Officer and Killer (Guan Sha)

Mixed officer and killer: sometimes yes, sometimes no

When both the proper officer and the seven killings appear, beginners are told it is bad. The chapter says only that it depends: mixed officer-killer can be kept when something restrains one of them or leads them into a use, and must be discarded when they simply compete for the day master's attention with no arbitration. The deciding question is not how many there are but whether the chart has a way of handling them.