The clouds in the night sky were completely driven to the edge of the horizon. The stars were incomparably bright. The river water had risen from the earth and transformed into a mist dozens of li long that surrounded the Mausoleum of Books like a belt, with green lotus branches and pink lotus blossoms drifting in and out, a most beautiful sight.
Compared to this mystical beauty that seemed not part of this human world, the true human world was in incredible misery. The buildings in the southern part of the capital had either collapsed or been toppled over by the surging water. An uncountable number of people had died. Cries for help and sobs of pain rose and fell in turn. Although they were rendered indistinct by the distance, it still made those in the distance shudder in fear.
