However, all of the eight agreed that they ought to participate in the feasting.  They reluctantly agreed that they should bring something to the emperor.  After all, even though they did not need to be elevated to the rank of god, it was possible for them to be demoted to a lower order, the so-called mountain immortals who did not help the poor and infirm.

"The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" is a metaphor for multiple solutions to a difficult task.

The eight arrived and lined up behind the other immortals and gods waiting to pay their respects to the Jade Emperor.  When their turn came, Chang Kuo Lao offered the emperor a cap made from hair from his donkey’s tail, Chung Li offered a bamboo pen, Lan Ts’ai Ho gave a lotus from his flower basket, and Ti Kuai Li presented a porcelain bedpan.  Before the other immortals could present their gifts the insulted Jade Emperor ordered his guards to remove the eight, demoted them to the lower rank of mountain immortals, and evicted them from the realm of heaven.

The eight consulted with each other to plot their revenge. “If the Monkey King was able to trick the Jade Emperor, then we ought to be able to do the same,” said Ti Kuai Li.  They decided to offer the emperor gifts that would demonstrate his foolishness.  They returned to the palace and stole six gifts from among those already accepted and offered them as their own.  But they had only six presents, and there were Eight Immortals.  Sure enough, the emperor demanded two more.  Lu Tung Pin then caught a handful of fireflies and offered them to the Jade Emperor, describing them as flashing pearls.  The emperor was overwhelmed.  Next the speedy Lu Tung Pin caught a few cicadas and, describing them as wondrously valuable on earth among humans, presented them as the eighth gift.

The emperor was so pleased with his gifts that he elevated the Eight Immortals to the rank of Holy Immortals of Heaven.  But the eight never used the title or the privileges that came with it.  They preferred to live simple lives on earth helping humans whenever they could.  And that, they continue to do.

Ti Kuai Li gains immortality

The recalcitrant Ti Kuai Li is one of the most popular of the Pa Hsien.  His name means Li with the Iron Crutch, and he is pictured as an unkempt, half-dressed beggar with a shriveled leg.