His legend relates that he left the city of Yangshan to become a recluse and build a home in Nan Mountain.
Legend has it that he was very tall, perhaps more than six foot, with a beard that reached to his navel and hair down to his feet.
[1] He walked with a gait like a running horse and that each time he carried firewood down from the hills to the town to sell he would recite this poem: Li Bai (the great Tang Dynasty poet) was said to have searched for Xu Xuanping, but couldn't find him.
He was, however, inspired to compose some poetry, after seeing the Immortal's Bridge, before he departed.
Other schools hold that Xu himself was a tai chi practitioner, and that the style Xu Xuanping passed down was simply called "37", because it consisted of 37 named styles or techniques.