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Mr. Chen Xunzhai said: The Yan Shou Dan (Longevity Pill) formula is a prescription that Mr. Dong Xuanzai, Grand Secretary of Yunjian, had long taken with effect. My late father studied under him, and I had the honor of listening to his teachings. He also accepted my calligraphy works, mastering the secret of wrist movement. After accompanying him for a long time, I finally obtained this formula. Mr. Dong was in his eighties; after taking this pill, his white hair turned black, and his spirit recovered from weakness to vigor. It is indeed a celestial product for eliminating disease and prolonging life. Ordinary people often lack perseverance, expecting results after just one dose. The classics explicitly state "long-term use" (Jiu Fu). People fail to understand this and wrongly blame the medicine for being ineffective. For over twenty years since resigning from office, living in poverty and old age, I devoted myself to studying Traditional Chinese Medicine (Xuan Qi refers to the Yellow Emperor and Qibo, representing TCM), seeking advice from famous scholars, working diligently and advancing, forgetting sleep and meals. After more than twenty years, I finally comprehended the principles of the *Neijing* (Inner Canon) and the Way of Yin and Yang. In the Renzi year, at the age of seventy-five, due to irregular eating and overwork, I fell critically ill. Thus, I sought medicinal materials to prepare this pill. Starting from the first day of the eighth month of the Renzi year, I took it until the Double Ninth Festival of the following Guichou year. I climbed Yuhua Terrace before my old friends, no longer needing support as in previous years, and without shortness of breath. I was deeply surprised and came to revere the miraculous efficacy of this pill. My beard and hair were previously all white; now my hair is completely black, and half of my beard is black. Previously unable to walk, I can now walk swiftly. Relatives and friends all requested this formula, so I sincerely wished to help others achieve longevity, having it printed and widely disseminated so that everyone in the world could live long. Although the medicinal power is thus, it must be combined with virtue to ensure complete safety. The ingredients are as follows:

Polygonum multiflorum (He Shou Wu): Large-sized roots are effective. Take both red and white varieties, soak overnight in black soybean juice, scrape off the skin with a bamboo knife, slice thinly, and dry in the sun. Soak again overnight in black soybean juice. The next morning, steam for the duration of three incense sticks using a willow wood steamer and mulberry wood fire. Repeat this process nine times, ensuring precision without adding or reducing. Dry in the sun for later use. The other herbs total a certain amount, and Polygonum multiflorum is used in a corresponding amount. This herb generates essence and nourishes blood, darkens hair and beard, promotes fertility with long-term use, eliminates disease, and prolongs life.

Cuscuta chinensis (Tu Si Zi): First wash away floating skins, then rinse with clear water several times to remove sand and mud, selecting the settled parts for drying. Pick out impurities grain by grain, selecting those that are solid, kidney-shaped, and fibrous. Soak in unadulterated wine for seven days, then steam for seven incense stick durations, and dry. Soak again overnight in fresh wine, steam for six incense stick durations, and dry. Repeat nine times, record carefully, dry, and grind into one jin of fine powder. This herb nourishes muscles, strengthens yin, supplements defensive qi (Wei Qi), assists tendons and vessels, treats coldness in the penis, spontaneous emission of semen, dribbling urine, weak and flaccid waist and knees, enhances constitution, adds essence, improves complexion, increases appetite, boosts energy with long-term use, and darkens beard and hair.

Siegesbeckia orientalis (Xi Xian Cao): Harvest leaves in May and June, wash clean with running water, and dry. Mix evenly with honey and unadulterated wine, moisten overnight. Steam the next morning for three incense stick durations. Repeat nine times, record carefully, dry, and grind into one jin of fine powder. This herb expels wind-dampness from the liver and kidneys, treats limb numbness and paralysis, bone atrophy and knee soreness, facial paralysis (mouth and eye deviation), prevents hemiplegia, calms the five zang organs, promotes hair growth. Tang Dynasty's Zhang Yong submitted a memorial stating: Taking Siegesbeckia hundred times clarifies eyesight and lightens physical strength; frequent use turns hair and beard black; long-term use ensures immortality.

