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Liu Wuming once guarded the Three Corpses (Shensi, three worms residing in the human body that report one's faults to heaven) on a Gengshen day and took Realgar (Xionghuang). Afterwards, he saw two ghosts who said, "I am the True Talisman of Mount Tai, here to seize you." They saw a yellow light several feet high above his head and could not approach. Was this not the merit of Realgar? (From *Suosui Lu*)

Zhou Shun of Poyang was a physician renowned for his perfect medical skills ("Ten Perfections"). He stated: Ancient prescriptions such as those in *Taiping Shenghui Fang* (Imperial Grace Formulas), *Qianjin Fang* (Thousand Gold Prescriptions), *Waitai Miyao* (Essential Prescriptions from the Outer Cabinet), and *Zhubing Yuanhou Lun* (Treatise on Pathogenesis and Symptoms of All Diseases), which discuss disease origins, pulse patterns, symptoms, and acupuncture methods, must not be discarded. However, the dosage and formulation of these prescriptions differ significantly from modern practices. Those who do not deeply investigate their principles should not use them recklessly. There was a case where a patient with an eye disease used an ancient prescription and suffered sudden protrusion of the eyeball. There was also a woman with postpartum illness who used a vaginal suppository formula from *Waitai Miyao*, but subsequently developed chronic lochia retention that never healed. Once, a scholar suffered from weak legs (Jiaoruo). The books of prescriptions listed remedies piled up like mountains, yet his condition worsened. I instructed him to discontinue all medications and only wash his feet in a bucket made of Chinese Fir wood (Cunninghamia lanceolata), while placing Camphor (Zhangnao) between his thighs and securing his legs. After more than a month, he recovered fully. This disease is common in the South and cannot be ignored. Zhou Shun is indeed a famous physician; his words are not baseless. Therefore, I recorded this as a warning. (From *Dunzhai Xianlan*)

In the third month of the 19th year of Shaoxing (1149 AD), Monk Xici of Yingzhou went to sweep the pagoda thirty li south of the prefecture. A passenger boat arrived from Panyu. On board, a scholar had a servant suffering from weak legs who could not walk. The boatman pitied him and said, "I have a medicine that treats this disease with miraculous efficacy; countless people have recovered after taking it. I will give it to you." After the temple sacrifice ceremony, they drank the sacrificial wine together. The scholar became somewhat drunk, then entered the mountains to find the medicine, soaked it in wine, and gave it to the sick servant, instructing him to take it before dawn. Following this instruction, as soon as the medicine entered the mouth, the servant groaned, saying his intestines and stomach were in extreme pain, as if cut by a knife. By dawn, he died. The scholar blamed the boatman. The boatman, angry, said, "How can this happen?" He then took the remaining medicine from the previous night, soaked it in wine, and consumed it himself. Within less than an hour, he also died. It seems there are many *Gelsemium elegans* (Duanchangcao, Intestine-Severing Grass) in the mountains; ingestion causes death. The medicine the boatman collected was entangled with roots and vines. Being drunk, he did not have the leisure to select carefully and threw it directly into the wine, thus bringing about disaster. Thus, we know that herbal medicines should not be taken recklessly. (From *Jia Zhi*)

When the disease is located above the chest and diaphragm, eat first and then take medicine. When the disease is located below the heart and abdomen, take medicine first and then eat. When the disease is located in the four limbs and blood vessels, it is suitable to take medicine on an empty stomach in the morning. When the disease is located in the bone marrow, it is suitable to take medicine when full at night. (From *Bencao* literature)