A scholar, while boating on the sea, witnessed a towering mountain rise from the water in the dead of night.

A youth, dressed in the robes and cap of a scholar, strode across the waves toward him, introducing himself as "My surname is Yu, and my given name is Ziyou." The scholar invited him for a drink, which the youth readily accepted.

They conversed, and the youth’s discourse was refined and elegant.

The two shared cup after cup, and time slipped away unnoticed.

The youth rose to depart.

The scholar asked, "Brother Yu, from what region do you hail, and where are you bound on this dark night?" The youth replied, "I am not a local resident.

The Qingming Festival is fast approaching, and I am accompanying the Great King on an excursion to tend to the ancestral tombs.

My family has already set off ahead; the King has temporarily paused here to rest and is set to depart tomorrow at the Chen hour.

I must return to prepare the luggage." The scholar had no idea who this "Great King" was.

He escorted the youth to the prow of the boat, whereupon the youth sprang into the water and swam away.

The scholar suddenly understood: the youth was not human but a Yao—a fish demon.

The next day, the mountain peak that had surfaced on the sea bobbed slightly and then swiftly sank beneath the waves.

After a moment of contemplation, the scholar finally grasped the truth: the mountain was the Great Fish itself, the so-called King.

………… ………… ………… In the early years of the Kangxi reign, on the coast of Lai Prefecture, the tide cast ashore a colossal fish, trapped fast upon the sandbar, unable to free itself.

It lay there, moaning ceaselessly, and died of dehydration.

The nearby villagers, hearing the news, flocked to the shore with baskets and carrying poles to hack away the flesh.

The dead fish spanned nearly an acre; its fins and tail were intact, yet it completely lacked its eyes.

The sockets were hollow, deep as ancient wells, filled to the brim with seawater.

Some villagers, when cutting the meat, accidentally stumbled into these eye sockets and were instantly drowned by the sea within.

One person remarked, "The Dragon Clan of the sea exiled this great fish after first gouging out its eyes, for the fish's eyeballs are exceedingly precious, surpassing even the radiance of a Night-Luminous Pearl."