The False Spirit (Jia Shen)

Sometimes the true one is hidden in the dark

This is the counterweight to the previous chapter, and it resists tidy bookkeeping. When true and false are interleaved — a chart neither plainly bright nor wholly obscure — the reading stalls, and the person feels stuck between states. But the text adds an important allowance: even if the month command gives no clear true spirit, a genuine one may still be found in a hidden stem, provided it can be brought out and used. Do not pronounce a chart empty just because its best card is face down.