Later, he was deified by the people. The story about Chi K'ang having learned his skills on the zither from ghosts is similar to a story in Huai nan tzu, a philosophical work by Liu An, which describes the famous musician Shih K'uang. According to Chinese tradition, humans are able to communicate with gods and ghosts through exquisite music.
故事開始說他的琴藝得助於鬼神，正如「淮南子」形容古代名樂師師曠「奏白雪之音，而神物為之下降，風雨暴至」，所謂「上通九天」，正是此意；最好的音樂超乎凡人所為，所以是樂通鬼神的。