Li Bi became learned in the Confucian classics and the histories, but was particularly well-learned in the I Ching. He was also a talented writer and wrote poems well, and he had great ambitions to assist emperors. He was honored by officials such as Zhang Jiuling, Wei Xuxin (), and Zhang Tinggui (). Zhang Jiuling, in particular, treated him as a friend notwithstanding the age and position differences. Li Bi, however, did not like to be restricted by governmental regulations, and as he grew older often journeyed among Mount Song, Mount Hua, and the Qinling Mountains, seeking out for the alchemist arts that could lead to eternal life. During the middle of Emperor Xuanzong's Tianbao era (742-756), Li Bi submitted a petition from Mount Song discussing the affairs of state. Emperor Xuanzong, remembering the meetings when he was young, summoned him to Chang'an and made Li Bi an attendant to Li Jun — whose name had been changed to Li Heng by that point and who had become crown prince. However, after Li Bi wrote some poems satirizing such powerful figures as Yang Guozhong and An Lushan, Yang became displeased and requested that Li Bi be exiled to Qichun Commandery (蘄春, in modern Huanggang, Hubei). Only after a pardon was Li Bi allowed to return to Chang'an. Thereafter, he took no governmental positions and became a hermit at Yingyang (潁陽, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan).