Zhang Sanfeng, a Taoist priest in the Ming Dynasty. His given name was Quanyi, or Junbao, and his style name was Yuanyuan Zi. Because he was unkempt, he was also known as Zhang Sanbi. He was from Yizhou in Liaodong (southwest of present-day Zhangwu, Liaoning). Historical records say that he had a tortoise-like back, big round eyes, a beard like a tailor's, and only had one robe and one straw raincoat for warmth in winter and summer. Zhang Sanfeng once traveled and lived in the Wudang Mountains. The first Ming emperor and the third Ming emperor repeatedly sent emissaries to seek him out, but they never met. During the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor, he was given the title “True Man of the Microcosm”. There are many legends about him in folk culture, and I will record a few here:

One day, Zhang Sanfeng was strolling along the Sanjiang River in the north of Guiyang. Looking at the river on both sides and the deep blue water, he couldn't help but bend down and drink a mouthful of the cool water. Just as Zhang was lost in the landscape scroll, he heard voices of dispute. It turned out that there were three people not far away arguing angrily. Zhang Sanfeng laughed to himself, thinking that he would have to do some good deeds again.

The three men were arguing happily when they suddenly saw a dirty-looking Taoist monk come before them, and they were taken aback! They thought to themselves, “Where did you come from? You stink, what are you doing here?”

Zhang Sanfeng didn't care about the suspicious looks of the three men, and with a slight smile, he plucked at his long beard and said, ”Brothers, why are you arguing endlessly?”

The three men looked at him and said, “Oh, here comes a busybody.” Then they thought, “We can't sort this out anyway, so we might as well let this dirty old man decide.”

It turned out that the three men were bridge builders. The banks of the Sanjiang River had always been cliffs and steep walls, impassable. The county magistrate had offered a reward of 50 taels of silver for anyone who could build a bridge. The three men were fellow apprentices and experts in bridge building, so they took on the job and built the bridge together. The three men climbed mountains and climbed rocks, and made some stone piers to be used as foundation stones on both sides of the river. After working busily for a few months, they finally completed the bridge today and received the reward of 50 taels of silver. They had wanted to have a good drink, but who knew that the money would be divided unevenly. Although the three were fellow disciples, they all believed that they had given their all to the bridge construction project, and thus none of them were willing to lose out. They argued endlessly, and it was only with difficulty that they refrained from fighting and losing face as brothers.

When Sanfeng Daoren heard this, he laughed and said, “If you keep fighting like this, there's no end in sight. How about this? Let me, a stinky Daoren, sort it out for you!”

The three of them looked at each other and thought that this Daoren might be able to do something, so they handed over 50 taels of silver.

Zhang Sanfeng happily said, ‘Come, each of you take 15 taels of silver.’ Then he turned around and walked backwards, and the three of them hurriedly followed, afraid of being left behind. As soon as they looked, the dirty Taoist stopped by a strange-looking broken rock.

The dirty Taoist, holding the remaining 5 taels of silver in his hand, muttered something, blew on it, and the 5 taels of silver flew like they had wings, and were firmly embedded in the gap in the broken rock.

The three of them knew they had encountered a living immortal, and were so scared that they knelt on the ground and did not dare look up. Zhang Sanfeng gave a faint smile and said, “You three are fellow disciples. Building bridges and cultivating virtues for the world is a meritorious deed. But now you have hurt the harmony among brothers and damaged your merits over this shiny bauble. Now I have placed this indistinguishable and uneven thing in the mouth of the broken rock. If any of you three can get it, the ingot of silver will be his. Go and try!”

On hearing this, the three men hurriedly got up from the ground and ran over, reaching out to grab it. They reached from top to bottom, left to right, and bottom to top, their hands aching, their feet aching from kicking, and their necks aching from twisting, but they couldn't even touch the edge of the silver. They tried every possible way, but really couldn't do anything about it, so they just ran away in shame, not even daring to look anyone in the face.

Later, the old people said that the silver had been there for an unknown number of years, and no one could touch it. In particular, those who were greedy not only could not touch the silver, but also experienced body aches for three days and nights after returning home.

