Library

*Guang Zhi* records: This is the Qixi Water. People in the Guang region, every year on the Qixi Festival when the rooster crows for the first time, draw river water or well water to store it. The water collected on this evening weighs several jin more than that of other evenings. It remains unchanged in taste after a year and becomes even sweeter; it is used to treat febrile diseases and is called Holy Water (Sheng Shui). If the rooster crows a second time, the water loses its efficacy.
The color is clear, the nature is slightly cold, the taste is sweet, and it is miraculously effective in treating all kinds of heat syndromes.

Treating throat polyps (Hou E) and throat abscesses (Hou Yong): In *Lu Shi Ji Shi Liang Fang*, use thick female grass (Feipo Cao), crush it thoroughly, take a small amount of Holy Water, and swallow it with the crushed herb. For dental sores (Ya Yi) and dental abscesses (Ya Yong), crush this herb, mix it with Holy Water, hold it in the mouth, spit out and replace several times until cured.

Treating "Shi Bai Niao" (literal translation, likely a specific condition or textual variant): *Ji Shi Liang Fang*: Crush bitter melon, extract the juice, mix with Holy Water, and ingest; cure follows immediately. If bitter melon is unavailable, crush its seeds, mix with Holy Water, and ingest.

In summer, at dawn just before sunrise, place a long-handled spoon over a bowl and pour/collect dew from lotus leaves in the pond. Dew collected during the hottest part of the day (Fu Lu) is best. Autumn dew is too cold, and dew on flowers has a dispersing nature and slight toxicity; do not use them.
(Lotus leaf dew) tastes sweet, brightens the eyes, reduces abdominal fluid retention and distension, unblocks the chest and diaphragm, soothes the middle jiao, and resolves summerheat. It is used in *Dali Wan*. (The lotus leaf corresponds to the Zhen trigram; perhaps dew on the lotus leaf also enters the Liver meridian to nourish the Liver?)

Note: Dew is originally Yin fluid. At night, Earth Qi rises, condenses, and falls as dew. Its nature changes according to the object it contacts. *Ju Yi Lu* contains a recipe for Jade Green Dew Paste. Around the Mid-Autumn Festival, use one or two bolts of new cyan cloth untreated with gallnut (Wubeizi), tear each bolt into ten-plus segments, each segment four to five chi long. At the third watch (Wu Geng), collect dew from the tips of hundred herbs, or preferably from lotus leaves or rice seedlings. First, use a thin bamboo pole to sweep away spider webs from the grass. Then, tie the cyan cloth to the end of a long bamboo pole like a flag, unfold it, and collect the dew from the grass. Wring the dew into a bucket. Wring dry as soon as the cloth gets wet. When the cyan cloth's color fades, replace it with a new piece. Do not collect if exposed to sunlight. Wash the collected dew in a porcelain jar and store it. Let it settle for several days until naturally clear. In the evening, take one cup of male human milk (approx. 1.5 liang), one cup of white honey, and one cup of Ginseng Decoction (Ren Shen Tang), with the volume matching the milk. Use top-grade Ginseng whiskers (Ren Shen Xu), 4-5 fen, no strict limit. Put all ingredients into a Gong bowl. Add one bowl of dew to the Gong bowl, totaling about 7-8 fen (note: unit ambiguity in original text), mix evenly. Seal with cotton paper and cover with a plate. At the third watch the next day, boil two large bowls of hot water. Heat the dew in the Gong bowl by placing it in the hot water bath. Slowly drink it warm upon waking. Indigo (Lan) kills parasites; dew clears fire from all meridians; Ginseng tonifies Qi; milk tonifies Blood; honey moistens the Lungs. It has miraculous effects in treating all kinds of deficiency and consumptive diseases. Thus, it can be seen that dew inherently nourishes Yin and supports Yang. Combined with the clear Qi of the lotus leaf, it achieves such efficacy.