Original Text
A vice-prefect of Yangzhou, surnamed Ti, dreamed one night that the God of Mount Tai summoned him, his expression and words filled with fury. Looking up, he saw a man standing in attendance beside the god, who spoke a few words in his defense. Upon waking, he found the dream deeply unsettling. At dawn, he went to the Temple of the Eastern Peak, where he prayed silently before the god's image, hoping to avert calamity. As he left the temple, he noticed a man in a pharmacy who closely resembled the figure in his dream. Upon inquiry, he learned the man was a physician. Returning home, Ti suddenly fell ill and sent specifically for that doctor. The physician arrived, prescribed medicine, and after taking it that evening, Ti died by midnight. Some say that the King of Hell and the God of Mount Tai dispatch one hundred and eight thousand male and female attendants daily, scattering them across the world as shamans and physicians, calling them the Heralds of the Soul-Snatchers. Those who take medicine must indeed be cautious!
Commentary
The King of Hell and the Eastern Peak Emperor are equivalent to the Western God of Death. "Daily they dispatch one hundred and eight thousand male and female attendants, dispersing them throughout the world to act as shamans and healers, known as Soul-Summoning Envoys," thus speaking of the multitude of shamans and healers in the world and the severity of the harm they inflict.
Physicians are originally meant to save lives and heal the wounded, yet in this tale, the doctor instead becomes a soul-summoning envoy under the King of Hell, reflecting Pu Songling's distrust of the physicians of his time. The words are indeed extreme, yet they are also related to Pu Songling's own knowledge of medicine and deep understanding of medical arts, which led to his profound detestation of quack doctors who merely muddle through for a living.