What Does Ling Xing Govern?

Ling Xing is 「南斗助星」, one word different from Huo Xing's 「南斗浮星」. Huo Xing and Ling Xing are a pair: they are placed in similar ways, both by the year branch and birth hour, and their brightness is the same, Miao in Yin, Wu and Xu and Xian in Shen, Zi and Chen. The brightness tables for the two stars in the Quan Shu's Star Combinations chapter are word for word the same (see Star Combinations: Huo Xing and Ling Xing).

Later writers often read Huo Xing as open flame and explosion and Ling Xing as hidden fire and smouldering, and the distinction already shows in the Quan Shu's verses: Huo Xing is 「性氣亦沉毒，剛強出眾人」, while Ling Xing is 「性格亦沉吟」, more inward and hesitant.

This line only introduces the verse below. The Ling Xing verse is longer than the Huo Xing one and more specific, especially on what happens when Ling Xing meets each main star (segment 7), for which the Huo Xing chapter has no counterpart.

The Nature of Ling Xing gives a prose version, with added material on Di Kong and Di Jie, Tian Shang and Tian Shi, and Tian Ma; it is worth reading alongside.

「大殺鈴星將，南斗為從神」: Ling Xing is also a killing general, but it is placed as a 'follower spirit', one rank below Huo Xing. 「性格亦沉吟」 is the key description of Ling Xing's character: brooding means hesitant and deep, not outward like Huo Xing. So Ling Xing's harm is held in, a delayed explosion.

「形貌多異類，威勢有聲名」: distinctive looks, and authority as well. Though Ling Xing is a malefic star, the Quan Shu grants that it can bring a name. Ling Xing is an energy of suppression, restraint and a strong after-kick, and its feelings need an outlet.

「若與貪狼會，指日立邊庭」 is the Ling Tan pattern, the partner of the Huo Tan pattern; the Gu Sui Fu says 「貪鈴並守將相之名」 (Gu Sui Fu). 「廟地財官貴，陷地主孤貧」 hands Ling Xing's good and bad over to brightness, the same logic as for Huo Xing and Qing Yang.

「羊陀若湊合，其刑大不清」: Ling Xing with Qing Yang and Tuo Luo means great harm, and murky. 'Murky' is apt: Ling Xing's hiddenness plus Tuo Luo's drag make problems tangled and hard to sort out. On a Xingge chart, check the brightness in small text in Ling Xing's cell, then see whether Qing Yang and Tuo Luo are in the San Fang Si Zheng.

This passage is the outcome of Ling Xing fallen and meeting Qing Yang and Tuo Luo: alone, abandoning the ancestral home, injured and ill; monks and priests drift and are sure to return to lay life; a woman without lucky stars harms her family and has few relatives. It runs almost parallel to segments 6 and 7 of the Huo Xing chapter.

「還俗定無疑」 is more categorical than the Huo Xing chapter's 「不守規戒心」. The Quan Shu takes a dim view of monks and priests with a malefic star in the Life Palace, because malefic stars govern movement and change and do not suit quiet practice. Read now, it describes someone who finds it hard to stay long in one stable setting.

The woman of the last segment continues: unchaste all her life, dying young, poor. Then comes the overall verdict on Ling Xing: 「此星大殺將，其惡不可禁，一生有凶禍，聚實為虛情」. As the note says, the last line is terse; the gist is that whatever is gathered comes to nothing.

This is the Quan Shu's harshest judgment of Ling Xing, but it has to be set against the final segment: 「若逢居旺地，富貴不可論」. The Quan Shu often writes out the bad side of a malefic star in full and only adds the condition for good at the very end, so read to the last line and not just the opening.

This passage pairs Ling Xing with main stars: with Qi Sha, death in battle; with Po Jun, wealth and house collapse; with Lian Zhen, Qing Yang and Tian Xing, or Di Jie and Di Kong, the sword and the spear; with Tan Lang, no peace in office. The last line deserves attention: segment 4 said Ling Xing meeting Tan Lang means 「指日立邊庭」, but here it says 「官祿亦不寧」, a contradiction within one chapter. A reasonable reconciliation is that segment 4 means Ling Xing and Tan Lang in Miao or Wang, and this line means them fallen or with malefic stars.

「七殺主陣亡」 agrees with the Star Combinations chapter's 「七殺重逢四殺，腰陀背曲陣中亡」 (Star Combinations: Qi Sha), whose note says 「殺與鈴火，主陣亡」. Today it is a reminder to take particular care with safety in high-risk jobs or settings.

The chapter's last line overturns all the dire verdicts before it: 「若逢居旺地，富貴不可論」. Ling Xing is Miao in Yin, Wu and Xu and De in Si, You and Chou, and the brightness in small text on a Xingge chart is what to judge by. The Star Combinations chapter also says 「火鈴旺宮亦為福論」.

This shows the Quan Shu's attitude to malefic stars: they are not bad across the board; it depends on position. A Ling Xing in Miao or Wang turns brooding and authority into strengths, a person who thinks things through and has drive; only a fallen Ling Xing brings the loneliness, poverty and harm described above. With a malefic star, the first step is always to check its brightness.