Above the East Sea, dark clouds blanketed the sky, and colossal waves surged heavenward.
Amid the churning sea, a wooden raft bobbed up and down beneath the towering swells like rootless duckweed, seeming liable to be smashed to pieces by the raging waves at any moment.
An ape clung tightly to the raft's pole. His seawater-soaked face was deathly pale, and his eyes revealed an unmistakable terror.
"I only set out to sea not long ago. I haven't found an immortal, nor have I attained longevity. Am I going to die here?"
An intense unwillingness rose within him, and he threw back his head with a long howl.
His cry was filled with sorrow.
Yet on the boundless East Sea, beneath these monstrous waves, his desolate shout was instantly swallowed by the roar of the surf.
In the distance, fierce winds whipped up a wave dozens of zhang high, which crashed down toward where he was.
His heart went completely cold.
"Sigh, it seems I'm fated never to attain longevity. I can only end up in a fish's belly."
Just then, he suddenly noticed a thick white mist rising all around him, shrouding heaven and earth in the blink of an eye.
"How could fog arise in this wind and rain?"
Startled, he nervously looked around. But dense fog already covered every direction, so thick that he could not see his hand before his face, much less anything else.
The white mist came quickly, and it dispersed just as quickly.
In only a moment, the dense fog vanished.
The ape stood frozen in place.
"Where is this? Wasn't I just at sea? How did I suddenly come here?"
He had somehow arrived in an entirely different world. Solid earth lay beneath his feet, bright sunlight shone overhead, and lush green