Life
Lü Dongbin is the immortal ordinary people actually prayed to: a scholar who failed the examinations, met Zhongli Quan at an inn, was put through a series of tests he did not know were tests, and attained the Tao. He carries a sword, he is associated with healing and with wine, and his shrines are everywhere.
In the alchemical literature he is the recipient — the Zhong-Lü texts are written as instruction given to him — and in the lineage claims of later schools he is the link. Wang Chongyang, who founded Quanzhen, said he received his teaching from Lü Dongbin in a tavern in 1159, and Quanzhen counts him among its patriarchs on that basis.
That structure is worth noticing here, because it is the same structure Mo Pai uses: a transmission validated by a meeting that only one party can attest to. It is not evidence against either claim. It is what claims of this kind look like from outside.
