I hastily turned back to look at the calm surface of the water. Only the swell of the tide was increasing, causing the two small boats to rise and fall with the surging waves, but there were no other unusual phenomena. I said to Gu Cai, "Didn't I tell you not to mention ghosts anymore? You never learn your lesson. High mountains must hide the strange, deep forests easily harbor spirits—don't talk nonsense in a place like this." Then I took the small mirror Irley Yang carried, secretly raised it to shine on Gu Cai, but the mirror was too small, and combined with the unsteady rocking of the two boats on the water, it was impossible to get a clear view of his reflection.

Duoling, worried about Gu Cai, asked, "Junior Brother, why do you keep mentioning ghosts?" Gu Cai said a few words in the local dialect of Coral Temple Island to his senior sister. Ming Shu, having been in the South Seas for a long time, understood quite a bit. He translated for us, revealing that Gu Cai was talking about the secret hold of the Hai Liu boat.

The Hai Liu boats were constructed primarily from hai liu wood. From ancient times until now, very few such vessels have existed; even Ming Shu had never seen one before. Hai liu is not wood, but its nature is intensely Yin, which is why the character "Liu" (Willow) is used. In antiquity, the willow was regarded as the "Chief of the Five Ghosts," believed that crushing its leaves into a juice and rubbing it on the eyelids allowed one to see ghosts at night. It is one of five trees considered profoundly Yin, alongside the pagoda tree.

In ancient burials, there was importance placed on having both a mound (feng) and a tree (shu). The mound refers to the earthen covering, and the tree referred to any of the Five Ghost Trees. Trees like the willow or pagoda were unsuitable for planting in the courtyards of Yang residences because they are definitively trees of the Yin dwelling. A common folk saying states, "In a household courtyard, do not plant the Five Ghosts," which conveys this very meaning.

Whether one was a Mojin Xiaowei or a Danmin, they knew a common principle: "A name is named for a reason." Even the most common names like Zhang San, Li Si, or Wang Er-mazi derived from birth order, surname, or characteristic. The appellation "Hai Liu" was certainly not arbitrary; besides its willow-like shape, it possessed the Yin-absorbing nature of the willow tree. Legend claims that those drowned at sea become sea ghosts, and these sea ghosts often congregate on the hai liu. They emerge onto the surface with the moonlight, and over many years, a mass of ghostly Qi condenses within the hai liu. Any living person who touches this Qi will immediately perish from the penetrating Yin cold.

Whether one believed it or not, an intangible, formless Yin energy existed within thousand-year hai liu, much like how some clam shells naturally yield perfectly formed Buddha statues. The Yin energy in hai liu often takes human form. Building a ship from hai liu allows it to cut through waves and venture deep into foreign, distant oceans. Even when encountering violent storms, as long as a part of the ship utilized thousand-year hai liu, it could often avert disaster, relying entirely on the sea ghost Yin energy within the hai liu. However, the sea has many taboos. A hai liu boat must have a secret compartment dedicated to appeasing the sea ghosts. A superstitious belief held that anyone who mentioned sea ghosts aboard a hai liu boat would meet a violent death.

The secret compartment dedicated to nurturing the sea ghosts often contained sea stone flowers (hai shi hua) and was secured with the skeletons of sea bandits. This was because when a hai liu boat sailed out, the surging Yin energy from the wood would cause crew members to die inexplicably and continuously; only the sea stone flower could absorb this ghostly Qi. Near the sea stone flower often lurked the "Sea Monk" (hai he shang), a creature half-fish and half-shrimp, an amphibious being that could survive out of water. When caught, it would kowtow and beg for mercy, making gurgling sounds that resembled the chant of "Amitabha." It usually licked the black fluid secreted after absorbing the Yin energy from the sea stone flower. Superstitious sailors believed that the black fluid was the resentment of the spirits within the hai liu. The "Sea Monk" was considered a Bodhisattva fish of the sea, possessing a "black sarira" within its head. They were thought to recite Buddha's name on the boat to liberate the souls of the dead, so any fisherman who caught a "Sea Monk" would immediately release it; no fisherman dared to eat this fish.

