Zhu Haowen held the slightly warm music box tightly in both hands, gently closing the lid and trapping the deafening roar of the waves inside.
At that moment, amidst the ripples carved on the lid, a winged dragon appeared—a Yinglong capable of drawing lines on the ground with its tail. Its long body remained in a dancing posture, its enormous wings tracing arcs in the ripples, like a divine miracle.
Its mission in this world was likely to protect the sea, preventing it from being ravaged by the raging fires of the sky.
Therefore, when the box was fully opened to it, it seemed to hear a call of destiny, and then selflessly surrendered itself to this small box. It carried the howling sea breeze, the gentle dragon aura, and the lingering flames on its wings from extinguishing the heavenly fire.
The Yinglong willingly transformed itself into a pattern on the lid.
Qin Ci gazed at the patterns of the "Eight Sea Monsters" slowly gathering on the lid and around the box: starting with the Suanni, then the Divine Clam, followed by the Strange Fish, the Spirit Turtle, the Divine Elephant, the Pegasus, and just now, the incredible Yinglong was added.
"I never expected there would be a dragon among the Eight Sea Monsters," Zhu Haowen thought, planning to research the Eight Sea Monsters when he got back.
Qin Ci remarked, "These Eight Sea Monsters are more than just patterns; to me, they're like life totems, protecting this sea with their lives and souls."
Seven of the Eight Sea Monsters had been gathered, but the last one was nowhere to be found.
The flames in the sky grew lower and lower, the distance between the fire and the sea only about seven or eight stories high.
The seawater began to heat up, and some fish and shrimp, unable to withstand the temperature, fled in all directions as if facing the end of the world, as if the seawater was about to boil, ultimately cooking them all up to become a feast offered to the Fire God.
"Time is running out. The only NPC we've encountered here is the Sea Monk, but his fate is currently unknown." Qin Ci had completely submerged in the sea, and the surface temperature was becoming unbearable; his scalp even felt like it was being roasted.
Zhu Haowen couldn't stand the overwhelming sense of impending doom either. He fully immersed himself in the water and swam towards deeper waters. He then exhaled a bubble towards Qin Ci: "Some of these sea monsters we encountered were by chance, some were found with guidance from the Dragon Girl, and some were found after being reminded by other sea monsters… We only have one hour left now, we can't just wait."
Qin Ci also exhaled a bubble: "How about we go look for the Dragon Girl again?"
"After the Dragon Girl gave us the dragon tendon, she limped into the depths of the pine forest," Zhu Haowen thought for a moment, then exhaled another small bubble, "Shall we try our luck at the big pine tree again?"
Qin Ci nodded, and the two of them swam quickly towards the big pine tree.
After swimming underwater for a while, the two surfaced and continued swimming forward. Soon they saw the familiar pine forest. The enormous ancient pine still stood upright, its dark green branches reaching for the sky, making it easily visible.
The fiery clouds spewing heat from the sky pressed lower and lower, and soon some flames touched the top of the great pine tree—its height almost connected the fire and the sea.
The top of the great pine tree burst into flames. Qin Ci was anxious: "What do we do? This great pine tree has become a fuse; it will soon bring the fire down!"
Zhu Haowen felt the water on the surface getting hotter and hotter, and at this moment, he could only sink into the sea again. When he saw what was happening underwater, he quickly grabbed Qin Ci's ankle and pulled him down.
This giant pine tree was truly towering, with part of its trunk submerged underwater. Qin Ci exclaimed in surprise, "How strange! When we met the Dragon Girl, she was clearly sitting under the pine tree mending clothes. At that time, the land beneath the pine tree was above the water. How could she have sunk to the bottom now?"
Zhu Haowen had several guesses in mind, but none seemed plausible, so he kept quiet.
The two swam around the pine tree, and on the other side, there was an old woman sitting under it in the water, as if she were on land—it was so sudden that neither of them was surprised.
Even underwater, they could still see clearly that this old woman was the Dragon Girl who had given them the dragon tendons earlier. The
Dragon Girl wasn't mending clothes now, but sitting under the pine tree in a daze, occasionally looking up at the burning pine tree against the brightly lit world of flames on the water's surface, her expression sorrowful.
Zhu Haowen and Qin Ci slowly swam over, neither of them uttering a sound.
Instead, the Dragon Girl stared blankly at the two of them, slowly exhaling a bubble: "If I had mended my son's clothes sooner, he wouldn't have been burned to death by that heavenly fire."
"Your son..." Qin Ci watched as Zhu Haowen popped the Dragon Girl's bubble, but he could still hear her voice.
