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Also known as Yin-Yang Water. It can disseminate and harmonize Yin and Yang.
It regulates the Middle Jiao (Middle Burner) and resolves food stagnation. It treats cholera-like disease with vomiting and diarrhea, demonstrating miraculous efficacy. (Li Shizhen said: The Upper Jiao (Upper Burner) is responsible for reception; the Middle Jiao (Middle Burner) for rotting and transforming; the Lower Jiao (Lower Burner) for excretion. When the San Jiao (Triple Burner) is unobstructed, Yin and Yang are harmonized, and the ascending and descending movements circulate continuously, then the Zang-Fu organs function smoothly. Once this path is lost, the two Qi become chaotic; turbid Yin fails to descend, and clear Yang fails to ascend, thus giving rise to the disease of cholera-like vomiting. Drinking this decoction brings immediate relief because it separates Yin and Yang, allowing them to reach equilibrium. Note: Cholera-like disease has cold and heat syndromes. When struck suddenly, if the pulse condition is not yet clear, one must be cautious not to lightly administer remedies that are excessively hot or cold. I have seen cases where patients died immediately after drinking ginger decoction; only drinking Yin-Yang Water is the safest approach. If the pathogenic factor of cholera is in the Upper Jiao, it causes vomiting; if in the Lower Jiao, it causes diarrhea; if in the Middle Jiao, both vomiting and diarrhea occur simultaneously. This damp cholera syndrome is still relatively easy to treat. However, when there is severe colic in the heart and abdomen with an inability to vomit or defecate, it is called Dry Cholera, commonly known as Intestinal Colic Sha (Jiao Chang Sha), which leads to rapid death. Ancient prescriptions used salt heated until hot, mixed with child's urine for administration, which was highly effective. Do not give grain food at this time; even swallowing rice water will cause death.) Take a cup of newly drawn cold water and a cup of boiling water, mix them evenly.

It induces vomiting.
The taste is sour and salty. It is used to expel phlegm-fluids and retained food. Sour and bitter flavors induce evacuation and belong to Yin. This is essentially the brine from making yellow pickled vegetables (Huang Ji).

It moistens and benefits the skin and hair.
Store it in a vessel. Use it to wash the head and long hair, making the hair black and lustrous. Comb and massage a child's head every morning; over time, it is perceived to be beneficial. (For various types of infant malnutrition diseases covering the whole body, or sores on the face that ulcerate into holes resembling the syphilis sore of adults, which resist all medicines, use the steam water from steaming glutinous rice in a bamboo steamer. Apply it to the sores, and they will heal in a few days.)

Its nature is penetrating, capable of ascending and descending.
Its texture is slippery. It can reach up to the vertex of the head and down to the soles of the feet. It is suitable for decocting herbs intended to treat the extremities. (Shuo Wen says: A clepsydra uses a copper pot to hold water, marked with intervals, measuring one hundred ke (keeps) day and night. The Rites of Zhou states: The Keeper of Pots manages the pots, guarding them with fire and water to distinguish day and night. In winter, fire is used to boil water in a tripod, which is then poured into the clepsydra. Zheng Kangcheng commented: In winter, water freezes, so fire is used to boil water for pouring into the clepsydra, termed "pouring the leak." Zhang Heng of the Later Han, in his "Construction of the Armillary Sphere Driven by Water," wrote: Copper vessels are stacked, filled with clear water, with holes at the bottom allowing water from a jade dragon spout to flow into two pots; the right represents night, the left represents day. The Song Hui Yao records: The method of clepsydra includes a water scale, made of wood as a beam, marked with intervals called the Heavenly River, wide and long enough to hold water arrows. There are four arrows made of wood, three chi five cun long, marked with hours, watches, and points, placed in the Heavenly River for day and night rotation. Furthermore, in the eighth year of Tiansheng, Yan Su presented the Lotus Clepsydra method. Its structure involves carving stone into a pot three-quarters full, sharpening wood into an arrow three-quarters long, to measure the twelve Earthly Branches, twenty-four Solar Terms, ten Heavenly Stems at the four corners, and one hundred ke, distributing day and night, resulting in forty-eight arrows. Each arrow changes per solar term; since there are twenty-four terms with day and night, there are forty-eight arrows. A water chest is also provided, containing a copper siphon (Ke Wu) to draw water, which flows down into a copper lotus pad placed beside the stone pot. The copper pad receives water, leaking from the stem into the pot. In the center of the pot is a gold lotus flower covering it; the flower heart has a hole for the arrow, inserting the arrow head level with the lotus heart. As water leaks from the Ke Wu, one part of water enters the pot, and the floating arrow rises one part. This continues until the mark is full.) Above belongs to the category of Earth and Water.