Mulberrae Folium (Nang Sang Ye): Harvest in April; leaves from gardens in Hangzhou and Huzhou are used for medicine. Wild mulberry leaves everywhere are not used. Take leaves, wash clean with running water, and dry. Process nine times according to the method for Siegesbeckia, obtaining eight liang of fine powder. This herb treats five labors and six extremes, emaciation and edema, deficiency and damage. The classics state: Silkworms eat raw silk to weave warp threads; humans consume raw fat to prolong life.

Ligustrum lucidum (Nu Zhen Shi): On the Winter Solstice, pick black, kidney-shaped fruits from rural gardens, which enter the Kidney meridian. Round, green berries on tombs are Ligustrum japonicum (Dong Qing Zi) and are not used for medicine. Place in a cloth bag, peel off coarse skin, soak overnight in wine, steam for three incense stick durations, dry, and grind into eight liang of fine powder. This herb darkens hair and beard, strengthens tendons and bones, calms the five zang organs, supplements middle jiao qi, eliminates hundred diseases, nourishes spirit, benefits blood and expels wind with frequent use, and reverses aging with long-term use.

Lonicerae Japonicae Flos (Ren Dong Hua): Also known as Lonicerae Japonicae Flos (Jin Yin Hua). It closes at night and opens during the day, embodying the meaning of yin and yang. Grows everywhere in April and May. Pick and dry in shade. Process nine times according to the Siegesbeckia method, dry, and obtain four liang of fine powder. This herb strengthens bones and tendons, generates essence and blood, removes distension, drives out water, benefits health, and prolongs life.

Eucommiae Cortex (Chuan Du Zhong): Thick bark is preferred. Remove coarse skin, mix with green salt and ginger juice to moisten, stir-fry until fibers break, eight liang. This herb benefits essence and qi, strengthens bones and tendons, treats soreness and pain in feet making walking difficult, sexual exhaustion, spasmodic and stiff pain in the lower back, and promotes lightness and anti-aging with long-term use.

Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix (Xiong Niu Xi): Best produced in Huaiqing Prefecture. Remove root rhizomes cleanly. Flesh that bends but does not break, thick and plump, is male; thin, short, hard, brittle, bending easily and breaking is female, which is not used. Mix with wine and dry, eight liang. This herb treats cold-damp bi syndrome and flaccidity, limb contracture, unbearable knee pain, male genital atrophy, elderly urinary incontinence, reconnects severed tissues, benefits essence, promotes yin and body, and darkens beard and hair. After processing Eucommia and Achyranthes, do not grind into powder yet. Wait until eighty-four liang of Polygonum multiflorum have been steamed six times. Do not use black soybean juice for mixing; instead, mix the two herbs (Eucommia and Achyranthes) with Polygonum multiflorum, steam three times, and dry three times, totaling nine steaming cycles.

Rehmanniae Radix (Huai Qing Sheng Di): Roots shaped like nail heads and rat tails, or original stems that did not enter water and grew into large branches, are effective. Pinch into rice-grain sized pieces, dry, and grind into four liang of fine powder.

From Cuscuta to Rehmannia, the total is seventy-two liang. Red and white Polygonum multiflorum totals seventy-two liang. Use four pastes: Ecliptae Herba paste (Han Lian Cao) one jin, Rubi Fructus (Jin Ying Zi) paste one jin, Sesami Nigris Semen (Hei Zhi Ma) paste one jin, and Mori Fructus (Sang Shen Zi) paste one jin. Mix with the aforementioned one hundred forty-four liang of herb powders, pound for thousands of strikes as a standard. If paste is insufficient, add white honey to supplement, pounding until moist and sufficient.

Modification Method: For yin deficiency, add Prepared Rehmannia Root (Shu Di Huang) one jin; for yang deficiency, add Aconitum Lateralis Radix Praeparata (Fu Zi) four liang, removing Rehmannia. For lower yuan deficiency, add Panther Bone (Hu Gu) one jin. For numbness, add Gastrodia Rhizome (Tian Ma) and Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Dang Gui) eight liang. For dizziness, add Scrophulariae Radix (Xuan Shen) and Gastrodia Rhizome (Tian Ma) eight liang each. For blurred vision, add Chrysanthemi Flos (Huang Ju Hua) and Lycii Fructus (Gou Qi Zi) four liang each. For obese individuals with excessive damp-phlegm, add Pinelliae Rhizoma (Ban Xia) and Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium (Chen Pi) eight liang each. The group of herbs constitutes half the quantity, and Polygonum multiflorum constitutes half. This is the flexible method.

