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Wu You-xing completed the pestilence treatise in the 15th year of Chongzhen (1642). According to the Summary of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, the Wenyi Lun consists of 2 volumes, with an additional supplement of 1 volume. The main versions include the early Qing dynasty block-printed edition and the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries edition. During the Kangxi period, there were already block-printed editions in Japan, and many books interpreting and expanding on it were published domestically. In the 49th year of Qianlong (1784), the Wancuitang edition was titled Supplemented Commentary on Wenyi Lun, and in the 3rd year of Tongzhi (1864), the Fanchuan Wenchengtang edition was titled Wenyi Lun Supplemented Commentary. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, several typeset and annotated editions were published.

The first volume contains 50 essays discussing the causes, mechanisms, symptoms, and treatments of pestilence, and it extensively compares pestilence with cold-damage disease. The second volume contains 36 essays, focusing on the concurrent symptoms of pestilence, with several essays discussing the nomenclature and treatment of pestilence. The supplement volume includes additional essays such as "Correct Nomenclature" and "Corrections to the Examples of Cold-Damage Disease," which provide significant insights for readers.

Wu believed that the cause of pestilence was an intangible "miasmic qi," which enters the human body through the mouth and nose. There are various types of miasmic qi, each with its own "specific affinity" and "partial targeting," meaning different miasmic qi have specific affinities for certain organs, and humans or animals have varying susceptibilities to different types of miasmic qi. He proposed the principle that "knowing how to use substances to control qi, one disease can be cured with one specific medicine." He categorized the pathways of miasmic qi invasion into "contracted from the heavens" (airborne pestilence) and "contracted from pestilence" (contact pestilence), which can result in both epidemic and sporadic outbreaks. He introduced treatments such as "Da Yuan" and "San Xiao."

Regarding the location of pestilence invasion in the body, the book posits that it primarily resides in the "membrane source" (a semi-exterior, semi-interior part of the body). The pathogen, hidden deep within, is difficult to expel and can lead to nine different patterns of transmission between the exterior and interior. Treatment should be flexible, tailored to the patterns of transmission, concurrent symptoms, and varying conditions. Wu's self-created Membrane-Source-Opening Decoction and Ju Ban Tang are highly valuable in clinical practice. For instance, the Membrane-Source-Opening Decoction is primarily used for the initial stages of pestilence, characterized by initial aversion to cold, followed by fever, then fever without chills, continuous fever day and night, worsening in the late afternoon, accompanied by headache and body pain. This formula works to open the membrane source, dispel filth, resolve turbidity, and reduce fever. Wu placed great emphasis on the use of purgation in treating pestilence, noting over 30 indications for purgation, with particular importance given to the use of Rhubarb Rhizoma to "expel pathogens and remove toxins."

Wu's theories on the etiology and transmission pathways of externally contracted pestilence pioneered the study of pestilence in China, greatly influencing later figures such as Dai Tian-zhang. However, during the Qing dynasty, warm disease scholars like Ye Tian-shi, Xue Sheng-bai, Wu Ju-tong, and Wang Meng-ying did not continue to explore Wu's ideas, instead reverting to traditional Chinese medical thinking, which hindered the full development of Wu's theory of miasmic qi.

The Wenyi Lun exists in numerous editions from the early Qing and Kangxi periods, other Qing dynasty block-printed editions, Japanese block-printed editions, and the "Compendium of Chinese Medicine" edition. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, several punctuated and typeset editions were published.