Southeast
When I came out of the lobby, it was already dark outside.
The wind in the open area changed direction after nightfall. The airflow blowing from the side of the mountain was much cooler than during the day, like a large patch of moisture gathering in the distance and slowly moving in. Long Tian and Yu Jin walked back about a mile along the path they had come from, and stopped to rest for half the night behind a low, sheltered slope beside the wall. They did not light a fire, and each leaned against the slope and closed their eyes to rest for a while. While they rested, Dragon Shadow contracted the spread of its wings and landed on the ground next to Long Tian, crouching down like a night watchman resting with its eyes closed.
After daybreak, they retraced their steps out of the valley. As they passed a depression, Long Tian noticed that the grayish-white powder was lighter in color than when they arrived, as if the wind had altered its distribution the previous night, with some of the edges pushed deeper by the wind. He didn't stop to investigate. They continued their journey back for about two days. Along the way, as they passed forks in the road and that grassy path, Yu Jin broke off a dry shrub branch from the roadside and carried it for a long time. When they reached the point where the road surface had returned to the paved path, he discarded the branch by the roadside.
They returned to Spirit City at noon on the fifth day.
The atmosphere in the city was much more relaxed than when they left. The afterglow of the Elite Tournament was gradually fading. Most of the academy flags on the streets were gone, with only a few still hanging, their edges fluttering slowly in the afternoon breeze. Long Tian walked along the main road in the west of the city for a while, glancing inside the inn as he passed by, before continuing eastward. He stopped at a quiet street corner and ordered two bowls of cold tea from a roadside tea stall. The two of them sat on low stools for a while, each finishing the remaining tea in their bowls and placing them on the table.
After setting down the bowl, Long Tian said, "The direction the last nautical chart pointed to was about a hundred miles off the southeast coast of the mainland. I haven't been to that area yet. There are no place names marked on that area on the chart, which doesn't seem like they were overlooked, but rather intentionally omitted. There are ships that can get to the closest point to that area."
Yu Jin tapped the tea dregs at the bottom of the bowl against the rim. "The coastal docks should have ships capable of sailing out to sea. The old man from that fishing village in the East Sea mentioned it last time; when he was young, the furthest route he'd ever taken was about sixty li beyond the southeastern corner of the mainland. He hadn't gone any further than that, saying the tides there were different from those near the coast, like two layers of water flowing in different directions simultaneously."
Long Tian placed the tea money on the table, stood up, and walked towards the main street. Yu Jin followed beside him. After passing through several streets and alleys, they stopped in front of a shop with an old wooden sign in the west of the city. The shop was small, with a stack of old fishing nets and several bundles of bamboo poles piled up at the entrance. The shop was dimly lit, and an old man wearing oilcloth sleeves was squatting on the ground repairing a boat compass. Hearing footsteps, he looked up, his gaze lingering on the Dragon Shadow behind Long Tian for a while, before placing the compass on his lap and saying, "Are you looking for a boat?"
How far can it run?
"How far you go depends on the boat." The old man stood up, dusted off his knees, and turned to walk towards the back door of the shop. "I have an old boat in my backyard. Its keel is made of ironwood; it doesn't draft deeply, but it can withstand the waves of the open sea. I'll take you to the dock to see it."
Long Tian followed him through the back door of the shop into a narrow courtyard. A wooden boat, about two zhang long, was moored in the courtyard. Its hull had been repainted with tung oil, gleaming with a moist, dark brown sheen in the afternoon light. The old man patted the gunwale, and the boat emitted a dull echo. Long Tian squatted down beside the boat, reaching out to touch the seams of the planks. His fingertips slid along the joints, feeling the smooth, even sealant between the planks, like the surface of a container that could be used directly without further processing.
"Can we get to that body of water?"
The old man followed his gaze into the distance. "I've been to that area once. When I was young, I went with a sea hunting team, and it took us three and a half days to see the changes in the water's color. There are no islands, no land nearby, nothing on the surface. But when we got to that area, the compass needle kept spinning, as if something was continuously influencing the magnetic field from below." He paused, his gaze lingering on the Dragon Shadow behind Long Tian. "You can borrow that boat. Just return it here when you come back. There's enough fresh water and dry rations on board for a round trip."
Long Tian glanced at the old man and didn't refuse. That afternoon, they checked the remaining supplies on the ship, replenished a few items, and secured the water bags, dry rations, and ropes in the cabin. Dragon Shadow hovered above the dock for the entire afternoon, its wing membrane slightly open but not fully deployed, maintaining the same orientation as the ship in the continuous sea breeze, like a flag waiting for the wind to stabilize before deciding on its next extent of deployment. Yu Jin squatted at the stern, re-nailing the lid of an old wooden box. Long Tian squatted by the ship's side, gazing at the ever-expanding sea outside the dock. The sun was tilting westward, the light on the sea changing from silvery white to fragmented gold, then sinking into a gradually deepening bluish-gray, like a container undergoing subtle color changes as new fluids are continuously added, adapting at its own pace to the density and temperature of the new substance, leaving visible streaks of light at the edges that continue to spread into the distance.