A'Zi's theft of the Divine Wood King Cauldron turns a stolen sect treasure into both a source of leverage and a test of trust. She tries to evade the Xingxiu Sect by implying that Xiao Feng has the cauldron, while secretly keeping it with her; only when he later finds it does her deception become clear.

Theft and Pursuit

A'Zi is traveling with Xiao Feng when a senior martial brother catches up with her, carrying the Old Freak of Xingxiu's order that she return. The man makes plain that his master is furious, but, wary of revealing too much in front of Xiao Feng, stops himself from explaining what A'Zi has taken. His hesitation signals that the return order concerns more than an ordinary departure from the sect.

A'Zi refuses to go back. She tells her pursuer that she met her brother-in-law on the road and plans to travel with him to Jiangnan, where she will buy curiosities for her master before returning. When he insists that she provide something he can take back as an explanation, she offers her pearl hairpin as an identifying token. The trinket is a diversion: it gives the martial brother something to report without surrendering the stolen treasure.

A Test Among Sect Members

The pursuit becomes dangerous when the senior martial brother drinks poisoned wine without apparent difficulty. A'Zi recognizes that his skill with poison and his internal energy surpass hers, leaving her unable to defeat him directly. In the Xingxiu Sect, martial arts are rarely practiced in pairs: techniques are secretive and vicious, and a contest between disciples can end in serious injury or death. Rank is therefore tested through real confrontation rather than safe practice.

The poisoned wine has become such a test. By drinking it, the man has answered A'Zi's challenge on terms that, by the sect's rules, settle their relative standing. Unless she can change the situation, she must submit or face him at a severe disadvantage. She appeals to Xiao Feng as her brother-in-law, invoking the bond he had promised to honor after A'Zhu's death. Her appeal links the cauldron's pursuit to a larger obligation: Xiao Feng is drawn into the consequences of A'Zi's choices even as he remains wary of her evasions.

The Cauldron Revealed

The stolen object's significance emerges when another group of Xingxiu Sect disciples comes looking for A'Zi. A dwarf among them begins to seize her, then stops and asks whether she has already used the Divine Wood King Cauldron. The other disciples immediately rebuke him for naming it, exposing both the cauldron's importance and their anxiety about discussing it in front of an outsider. Xiao Feng hears the name but does not yet understand why the sect treats the object with such gravity.

Later, Xiao Feng overhears Zhaixingzi accuse A'Zi of stealing the master's treasure and giving it to an outsider. A'Zi does not deny violating her master's rules. Instead, she asks whether Zhaixingzi wants the cauldron back and argues that Xiao Feng, to whom she supposedly gave it, would return it intact if she asked. She warns that an outsider who demanded it might not be so easily persuaded. The exchange makes her claim useful as a shield: it places the valuable object in Xiao Feng's apparent possession and makes the prospect of reclaiming it seem risky.

Concealment and Discovery

While caring for the gravely wounded A'Zi, Xiao Feng searches her belongings for money to buy wine. He finds several small gold ingots and some silver, then loosens a purple ribbon attached to her clothes bag. A small yellow wooden tripod drops out. Its fine carving, jade-like wood, and red lines within the grain identify it as the Divine Wood King Cauldron, used in the Xingxiu Sect's Great Energy Dissolving Skill.

The discovery resolves the earlier contradiction: A'Zi had told the sect that she gave the cauldron to Xiao Feng, but she had kept it concealed in her skirt. Her explanation had been calculated to make the sect believe that he possessed it while discouraging anyone from searching her clothing. Xiao Feng recognizes the deception, but, focused on keeping her alive, sets the cauldron aside rather than pursuing its use or value. The object that had drawn the sect's pursuit is thus exposed not through a confrontation over ownership, but through the practical intimacy of tending to A'Zi.

Significance

The theft operates through concealment as much as possession. A'Zi uses the cauldron's reputation to redirect her pursuers toward Xiao Feng, while the Xingxiu Sect's dangerous rules turn a dispute over a stolen treasure into a contest of rank and survival. The cauldron also sharpens the contrast between A'Zi's opportunistic maneuvering and Xiao Feng's immediate concern for her life: although he discovers that she has misled both her sect and him, he does not make the treasure his priority.