| | Wei Boyang was a native of Wu. He was the son of a noble family, but he had an inclination toward Daoist arts and refused to pursue officialdom. He lived in seclusion cultivating his nature; at that time, no one knew about him. Later, he went into the mountains with three disciples to prepare a divine elixir. When the elixir was completed, one of his disciples did not have complete faith and thus tested it by saying: "Although this elixir is now finished, we should first test it." "Now let us try it on a dog; if the dog immediately flies, then it may be taken. If the dog dies, then it should not be consumed." Boyang went into the mountains and specially brought along a white dog to accompany him. There was also a poisonous elixir, whose transformation process had not yet been completed and the ingredients were not fully harmonized; when consumed, it caused temporary death. Therefore, Boyang gave the poisonous elixir to the white dog, and upon eating it, the dog immediately died. Boyang then asked his disciples, "In making the elixir, one fears only that it will not be completed. Now that it is complete, yet the dog died after eating it—this seems to contradict the will of spirits and deities. If we take it ourselves, we may also die like the dog. What should we do?" The disciple asked, "Should Master take it himself?" Boyang said, "I have abandoned the ways of the world and left my family to enter the mountains. If I do not attain immortality, I will never return. Whether death or life awaits me, I shall take it myself." Boyang then took the elixir; as soon as it entered his mouth, he died. The disciples looked at each other and said, "We made the elixir in hopes of attaining eternal life, yet taking it leads to death. What are we to do?" One disciple alone said, "My teacher was no ordinary man; he died after taking the elixir—could there be a meaning behind this?" He then took the elixir as well and immediately died. The remaining two disciples said to each other, "We made the elixir hoping to attain eternal life. Now, taking it leads to death—what use is this for?" "If we do not take this, we can still live for several more decades in the world." They then decided not to take it and left the mountain together, intending to go into town to purchase a coffin for Boyang and his deceased disciple. After the two disciples left, Boyang immediately rose up, took the elixir he had consumed and placed it into the mouths of his deceased disciple and the white dog; they all revived. The disciple's surname was Yu. They all attained immortality and departed. Because they encountered someone entering the mountain to cut wood, they wrote a letter to their hometown, entrusting it with thanks to the two disciples. The disciples were then filled with regret and sorrow. Boyang wrote the Cantong Qi (Treatise on the Triple Concordance), comparing the Five Elements, in a total of three volumes. His explanations resemble interpretations of the Yijing, but in reality he borrowed yao symbols to discuss the meaning of elixir-making. However, Confucian scholars, unaware of matters concerning immortals, instead annotated it with Yin-Yang theories, which greatly missed its main purpose.
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