The skeletons of sea bandits were also an indispensable stabilizing item on a hai liu boat, capable of suppressing the lingering spirits within the wood. In the South Seas, such bizarre customs and strange beliefs were countless. Now, hai liu boats are nearly extinct in the world. Such unbelievable taboos cannot be wholly trusted, yet they cannot be entirely dismissed either. That team of English salvagers clearly disbelieved this evil influence, intending to capture a few "Sea Monks" for specimens. They ended up violating the taboo, were invaded by the Yin energy from the hai liu, and needlessly sacrificed their promising lives.

Ming Shu had heard whispers about these things and forgot them after failing to mention them, only knowing the general outline without ever having seen it firsthand. When Gu Cai related some of the stories Old Ruan Hei had told him, the rest of us learned a little. Gu Cai firmly believed it; he always thought his master, Old Ruan Hei, had attached his ghost to the hai liu in the bottom hold after he died. Though terrified at the time, now that they were away from the ship, he felt a lingering reluctance, constantly looking back, hoping to see if his master Ruan Hei was among the sea ghosts in the water.

At this point, Duoling and Gu Cai both started crying again. They lowered their wooden oars and raised their hands to wipe their tears. Their small boat immediately slowed down. I seized the opportunity to use the mirror again to examine Gu Cai's back. Just as I was trying to get a closer look, Irley Yang snatched the mirror from my hand. She whispered to me, "What game are you playing now? Why are you randomly shining a mirror at them when everything is fine?"

I told her about seeing the captain's ghost in the sunken ship. Irley Yang replied, "You were just blaming Gu Cai for bringing up ghosts and tempting fate, and now look at you—saying one thing and doing the opposite. You've managed to say both sides of the argument."

I said to Irley Yang, "Our future is bright, but the road is winding. Now that we are lost in the chaos of the Guixu, we must be cautious in every step on this winding path. Who can truly prove whether ghosts exist or not? If something unclean has clung to Gu Cai, you and I naturally cannot stand idly by. But if trouble arises later, it will be too late; the chance will have passed. I felt something was off with Gu Cai when he was underwater—didn't you get that feeling too?"

Irley Yang shook her head. "I see Duoling and Gu Cai as simple, honest kids. I didn't notice anything abnormal about Gu Cai aboard the Mary Celeste either. I know you're worried about the uncertain fate of our group at sea, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. In the captain's cabin, I saw a portrait of the captain himself—a full beard, holding a pipe in a hand wearing a gold watch. That cabin was very cramped. We brought a lot of diving illumination equipment; the light and shadow refracted and interwove underwater. Perhaps what you saw in the mirror was just a reflection of that portrait."

Hearing this, I was stunned. Did I really missee it? In the dark, oxygen-deprived, high-pressure complexity underwater, combined with the swaying of the diving lights, that was certainly possible. Perhaps the ghost image in the mirror was just a momentary illusion. But then I immediately thought about the many incomprehensible things that happened during our dive to retrieve the Qin King's Bone-Reflecting Mirror. Could all those incidents fall within the realm of normal events? Why did the shark repellent we carried simultaneously fail underwater? Why did those savage sharks chase us down like madmen? To let an enemy go is to invite a thousand future troubles. Now the salvage team has lost one member; if we want to bring the survivors back, how can we ignore these strange occurrences? Do not challenge the mountain, but never challenge the water. The sea has swallowed countless lives since antiquity, and the ghosts beneath the waves are certainly no fewer than those on land. Moreover, things at sea are too difficult to ascertain, far more complex than the deepest mountains and oldest forests. We Mojin Xiaowei often boast that we are extraordinary people who encounter extraordinary things, with experiences beyond the common person. But out on the sea, we are practically blindfolded, perhaps even less capable than Ming Shu—this is the meaning of being an outsider in a specialized field.

