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Yang qi being vigorous has never failed to overcome yin. However, if one wishes for yin to generate under the condition of vigorous yang, the prescription must contain yin-nourishing herbs as guides. Ren Shen (Ginseng Radix) inherently possesses great power to generate body fluids and benefit primordial qi, which is distinctly different from Rou Gui (Cinnamon Twig) and Fu Zi (Aconite Lateralis Radix Praeparata), which are purely yang in nature. Its ability to benefit yin cannot be attributed to the merit of vigorous yang. As for cases where the True Fire (Kidney Yang) is declining and sinking, with deep cold freezing the interior, body fluids and primordial qi fail to distribute due to cold, resulting in irritability and thirst; essence and blood fail to become abundant and strong due to cold, resulting in emaciation and dryness; waste materials fail to move due to cold, resulting in constipation. By using Jiang (Zingiberis Rhizoma), Rou Gui (Cinnamon Twig), Yu Zhu (Corni Fructus), and Fu Zi (Aconite Lateralis Radix Praeparata) to tonify the True Yang, one can vaporize and activate body fluids, disseminate and transform water essences, thereby moistening and nourishing the five zang organs and all vessels. This is yang becoming vigorous so that yin begins to transform, not yang becoming vigorous so that yin generates itself. There are also acute diseases where excessive yin repels yang, with cold knotting internally and heat floating externally, presenting with irritability, madness, delirious speech, and panting. By using Rou Gui (Cinnamon Twig) and Fu Zi (Aconite Lateralis Radix Praeparata) to open the lower cold, the deficient fire returns to its residence. This is also the transformation of yin, not the generation of yin. Moreover, these situations involve benefiting yang to overcome excessive yin, restoring balance, rather than benefiting yang to assist because yin is insufficient. Can it truly be that in cases of exhausted essence and dry blood with hyperactive deficient fire, Rou Gui (Cinnamon Twig) and Fu Zi (Aconite Lateralis Radix Praeparata) alone can eliminate yin and extinguish fire? Yin-nourishing herbs must be used to support the vaporizing and stimulating power of Rou Gui (Cinnamon Twig) and Fu Zi (Aconite Lateralis Radix Praeparata). The *Neijing* states: "Pungent flavors can open the cou li (skin pores and interstices), unblock qi mechanism, and deliver body fluids." The term "deliver" here means moving from here to there, not creating something from nothing; it refers to vaporizing, stimulating, disseminating, and distributing, not encompassing, conceiving, nourishing, or increasing. Predecessors often used exaggerated wording, rooted in a desire to shock people. Successors have taken this as common talk without scrutiny, causing significant harm, so I dare to correct this.

Wu Youke stated: Huang Lian (Coptidis Rhizoma) is cold but does not purge; it can only restrain heat but cannot drain excess. If there is excess pathogen inside, Da Huang (Rhei Radix et Rhizoma) must be relied upon to purge it; otherwise, fearing the harshness of Da Huang (Rhei Radix et Rhizoma) and merely using Huang Lian (Coptidis Rhizoma) to clear heat will instead suppress the heat pathogen, causing it to hide deeper within, making treatment more difficult. This insight is profound. In treating any disease, one should always provide an exit for the pathogen. What should exit via defecation cannot be discharged without purging; what should exit via sweating cannot be released without dispersing. Recently, in treating warm-heat syndromes, physicians prefer cold clearing but fear cold purging; in treating cold-damp syndromes, they prefer warm tonification but fear warm unblocking. I once heard of a patient with Tan Yin (Phlegm-Rheum) who took Fu Zi (Aconite Lateralis Radix Praeparata) for a long time and developed edema. This was because Ku Jiang Dan Shen (Pinelliae Rhizoma Preparatum) and Zhu Ling (Polyporus) were not used for their bitter descending and bland leaching properties to guide the pathogen out, but rather yang was solely tonified. The resulting vigorous yang qi stirred up phlegm-fluids, causing them to overflow. This is the fault of tonifying without draining. Zhang Hezi varied the three methods of sweating, vomiting, and purging to treat hundred diseases. Treating diseases essentially requires these three methods; only after the pathogen is removed can one focus on tonification for recovery. Tonification is not the method for eliminating disease. Furthermore, the exit route must not be mistaken. Recently, physicians love using diuretics indiscriminately for any disease, misunderstanding the predecessors' saying that free urination is a shortcut to curing disease. I once treated a patient with Tan Yin (Phlegm-Rheum) and edema. A physician prescribed Zhen Wu Tang (True Warrior Decoction) combined with Wu Ling San (Five-Ingredient Powder with Poria), but it was ineffective. I said: This is because the yang qi of the San Jiao (Triple Burner) cannot be disseminated to the exterior, leading to exterior qi stagnation and subsequent interior urgency. Although there is phlegm-rheum, there is no distension. One should use warm tonification combined with pungent dispersion, not bland leaching. The treatment indeed resulted in sweating and cure. Using leaching would further damage the interior. At that time, someone suggested: "One must purge to empty the interior, allowing exterior water to retreat into the interior for purging, before recovery is possible." This is truly killing the patient. Predecessors used this method when the pathogen was latent in the Mo Yuan (Membrane Source), not on the skin surface. By emptying the stomach and intestines, one waits for the pathogen in the membrane source to gather again in the stomach and intestines, then exhausts it. This is like Wu Youke's statement: Wait until the heat pathogen in the membrane source accumulates in the stomach, then use purging. Edema is an exterior syndrome caused by wind, cold, or dampness; symptoms include panting after movement, and the method should be dispersing. Distension is an interior syndrome caused by excess damp-heat, spleen excess, liver stagnation, and wood depressing earth; symptoms include panting without movement, and the method should be purging. When both swelling and distension exist, disperse and purge together. It is unheard of to have skin edema and yet use purging, causing the pathogen to sink inward.