A Letter from the Sea
Three days after the ships from the mining area disappeared into the sea, another letter arrived.
This time, the messenger was a blue-gray seabird that landed on a pine branch in front of the stone house. Its claws gripped a copper tube, the opening of which was sealed with a sea-blue wax seal. Yu Jin saw the bird first and took the copper tube off its claws, handing it to Long Tian. The bird did not fly away but perched on the branch, preening its feathers, as if waiting for a reply.
Long Tian disassembled the copper tube, revealing a roll of fish-skin paper as thin as a cicada's wing. When unfolded, the writing was in silver ink, shimmering with a watery sheen in the sunlight.
"Thirty miles beyond the East Sea lies an ancient sea cave. At low tide, its entrance is above water; at high tide, it submerges. The cave's walls are carved with dragon patterns, identical in style to the shadow behind you. My ancestors have guarded this cave for three generations, and we have never seen the dragon patterns glow. Three days ago, however, the dragon patterns lit up on their own."
The signature contained no name, only a symbol – three overlapping wavy lines.
After reading it, Long Tian handed the fish skin paper to Yu Jin. Yu Jin glanced at it and then looked up at the seabird. The bird was still perched on the branch, turning its head to peck at the base of its wing, as if waiting for a reply. Long Tian went back into the house, spread the fish skin paper flat on the table, and looked at it again in the light from the window. He had never seen the Sea Clan symbol with three overlapping wavy lines before, but the texture of the fish skin paper and the writing style of the silver ink gave it an ancient feel, like the faint traces left on an object salvaged from the seabed after it had been cleaned.
Long Tieshan walked in from the side of the house, glanced at the paper on the table, but didn't touch it, only standing there for a moment. "It's something from the Sea Clan. Beyond the East Sea are islands, and the people on the islands have relied on the sea for generations. Their Martial Soul are mostly water or wind-attribute, different from the Soul Master system on the mainland. They don't write letters; they use fish skin and silver ink. Someone who can write such letters is at least the chieftain of a large fishing village or a guardian of its lair."
Long Tian folded the fish-skin paper and tucked it into his clothes. He walked outside and glanced at the eastern sky. The seabirds on the pine branches saw him come out and took flight, circling once in the air before flying east. After flying a while, they returned and circled above Long Tian's head once more before flying east again, as if to say, "Come on, follow me. "Long Tian stood at the door watching them fly away and then return. As the Dragon Shadow behind him flew back, both heads simultaneously raised and looked east. The wind created by the seabirds' wings above his head stirred up a very thin layer of airflow. When the airflow brushed against the edges of the Dragon Shadow's scales, a fine pattern shone on the surface of the scales, as if triggered by the same material as the self-illuminating dragon pattern on the fish-skin paper. It shone brightly for a moment in the sunlight before fading back to its original color.
Yu Jin came out of the house and stood next to Long Tian, following his gaze to the eastern horizon. The seabird circled for the third time before turning back, flying straight eastward until it shrank into a dot at the edge of the horizon and disappeared into the mist at the distant horizon. Long Tian stood at the door for a while, then turned and went back into the house, sat down at the table, and took out the roll of fish skin paper to look at it again. After reading it, he folded the paper and put it away. As he stood up, he glanced at the others in the stone house, at his father who was adding firewood, at Mu Shuang who was squatting by the side of the house sharpening her blade, and at Shen Mo was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, resting.
"I need to go to the East Sea," he said.
Yu Jin didn't ask how long he'd been gone. He went inside, picked up his old cloth bundle from the corner, placed it on the table, and began packing it with dry rations and a water bag. Long Tieshan, standing by the stove, didn't turn around. He squatted down, stirred the ashes in the firebox, and then stood up. He walked to the old iron box he'd locked earlier, unlocked it, and took out a worn leather pouch, handing it to Long Tian. The pouch was bulging, as if something had been prepared beforehand. Long Tian took it and weighed it; it contained some hard objects, like several tightly packed dried fish and a small roll of spare fish skin paper. Long Tieshan relocked the iron box, stood up, and said, "The sea route is different from the mountain route. There's nowhere to rest on the water. If you're going to stay on an island for a while, remember to check the tide table every day."
That evening, Long Tian and Yu Jin finished packing. The bundle was lighter than before, containing only dry rations, water, fish skin paper, and the leather pouch. The Dragon Shadow hovered at the doorway, its wings folded, its four eyes half-closed, and the vertical line on its forehead briefly lit up and dimmed as it packed, as if confirming a decided direction. Long Tian slung the bundle over his shoulder and walked to the door, glancing back at the house—the fire was still burning, Mu Shuang's dagger was still in her boot, Shen Mo was still leaning against the wall, and Shen Qiu was breathing steadily on the bed in the inner room. He withdrew his gaze and stepped across the threshold. The Dragon Shadow slid from above his head to hover directly in front of him, as if watching his path.
The two walked along the eastern foothills of the mountains all night, reaching the edge of the coastline at dawn. He had never seen that sea before; when he did, it simply lay there, like a flat surface lifted from the ground and still maintaining its original shape, advancing layer upon layer into the distance in the morning light. After Yu Jin stopped beside him, he looked in the direction Ember was gazing for a while. The faint light seeping from the collar of the dark gray bead was slightly brighter in the sea breeze than on the mountain, like a Shitou soaked in seawater whose luster automatically increased by half a notch in the humid air.
Long Tian stood on the shore for a while, then stepped onto the rocks near the shore and glanced eastward—in the distance, on the sea, there was a very faint gray shadow, like the outline of an island slowly emerging from the morning mist. The Dragon Shadow behind him slightly raised its head as he looked at that gray outline, all four eyes opening in that direction at the same time. The vertical line on its forehead, illuminated by the morning light, emitted a thin ray of light, as fine as a pinhead, but it remained there after it appeared, like something waiting to be further triggered, gradually brightening, awaiting further confirmation.