Then the ragged Taoist Zhang Sanfeng arrived at Yonglebao in Guiyang. He was walking along the mountain path when he suddenly saw an old couple in front of him, carrying two buckets on their shoulders and leaning on walking sticks as they trudged to the holy spring at the other end of the mountain to fetch water. Zhang Sanfeng felt compassion for the elderly couple, who were still working so hard at their age, and ran over to them, saying, “You're both this old, what are you still doing?”

The old couple looked at the ragged Taoist and replied, “Taoist Master! We two old people rely on the water from the holy spring to make a living by making wine. No matter how far the road is and how steep the mountain is, we have to go! Otherwise, what can we trade for money to buy food to survive?”

Zhang Sanfeng nodded when he heard this, “So that's what's going on! Look at you two, you're getting on in years, your legs aren't what they used to be, and you're still doing this hard work. Let me help you!”

“Come, I'll tell you a good way. Isn't there a vacant lot with a stone mill in front of your house? Dig deep under the stone mill, and you'll find the water of the holy spring flowing over. Then you won't have to carry water over the mountains.”

The two old people returned home half-believing, dug at the place Zhang Daoren pointed out, and when they dug three feet, suddenly a refreshing spring gushed out from the ground. The old man took a trembling ladleful and, after drinking it, burst out laughing. It turned out that the spring was not water, but sweet, delicious rice wine. Since the spring, the old couple's lives have become prosperous. Not only are they well-fed, they have also renovated the dilapidated thatched house into several mud-walled rooms. They have raised pigs and chickens, and their days are full of joy.

One day, the old couple were drinking rice wine, looking at the pigs in the pen, squinting as they counted the eggs laid by the chickens, when they suddenly had a brainstorm: “Our lives should be even better! This old man said that there was holy spring water under the vacant lot, but what came up was fragrant and delicious sweet wine. Maybe there are even better treasures underground!

Thinking about it, the old couple immediately started digging with their tools. They dug all the way down, making a lot of noise, but there was no sign of any treasure. The old couple were so tired that they collapsed on the ground, wiping their sweaty foreheads. Suddenly, they had a start, and looked at the water of the Jiuquan spring slowly falling and disappearing. The two old people immediately covered their heads and burst into tears, regretting their actions. In the end, they took their yokes again and went to the opposite mountain to fetch spring water.

When they returned, they saw two lines of words on the stone mill at the entrance to the house:

Heaven is high, but not higher than the human heart; the human heart is insatiable, and the holy spring water flows backwards.

A second look at the signature: Zhang Sanfeng, the ragged Taoist.

张三丰，明代道人。名全一，或名君宝，号元元子。因其不修边幅，又号张邋遢。辽东懿州 (今辽宁彰武西南)人。史书上说他龟形鹤背，大耳圆目，须髯如裁，寒暑只有一衲一蓑。张三丰曾游栖于武当山，明太祖、明成祖屡次遣使求之，均不遇。英宗时，封其为“通微显化真人”。有关他的传说民间很多，现录一二于下：

一日，张三丰道人游于贵阳北部的三江河，望河两岸，看着碧幽幽的河水，三丰情不自禁地弯下身子，捧了一口清凉之水，细细饮之。就在张道人正忘顾于山水画卷之中时，耳边却传来声声争执之音。原来不远处有三人脸红脖粗，张道人呵呵一笑，心中暗道，又有无量功德要做了，随即飘然而至。

那三人正吵得欢，突见一身脏相的道人来到面前，不觉一愣!心想，哪钻出来的啊!一身臭气，跑到这来耍什么宝啊?

张三丰不在意三人的疑样眼神，微微一笑，手拈长髯，说道：“几位兄弟，为何事而争吵不休啊?”

三人一看，呵，来了个多管闲事的，转眼一想，反正我们也吵不清楚了，还不如让这脏老头来评评理吧!

原来这三人是造桥的匠人，这三江河两岸一直以来都是悬崖陡壁，不能通行。县太爷悬赏如有能架桥通路者赏纹银50两。这三人是同门师兄弟，又是造桥的行家，就领了这个差事，一同修桥。三人上山下石，做了一些石墩放人河两旁当基石，这样忙忙碌碌地修了几个月，今日终于完工，并领得了赏银50两。本想可以好好的喝两杯的，谁知这钱分来分去就是分不均匀，三位虽是同门师兄弟，但都自认为在这次造桥的工程中都出尽了全力，因而没有一个愿意吃亏的，互相争执不休，就差要拉下兄弟的脸面大打出手了!

