Magic mushroom eater climbs 27th floor flat to 'seek immortality' in Yunnan

A 27th-floor escape attempt for immortality has gone viral in China after a man named Xue, from Yunnan province, consumed self-cooked jianshouqing mushrooms—a locally foraged psychoactive fungus—mixed with alcohol. Hallucinating intensely, Xue believed his family was summoning him to 'train to cross the tribulation and attain immortality,' a recurring plot device in Chinese xianxia (fantasy cultivation) novels. In his delusional state, he climbed out of his apartment window and began descending a water pipe, scraping his abdomen in the process.

Luckily, a friend living directly below on the 26th floor heard the commotion and managed to pull Xue inside before he could fall. Emergency services transported Xue to a nearby hospital, where he failed to regain consciousness and lapsed into a coma. Local authorities are now warning about the dangers of foraging and consuming wild mushrooms, especially when combined with alcohol. The incident has sparked widespread discussion on Chinese social media about the risks of drug-induced psychosis and the cultural influence of fantasy fiction on real-world behavior.