Some believers developed into the upper class, participated in political activities within the ruling class, and reformed early folk Taoism from the standpoint of maintaining feudal rule. Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty systematically summarized the theory of immortal magic since the Warring States Period, and constructed various methods of cultivating immortals for Taoism in Bao Pu Zi, and established a set of immortal theory system, which enriched the ideological content of Taoism and had a great influence on the development of Taoism later. At the same time, he put forward the idea of keeping health as the inside and Confucianism as the outside, combining Taoist immortal skills with Confucian classics and teachings, and preaching that Taoists should be based on Confucianism's loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, forgiveness and faith, otherwise they will not become immortals even if they are diligent in cultivation. This laid a theoretical foundation for Confucian official road. In addition, the number of senior gentry participating in Taoism is increasing, and many Taoist families in Shi Tian have emerged. After joining Taoism, these aristocratic families will inevitably bring their own ideas to Taoism. Schools such as Shang Qing and Lingbao, which embody this idea, have appeared one after another and developed rapidly.
At the same time, with the gradual escalation of Taoism, the people still spread the popular form of Taoism and constantly launched an uprising against feudal rule. At the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Sun Si and Lu Xun used Du Zigong's Taoism to launch an uprising, put forward the slogan of killing dissidents, and killed the gentry and Taoist disciples who served Zhang Wudou's Daoism, indicating that there was also a fierce struggle between reform and counter-reform in Taoism at this time.
The successful transformation of primitive Taoism was in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. During the reign of Taiping Zhenjun in the Northern Wei Dynasty (440-450), supported by Emperor Wei, the prime minister and Confucian scholar who believed in Taoism, Kou, a Taoist priest in the mountains, was ordered by the old gentleman on the throne to purge Taoism and abolish the three fake laws of "Zhang Heng" and "Zhang Lu", and formulated a new law of reciting commandments with ceremony as the head and diet and practice in the movement. During the Liu and Song Dynasties in the Southern Dynasties, Lu San, a Taoist priest from Lushan Mountain, and Er Ge (Ge Xuan and Ge Hong) collected classics, including supernatant, Lingbao and various classics, so they were summarized into three caves and ranked first. According to the feudal patriarchal ideology and system, Buddhist practice rituals were absorbed, and fasting rituals were widely practiced, so as to reform the Five Dou Mi Dao, which was intended to respect the king and was called Nantian Shidao. After Kou Helu's revision of Tao Jing Yi, it was gradually finalized. On this basis, Tao Hongjing continued to absorb the thoughts of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, enriched the contents of Taoism, constructed the pedigree of Taoist immortals, recorded the history of Taoism, and advocated the confluence of the three religions, which had a great impact on the future development of Taoism.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, after the continuous transformation of primitive Taoism by Confucianism, Taoism gradually improved and enriched in form and content, and became a royal tool for maintaining feudal rule, and it was always worshipped and supported by feudal rule. The feudal rulers also moved from the confluence of Confucianism and Taoism to paying equal attention to Confucianism and Taoism.