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Deficiency consumption (Xu Lao), general tonification, Qi disorders, night sweats.

Conditions where symptoms have appeared but the disease has not yet fully formed. This is a prescription from the household of Zhang Zong, Transport Commissioner of Chao Prefecture, as recounted by Lu Meizhong, Vice Prefect of Mei Prefecture.

Roots of rice straw, finely chopped.
Decoct these with strong heat, drink at any time like boiled water.

Li Ying, Military Officer (Wujie Lang) residing in Yuanzhou, was originally a judicial officer in Xiangzhou and was once involved due to official duties. Han Sifu, Privy Censor, after the fires of war, suddenly saw him in Yichun and said:
"Entering an empty, uninhabited room, I suddenly felt my heart palpitate and my back chill severely, thus contracting the disease of consumption (Lao Zhai). My life was in danger, and it spread to my second child, who was a daughter. After my eldest son died, my daughter's illness became critical, and subsequently, it spread to my third son, with identical symptoms. I was terrified, so I prayed to the City God (Chenghuang), offering noodle meals daily to support wandering monks and Taoists, hoping to meet a miraculous person, and promised a reward of 300,000 cash. A few days later, while going to the market in front of Kaiyuan Temple, a man dressed in secular clothes called himself 'Poor Taoist' and shouted following behind me: 'Commissioner Li, hearing that your household suffers from infectious corpse-labor (Shi Lao), this poor Taoist has a prescription to offer.' We entered the temple together; when asked for his name, he did not answer, but orally transmitted [the formula]... Li Ying borrowed a pen to write it down. The Taoist said he wished to pass through Hunan. Li Ying invited him to stay for a meal, but he said he had already eaten and declined money, stating he had his own travel expenses. Before leaving, he added: 'This medicine primarily uses the human skull cap (Tian Ling Gai) and tiger feces containing bones. You must carefully seek out green snake brains. If unavailable, you may still take the medicine, but on the previous day, you must offer a lavish sacrifice to the City God, seeking assistance from the underworld.' Li Ying said, 'If we seek help from the deity, why use medicine?' The Taoist replied, 'Not so.' Then he bowed and departed westward. Finding the matter quite strange, Li Ying respectfully followed his instructions to prepare the medicine. Once prepared, he set up altars for five deities, providing ten types of food and drink for each, treating them like guests, to sacrifice to the City God. He also arranged wine and food separately to appease the spirits of the underworld prisons, and placed a seat for an envoy in his house, in front of the sickbed. After taking the medicine, there was a severe purging from the viscera, and seven worms were expelled. They were red like meat with white bellies, about one cun long and seven to eight fen wide, pointed at the front and square at the back, with a mouth near the front underside, and legs around the body resembling fish bones, fine as needle tips and curved. They were dead. Trying to burn them with fire, iron spikes could not pierce them. The illness immediately decreased. Another dose was taken later, expelling four small worms. From then on, he recovered completely. It has been ten years now; his skin is lustrous, and he has no further illness. The Taoist never returned."

Human Skull Cap (Tian Ling Gai) (3 qian, fried with butter until yellow, ground into powder and weighed) Tiger Feces (containing bone, 1 qian; human bone is best, animal bone is secondary; obtained from killing a tiger, those from the large intestine can also be used. Mix with green snake brain, size of a mung bean or adzuki bean, coat with butter and fry until color changes; if no snake brain, vinegar-frying is acceptable) Turtle Shell (Bie Jia) (use the tip, grind; above ingredients ground into powder and sifted through silk) Green Mugwort (Qing Hao) (take the top three to four cun of the branch, finely cut, 6 liang) Fermented Soybeans (Chi) (300 grains) Scallion White (Cong Bai) (21 stalks, broken open) Peach, Willow, Plum, and Mulberry branches growing eastward (Dong Yin Tao, Liu, Li, Sang Zhi) (7 stems each, thickness like a chopstick head, length 7 cun each, finely cut) Musk (She Xiang) (1 qian 1 fen, separately ground into fine powder)

First, decoct Qing Hao, leaves of peach, willow, plum, mulberry, maple leaves, scallions, and Chi in 3 sheng of water (measured with official standard sheng) until reduced to approximately half a sheng. Strain the dregs. Add Anxi Xiang (Styrax), Tian Ling Gai, tiger feces with bone, Bie Jia (turtle shell), Tao Ren (Peach Kernel), and urine from a young boy. Decoct together to obtain juice. Strain the dregs to yield 4-5 he of liquid. Grind Bin Lang (Areca Seed) and She Xiang (Musk) uniformly together, mix into one dose. Take warm in the morning. Cover with blankets to induce sweating. Suspect that fine worms may be in the sweat; test with silk cloth, then burn the cloth. Do the same for subsequent instances. After about ten days, the pathogenic qi dissipates. Administer another dose, burning and discarding according to the previous method, until no worms are found, then stop this medicine. If the patient is not critical, peace can be achieved. If critically ill, wait until death is imminent, then let the subsequently infected family members take it. Although the first patient cannot be saved, subsequent infections will definitely be prevented. This prescription was passed to the grandson of the Privy Censor, Shi Jun Xidao of Zhaozhou.