Kyaa—!
The flock of Bar-headed Geese exploded apart. Brown-headed Gulls cried out as the two waves of water birds beat their wings and soared high, abandoning the Silver-scaled Fish in their claws as they rushed for land. The colossal thing in the morning mist filled them with terror.
Sensing something unknown approaching from behind, Dou Shou shouted. The faintly visible masts tilted this way and that, all steering aside to both sides, terrified of a collision.
"Om mani padme hum! What is that? How could it be so huge? Is it coming closer?"
"A Makara Fish! We should kneel and worship it!" The old man pressed his palms together and raised them above his head.
"I thought it was Qu Song! A man-eating demon!"
The quiet morning became clamorous. Fishermen, porters, and herdsmen at the wharf all stopped in their tracks, gathering densely around Blue Lake, craning their necks in curiosity and whispering among themselves.
After staring for ages without making heads or tails of it, someone looked toward a young man in the crowd and began to egg him on.
"Zhuo Yang, you're skilled—go up and take a look!"
"That's right, Zhuo Yang, climb the mast!"
"Zhuo Yang, get up there and tell us what it is!"
"Fine, I'll do it!"
The young man entrusted with everyone's hopes was a Martial Artist. Dark, lean, and friendly-faced, he moved with nimble agility. Hearing their calls, he sprang onto the deck in a few bounding strides, grabbed and pulled himself up the mast of a boat moored at the wharf, shaded his eyes with a hand, and looked into the distance.
The sun gradually rose, and the thin mist steadily faded.
The water birds circling Blue Lake had vanished without a trace, stirring an unease that could not be named.
Amid