It was a summer night.
The night air was not cold; instead, it was somewhat stifling. The insects' chirping was about to reach its height, growing ever louder and gradually more pleasing to the ear.
The myriad flowers blooming throughout the mountains were at their finest, their fragrance filling the night air.
Within Xuanjing Mountain, the waters were clear, the rocks strange and steep, while fishing lent the place an open, untroubled air. The trees spread emerald canopies with branches coiling like crimson dragons. In the towering streams, emerald haze lay shrouded in mist.
There were paulownias, Chinese toon trees, oaks, elms, willows, and mulberries.
There were swallows, sparrows, rats, leopards, tigers, flood dragons, fish, deer, and muntjacs.
The splendid blooms met the lesser yin, greeting the sun to join with it and bring forth living vitality. Forests upon sheer cliffs rose and fell with the mountain foothills, emerald waves stretching as far as the eye could see, mist paying homage to cloud-tides, changing into ten thousand forms from dawn to dusk.
The little river running through the middle was even more delightful. Its waters splashed and scattered, shot forth and sprayed, its rippling sound clear and cool. Two people sat fishing by the riverbank, people within the scenery who had themselves become part of the scenery.
Of the two fishermen, one reeled in fish without pause. Great fish weighing dozens of pounds came one after another, as if there would never be an end. The river below was only a mile wide, and who knew where so many big fish had come from? It was as though even the fish kings of the river were hurrying over and flying into his line.
The other person could not catch a single fish no matter what he did. In the end,