The clouds were awash with colors; Li Xizhi's rosy radiance moved through them as a fish in water. He flew on in silence for several days, while the two behind wracked their brains, seeking something to say to distract him.
Just then, several feathered beasts descended from high above. They turned out to be striking, gorgeously colored fish with wings sprouting from beneath their ribs, round heads and flat snouts, their orange-feathered wings beating nimbly in the air.
"Rare indeed! To encounter cloud-skate rays."
The few cloud-skate rays hesitated momentarily at Li Xizhi's rainbow light, then quickly vanished into the clouds. Li Xizhi glanced after them and replied:
"When the waters are great, the cloud-skate appears. It must be the rain clouds of some noble Clan Elder that cause these spiritual beasts to fly so low as to cross our path."
