The beach where Xing Yan and his companions stayed was quite secluded. The Lord of the Clouds had wanted the brother and sister to rest properly, so he had arranged their tent in this quiet spot. Thus, along the several miles of winding island beach around them, there was no one else.
When the sun reached the center of the sky and Qiong Rong finally smiled through her tears, the South Sea's distinctive monsoon began blowing across the beach. Vast sea winds swept in from the southeast, whipping a thousand drifts of snowy waves across the deep blue water. Layer upon layer of white breakers and misty billows surged closer from afar. By the time they reached the shallows, they resembled armies charging into battle, fierce and thunderous. They swept over low reefs and crashed against towering boulders, flinging snowy waterfalls hundreds of feet into the clear sky. When the water fell before Xing Yan, it was like a downpour.
Yet neither of the girls beside Xing Yan showed any alarm at this sudden little tidal surge. Lingyi was a daughter of the water folk, and amid the rain and waves she was like a fish in water. Drenched in the familiar scent of seawater, her Dragon Clan nature burst forth. Delighted, she floated off the ground and darted through the ferocious breakers several times, then took a bath, clothes and all, in the freely showering wind, spray, and rain. Qiong Rong was even happier to see the wind rise over the sea. When enormous waves came crashing in, ordinary people feared they could not escape quickly enough, but her dainty body was pushed back to where she had begun, sliding all the way along the crest. Like a bird in flight, Qiong Rong never tired of it. What joy!