Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 579: Chapter 579: Treating What Is Not Yet Ill

Li Xu took some Dragon’s Saliva Fragrance and added it to the medicine packet.

"This is Dragon’s Saliva Fragrance."

He explained, "The highest quality. It promotes qi and blood circulation, disperses nodules, and relieves pain. Most importantly, it protects the heart’s vessels and boosts righteous qi."

"However, this stuff is a bit expensive." Li Xu looked at Lu Ke. "It costs 5,000 yuan per gram. I’ve added three grams to this prescription for you."

Lu Ke was mentally prepared, but she was still taken aback when she heard the price.

’Five thousand a gram?’

’Three grams is fifteen thousand?’

’With the other herbs, this one prescription is heading toward twenty thousand?’

But she quickly came to terms with it.

Compared to targeted therapies that cost tens of thousands a month and didn’t even work—sometimes even destroying a person’s health—this medicine was expensive, but it could save her life.

Besides, she had saved up some money over the years as an internet celebrity. While she hadn’t achieved financial freedom, she could still afford her treatment.

"No problem, Doctor Li."

Lu Ke paid without hesitation.

Back home, Lu Ke posted a new "Cancer Diary" entry.

When she mentioned the "Dragon’s Saliva Fragrance" and its price of "5,000 yuan per gram" in her video, the comment section exploded with activity.

"Holy crap, 5,000 a gram? Is it made of gold? Even gold isn’t that expensive."

"That’s outrageous, isn’t it? Did she get scammed? I know Doctor Li’s diagnoses have been spot-on, but this price... it feels a bit like a pig-butchering scam."

"To the user above, don’t talk nonsense. Dragon’s Saliva Fragrance has always been an astronomically priced spice. Besides, Doctor Li said it’s top-grade, definitely not the cheap street-stall stuff you get for a few hundred yuan."

Lu Ke also replied in the comments: "Don’t worry, everyone. Doctor Li showed me the Dragon’s Saliva Fragrance, and I smelled it. The scent... it’s truly unforgettable. Just one whiff made me feel incredibly comfortable, and the tightness in my chest even went away. I also did some research, and top-grade Dragon’s Saliva Fragrance can fetch tens of thousands per gram at auction. The price Doctor Li gave me is actually a huge discount."

Only then did her fans have a sudden realization, and they all marveled at Doctor Li’s benevolence.

...

After seeing Lu Ke off, Li Xu didn’t stay idle.

Over the past few days, the system’s intelligence had not only given him specific prescriptions but had also pushed a wealth of knowledge from ancient TCM texts and research perspectives on treating tumors. It was a refreshing experience, as if a new door had been opened for him.

He opened his notebook, which was densely packed with his thoughts and insights.

As far back as the pre-Qin period, the *Rites of Zhou* recorded the existence of specialized doctors for tumor-like diseases—"sore doctors."

The book states: "The sore doctor manages swollen sores... and their agents."

The "swollen sores" they treated actually included what are now clinically defined as tumors.

The ancients advocated a combined internal and external treatment approach. The internal method involved "attacking with the five poisons, nourishing with the five grains, treating with the five medicines, and harmonizing with the five flavors." This philosophy of attacking and supplementing in tandem, along with the idea that food and medicine share the same origin, remains relevant to this day.

The descriptions of tumors in the *Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor* were even more detailed.

The conditions mentioned in the canon, such as "flesh tumors," "intestinal growths," "abdominal masses," "fixed masses," "hard accumulations," and "diaphragmatic obstructions," bear a striking resemblance to certain tumor symptoms in modern medicine.

For example, the description "obstruction of the esophagus and diaphragm, inability to drink" is identical to the blockage symptoms caused by esophageal or cardiac cancer.

During this time, Li Xu had been constantly thinking about and analyzing the key to treating tumor patients.

’Frankly, a tumor is simply the result of an abnormal change in the body’s environment of qi, blood, yin, and yang, which then leads to organic lesions in the zang-fu organs.’

’It’s like a piece of once-fertile land where, due to a deteriorating environment (weakened righteous qi, invasion of external evils, internal injury from the seven emotions), poisonous weeds (the tumor) have started to grow.’

