Fei Ch'ang-fang was a minor official of the Latter Han Dynasty (25 to 220 A.D.).

The story begins with an old medicine seller who had hung up a gourd over his storefront and used to jump into it after closing shop. This secret was known to no one except Fei Ch'ang-fang, who lived upstairs. To find out what he was up to, Fei prepared some food and drink and paid him a visit. "Come back tomorrow!" the old man said. Fei did just that.

When the old man saw that Fei was sincere, he took him along with him into the gourd. Inside was a luxurious and spacious hall arrayed with fine liquors and sumptuous delicacies. The pair had a drink or two together and then came back out. Enjoining him not to reveal his secret, the old man said:

"I am a fairy immortal who was banished to earth. Now it's time for me to return, and maybe you can go with me. . . . At any rate, I've left a little wine for you downstairs as a farewell drink."

Fei sent someone down to fetch the wine, but neither he nor several others he sent for could lift the gourd. Smiling, the old man went downstairs and picked up the gourd with one hand. The gourd looked as though it would hold only about a pint, but the two drank from it all day without exhausting it.

Fei was incited by this to seek the Way, but he felt burdened by his family. Perceiving his thoughts, the old man broke off a green stick of bamboo and hung it up at the back of the room. When people saw it, it appeared to them as though Fei had hanged himself. The whole family wept and wailed and held his funeral while Fei stood off to one side unseen.

Afterwards, Fei followed the old man deep into the mountains. The old man made him hack through thorns and briars and live among tigers, but he showed no fear. He made him lie in an empty room under a ten-ton rock suspended by a rotten rope gnawed by snakes, but Fei didn't move an inch. The old man said happily, "You can be taught something." Finally, he made him eat dung containing three filthy and smelly insects. This time Fei felt disgusted.

The old man sighed and said, "You almost attained the Way. It's too bad you didn't pass the last test!"

Since he had failed to achieve the Way, Fei had to leave. The old man gave him a bamboo staff and said, "Ride this and you can go back home. Then throw it into the lake." He also drew a charm for him and told him it would control ghosts and spirits.

Fei got on the staff and immediately returned home. He thought he had been away for just ten days, but the time was actually ten years. When he threw the staff into the lake, it turned into a dragon.

His family said he had been dead a long time. Surprised at this, he had his coffin exhumed and found that the old stick was still inside. He picked it up and discovered that it could cure diseases, drive away ghosts, and command spirits.

Sitting by himself, Fei would sometimes fly into a temper. When asked why, he replied, "I'm berating ghosts that have committed offenses."

When he invited people to dinner, he would use magic to send his servants off to distant places to buy food and return with it in time to serve it. And he sometimes appeared on the same day in different places thousands of miles apart.

One day Fei told Huan Ching, a fellow countryman who was studying the Way with him: "On the ninth day of the ninth month, your home will be struck by disaster. If you fill a red sack with dogwood, tie it to your arm, climb a high hill, and drink chrysanthemum wine, the trouble can be avoided." Huan had his family do as instructed. When they returned home at dusk, they found that their animals had all died.

It is said that Fei later lost the charm and was killed by spirits.

This story first appeared in the History of the Latter Han and was included in many later collections of the lives of saints and immortals. A number of the story's motifs recur in other Chinese tales and legends.