"Have you seen that winged fire dragon? That was my son extinguishing the heavenly fire." The Dragon Girl's gray eyes were devoid of any light. "But now, my son died in the sea of fire, and he won't come back."
Zhu Haowen thought for a moment, then showed the box to the Dragon Girl.
The Dragon Girl gazed at the dragon totem on the box lid, her eyes gradually brightening, and even glistening tears fell, the teardrops slowly merging into the water like bubbles.
"You've almost collected all eight sea monsters," the Dragon Girl said, raising her head and spitting out a bubble. "Now we only need one more."
Qin Ci continued, "That's why we've come to beg you again, hoping you can give us some guidance. If we can collect all eight sea monsters sooner, this fire will subside sooner."
The Dragon Girl looked up at the giant pine tree engulfed in flames and chuckled, "Perhaps this is fate."
The pine tree, burned by the heavenly fire, had become a gigantic fiery tree. Something dripped continuously from it, and even when it fell into the water, it didn't melt but sank with considerable weight.
Zhu Haowen reached out and caught a drop, feeling it was like thick honey. He rubbed it between his fingers, thinking it must be pine resin.
Some of the dripping resin were large, others small; the large drops were almost the size of a human palm, while the small ones were only the size of raindrops.
Qin Ci suddenly exhaled a bubble anxiously, "Where's the Dragon Girl? Where did she go?!"
In just a moment, the Dragon Girl had vanished.
The giant pine trunk in the water seemed like an illusion, while the burning trees above the surface were even more so.
Zhu Haowen seemed to suddenly discover something, ignoring the bubble Qin Ci spat out, and plunged straight into the depths of the sea.
Qin Ci followed closely behind, the two of them like two arrows shot into the water.
A moment later, Zhu Haowen stopped his descent, as if he had caught something in his hand.
Qin Ci, not having time to spit out a bubble, stared at Zhu Haowen, his eyes questioning his purpose.
Zhu Haowen, with an incredulous expression, opened his palm, showing Qin Ci what was in it.
Qin Ci looked and saw a piece of pine resin in Zhu Haowen's palm, still puzzled.
Zhu Haowen spat out a bubble: "Look closely, what's in here?"
Qin Ci picked up the pine resin and, using the firelight on the water's surface for illumination, saw that it had a diluted Pu'er tea-like color and felt very hard. He wondered how it had solidified so quickly.
At the center of the resin, something seemed faintly visible. Qin Ci examined it closely and realized it was a person—a young woman in ancient attire, with a high, fairy-like bun and flowing, colorful robes.
"This is…" Qin Ci managed to exhale a small bubble, too bewildered to describe the incredible sight.
Zhu Haowen's bubble: "This is the Dragon Girl, the Dragon Girl in her youth."
Qin Ci observed carefully and finally saw a pair of dragon horns atop the fairy's high bun.
Could it be that a drop of pine resin had fallen into the water and enveloped the Dragon Girl, transforming her into amber?
Why would the Dragon Girl turn herself into amber?
Zhu Haowen's gaze was complex as he slowly placed the amber inlaid with the dragon girl into the box.
Soon, the box emitted a deep blue light.
Beside the dancing dragon totem on the lid, the dragon girl sat in her youthful form, mending clothes.
Unexpectedly, the last item among the eight sea monsters was the dragon girl.
"A pine resin takes a thousand years to solidify into amber," Qin Ci exclaimed after a long pause, spitting out a bubble. "Could it be that we just rushed into the water and crossed a thousand years?"
The firelight on the water's surface had vanished without a trace.
The two slowly swam upwards. The fish and shrimp that had been fleeing in panic just minutes before had now regained their usual ease and tranquility.
The sea was now a long-lost peace and coolness.
"The waves are calm, the fish swim! The sky and water merge into one vast expanse of blue!" Qin Ci could hardly believe his eyes. The fire in the sky seemed to have never existed; it seemed that this peace had lasted for hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of years.
Zhu Haowen: "I've got them all mixed up..."
Qin Ci: "..."
Once the Eight Sea Monsters are all gathered, they really can suppress the heavenly fire and protect the sea.
It turns out this isn't just an empty legend.
Zhu Haowen held the strange music box in his hands; each totem on it was worthy of careful appreciation.
Unfortunately, the two of them didn't have much time or inclination to appreciate them.
Zhu Haowen opened the music box, and the sound of towering waves rang out again, accompanied by a small fragment lying quietly at the bottom of the box.
Qin Ci picked up the fragment; on the broken wood, a wave of the sea was deeply engraved.
...