三丰道人一听，呵呵一笑，说道：“像你们这样争下去，总没有个完了的时候，这样吧!让我这个臭道人来给你们分分看吧!”

三人互视了一下，想这道人可能有那么两下子吧!就把50两纹银递了过去。

张三丰开心地一乐：“来来来，每人先拿好这15两纹银。”然后转身向后走去，这三个怕落了后似地赶紧跟了过去。一看脏道人来到一块长像奇特的断岩边停了下来。

只见那脏道人，手拿着剩下的五两银子，口中念念有词，对着它吹了一口气，那五两银子就如长了翅膀一样地飞向了断岩，并牢固地镶在了断岩的缺口中间。

三人一看知道遇见了活神仙，吓得跪在地上不敢抬头，张三丰幽幽一笑：“尔等三人，同为师兄弟，为世人架桥修德本是一件功德之事，现如今却为这白亮亮的劳什子，伤了兄弟的和气，损伤了功德，实属不该啊!如今我把这分不清、划不匀的劳什子放在了断岩的口中，如果你们三人有谁能拿得到，这锭银子就归他所有了，你们去试试吧!”

三人一听，忙从地上爬起来跑了过去，伸手要拿。他们一会从上往下伸手，一会又从左向右伸手，一会儿又从下往上伸手，手也伸痛了，脚也蹬酸了，脖子也扭痛了，就是连银子的边都模不到，每次都差那么一点点。三个人想尽了办法，实在是无能为力了，只得连面都不敢抬灰溜溜地向远处跑去了。

后来，听老人们说这银子放了不知多少年，就是没有人能模到它，特别是那些贪心的人，不仅摸不到银子，回家后还会全身疼痛三天三夜。

再说那邋遢道人张三丰一路风尘来到了贵阳的永乐堡。他正顺着山路朝前走，忽然看见前方有老两口，正嘿哟、嘿哟地拿着两个水桶，拄着拐棍，到山那头的圣泉抬水。张三丰看那老两口七老八十的还那么操劳，心中恻隐之心顿起，就奔了过去：“您老俩口都这把岁数了，还在忙个啥啊?”

老俩口一看是个邋遢道人回道：“道长啊!我们两老就靠那圣泉的水来酿酒过活了，路再远，山再陡，我们也要去啊!要不拿什么来换钱买粮食糊口啊?”

张三丰一听，点了点头，“原来是这么一回事啊!看你们老俩口，年纪那么一大把了，腿脚也不利落了，还干这重活，让我来帮帮你们吧!”

“来来来，我告诉你们一个好法子，你们家房子前头不是有块堆石磨的空地吗?你们朝那石磨下面深挖下去，就会有圣泉之水流过来了，你们老俩也就用不着翻山越岭地去担水了。”

两老口半信半疑地往家返回，照张道人指的地方挖下去，就在挖到三尺之处时，忽见一股清爽之泉从地下冒了出来。老汉颤颤巍巍地拿瓢舀了一瓢，引颈一饮，顿时哈哈地大笑起来，原来这冒上来的清泉居然不是水，而是香甜可口的米酒。自从有了这口酒泉，老俩口的日子过得富裕起来，不仅丰衣足食，而且还把那间烂草房翻新成了几间泥水房。喂起了猪，养起了鸡，日子过得其乐融融。

一日，老俩口正喝着米酒，望着圈里的猪，眯着眼数着鸡下的蛋时，突发奇想，我们的生活应该还要过得再好一点啊!这老道说我们这空地下面有圣泉之水，结果挖出来的是香美可口的甜酒，说不定我们这地下，还有更好的宝贝呢!

想着，说着，这老俩口马上就操起家伙开挖了，这一路挖下来呀，搞得是鸡飞猪叫，但半点宝贝的迹象都没有。老俩口累得瘫座在地上擦拭着满头大汗，突然眼睛一惊，看着那酒泉之水正慢慢往下跌落而去，最后渐渐空干了。两老口一见抱头嚎啕大哭起来，后悔莫及。最后，他们又重新拿着扁担到对面山去挑泉水去了。

当他们回来之时，只见屋门口的石磨上留下了两行字：

天高不算高，人心比天高；人心贪不足，圣泉水倒流。

再一看落款：邋遢道人张三丰。