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58 He also sent magicians to sea to search for P‘êng-lai and the Master An-ch‘i. Then he turned his attention to transmuting cinnabar and scraps of every kind of drug in order to get yellow gold.

Some time after that Li Shao-chün fell ill and died. The Son of Heaven, thinking that he was not dead but merely departed in a transformed shape, commissioned K‘uan Shu, a secretary in the prefectures of Huang and Chiu, to continue the magical practices of Li Shao-chün, and the search for P‘êng-lai, and for the Master An-ch‘i. But they could not be found. Moreover, in the region of Yen and Ch‘i, bordering on the sea, magicians skilled in strange marvels appeared in ever increasing numbers and engaged in discussions on spiritual matters."

To be a Taoist magician at the time of Wu Ti was a profitable calling. The pages of Ssŭ-ma Ch‘ien are full of the honours showered upon a succession of these favourites. True, some of them came to a bad end. For instance, one within the space of a few months had conferred upon him the very highest honours, including an imperial princess as wife, and then was found out and executed by being cut in two. Another declared a certain bullock had a miraculous object inside it. The animal was killed, and, sure enough, within its stomach was found a message on a silken scroll. But the Emperor recognised the magician's handwriting, and he too suffered violent death. However, these were exceptions. Under the Emperor's orders thousands found employment in searching the seas for the Enchanted Islands, and hunting the countryside for hsien.

Wu Ti, like the First Emperor, frequented the coast, interrogating seafaring folk, and hoping to catch sight of the Islands in the far distance. Facing eastwards, he sacrificed to the inhabitants of P‘êng-lai. In the hope of