Wandering at leisure through the coral forest with its interlacing jeweled branches, Xing Yan unwittingly forgot the way back. When he floated above the treetops, the Water-Traveling Art he had learned from Lingyi carried him to and fro so swiftly that he could not quite control it, and he strayed farther and farther from the Spirit Bud Palace.
While traveling through the water, Xing Yan happened to glimpse a patch of clear radiance ahead. Without stopping to think, he plunged straight into it.
Only when he arrived did Xing Yan discover that he had entered a lake valley of clear blue water, surrounded by towering rocky reefs. The snow-white undersea crags resembled screens of snowy jade, encircling an underwater lake as smooth as a mirror. The pale blue water before him was so pure that it seemed to contain not the slightest impurity. Without even concentrating his gaze, he could clearly see the clumps of green aquatic grass beneath the shallows. Far out on the lake floated a little boat, motionless in the transparent water, as though set there in midair.
Reflecting the blue expanse below, the moon shining above the underwater Dragon Domain seemed to have acquired a pale blue tint as well. Its light made everything before him hazy and dreamlike, as though a faint blue mist hung everywhere.
Suddenly finding himself in this fantastical realm of clear blue, faced with beauty unlike anything he had ever seen, Xing Yan stood spellbound and forgot to look for the way home.
After strolling a few steps along the silver beach beside the water, Xing Yan noticed an enormous flowering tree growing on the distant lakeshore. Its sparse leaves shone with a green luster beneath the sea moon, like pieces of precious emerald. Among those jade-green leaves bloomed pale yellow