 His father died while he was still a commoner.At one point, for misdeeds, he was incarcerated at the jail at Xuchang (許昌, in modern Xuchang, Henan), the capital of Zhongwu Circuit (), which Wuyang sat in, but the jailers privately released him.He subsequently stayed with the monk Chuhong () in the Wudang Mountains, and Chuhong encouraged him to change his ways, predicting that there would be great accomplishments in his future.