Library

First Evil: Mental confusion, irritability, dry tongue and thirst, sores mostly purple-black, muttering speech. Second Evil: Stiffness of body tendons, difficulty in moving the eyes, blood and water flowing from the sore head, palpitations and fright indicate Liver injury. Third Evil: Emaciation, sunken and hard sore shape, thin pus with foul odor, Spleen failure causing loss of appetite. Fourth Evil: Dry skin, excessive phlegm and shortness of breath (indicated by "yun bu yuan"), panting with flaring nostrils, Lung exhaustion leads to certain death. Fifth Evil: Frequent drinking, throat feeling like burning smoke, Kidney depletion with a ghastly black complexion, retraction of the scrotum is the origin of death. Sixth Evil: Generalized edema, frequent borborygmus, vomiting and hiccups, slippery diarrhea of the Large Intestine, this is the beginning of Zang-Fu organ failure. Seventh Evil: Inverted and sunken sores, resembling peeled skin, constantly oozing turbid fluid, cold extremities and aversion to cold.

At the initial stage, it feels like millet grains with slight itching; before suppuration, white heads appear and pain gradually increases. On the first day, chills and fever with shivering occur; on the third or fourth day, blisters form and become hard like Ding sores (carbuncles). Day and night drowsiness and unceasing itching persist. On the fourth day redness appears, fifth day purpleness, sixth day blueness. If one contracts this condition without pus formation, nine out of ten will not survive.

Among the Thirteen Formulas, the most mysterious and difficult to comprehend is "Zhongjiu Wan" (Middle Nine Pills) in the first formula. It varies from person to person, leaving people bewildered. This is especially true for "Sandaling Lingyao" (Three-Beaten Spiritual Medicine), followed by Yincui (Silver Emerald), while Jindan (Golden Pill) and Shiqing (Stone Blue) differ relatively little. Now, I will specifically detail the preparation methods of these four unique medicines first, followed by the compounding method of Zhongjiu Wan, and then proceed to the other twelve spiritual formulas to complete the whole.

(That is, Sandaling Lingyao / Three-Beaten Spiritual Medicine)
(Prescription) Mercury (Shuiyin, 1 liang) Alum (Baifan, 1 liang, slightly heated to remove moisture) Saltpeter (Huoxiao, 1 liang, baked to remove moisture) Salt (Yanshi, 1 liang, baked dry) Cinnabar (Zhusha, 5 qian) Green Vitriol (Zaofan, 1 liang)
(Preparation Method) (1) First, grind Baifan (Alum), Huoxiao (Saltpeter), Yanshi (Salt), Zaofan (Green Vitriol), and Zhusha (Cinnabar) together until extremely fine. Then add Shuiyin (Mercury) and continue grinding until no mercury globules are visible. Divide into three portions for later use.
(2) Place one portion in a small iron pot, cover it with a large bowl. Seal the connection between the bowl and the pot tightly using gypsum powder mixed with vinegar, ensuring no gas escapes.
(3) Cover the bowl with roasted yellow earth (yellow earth roasted to remove moisture; Chishizhi (Red Halloysite) is better) or very fine river sand, but leave the bottom of the bowl exposed. Press down on the bowl bottom with an iron ring and heavy weights to prevent movement. Place a ball of wet cotton under the bowl bottom. Outside, insert three large iron nails (or a tripod used for stewing food over a fire, which is even better) into the ground soil. Place the pot on the nails, approximately seven finger-widths above the ground.
(4) Use mild heat to bake the vessel. Measure time by incense sticks. When one stick burns out, switch to gentle heat for sublimation. When the second stick burns out, switch to fierce heat (Wu Huo, i.e., strong fire, where the flame is about two finger-widths away from the pot bottom) for sublimation. When the third stick burns out, check if the cotton at the bottom of the bowl has changed from wet to dry, and then from dry to yellow-black. If it has turned yellow-black, remove from fire and let cool.
(5) Gently remove the yellow earth and gypsum from the cooled pill pot. Uncover the pill bowl. The spiritual medicine will have sublimated onto the bowl. White color indicates tender quality, purple indicates old quality, and red indicates perfect quality (Superior grade). If there are mercury globules on the bowl, it means Wu Huo (fierce heat) was applied too early, causing mercury to fly up first; do not use this. This constitutes one round, also known as one beating.
(6) Take the second portion of medicinal powder and mix it uniformly with the sublimated medicine scraped down from the first round. Combine them and sublime again for three incense sticks' duration as before. After cooling, retrieve the medicine. This is the second-round spiritual medicine.
(7) Take the third portion of medicinal powder and mix it uniformly with the second-round spiritual medicine. Combine them and sublime again for three incense sticks' duration as before. After cooling, retrieve the medicine. This is the third round. Upon completion of the three rounds, the obtained medicine is called Sandaling Lingyao (Three-Beaten Spiritual Medicine), also named "Guolie". After three beatings, the nature of Mercury (Shuiyin) is completely neutralized, making ingestion safe without adverse effects. The residue at the bottom of the pill pot can be applied to various sores; its functions include relieving itching and pain, promoting flesh growth, and generating tissue. Do not discard it.