Lí

Li (離) is number 9, the last in the Luo Shu count, and it points south. 說卦傳 ties it to brightness and to the sage facing south to govern. The Ming house book 陽宅十書 treats it as fire, and 協紀辨方書, the imperial almanac, files 丙, 午 and 丁 under it.

Li belongs to the East Four. By our reading of the ring of palaces, its verse, 離六五絕，延禍生天, gives 延年 to 坎, 生氣 to 震 and 天乙 to 巽, so all three favorable positions sit in the same group. The other four names are spread over 坤, 兌, 乾 and 艮.

Men take Li in 1991, 2000 and 2009, women in 1985, 1994 and 2003, and the same gaps of nine years continue in both directions. The second line of the book's table, the year 乙丑, puts a man at Li as his number falls from 1 to 9.