A'Zi Ambushes Xiao Feng and Is Gravely Wounded by Him is a sudden reversal in the snowy journey of Xiao Feng and A'Zi: her apparent collapse draws him back, but she uses the moment to attack him, and his instinctive defense nearly kills her. The encounter turns on the conflict between A'Zi's calculated deception and Xiao Feng's obligation to protect her as A'Zhu's sister.

The Apparent Death

After A'Zi breaks into tears, Xiao Feng tries to leave her to it. Her crying stops abruptly, and she lies motionless in the snow. He initially dismisses this as a tantrum and walks away, but after traveling several li he looks back across the open terrain and sees that she has not moved. Remembering that he killed her elder sister and that A'Zhu had asked him to care for A'Zi, he turns back rather than risk abandoning her.

A'Zi remains in precisely the same position. The snow around her has not melted; her cheek is cold, and she appears not to be breathing. Xiao Feng knows she has feigned death before and recognizes the Xingxiu Sect's Turtle Breath Skill as a possible explanation. He does not panic: he touches her torso at two points, using his internal energy to stimulate her acupoints. Her eyes open, and the stillness proves to have been a lure rather than a genuine collapse.

The Needle and the Palm

As soon as she wakes, A'Zi spits a shining blue needle toward Xiao Feng's brow. They are only a few chi apart, and he has almost no time to evade it. He sweeps out a powerful palm wind to deflect the weapon and twists his body aside. The poisoned needle passes within an inch of his cheek, a near miss that leaves no room for a second response.

The same defensive strike sends A'Zi flying. She lands roughly ten feet away and slides another ten feet across the snow. Xiao Feng's immediate relief at escaping the hidden weapon gives way to alarm when he sees the force of his blow's effect. Her eyes are closed, blood appears at the corners of her mouth, and she has stopped breathing. He realizes that his attempt to save himself may have killed the person he had turned back to protect.

Xiao Feng’s Realization and Response

The apparent success of the defense becomes a second crisis. Seeing A'Zi motionless after the strike, Xiao Feng is stunned: he believes he has killed her, and the thought lands with particular force because A'Zhu had asked him on her deathbed to take care of her sister. For a moment he remains in a dazed state, unable to move beyond the realization that he may have failed that charge as well as caused A'Zi's death.

He quickly places a palm against A'Zi's back and pours his internal energy into her in an effort to revive her. She moves slightly, but then becomes still again. Xiao Feng understands that her injuries are severe and that he can only sustain her breathing and keep death at bay for the moment; he therefore sits on the snow, lifts her carefully in front of him, and presses both palms to her back, channeling his energy slowly rather than all at once.

He continues without stopping for half an hour. White vapor rises from his head as he exerts himself, while A'Zi's body gradually begins to move. She faintly calls him brother-in-law, but he does not answer, concentrating instead on continuing the treatment. Her body slowly warms and her breathing becomes detectable. Xiao Feng keeps channeling his energy until noon, when her breathing has grown steady; only then does he carry her away at a trot. Though he has kept her alive, her face still has no color, leaving the rescue an urgent reprieve rather than a recovery.

The Attack’s Reversal

A'Zi’s attack converts Xiao Feng’s attempt to honor A'Zhu’s final request into a crisis of unintended harm. He had recognized the possibility that A'Zi was feigning death, yet returned to her all the same; once she wakes and strikes, his reflexive defense saves him from the poisoned needle but leaves her gravely wounded. The scene’s reversal is sharpened by the closeness of the threat: the needle passes within an inch of his cheek, while the palm wind that turns it aside sends A'Zi away across the snow. Neither the attack nor the defense is a measured exchange. Each happens before either can recover from the preceding danger, and Xiao Feng’s survival immediately becomes inseparable from the fear that he has killed her.

Consequences and Significance

The attack leaves both characters in immediate danger, though in sharply different ways: Xiao Feng escapes the poisoned needle, while A'Zi is left gravely wounded by the force he used to defend himself. His first response is to revive her, not to punish her for the ambush. That choice follows the obligation that brought him back across the snow in the first place: he cannot set aside A'Zhu’s deathbed request to care for her sister, even after A'Zi has tried to kill him.

The scene’s central reversal lies in how care and violence become entangled. A'Zi exploits Xiao Feng’s concern by feigning collapse; his return gives her the opening to attack, and his instinctive defense turns the danger back upon her. Once he believes she may have died, the encounter becomes less a contest between opponents than a test of whether he can keep his promise under circumstances shaped by mistrust. He sustains her breathing through prolonged effort, but the fact that she remains pale when he carries her away makes clear that rescue has only postponed the crisis.