the 96th picture of confucius's holy traces, hunting for a detachment in the west
〖 ninety-six, hunting the desert in the west 〗
in the spring of the 14th year of duke ai of lu (481 bc), lu jun was hunting in juyi, and a servant of shusun clan captured a wild beast of four-elephant. when the seventy-one-year-old confucius heard the news, he said that this beast was a "qilin", but the qilin had been killed. confucius said sadly: "this is a kind beast. why do you come here? why do you come here!" then he cried bitterly: "i am not born at the time, and my way is exhausted!" confucius recorded this incident in "spring and autumn annals" and recorded it as "surviving the destines in the west", and stopped compiling the "spring and autumn annals" historical book of lu, which is known as "the destines in the world".