多时了，也不想着吃什么。”只见火炉边有汤鼎，又有几个黄瓷盒子。主人说：“盒内的东西可以吃，请任意取。”揭开一盒，见是茶叶。主人说：“可用鼎内开水泡茶。”师道依言，一喝，只觉气味与寻常茶叶不同。隔了一段时间，又想喝茶，再去揭盒子，却揭不开，遍揭其他盒子，也都无法打开。师道心中奇怪，觉得这儿不像平常村野人家，但不敢说出来。第二天，师道一早起床。主人睡在另一间屋，太阳很高仍不起床，只是传话说：“此地素来寂静，不巧我又染上疾病，无法款待你，前村有许多人家，还是往那儿去吧。”

  师道依主人指点，往前走了几里，并没有什么人家，全是险峻的山崖，于是回转头来，找旧路，却已辨不清哪儿是昨晚借宿的地方了。又走了三十多里，忽然碰到一位老人，见了师道很是喜悦，邀他在石头上坐下，并问入山的目的。师道便把先前遇到的事叙述了一遍。老人告诉他：“蔡真人父子都隐居在这山中，昨天你所借宿的地方，便是他儿子的家。”又说：“你身上道气很浓，仙骨却还没有修成。入山来又饥又渴，哪能长住呢?”停了一会，老人折一茎草给师道吃，那草形状像生童茵，长有一尺多，嚼在嘴里味道甘美。又让师道取泉水喝。师道才喝着，一抬头，老人已经失去踪影。

  师道不由再次悲叹自己遇上异人当面错过。但饮水吃草之后，气力倍增，似乎身子轻快，走起路来也有劲多了。沿着山头再寻原来借宿之处，道路早被荆棘藤蔓遮住，往前再也走不通，只好退出山，回到招仙观。观中道士们见他回来，十分惊异，说道：“南岳附近，毒虫猛兽很多，人极少能在山中独行的，怎么你去了一月多才 回，我们十分为你担忧，盼着你安全回来。”师道听了这话，很是奇怪，答道：“我昨天出去，只在山中经历一宿呀。”并把遇见樵夫，投宿，又遇老人的事述说一遍。有人说：“和蔡真人一道隐居的还有二位彭真人，那老人恐怕就是他。”道士们又叹息说：“我们住在此观中，白白修道一场，虽知道有蔡真人，却没有缘分见上一面。您一入山，很快就遇到了三位仙人，山中一天一夜，人间已一月余丁。真的是幸运呀！”

  从此之后，师道更加勤奋修道。这样又感动异人指点，道术越来越精，终于炼成内丹。晚年住在扬州，收有徒弟五百余人。一日忽然化去。弟子将尸体敛入棺木，只觉轻如无人，方知师父已如金蝉脱壳般尸解仙去了。不久，有人从江西、湖南传来讯息，说遇到了聂师道，最后的消息说见到聂师道进入了洞灵源。人们这才想起樵天“五十年后再过此水”的话，想来师道和蔡、彭三位仙人一起在洞府中修真了。