the only early source referring to an individual transcendent. The collection does not offer anything resembling a full biography, but only a few informative anecdotes about each person. The briefest entries have fewer than 200 characters.

Employing the traditional liezhuan ("arrayed lives") biographical arrangement, the Liexian Zhuan arranges its Daoist hagiographies in roughly chronological order, starting with the mythological figure Chisongzi who was Rain Master