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(Hei Mo / Ink Stick) It is effective in stopping bleeding. Its black color enters the Ying level (nutritive level), making it suitable for internal use. It moves blood stasis without obstruction. Its pungent and warm nature reduces swelling, making external application appropriate. (Ink is made by mixing soot with glue; pine-soot ink is considered superior. Aged ink is preferred because its gluey properties gradually dissipate and its fire qi (heat/toxicity) recedes. However, for internal use, specific types should be selected to avoid the risk of stagnation caused by glue in prescriptions. The hemostatic effect follows the principle that "red stops upon seeing black." Ultimately, it is a pungent and warm herb that disperses blood; therefore, it should be used with caution in cases of reckless bleeding due to blood heat.)

(Bai Cao Shuang / Soot from Chimney) It treats pathogenic factors of Yang toxicity in Shanghan (Cold Damage), resolves accumulations, moves blood stasis, and applies the method of treating opposite symptoms for conditions such as macules and mania. It is also used to treat Ding sores (deep-seated infections), carbuncles, and other lesions. Its nature is warm, unblocking, pungent, and dispersing, making it suitable for metrorrhagia and leukorrhea. (Bai Cao Shuang is soot accumulated on the lintel of the stove and inside the chimney. Its texture is light and fine, hence the name "frost." Generally, it is a product of pungent-warm fire transformation. Its color is black, and its body is light. It can treat diseases of the blood level in the Upper Jiao (Upper Burner). Its blood-moving efficacy and main indications are the same as those of Fu Qi Mo (Ink from the bottom of a cauldron), differing only in degree. Hei Nu Wan (Black Slave Pill) treats Yang toxicity, macules, and mania by addressing the epidemic pathogen that has deeply entered the blood level, using this herb for opposite treatment.)

(Huang Tu / Yellow Earth) Its taste is sweet and neutral, resolving myriad toxins and expelling parasites; colic often arises from disorders of the Middle Jiao (Middle Burner). (Yellow earth should be sourced from clean areas in rural settings. The upper layer of turbid floating mud must be removed, digging one or two chi deep to obtain the yellow earth. Its efficacy in detoxification and insect expulsion is unsurpassed. Its sweet flavor, associated with agriculture and grain, is naturally beneficial to the Spleen and Stomach.)

(Hai Er Cha / Child's Tea) Its taste is bitter and astringent, slightly cold. It can cauterize hemorrhoids and stop bleeding. For hot phlegm, relying on clearing and transforming actions, it can relieve pain and promote tissue regeneration. (Hai Er Cha is made by packing fine tea powder into bamboo tubes, sealing both ends tightly, burying them in muddy ditches for a long time, then taking them out, crushing them into juice, and boiling them into blocks. Small and moist blocks are of superior quality; large and scorched/dry ones are inferior. Medications for promoting tissue regeneration and mouth ulcers are mostly used externally. Although there are methods for internal use, they merely rely on its power to clear and transform. Nevertheless, being a sticky/stagnating substance, it is rarely used.)

(Yan Jiao / Smoke Glue) Effective when mixed with oil and applied externally for head sores, tinea, scabies, and seborrheic alopecia. Its nature and flavor are pungent, warm, and slightly toxic; internal use yields no benefit. (Yan Jiao is soot accumulated on stoves where cowhide is boiled with saltpeter, binding together like glue. It is only suitable for external treatment. It can moisturize dry skin, treat impetigo-like sores, kill parasites, and resolve dampness, showing considerable efficacy.)