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Yang Qi circulates, warming and nourishing the entire body. When Yang Qi is stagnant and obstructed, it becomes constrained and generates heat. Moreover, the fire within the human body exists everywhere and at all times, but it prefers to be unobstructed and flowing freely. Regardless of whether it is in the Zang-Fu organs or meridians, exterior or interior, upper or lower, blood level or Qi level, if there is any obstruction, fever immediately ensues. Thus, we know that fever arising from various diseases is all due to stagnation and constraint. However, the constraint of fire originates from Qi. Qi is usually agile, whereas fire is relatively static; fire cannot move itself but relies on Qi to transport it. Therefore, when Qi ascends, fire also ascends; when Qi descends, fire also descends; when Qi moves, fire also moves. If Qi becomes obstructed, fire becomes constrained and twisted; only when fire is constrained and twisted does heat manifest. This indicates that Qi serves as the boat and ferry for fire.

Currently, the epidemic pathogen emerges from the Membrane Source (Mo Yuan), causing an obstruction in Qi mechanism. The pathogenic trend often seeks to reach the Stomach, representing a desire for extension that has not yet been rapidly achieved. At this time, administering cold-natured medicines suppresses and inhibits Stomach Qi, causing Qi to become even more unable to extend, and fire becomes even more constrained. Consequently, fever aggravates instead of subsiding. Often, patients take herbs such as Scutellariae Radix (Huangqin), Coptidis Rhizoma (Huanglian), Anemarrhenae Rhizoma (Zhimu), and Phellodendri Cortex (Huangbai), and patients feel their heat intensifies. Occasionally, there are unique variations where patients merely state they do not have a Huanglian syndrome, without understanding the cause. I believe that physicians persistently use cold and cool herbs to clear heat, yet the heat remains uncleared. They continue to administer them without doubt, resulting in aggravated fever after ingestion, completely failing to realize this. Even until old age with white hair, they never investigate the reason, which is truly sorrowful!

The invasion of pathogens into the human body is like drinking alcohol. Generally, a drunk person’s pulse must be surging and rapid, breathing is elevated, the body is hot, and the face and eyes are red; this is the normal state. Regarding its variations, they differ: some speak and act wildly while drunk but know nothing upon waking; some remain mentally clear despite deep intoxication; some should have red faces but appear pale instead; some should be flaccid but become rigid instead; some should have high fever but experience chills and trembling instead; some get drunk easily and wake up easily; some get drunk with difficulty and wake up with difficulty; some yawn and sneeze; some suffer from dizziness, blurred vision, and headache. Due to differences in Qi and Blood deficiency/excess and individual organ constitution, combined with varying amounts of alcohol consumed, their conditions vary. However, regarding drunkenness itself, once sober, all states vanish instantly.

When a person contracts a pathogen, initially there is fever day and night, worsening towards sunset, accompanied by headache and body pain, a white coating on the tongue, gradually progressing to irritability and thirst; this is common among many. Regarding variations, they differ individually: some vomit, some expectorate phlegm, some have dry throats, some have excessive phlegm secretion, some have pure fever, some have fever accompanied by chills, some have chills first then fever, some have aversion to cold first then fever, some have aversion to cold one day prior to fever, followed by pure fever; some have aversion to cold then fever, gradually having less cold and more heat until becoming pure heat; some have fever day and night; some have tidal fever with slight relief otherwise. Some resolve from the exterior: some through shivering sweat, some through manic sweat, spontaneous sweating, night sweating, or eruption of macules. Some dissipate imperceptibly. Some transmit internally: some have chest and diaphragm fullness/stuffiness, some have abdominal distension/pain, some have heart or abdominal pain, some have chest and hypochondriac pain, some have constipation, some have urinary and fecal retention, some have diarrhea with heat, some have heat binding with paralogical flow. Some have yellow or black tongue coatings, some have dry mouth and cracked tongue, some have prickles on the tongue with purple-red color, some have nostrils black like soot, some have jaundice and blood stasis, hematemesis, epistaxis, hematochezia/melena, hematohidrosis, hemoptysis, gingival bleeding, some have parotid swelling/sores, some can eat from start to finish, some fast for one or two months, some exhibit frequent relapses, some recover appetite gradually post-recovery, some have increased appetite 2-3 times normal post-recovery, some lose toenails and hair post-recovery. Regarding severe syndromes: trismus with inability to open mouth, coma with loss of consciousness, flexed legs unable to extend, twitching lips and mouth, tremors of hands and feet, fixed gaze, upward rolling of eyes, wide-open eyes, closed eyes without speech, gaping mouth, hoarseness, stiff tongue, enuresis, encopresis, neck stiffness with spasms, spasm of hands and feet, muscle twitching, grasping at clothes and bed threads, picking at empty air, etc. These vary greatly due to differences in Qi/Blood status, organ constitution, and pathogen severity. However, regarding contracting the pathogen, once the pathogen is exhausted, all symptoms vanish. As stated, "Knowing the one principle ends all matters"; those who grasp the essence conclude with one word, while those who miss the essence scatter infinitely. This is what is meant.

The above only lists one type of Qi (epidemic Qi), varying according to the individual. In years where the annual Qi differs slightly, some years everyone resolves via spontaneous sweating, others via shivering sweat; this varies due to annual Qi, with other syndromes being largely similar, all caused by epidemic Qi. Furthermore, miscellaneous Qi causes disease; one Qi forms one disease, and each disease varies by individual. Generally speaking, the variations are countless. A physician who can comprehend these variations achieves perfection.