The Deer and the Cauldron (traditional Chinese: 鹿鼎記; simplified Chinese: 鹿鼎记; pinyin: lù dǐng jì) or The Duke of Mount Deer is the last of Jin Yong’s Wuxia novels.

The novel was initially published as a serial, the first installment being published on October 24, 1969 in Ming Pao and running for 2 years, 11 months, until September 23, 1972.

The choosing of the name of novel, which literally meant Tale of the Deer and the Cauldron, was alluded to in a scene of the first chapter showing a conversation between a scholar and his young son.

The scholar recounted that both the Deer and the Cauldron served as metaphors for the Central Plains and the Empire.

It was written in volume 92 of the historical text Book of Han "The deer lost by Qin was hunted by all under Heavens (《史记•卷九十二》：“秦失其鹿，天下共逐之。” ), an illustration of the rise of numerous rivalling warlords contesting for supremacy to capture the prize, the empire lost by Qin.

Source: Wikipedia