Before Shennong, people lived for thousands of years. After tasting herbs, lifespans gradually decreased to a hundred years, tens of years, down to a few years. I believe that herbal roots and barks, entering the viscera with toxicity, cannot explain aging merely through the injury of seven emotions and six desires, mocking the old farmer. When my son was ill, doctors' shoes filled the doorway, all claiming he would surely die. Finally, Mr. Xunzhai arrived, uniquely stating he would surely survive. He immediately prescribed a formula with Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Ren Shen) and Aconitum Lateralis Radix Praeparata (Fu Zi) reaching several liang. Those who saw the formula were shocked. I dared not believe it either. My son believed and took it, and indeed showed improvement. However, in those critical moments of life and death, while other doctors shook their heads and looked away, Mr. Xunzhai smiled and said, "This is the sign of vitality." His explanation was satisfying, and the principle subtle. Investigating over ten years, the person on the pillow suddenly rose in a day. This was Mr. Xunzhai's merit. Doctors are doctors, medicines are medicines; some are used to cause death, some to save lives, depending on how they are used. Mr. Xunzhai did not rush to treat the disease but rushed to save the patient. The medical ethics of doctors and the efficacy of medicines have reached the level of Cang Gong and Bian Que. Reading biographies, I suspected Sima Qian liked strange tales, but now I believe in Mr. Xunzhai. He is likely a person who has attained the Dao. At seventy-eight, he has a youthful ruddy face, and his white beard turned black again. Since resigning, every meeting makes him appear younger. Is this not transforming a mortal body into an immortal bone?

The Yan Shou Dan formula is now published. Various processing methods are unknown to other schools. Its benefit to humanity rivals creation. Moreover, I have seen incurable diseases cured from bedridden states, and healthy people taking it in leisure. How can one not approach the lifespan of pre-Shennong times in their later years? Recorded casually by He Lianggong, fellow provincial examinee.

A guest asked me: Can medicine kill people? I said: How can medicine kill people? It is the doctor who kills. The guest said: Is that true? I said: Listen. I advocate fitness and naturally dislike medication, often keeping secret formulas and storing good medicines to respond to the many sick and medication-dependent people in the world, which pleases me. My nephew He Dachun, eldest son of Ci De, possessed unique talent but suffered from a rare illness. Doctors said he could not be saved, and everyone agreed, setting a date for death: some said three days, some five, some seven, all gone within ten days. Whenever I faced Ci De, I could not relieve his sorrow. Only Chen Xunzhai, after one pulse diagnosis, laughed and talked comfortably, saying he awaited the order to rise and act. Later, he did not die in three days, nor five, nor seven, nor ten. Now he walks like the wind, stronger than before illness. Only then did I believe Mr. Xunzhai truly possesses the skill to see beyond walls. Mr. Xunzhai retired in Baimen, paying attention to formulas and medicines during his leisure. Having obtained the Yan Shou Dan from Grand Secretary Dong Xuanzai, he found it effective upon self-administration and thus printed the formula to show others. Although his profession was not strictly Qibo-Huangdi lineage, he deeply investigated the essence of Taisu, surpassing even them. People invited him, and none failed to return from death to life. Thinking of other doctors competing in medication skills, even generals like Qi Jian and Po Mu might not exceed them. But Mr. Xunzhai alone focuses on nurturing primordial qi. I privately share Ci De's joy and gratitude. If critical illnesses can be revived, then the Longevity Pill can undoubtedly ensure longevity. I hope people take it eagerly without missing out. This is also my compassionate heart in keeping secret formulas and storing good medicines, answering the guest's question and expressing my views. Fang Xiangxian, fellow provincial examinee, inscribed. I have additionally authored two books: *Chang Shou Pu* (Record of Longevity) and *Jiu Ming Zhen* (Needles for Saving Lives). Anyone elderly, physically weak, or ill should study them urgently.