Wang Lan of Lijin died of a sudden illness. When the King of Hell re-examined his case, it proved that a ghost-messenger had seized him by mistake. He was ordered to be sent back to life, but his body had already decayed. The ghost, fearing punishment, said to Wang, "For a man to be a ghost is bitter, but for a ghost to be an immortal is joy. If one is joyful, why need one be born again?" Wang thought this right. The ghost said, "Here a fox has perfected his golden pill. If you steal and swallow it, your soul will not disperse and you may live forever; wherever you go, nothing will be against your will. Are you willing?" Wang agreed. The ghost led him to a lofty mansion, where the towers rose tall but all was silent and empty. A fox stood in the moonlight, gazing up at the sky. With a breath, a pill issued from its mouth and soared into the moon; with a sniff it fell back, caught in the mouth, and was breathed out again, and so without end. The ghost lay hidden at its side, and when it spat forth the pill, snatched it up and gave it to Wang, who swallowed it. The fox, startled, faced them with a burst of fury, but seeing there were two of them and fearing he could not prevail, went off in vexation.
Wang parted from the ghost and went to his own home. His wife and children, seeing him, fled in terror. Wang told them the reason, and by degrees they gathered. From then on he lived at home and slept and rose as in his old life. A friend, one Zhang, heard of it and came to visit him; after exchanging greetings, Wang said to him, "Your family and mine have always been poor; now I have an art by which we may grow rich. Will you follow me?" Zhang agreed. Wang said, "I can heal without medicine and decide without divination. If I were to appear in my own form, those who know me would be frightened; let me accompany you in disguise, shall I?" Zhang again agreed. So that very day they packed and set out, and came to the borders of Shanxi. There they met a rich man whose daughter had fallen suddenly ill—she lay in a dazed stupor, and every medicine and rite had failed. Zhang went to the house and made a show of his art. The rich man had but this one daughter and prized her dearly; to any who could cure her he would give a thousand gold pieces. Zhang asked to see her and, following the old man within, found the girl lying insensible; he turned back her quilt and felt her body, and she did not stir. Wang whispered to Zhang, "Her soul has gone; we must find it for her." So Zhang told the old man, "Though her illness is desperate, it can be cured." Asked what medicine was needed, he answered, "None. Your daughter's soul has left her to another place, and I have already sent spirits to seek it." After about an hour Wang came and said he had found it. Zhang then asked the old man to go in again and touched her once more. After a little the girl stretched and yawned, and her eyes flew open. The old man, overjoyed, felt and questioned her. She said, "Just now in the pleasure-garden I saw a young man with a pellet-bow shooting sparrows, and several men leading a fine steed behind him. I tried to flee, but was barred. The youth put his bow in my hand and taught me to shoot. As I was blushing and rebuking him, he set me on his horse and we rode off together. Laughing, he said, 'I love to sport with you; do not be ashamed.' After several li we entered the mountains, and as I wept and cursed from the saddle, the youth grew angry and flung me down by the roadside, where I found no way home. Just then a man seized my arm and sped like the wind; in a flash I was home, as if waking from a dream." The old man, marveling at this, indeed paid a thousand gold. Wang and Zhang had planned together to keep two hundred gold for the road and carry off the rest, and Wang, knocking at the door, gave it to Zhang's son. He also bade that three hundred be given to Zhang's family, and then returned. The next day they took leave of the old man, who, not seeing where the gold was hidden, wondered the more and sent them off with rich gifts. Some days later, in the suburbs, Zhang met a fellow countryman, He Cai. He drank and gambled and attended to no business, and was poor as a beggar. Hearing that Zhang had got a strange art and money without number, he came running to find him. Wang advised giving him a little and sending him away. He Cai did not change his ways, and within ten days had squandered all; he was about to seek Zhang again. Wang, knowing this, said, "Cai is a mad, unruly fellow whom one cannot keep company with; the best is to bribe him off, and even so the mischief is not small." The next day Cai indeed came and insisted on going with them. Zhang said, "I knew you would come again. Day after day you drink and gamble; how can a thousand gold fill a bottomless pit? If you will truly mend your ways, I will give you a hundred gold." Cai agreed, and Zhang poured out his purse and gave it him. Cai went off, and with a hundred gold in his pouch gambled all the more boldly; with his visits to houses of pleasure he flung money about like dust. The constables of the county, suspecting him, seized him, brought him before the magistrate, and tortured him cruelly. Cai confessed truthfully where the money had come from. So officers were sent to arrest Zhang. But Cai's wounds were severe, and he died on the way. His soul, not forgetting Zhang, went and attached itself to him, and so met Wang. One day, as they were drinking together at a signal-tower, Cai, drunk, shouted wildly, and Wang could not restrain him. Just then a touring censor passed, heard the outcry, searched, and seized Zhang. Zhang, in fear, told the truth. The censor, enraged, had him flogged and registered a complaint with the gods. That night he dreamed a man in golden armor told him: "On investigation, Wang Lan died innocent, and is now a ghost-immortal. His healing is a divine art and cannot be punished as sorcery. By the Jade Emperor's decree he is appointed Grand Purifier of the Roads. He Cai, lewd and reckless, has been punished and banished to the Iron-Ring Mountain. Zhang is without fault and should be pardoned." The censor, waking, found it strange but released Zhang. Zhang packed and returned home, and from the several hundred gold left in his pouch, respectfully gave half to the Wang family. Wang's sons and grandsons grew rich thereby.