The *Lingshu: Nine Needles* states: "The eight winds of the four seasons lodging in the meridians are what cause tumors."

This suggests that the invasion of external evils can cause disease.

The *Lingshu: Hundred Diseases Begin* states: "When one is internally injured by grief and anger, qi will flow upward... blood will congeal and accumulate within without dispersing, bodily fluids will seep sluggishly and adhere without moving away, and thus accumulations will form."

This refers to how emotional distress leads to qi stagnation and blood stasis, ultimately forming masses. This coincides perfectly with the modern medical view that long-term stress and depression are contributing factors to cancer.

Li Xu requested a large number of tumor case files from the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Combining them with the intelligence from his system, he discovered a potential entry point for in-depth research: "prognosis and transformation."

TCM and Western medicine have fundamental differences in their treatment philosophies.

Western medicine is microscopic, focusing on cells and genes, attempting to cure disease by killing cancer cells.

TCM, on the other hand, is macroscopic. It focuses on the "person" and on "function."

The advantage of TCM lies in its sensitivity to the connections between the zang-fu organs and the internal changes in a patient’s qi, blood, yin, and yang.

Seeing the significant from the trivial, knowing the interior by observing the exterior.

Therefore, Li Xu felt that by starting from the perspective of function, he might be able to find TCM’s unique advantage in treating tumors: prevention and intervention.

In other words, "treating the disease before it arises."

The terrifying aspect of tumors is their uncontrollable metastasis and recurrence.

But by using TCM’s holistic mindset for pattern differentiation, could one effectively intervene in advance?

For example, when treating colon cancer, Western medicine often focuses only on cutting out the intestine and killing cells with chemotherapy.

The result is that they remove a part of the intestine, and two years later, the cancer metastasizes to the liver.

But from a TCM perspective, the large intestine belongs to the Metal element, and the liver belongs to the Wood element.

Metal overcomes Wood.

If the large intestine’s lesion is severe, the Metal qi becomes abnormal and can easily be transmitted to the liver. (Although in the Five Elements theory Metal overcomes Wood, in pathological transmission, anything is possible—a child organ’s disease affecting the mother organ, a mother organ’s disease affecting the child, as well as overacting and counter-acting cycles. This is more of a predictive judgment based on zang-fu correlations.)

Therefore, from the very beginning of treating colon cancer, a TCM doctor would consciously soothe the liver and nourish the blood to protect it, essentially building a "firewall" around the liver first.

This way, even if the cancer tries to worsen and metastasize, it will find that the path to the liver is a dead end.

Through this kind of prediction and intervention, the cancer can be confined to a corner, unable to spread outward.

Coupled with strengthening the righteous qi and reinforcing the body’s foundation, the patient’s physical strength is enhanced, allowing the body to fight against or even "digest" the tumor.

This was a completely new treatment philosophy with immense strategic foresight—"Preventive and Interventional Oncology."

The more Li Xu thought about it, the more excited he became.

This direction had great potential.

At the same time, he had a more practical idea.

His clinic had always had its share of tumor patients.

But over the past few days, thanks to Lu Ke’s personal testimony and the widespread online publicity, the number of tumor patients coming to him because of his reputation had grown exponentially.

Every day, a long line would form outside his clinic before it even opened. Some people even traveled overnight from other cities.

’Even if I had three heads and six arms, I can’t treat them all by myself.’

Just yesterday, Dean Song from the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine had called him specifically. His tone was full of expectation, hoping Li Xu could spend a few more days at the hospital and even open up more expert consultation slots.

’Since it’s come to this...’

Li Xu looked at the mountain of medical records on his desk, a flicker of decisiveness in his eyes.

’Why not integrate the oncology department at the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine?’

’I could pass on the philosophy of ’preventive and interventional oncology,’ establish a true TCM oncology diagnosis and treatment center, and train a group of doctors who can treat patients with a TCM mindset.’

That way, not only would it greatly reduce his own patient load and allow more people to receive treatment, but with the support of the hospital’s vast case library and medical resources, it would also be a huge help for conducting in-depth research on tumors and perfecting this theoretical system.

It was a win-win situation.

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