“ Nguyên family, Nguyên family, Nguyên family “, Thư mumbled as she kept on walking, looking at the path signs.

“ I still can’t believe we’re doing this… “

Dương floated beside her with his usual concerned expression, they strolled through the town after gathering enough information about the Nguyên family. Thư felt a sense of dread and regrets but it was already too late to turn back.

Come on, you just have to push yourself out of your comfort zone sometimes, Thư. You can’t always hide from people. She took a deep breath before putting a hand on her chest, calming the fast heartbeats down.

Thư was escorted by a reserved servant along with a quiet Dương just settling himself on her shoulder.

“ Please wait here, Miss, Lady Ngọc will attend to you in just a moment. “, the servant bowed before she left the room, leaving Anh Thư alone.

The brunette hesitantly sat on the guest chair, fanning herself with two hands in effort to soothe her red cheeks. Of course Thư was still covered with a mask, thank god for that.

“ I apologize for keeping you waiting, Miss “, an elegant female voice startled Thư as she quickly stood up to bow. Dương held onto her clothes for dear life, her actions almost knocking him off her shoulder.

Lady Ngọc had a soft grin on her face before she nodded. “ You may sit down now “.

The two conversed and exchanged introductions about each other, Anh Thư occasionally would squeeze her palms tightly, Lady Ngọc emitted the aura of a true nobility. She watched her sitting posture and how her fingers delicately latched around the teacup.

“ The town people have tales of the water spirit, a vengeful creature with the desire to kill. Strangely enough, it only targets children from the age of five to ten. Some folks even said to see sightings of it, a bloated corpse of a child roaming in the dark river at night, they said. “, Lady Ngọc sighed.

“ Your payment will be settled after we retrieve our daughter’s body. “, her eyes darkened, the woman looked absolutely pitiful. Thư didn’t know whether she should comfort her or gently hold her hand but, wouldn’t it be rude?

“ My lady, I will try my best to get her back. “, was all she could say in response to the mother’s sorrow.

“ Well then, I’m counting on you “.

Before they left the Nguyên mansion, Anh Thư specifically asked for a water puppet. It was a strange request but Lady Ngọc figured she knew what she was doing.

Dương stared at the puppet, “ Why do you need this for? “.

Thư rubbed its painted eye with a smile, “ I don’t know but I feel like it’ll be useful “.

In this ancient world where light symbolizes the time of divinity and mortals. Once the sky’s canvas wiped itself away with black paints, it was time for all night creatures to lurk, entities risen from earthly soil. Thư and Dương sat on the bamboo deck, she had her feet crossed, the idea of dipping them on the pitch black water is unsettling even for a liquid elementalist.

They had to meet the spirit in person and seal it, Anh Thư couldn’t help but feel like there was more to the story. A vengeful spirit would have a story to tell, whether or not they are misunderstood, it is always important to at least hear their tale.

Dương, who had been sitting on her shoulder for a while, quickly floated up, fully on guard. She felt it too. The sudden fall in temperature, the frogs hopped away, and the fireflies dimmed it’s emerald light. Thư took a deep breath and her hand reached out to the river, on command, the fluid morphed itself into the shape of a child, she quietly drew air into the phantom, blowing life into her creation.

The once translucent, watery form of a child became fresh and meat. Dương turned around to give her a thumbs up, whispering a ‘Great job!’.

They both quickly hid behind a brush.

Her creation blinked in confusion, seeming to forget why it was there, it’s first instinct was to happily skip around the edge of the river. Anh Thư mumbled, “ It’s acting like a newborn right now. “

“ That’s because it is a newborn, you created it, meaning you technically gave birth to it “.

Thư looked at him, absolutely horrified. “ So, I’m watching my newborn innocently play around the river not knowing its death is near? “.

“ Well, if you put it that way… “, Dương scratched his head with a troubled expression.

Thư was just about to respond before she caught something in the corner of her eyes. Quickly, she whipped her head towards the source of her vision.

This vengeful spirit exceeds in camouflaging, only half of its face was shown on the surface, messy black hair joined in with the river’s stream, it looked absolutely hideous. The folks around here were indeed right, the thing was a bloated corpse of a girl.

“ Oh yeah the newborn is a boy right? “.

“ Yeah, why? “.

“ At least give it a name, I’ll name him An “.

An was still energetically splashing around til he felt a chill down his back. The boy stopped to look around, as if disturbed by something. Dương had his eyes on the boy while Thư fixed her gaze on the spirit, watching as she moved through the water like a crocodile on the hunt.

Something unexpected happened, the water spirit who has been lurking quietly in the river, quickly reveals herself in front of An! He screamed and jumped back in fear, the poor boy practically paralyzed in fear.

I mean his reaction was understandable, she said in her mind. The horrible stench clouded the air, it was suffocating, Dương and Thư quickly covered her mouth out of reflex. This shit is the worst! It fucking smells like rotten meat.

The spirit, no the girl, no the dead girl… stood on trembling legs. Her body was puffy as if someone filled her organs with water, she had green flaking skins, crumbled away from drenching herself in liquid for too long. What was once an opened mouth was replaced with a tongue, the thing panted heavily.

An helplessly crawled away, trembling from shock, his efforts into escaping was futile. He screamed in terror as a pair of hands grabbed his foot.

Dương was just about to decide whether they were actually going to watch An suffer before taking actions, or they jump in immediately. Thư snapped her fingers in command again, “ An, tie her up! “.

An, the once ever innocent human boy, turned itself into a rope. The spirit scrambled around in confusion before she was quickly tied up. A slight crack alerted her as she looked up to see a masked person emerging from the dark.

It was all tense and scary til the supposedly, masked stranger almost tripped over nothing. “ Saintess, you’re embarrassing us! “, a tiny merman flew out of the stranger’s hair.

“ I didn’t mean to trip on literal fucking air?! “, the masked woman exclaimed.

The bloated girl watched as the two bickered with only one question on her mind: Are these the people who're supposed to get rid of her? The girl twist and thrash her body, if it wasn’t for her tongue, she would have tried to bite the rope off. Anh Thư was just about to kneel beside the spirit before she was reminded of the disgusting stench.

“ Dương, can you do something about her appearance right now? “.

The merman squeezed his nose out of disgust before his eyes scanned her bloated body, he nodded, a small mist of purple cloud surrounded the spirit. As the cloud dispersed, so did the bad smell, and what remained was a healthy looking little girl. Thư and Dương exhaled in relief before Anh Thư looked back and smiled at her hostage. Well, maybe a better word than hostage.

Watching the strange, masked woman peered over her, she flinched.

“ Are you going to kill me?... “, her small voice questioned Anh Thư’s intentions. She turned her head to the side.

“ Do you think I’m going to kill you? “.