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[Characteristics] The Ji (Rapid) pulse presents as urgent and hurried, representing the extreme of the Shu (Rapid) pulse; it beats seven to eight times per respiration, with blood flow being forceful and rapid.
When there are more than six beats per respiration, the pulse has two names: either "Ji" (Rapid) or "Ji" (Extreme). It always manifests a hurried form, which is the most severe degree of the Rapid pulse.

[Etiology and Pathogenesis] The Ji pulse indicates Extreme Yang, where Yin Qi is on the verge of exhaustion. The pulse is termed "Li Jing" (Departing from the Normal Channel), signifying that the deficient Hun (Ethereal Soul) is about to perish. As the condition progressively worsens and the pulse becomes faster, death may occur within a day or night. Regardless of whether it appears at the Cun (Inch) or Chi (Cubit) position, a short lifespan is determined.
If Yin and Yang are in equilibrium, the pulse arrives evenly. If the pulse is excessively fast, reaching the degree of Ji, there is Yang without Yin; how can life be sustained? This pulse is seen only when Heat is extreme in Shang Han (Cold Damage); it is not commonly found in other diseases. In patients with Lao Zhai (Consumption Disease) who are extremely debilitated, this pulse may also appear, indicating that Yin Essence and Marrow are exhausted below while Yang Fire flares above, allowing for a prognosis of a short life. In cases of Yin-Yang Yi disease (recurrence due to sexual intercourse after recovery from a major illness), the pulse often beats seven to eight times per respiration and is called Li Jing; such patients are essentially on the threshold of death. For pregnant women near delivery, a Li Jing pulse may also appear, but this is not named so because of beating seven to eight times. For instance, if a pulse was floating yesterday and sinking today, large yesterday and small today, slow yesterday and rapid today, slippery yesterday and choppy today—any deviation from the habitual normal pulse is termed Li Jing. Various conditions of the Heart and Lung are, in summary, signs of the depletion of True Yin. It is like complex strings and urgent pipes playing as music is about to end, or like fierce flames soaring into the sky as firewood is about to be consumed. Normally, with four beats per respiration, there are approximately 13,500 respirations in a day and night, circulating fifty times through the body, covering 810 zhang, which is the standard rate of meridian circulation. If there are eight beats per respiration, the circulation would be one hundred Ying (cycles) in a day and night, covering over 1,600 zhang. This inevitably leads to panting, hoarseness, and breathing confined only to a few inches in the chest, unable to reach the root. This represents Extreme Yin deficiency below and solitary Yang hyperactivity above, with Qi depletion reaching its limit. Human life and death depend on Qi, and the gathering and scattering of Qi depend on Blood. Those who survive on residual gasp do so only because a thread of Qi remains unbroken. With a pulse of eight beats per respiration, Qi is about to collapse; hoping to save them with herbal medicine is no wonder why it fails to catch up.