未濟 → 遯

Commentary

Fire above water, and the protective barriers are crumbling. 'When the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold' — the classical warning from the Zuo Zhuan about the states of Guo and Yu, where one state's destruction exposed the other to invasion. Day by day, decay gnaws at the root. What has rotted cannot be used; it becomes a disaster for oneself. From Before Completion to Retreat, fire-over-water transforms into heaven with a mountain beneath — the image of strategic withdrawal. The verse makes Retreat's logic visceral: when your buffer state has fallen, when the rot has reached the root, the only wise course is to withdraw before the collapse takes you with it. Retreat is not cowardice; it is the recognition that some positions are no longer defensible.