Iron-crutch Li

The most ancient of the Eight Immortals, Iron-crutch Li or Li Tieguai (Simplified Chinese: 李铁拐; Traditional Chinese: 李鐵拐; pinyin: Lǐ Tiěguǎi; Wade-Giles: Li T'ieh-kuai), is named Li Kongmu (Chinese: 李孔目; pinyin: Lǐ Kǒngmù) or Li Ningyang (Simplified Chinese: 李凝阳; Traditional Chinese: 李凝陽; pinyin: Lǐ Níngyáng). His calabash relieves suffering.

He lived in Western Zhou Dynasty. Prior to becoming an immortal, his spirit once travelled to the heaven; however, his uninformed apprentice mistook his inanimate body as a sign that he has died, so the apprentice cremated Li. In another version, the apprentice was told that the spirit will return in seven days, but on the sixth day, the apprentice's mother was in grave illness, so he had to return home, so he cremated the body. Upon returning, Li had no choice but to enter the corpse of a homeless man who died of starvation.

Depiction

He always carries a crutch.