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Treats all kinds of carbuncles, sores, and malignant ulcers.
When a person first feels the onset of a back carbuncle (a boil occurring on the back) that is about to form but has not yet fully consolidated, accompanied by swelling and pain, cover the affected area with wet paper; the place that dries out first indicates the head of the abscess. Take a single-clove garlic, slice it thinly, and apply it over the head of the abscess. Perform moxibustion using moxa cones. Replace the garlic slice after every three moxa cones (Zhuang). If the area is painful, continue moxibustion until the pain ceases; if it is not painful, continue until pain arises, which is considered optimal. The most crucial point is to detect it early and apply moxibustion as soon as possible. If there are ten or more heads, crush the garlic into a paste, spread it over the heads, and burn the gathered moxa on top of the garlic paste. If the initial presentation is a patch of redness and swelling with a millet-grain-sized head in the center, apply a slice of single-clove garlic over the head and perform moxibustion with fourteen or forty-nine moxa cones. This allows the toxic qi to exit outward, facilitating easier healing. For carbuncles and sores, moxibustion is superior to medication. Change the treatment every three moxa cones, with one hundred cones as the standard rate; some cases involve up to eight hundred cones, consuming approximately one sieve of moxa. Initially, the necrotic tissue may not be painful; continue direct moxibustion until pain is felt, then stop. By night, after the fire has passed, the entire area becomes elevated with hundreds of holes, allowing the toxin to exit outward. Otherwise, the toxin will press inward against the Zang organs, leading to critical danger. However, this method must strictly not be used above the vertex of the head, lest it draw Qi upward and cause greater disaster. *Bencao Gangmu* states: *Waike Jingyao* claims that toxic swellings on the head should not be moxibusted; this statement is incorrect. The head is the gathering place of all Yang meridians. Therefore, the moxa cone should be small, and the number of cones few—small like a peppercorn, and few, only three to five cones. Li Dongyuan treated Yuan Haowen for a brain carbuncle using large moxa cones the size of two walnut kernels, moxibusting until one hundred cones were applied before pain was felt, at which point he stopped. From this, we can deduce that for toxic swellings on the head, if pain occurs during moxibustion, the cone should be small and the number of cones few. If no pain occurs, larger cones and a greater number of cones are also acceptable without harm.

For any impending carbuncle or sore, taking this preparation in advance can reduce swelling and expel toxins, preventing the toxic pathogen from attacking internally. The efficacy is too numerous to recount.
Take two jin (approx. 1 kg) of licorice root (Gancao) that contains starch. Crush it, soak it in river water overnight, knead it until the juice becomes thick, filter out the dregs, and slowly simmer it into a paste. Take one or two spoons each time, administered at any time with non-fermented wine (Wuhui Jiu).

This treats all kinds of carbuncles, back sores, and malignant poisons. If stagnant blood and Yin-toxin reside within, there is no pain; applying this causes pain. If pain is caused by internal attack due to accumulated emotions such as worry and anger, making it unbearable, applying this stops the pain. If heat is trapped internally, causing high fever where the hand cannot bear to touch, applying this brings immediate coolness. If Qi deficiency and cold blood result in ulceration that fails to heal, applying this promotes closure. It is effective for internal stagnation of the Seven Emotions, regardless of excess or deficiency patterns.
Take Polygalae Radix (Yuanzhi), soak and wash it with rice water, remove the core, and grind it into a fine powder. Mix one qian of the medicine with one cup of wine. Wait for it to settle and clarify, then drink the liquid. Apply the dregs to the affected area.