the 12th century, the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) School was founded in Shandong by the sage Wang Chongyang (1113–1170). The school focused on inner transformation, mystical experience, monasticism and asceticism. Quanzhen flourished during the 13th and 14th centuries and during the Yuan dynasty. The Quanzhen school was syncretic, combining elements from Buddhism and Confucianism with Daoist tradition. According to Wang Chongyang, the "three teachings" (Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism), "when investigated, prove to be but one school". Quanzhen became the largest and most important Daoist school in China when master Qiu Chuji met with Genghis Khan who ended up making him the leader of all Chinese religions as well as exempting Quanzhen institutions from taxation. Another important Quanzhen figure was Zhang Boduan, author of the Wuzhen pian, a classic of internal alchemy and the founder of the southern branch of Quanzhen. Also during the Song era, the Zhengyi tradition proper developed in Southern China among Daoists of the Chang clan. This liturgically focused tradition would continue to be supported by later emperors and survives to this day. Under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), aspects of Confucianism, Daoism, and East Asian Buddhism were consciously synthesized in the Neo-Confucian school, which eventually became Imperial orthodoxy for state bureaucratic purposes. Daoist ideas also influenced Neo-Confucian thinkers like Wang Yangming and Zhan Ruoshui. Also during the Ming, the legends of the Eight Immortals (the most important of which is Lü Dongbin) rose to prominence, being part of local plays and folk culture. Ming emperors like the Hongwu Emperor also continued to invite Daoists to court and hold Daoist rituals which were believed to enhance the power of the throne. The most important of these were connected with the (especially those connected with the Daoist deity Xuanwu ("Perfect Warrior"), which was the main dynastic protector deity of the Ming. The Ming era also saw the rise of the Jingming ("Pure Illumination") school to prominence, which merged Daoism with Buddhist and Confucian teachings and focused on "purity, clarity, loyalty and filial piety". The school derided internal and external alchemy, fasting (bigu), and breathwork and instead focused on using mental cultivation to return to the mind's original purity and clarity (which could become obscured by desires and emotions). Key figures of this school include Xu Xun, Liu Yu, Huang Yuanji and Xu Yi and Liu Yuanran. Some of these figures taught at the imperial capital and were awarded titles. Their emphasis