Irley Yang had intended to comfort me a few words, but after my outburst, she couldn't help but slightly furrow her delicate brows. She also harbored many doubts about the recent operation to retrieve the Green Head, though she currently had no leads. She paddled her wooden oar while staring blankly at the seawater, remaining silent.

Just then, Fatty spoke up to us, "You two really lack ambition, stop making things difficult for yourselves. I think the sea is like a hometown, just like the song says. We Danmin were born by the sea and grew up in it; the sea is like our mother, generous and selfless, allowing us to make a fortune this time. Once we've gathered our strength, when the tide is high, we can just swim out, why bother with all this other stuff? Besides, you two were busy whispering; that old thief Old Port Farmer hasn't been idle either."

Fatty gestured for me to watch Ming Shu’s movements. We drifted our lifeboat closer to the boat where Ming Shu and the other two were situated. We heard Ming Shu comforting Duoling and Gu Cai, claiming he wholeheartedly loved these two children and urging them not to go to France to find relatives. Instead, he invited them to become his apprentices, boasting, "Why is everyone calling me Uncle Ming? Because your Uncle Ming is light itself. Everyone in the South Seas knows: anyone who follows Uncle Ming will never fall into darkness..."

Fatty and I immediately whistled and jeered at Ming Shu, "Hurry up and rest, old man! We know what kind of bird you are! Aren't you just a bankrupt, amphibious speculator? When did you start considering yourself a saint? Your face is thicker than the corner of a city wall by three inches."

Even without Ruan Hei's dying wish, I could never stand by and watch Gu Cai and Duoling leap into Ming Shu’s blazing pit. After finding Duoling's biological father, she should be able to obtain a life truly her own; Gu Cai is only fifteen or sixteen, and his future should be much broader. He is not like Fatty and me at sixteen or seventeen; back then, we had no choice in our futures. There was a saying then: "Don't ask about virtue, intelligence, or physique, only ask about birth order. If you don't ask birth order, you must be asking about age fifty-plus." This meant the path for young people was to go to the mountains and countryside: among many siblings, the eldest stayed, the second went, the third stayed, the fourth went—so those sent to the countryside always asked about birth order. Furthermore, young people waiting for jobs in the city could take over their fathers' positions, provided the father was in his fifties. That's why our generation had no right to choose our own destiny before the age of thirty.

But Gu Cai not only had the choice to go to France with his senior sister, he could also be arranged by Irley Yang to study in America, or simply stay on Coral Temple Island to learn business acumen from Bai Wu. Why would he follow the thieving Ming Shu to learn those shady, life-risking trades where one keeps their head tied to their belt?

I clearly understood that Ming Shu only coveted Gu Cai's status as a Longhu (Dragon Clan member). Gu Cai's Touhai (Sea-Penetrating) formation tattoo was likely the last of its kind, unmatched by future generations. Although we exposed him now, Ming Shu dared not jeopardize the bigger picture by offending us and had to swallow his anger, staring resentfully at Gu Cai's back. He didn't know Gu Cai had been attacked by sharks underwater, still believing the Touhai tattoo formation was an untouchable secret of the ancient Danmin. He desperately wished he had this formation diagram on his own body so that diving for clams, battling dragon tendons, and retrieving dragon essence would bring him success in everything.

The lifeboat had been drifting for quite some time, and as we drew closer to the submerged ancient city, I temporarily stopped paying attention to Ming Shu. Irley Yang and the others focused their attention forward, still unsure what dangers awaited them in this well-preserved underwater relic. While rowing forward, I told Fatty to prepare self-defense weapons and illumination gear.

Just then, Ming Shu seemed to spot something on Gu Cai’s back. He pointed at the tattoo on the small boat and shouted to us, "He... the ancestors of the Longhu (Dragon Clan) among the Dan people, they probably all escaped from this sea eye. The pattern of the Touhai tattoo on this kid's back... has... has this mountain right ahead!"