His Chinese characters are also writen as 
.
His name is also romanized as Sing Sil / Sing Shui / Sheng Xiao / Hsing Hsiao / Sil Tao Yen.
After a few decades Wong Long passed away, and for a few generations the system of praying mantis gong fu was taught only to the monks (some sources mention the style was taught to the Shao Lin monks while other mention them as Lao Shan monks, in the Shandong Province). Monks mentioned the style as the “treasury to guard the mountain” and they did not teach it to other people.
He was a Chinese herbalist and surgeon, and some praying mantis historians say that he entered to the Laoshan Temple to consult with other herbalists there.
Leyend says that when shifu Shen Xiao Dao Ren first arrived at the temple he observed a fighting style he had never seen before and he asked the monks practicing if he could have a friendly match with one of them to see how effective their gong fu was. At first they declined; however, after he began to ridicule their art as being ineffectual, they agreed to a friendly session. When he began to spar with one of the lower level monks, he soon found himself on the ground looking up with no idea of how he got there. He jumped up and declared that it must have been an accident. He asked if a more senior monk could spar with him. He met with the same result. At this point shifu Sheng Xiao was beginning to wonder what this new type of gong fu was, that had defeated him so easily. When he inquired he found that it was the praying mantis style and was only taught to the monks as a higher form of kung fu. This piqued shifu Sheng Xiao’s interest and he spoke to the chief abbot of the temple about this unusual art of praying mantis and the possibility of learning from the monks. After some discussion, the abbot agreed to let shifu Sheng Xiao learn the style.
PRC sources mention that shifu Sheng Xiao who was the abbot of the Yun Hua Temple at the Lu community, northwest Cha County (Shan Dong Province) and he brought the art to the people.
Shifu Sheng Xuai wrote a book about the 18 Luo Han Qi Gong (exercise for the strengthening of the internal organs). In this excersise each of the 18 sections contain four to five sequences (altogether 69 sequences). The books includes pictures of the postures and 69 rhymes or poems that help to memorize the exercise. In addition he is credited with a manuscript detailing tang lang quan techniques. There is a dispute about the authenticity of that manuscript credited to shifu Sheng Xian and it is probably a later document credited to him.