The Game with Fairies

The massive amount of incense offering power that surged into her body carried an extremely hot aura.

All those desires and pleas transformed into the most fervent and scorching energy that came her way.

The Moon-Biting Dragon, lying at the bottom of the river, was dumbfounded.

She felt the increasing power of incense offerings within her and listened to those excited, pleading voices.

Although the chaotic and noisy voices were very distant, they still annoyed her to no end.

“…What madness has gotten into these mortals?”

So many voices suddenly flooding her ears made her feel like her head was about to explode.

With a thought, she seemed to return to that humble temple of the River God, standing on the table inside the temple, looking down at the group of people kneeling below.

She saw that the temple was filled with thick blue smoke, with many burning incense sticks placed in front of the shrine.

All of them whispered, none speaking loudly.

Yet so many soft prayers still made it frustratingly noisy.

Not only was the temple filled with people, but when she looked outside, she saw that the temple entrance was also crowded with people holding incense sticks, anxiously waiting to enter.

The dense crowd made her feel dizzy.

“Have these mortals truly gone mad?”

She hurriedly returned to her own body, away from the temple filled with kneeling people.

Recalling the spectacular scene she had just witnessed, she was filled with bewilderment.

She hadn’t done anything, yet these mortals were frantically knocking their heads on the ground, begging her for help.

It was all too strange.

And the requests in their prayers were so boring and odd.

Wishing for her mother-in-law to drop dead, for success in next year’s school exams, for the birth of a son… she didn’t have such powers.

The Moon-Biting Dragon swam through the water, shaking her head speechlessly.

In her view, the actions of these mad mortals were simply incomprehensible.

Maybe she should destroy that River God temple later to spare herself from the constant nagging of these mortals.

–Such a thought crossed her mind.

But then she remembered that the statue in the temple was enlightened by that person, and the power of incense offerings was also obtained with that person’s help.

This current situation… could it be what that person had hoped for?

Hoping that she would receive a lot of incense offering power?

Thinking of this, the Moon-Biting Dragon felt deflated.

Right, this incense offering power seems quite powerful. Can it be used for hunting?

At the cold river bottom, the pondering Moon-Biting Dragon suddenly tilted her head, and a ball of fire appeared out of nowhere beside her.

This crimson fireball burned fiercely in the water, yet it had no temperature, and the flowing water passed through the fireball as if it were a mere illusion, not affecting the surrounding river water at all.

But the moment she saw this fireball, the Moon-Biting Dragon was slightly startled.

She sensed an extremely dangerous aura.

This strange fire… is terrifying!

With a thought, the crimson fireball immediately flew out, heading straight for the water monkey swimming among the aquatic plants.

The agile water monkey in the water seemed to sense something and turned its head sharply… but it was too late.

The crimson fireball, dragging a long tail of flames, flew tens of zhang in an instant, directly hitting the water monkey hiding in the aquatic plants.

The green-haired water monkey let out a tragic scream as the crimson flames ignited on its body.

It struggled desperately, howling, but only lasted three breaths before it fell down stiffly.

At the same time, the flames went out.

When the Moon-Biting Dragon swam over, she saw the water monkey’s body floating up, limp and with a vacant stare in its eyes.

There was no sign of burns on its body, not even the green fur had changed.

But the burning crimson flames seemed to have incinerated something inside it, turning it into an empty shell.

The Moon-Biting Dragon bit into the water monkey and found that it was still breathing, not dead.

Yet it was completely motionless.

As she chewed and digested the body of the water monkey, the Moon-Biting Dragon’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Such powerful incense offering power!”

She only split off a wisp of incense and prayer power, yet she unleashed such a formidable fireball.

This was far more powerful than her toxins.

It wouldn’t cause any harm to the prey, but it could eliminate them.

“No wonder he helped me obtain the power of incense and prayer. This stuff is indeed very powerful.”

The Moon-Biting Dragon happily digested the body of the water monkey.

After discovering the strength of the incense and prayer power, she suddenly found those mortals less annoying.

Although the clamoring and demanding voices of the mortals were noisy and unpleasant, she tolerated them because the power of incense and prayer was so potent.

Tilting her head and lying at the bottom of the river, she listened for a while longer, and she seemed to get used to the voices of these mortals, which no longer sounded uncomfortable to her.

Those voices that seemed to be muttering from a far-off place weren’t piercing to the ear. They were just boring nonsense.

But amidst this nonsense, she suddenly noticed a plea that piqued her interest.

“…I pray to the River God to bestow divine powers and subdue the evil spirit in the bamboo forest outside our village.”

“That evil spirit often appears at dusk, abducting children from our village.”

“Our village has already lost five children, found with their bellies cut open, their hearts, livers, spleens, lungs, and kidneys all eaten…”

An elderly and sorrowful voice rose, inconspicuous among the multitude of mutterings.

But she heard this speech clearly and immediately focused her attention, looking over.

Indistinctly, she saw an old man with white hair and beard kneeling in front of the shrine at the River God’s temple.

Several younger mortals were kneeling beside the old man, also praying for the same thing.

An evil spirit that lurked outside their village, preying on children…

The eyes of the Moon-Biting Dragon suddenly lit up.

Evil spirits!

So there were evil spirits on the shore as well?

The small evil creatures that roamed the Yushui River had been almost entirely eradicated, leaving only the last three demon dens, which she felt were dangerous.

That person had also observed those three demon dens from a distance but only observed.

He thought it was very dangerous and that he would only eradicate them later.

But now, in the Yushui River, small evil creatures like the Gui Fish and water monkeys had almost all been eaten, and she had to swim for a long time to find prey.

She hadn’t expected that there were also evil spirits on the shore.

In the river, the Moon-Biting Dragon tilted her head and listened carefully.

As she concentrated, she vaguely saw through the praying mortals to the village behind them and the dense bamboo forest outside their village.

That bamboo forest was also within the territory of the Yushui River, less than three li from the riverbank.

An evil creature that only dared to attack children couldn’t be very strong.

The Moon-Biting Dragon immediately became happy, wiggling her body and swimming towards the bamboo forest she sensed.

It was just dusk now, and the sun was about to set.

She moved directly towards the bamboo forest where the evil creature was said to appear.

It was a good thing that there were also evil creatures on the shore!

And these mortals would provide her with the location and whereabouts of the evil creatures.

Suddenly, the mortals seemed more pleasing to her eyes.