Hu Zi's Wine Gourd

Hu Zi's Wine Gourd is the drinking vessel habitually carried by Hu Zi, third disciple of the Ninth Summit. It contains wine rather than an independently demonstrated divine power, but it accompanies his passage from drunkenness into sleep and Entering Dreams. Its greater importance is personal: damage to the familiar vessel provokes a fury that insults to Hu Zi himself often do not.

History

Wine warmed on the Ninth Summit

Hu Zi introduces the gourd while guiding Su Ming through the Ninth Summit. Knowing when Eldest Senior Brother will release an Origin Breath during secluded training, he floats the vessel above the basin containing him to warm the wine. Hu Zi warns that this has broken his gourd before, and the renewed attempt immediately cracks it. Wine leaks into the basin until Eldest Senior Brother seals the breaks beneath a thin layer of ice, then returns it to Hu Zi with its contents hot and fragrant. The exchange turns a powerful cultivator's breath into domestic comedy and shows how Hu Zi folds the habits of his brothers into the everyday life of the summit. (Chapter 224)

The warmed wine is not hoarded. Hu Zi promises part to Tian Xie Zi, sniffs the gourd with delight, and soon drinks from it while watching the direction of Su Ming's residence. His concern for his new junior brother interrupts his usual drunken sleep, linking the vessel to companionship as much as intoxication. (Chapters 224–225)

Shattering and uncertain replacement

When Zi Che forces his way onto the Ninth Summit, the pressure of his arrival shatters the gourd in Hu Zi's hand. Hu Zi's expression becomes vicious and he attacks the intruder for breaking it. His response identifies the gourd as a valued personal possession, not a disposable cup: the destruction crosses a boundary because it violates the private home and routines Hu Zi has just shared with Su Ming. (Chapter 226)

A wine gourd is again present beside Hu Zi shortly afterward. Su Ming leaves one within reach of his sleeping senior brother, and Hu Zi later swings, carries, and drinks from a gourd during travel and conflict. The text does not specify whether Eldest Senior Brother repaired the shattered vessel again or Hu Zi obtained a replacement. “Hu Zi's Wine Gourd” therefore describes his recurring signature vessel while preserving uncertainty about whether every later appearance is the identical object. (Chapters 232, 242, 276, 284–286)

The empty gourd before Entering Dreams

At Northern Frontier Tribe, Hu Zi stands in front of his brothers as more than a hundred enemies close in. The gourd in his left hand is already empty, yet he raises it to his lips for one last habitual drink, releases it, and opens his arms. It strikes the ground at the same moment he roars “Enter Dream,” closes his eyes, and spreads dream pressure, alcoholic fragrance, and snoring across ten thousand feet. The staging binds the vessel to his cultivation's drunken rhythm without showing it generate the dream field. (Chapter 288)

Hu Zi continues to be associated with wine much later, but the supplied evidence does not establish continuous custody of this early gourd. After Su Ming restores him in the remade universe, his instinct is to reach for wine and discover that no pot is beside him. The absence preserves the habit while leaving the vessel's final physical fate unknown. (Chapters 1164, 1481)

Abilities and properties

• Wine storage: The gourd carries enough wine for repeated drinking, can be warmed by Origin Breath, and releases a thick alcoholic fragrance. Its contents can run low or be emptied; it does not refill itself in the cited scenes. (Chapters 224, 232, 288)
• Heat and cold tolerance: It floats over Eldest Senior Brother's basin and receives his heat, but cracks under the force. A layer of ice seals those cracks and stops the leak. This shows repair or containment by Eldest Senior Brother's power, not self-restoration by the gourd. (Chapter 224)
• Physical fragility: Zi Che's pressure shatters the vessel outright. A later gourd appears, but the source does not state whether it is repaired or replaced. (Chapters 226, 232)
• Association with Entering Dreams: Drinking helps Hu Zi move into the drunken sleep from which he practices Entering Dreams, and the empty gourd falls as he activates the Art at Northern Frontier Tribe. The dream pressure, area, and capture effect come from Hu Zi's cultivation; the vessel is a ritualized aid and emotional focus, not the source of the Dao. (Chapters 225–230, 284–288)
• Personal significance: Hu Zi guards the gourd closely, protests when warming threatens it, and reacts violently when it is broken. Its value lies partly in repeated routines with the Ninth Summit and in his identity as a drinker among his brothers. (Chapters 224–226)

Ownership and custody