ROOOOOOOAR—SPLASH!
A wall of warm blue ocean water three hundred feet high surged skyward as the colossal black shadow broke through the surface half a mile south of Floating Island #1.
At first, the ten thousand blacksmiths and farmers soaking in the outdoor pools thought an underwater volcano had erupted and pushed a whole new continent out of the sea.
Then the “continent” opened two golden eyes the size of millstones, snorted twin geysers of white steam out of its broad dragon-like nostrils, and snapped its hooked iron beak with a sound like thunder!
“A monster! It’s a giant sea monster!” “Look at the size of that shell—it’s five miles wide!”
In the Men’s Grand Pool, workers grabbed their white cotton towels and scrambled up the jade steps, though half of them refused to drop their bamboo mugs of Old Guo’s iced honey-melon juice even while running.
General Tie Zhan stood at the edge of the boardwalk in his wet cotton shorts, squinting up at the towering creature as water dripped from his shaved head.
“Wait a minute,” Tie Zhan muttered, scratching his chin. “That’s not a volcano. That’s a turtle! A really, really ugly turtle with dragon horns!”
