Moon Tide
After leaving the Soul Refining Field, Long Tian didn't rush back to the city. He stood in the wilderness outside the wall for a while, took out the hand-drawn sketch, and examined it again by the moonlight. The direction of the thin lines on the sketch matched the area near the center mark on the silk map. One of the lines extended a short distance outward from the center mark before forking into two, each branch bending at a similar angle, like two traces bent by the same force field line. At the end of one of the lines were the characters "Moon Tide," the strokes thinner, as if added with a sharper pen tip.
Yu Jin stood beside him, also glancing at the two words, then straightened up and looked at the dark wilderness in the distance. Moonlight shone through the edge of the clouds onto the muddy ground in front of them, casting a silvery-white glow on the paper in their hands, making even the indentations and slight ridges of the two words on the paper clear.
"Moon Tide," Yu Jin repeated, "Is the tide that occurs at a specific time each month. It doesn't happen every day; it depends on the moon's angle. Coastal fishing boats that sail out to sea keep track of the Moon Tide dates. At that time, the water level near the shore is lower than usual, exposing things that are normally below the surface."
Long Tian put away the simple diagram and stood leaning against the trunk of a dead tree for a while. Moon Tide. If the underwater structure was exposed or nearly exposed at the lowest tide, then the layer of cover he had previously dived into was the part that would only appear when the Moon Tide receded—the design principle of that air chamber and the underwater concave surface was probably to expose specific areas to the surface during the Moon Tide, turning a location that originally required diving into one that could be reached on foot. He thought again about the correspondence between the lunar cycle and the tidal height, mentally listing the possible date ranges, and then straightened up from the tree trunk.
"Go back and check the perpetual calendar. The date of the highest Moon Tide in the last few months should be able to be determined. If the tide were low enough, that area might be above water above its normal range, instead of being completely submerged like it is now."
The two walked back towards the west of the city along the dirt road at the edge of the field. The night wind continued to blow across the open field, bending the roadside grass stalks into a uniform line, creating a layer of constantly moving dark patterns in the moonlight. They circled back to the main street along the main road and stopped at a noodle stall in the west of the city that was open all night, each ordering a bowl of hot soup noodles. The noodle stall owner was a taciturn old man who, after serving the noodles, retreated behind the stall to continue wiping his bowls, without giving them a second glance.
After finishing their noodles, Long Tian and Yu Jin walked back to their old house in the east of the city along the gradually quieting streets. Night had fallen, and the streets were nearly deserted, with only a few lanterns hanging from iron frames at the alley entrance, swaying slightly in the wind. After entering the courtyard, Long Tian sat for a while by the well under the pomegranate tree, laying out the silk map, fish skin paper, Shen Mo's note, and the hand-drawn sketch on his lap, and sorting through them one by one.
He first unfolded the fish-skin paper and placed it at the bottom; this was the earliest nautical chart he had received, its dotted line ending abruptly at the outer edge of the East Sea Islands. Next was a Shen Mo note with the words "Great Abyss), pointing to a body of water near the end of the same extended direction. Following that was a hand-drawn sketch, marking the fork near the central marker and the words "Yuechao" (Moon Tide). At the top was a silk map; the dotted lines converged at the central marker and continued southeast, ending abruptly with a wavy line, the style of which was identical to the three-wave symbol. With these four layers of information superimposed, the outline of that marked location had gradually become clear over time, like an old map that had been repeatedly examined and could be recalled completely without needing to be opened again.
Yu Jin squatted down on Shitou on the other side of the well. He was silent for a moment, then spoke in a steady tone, "So now we're waiting for the Moon Tide to arrive—before that, we need to confirm the specific tidal changes in that area during the Moon Tide; we can't just rely on speculation."
Long Tian carefully put the four items back in their original positions and placed them in his leather pouch. When he stood up, his legs were numb from squatting. He paced back and forth by the well a few times until his blood flowed smoothly before stopping and looking at the Yu Jin. "I'll go find that cave keeper tomorrow." He had traversed that sea area and knew the water level changes during the Moon Tide. If he needed to measure the water level, he should know the specific time window for arriving at the target sea area from Longfish Bay the day before the Moon Tide.
Yu Jin nodded, stood up, and brushed the dirt off his knees. The two went inside and lay down to rest. The moonlight outside the window cast a thin layer of light in the courtyard, stretching the shadow of the withered pomegranate tree branches onto the wall into a long, slanted line. Long Tian lay on his bunk without immediately closing his eyes. In the darkness, he listened to the wind outside the window and the occasional barking of dogs in the distance, mentally reviewing the preparations he needed to make before the Moon Tide. After confirming that nothing was missing, he closed his eyes. The edge of the Dragon Shadow, which had been hovering above the door frame, undulated slightly in the night breeze before straightening itself, like a flag that had been set in motion by the wind, maintaining its posture in the continuous breeze, waiting for what was to come. He turned over, resting his head on his crossed arms, his breathing becoming heavier.