Uncle Ming was still wiping sweat; he had been truly terrified just now. He breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "That was close, that was close. If we'd dallied any longer and the Dragon King of the Sea decided to surface, all our tricks would have been useless. Surviving a great disaster promises future fortune; this time, we truly fought hard for it." Fatty cursed, "Nonsense about the Dragon King.

Old Hu and I have heard that nonsense more than once, and never once did a real dragon show up. Besides, even if there were real dragons in the sea, could they possibly scare us off? People die for wealth, and what is wealth? Wealth is truth!

For the sake of pursuing truth, we aren't afraid of death, so why fear a dragon?" As we were chattering amongst ourselves, we suddenly heard Shirley Yang’s voice crackling through the long-range ship's whistle, urgently calling everyone to the deck immediately. One trouble hadn't settled before another arose. Seeing that something else was happening, we dared not delay any longer, scrambling onto the deck one after another. By then, the sea fog had thinned considerably, though it hadn't fully dispersed.

Shirley Yang was looking up at the sky, and seeing us rush over, she pointed upward: "What is that sound you hear overhead?" I looked up towards the sky veiled by the sea mist, and tilting my ear, I clearly heard a tremendous noise like layers of metal fracturing. I couldn't help but mumble, "What in the blazes is that sound?" As the noise grew louder, a massive dark silhouette began to emerge from the fog overhead. Uncle Ming, startled, fell backward onto the deck, managing only one choked word: "Fish!" By the time it was light, the density of the sea fog was gradually lessening, extending visibility out a few hundred meters, though the distant sea surface remained shrouded in white haze. Hearing the ominous whistling wind above the deck, we were filled with suspicion, not knowing what exactly was happening in the fog.

Suddenly, Uncle Ming collapsed onto the deck, crying out, "Fish!" Almost simultaneously, I felt something cold, slick, and slippery land squarely on my head. I reached up to touch it and found it was a small fish. Fish began to fall from the sky in quick succession—some large, some small. Many landed right on the deck, flopping around desperately, belly-up, trying to leap back into the water.

I thought to myself, What strange occurrence is this? Fish falling from the sky? As sea fish of all sizes continued to rain down from the heavens, it seemed as if a downpour had broken out over the ocean surface. The surrounding roar was thunderous, yet also like wind howling through bamboo tubes, a wailing 'woo-woo-woo' sound, impossible to discern the source.

However, this mixed deluge of sea fish and rain accelerated the dispersal of the sea fog. Before we could even process what was happening, we saw a colossal wall of water rise not far ahead on the sea surface. The seawater was being forcefully evacuated as it rose, and the Trident looked like a lone leaf before this immense liquid rampart ascending from the depths. The light of the eastern dawn was completely obscured by the wall of water, and the sky, only just cleared of fog, immediately darkened again, making the Trident feel as if it were submerged in the lightless abyss of the deep ocean.

We on the deck shivered, paralyzed by this terrifying spectacle. The calm sea had finally revealed its savage, tempestuous nature. As we drew closer to the water wall, its imposing might became increasingly oppressive; the seawater stood vertical, a sight too daunting to look at directly. Captain Ruan Hei quickly spun the helm; otherwise, if the Trident proceeded further, it would be shattered by that colossal wave.

I grabbed Uncle Ming's arm and hauled him up from the ground. "What is this? A tsunami?" Yesterday evening, I had observed the sea from afar and seen dark clouds pressing toward the heavens within the eastern mist, like monsters descending from thick clouds—exactly the phenomenon of 'condensed sea essence' described in the Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Arts. I wondered if this massive water wall appearing now was also a product of stagnant sea essence.

Uncle Ming clutched a life preserver and retreated toward the hatchway, retorting, "How could this be a tsunami, Hu-zi? Look closely. The Dragon King is coming up from the water—it's the Dragon drawing the water…" With that, he ordered Ruan Hei to engage the engines at full throttle, pushing the Trident to its maximum speed to evade the vortex generated by the pressure wave of the ascending dragon. Hearing Uncle Ming, I realized this was the dreaded "Water-Ascending Dragon," also known as "Dragon Rising from Water" or "Dragon Drawing Water," which made even the seasoned sea wolves turn pale.

I had only heard the name before, never witnessed its arrival, and never imagined it possessed such devastating power. I quickly instructed the others to get below deck to avoid being swept into the sea by the giant waves. The "Water-Ascending Dragon" is one of the most destructive forces at sea. In Feng Shui, the term "Dragon" refers to the continuous undulations of mountain ranges on land and under the seabed—it is a metaphor.

In Chinese history, "Dragon" also carries many specific connotations. The ancients believed the dragon, as the chief of scaled creatures, could summon clouds and rain to benefit all things, making it one of the four spiritual beasts. To this day, it remains impossible to definitively judge whether this creature truly exists in the world. Sea wolves who ply the vast oceans have their own attitude toward dragons.

They certainly believe in spirits like the Dragon King, but when discussing the "Dragon" specifically, it is mainly used to describe terrifying meteorological phenomena, such as the "Water-Ascending Dragon." The ancient depictions of wrathful dragons, tongues extended, riding dark clouds are very likely abstract representations of maritime disasters. The I Ching records, "Clouds follow the dragon," which can also be interpreted as "The dragon is the cloud." Clouds refer to natural factors like air pressure and airflow. Imbalance in air pressure generates wind. When air rises, it expands and cools, forming clouds.

Water dragons over large lakes and oceans are created by extremely low air pressure. The phenomenon of the "Water-Ascending Dragon," however, occurs when sea essence erupts from the seabed, interacting with low atmospheric pressure, appearing as a colossal water column rising like a dragon emerging from the depths. The Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui tradition posits that the "Southern Dragon," originating from Mount Emei, is the greatest terrestrial dragon vein, its power far surpassing the "Northern Dragon" and "Central Dragon" that stem from Kunlun. The Southern Dragon begins at Emei and flows eastward toward the Jiang region.

One of its offshoots enters the water near Mount Haiyan and extends northward under the sea, using Joseon and Wa as protective borders. Two other main offshoots wind southward, circling and coalescing beneath the ocean, their ultimate destination unknown. The vicinity of the Coral Spiral Sea is precisely where the Southern Dragon's sea essence surges, causing terrible phenomena like the "Water-Ascending Dragon" to occur frequently, even outside of typhoon seasons. When the water dragon surges from the deep, it shoots up from the surface like a volcanic eruption, sweeping up any sunken ships, ancient trees, and marine life caught in its vortex high into the air.

We looked around the ship at the horizon; the waves were mountainous and imposing, pressing down from the sky. Between heaven and sea, there was not just that single enormous wall of water, but dozens of "Water-Ascending Dragons" appearing simultaneously. Seawater was pouring back into the sky, and astonishingly, at the moment the colossal waves reached their zenith, the sea surface in the gaps between these towering walls was utterly still. The ascending sea essence flowed straight up and down, and the ocean surface didn't even have time to ripple violently.

In this frozen tableau displaying nature's magic and might, only the sea fish and sea mist that had been flung into the sky continued their descent back into the water. Immersed in this suffocating, titanic transformation of the world, the Trident was surrounded on all sides—front, back, left, and right, including the sky above—by water as clear and blue as crystal, leaving us completely disoriented as to our location.