Sweeping across the heavens, starting with the first emperor of the ancient times.

"Just bear with it, the incense offerings will be ready soon!" the snake leader comforted him, then darted away and disappeared through a large hole in the back wall of the river god temple.

Snake Brother Two and Fat Brother Three quickly followed.

The temple was even more dilapidated inside than outside, with the small stone dragon king statue blurred and covered in thick dust.

The offering table was empty except for a few fruit pits left over from who-knows-when.

A musty smell permeated the air.

"Pah, what a smell, so lifeless." Snake Two spat out its tongue in disgust.

"We should be grateful to have something to offer." The snake leader coiled up, closed his eyes, and said, "Don't underestimate this little bit of incense offering. Even the Dragon King started as a lowly demon."

The next day, the village chief brought some things and, as usual, came to worship at the Dragon King Temple.

"Hehe, when I become the Dragon King, I'll make them offer sacrifices three times a day," Snake Second Brother dreamed.

"Hehe, as long as there's food, that's fine!" the fat third brother said憨憨地.

The three snakes diligently absorbed the incense offerings.

"With the blessing of incense offerings, becoming a god is just around the corner!" The snake boss felt that the future was full of hope.

For three consecutive days, the worship continued, but to no avail.

Despair spread through the village.

"What river god, what dragon king? They don't care about our lives at all!"

"Let's just tear this dilapidated temple down!"

"Yes, smash this dilapidated temple!"

At noon on the fourth day, a group of hot-blooded young men, carrying hoes and sticks, rushed toward the River God Temple with red eyes.

The old village chief couldn't stop them, so he could only stomp his feet and sigh.

"Are they planning a rebellion?" Snake Boss peeked out cautiously!

"Big brother, I can handle three of them," Snake Brother Two quickly declared.

The fat third brother chuckled sheepishly, scratched his head, and said nothing.

"Oh well, I don't want to kill them. I still need them to make offerings. I'll have to outsmart them!" A glint of wisdom flashed in the eyes of the snake boss.

"How can we outsmart them?" Snake Two and Fat Three hurriedly looked at Snake One. The villagers were about to smash the temple, and they were very panicked.

Seeing that the villagers were about to smash the temple, the snake boss had a sudden inspiration: "This is an opportunity. That old river god doesn't care. If we show our power now..."

"A miracle?" The second snake, the longest of the three, widened its eyes. "That's all the magic we have; we can barely even perform a simple trick!"

"No need to actually transform!" The snake leader's eyes darted around. "They're both anxious and scared right now; any little noise will scare them. Third brother, isn't your stomach always growling? When I call your stomach later, just yell as loudly as you can, like thunder!"

The plan was rushed, but there was no other choice.

At that moment, villagers outside the temple began to approach: "The river god is ineffective, so tear down this mountain god temple too!"

"Now!" The snake leader suddenly blew a breath at the dusty, broken statue, causing a faint shimmering light and shadow, while simultaneously jabbing the fat third brother's stomach hard with his tail.

"Gurgle, buzz!"

The strange noise made the villagers stop in their tracks.

Taking advantage of the situation, the snake leader adjusted his voice, making it sound more ethereal: "You mortals, we are merely passing dragon gods, seeing your sincerity..."

Then it got stuck. After years of cultivation, it had only learned how to run away and steal offerings, but had never learned how immortals should speak.

Seeing that the villagers were about to take action, the snake leader blurted out, "Within three days, timely rain will surely fall!"

As soon as it uttered the words, it wanted to bite off its own tongue.

Three days? Where is it going to get rain from?

But the villagers were already excited, and several elderly people knelt down tremblingly, saying, "Thank you, Dragon God! Thank you, Dragon God!"

At that moment, a faint but pure power of will rose from the villagers and drifted into the dilapidated temple.

The three snakes greedily absorbed the nutrients, feeling a warm sensation all over their bodies, and the hunger and fatigue of the past few days were swept away.

"It works! You're so smart, boss!" The third fat dog wiggled its plump body with delight. It hadn't eaten anything this good in a long time.

"Don't be too happy yet," Snake Boss said with a worried look. "What do we do in three days?"

As night fell, the villagers dispersed, promising to bring more offerings to worship the next day.

The three snakes looked at each other in bewilderment inside the dilapidated temple.

"Should we... run?" the fat third brother whispered.

"Where are you going?" Snake Two flicked its tongue. "We agreed. If we don't do anything, these mortals will be even less religious. Where will we go to mooch offerings?"

After a long silence, the snake leader suddenly said, "Did you guys notice that the power of wishes we stole just now was different from what we stole before?"

It's definitely different now. The incense I stole before was murky and chaotic, mixed with greed and fear.

The wish I made just now was pure and clean; it was the most genuine expectation of a desperate person grasping at the last straw.

"But we lied to them," Snake Boss said in a low voice.

A moment of silence fell over the temple.

"Then...then should we really try to get some rain?" the fat third brother asked tentatively.

"You can control clouds and rain?" Snake Brother Two asked irritably.

"No..." The fat third brother shrank his neck, then his eyes suddenly lit up, "But we must have some strength, right?"

The eldest and second eldest snakes looked at it.

"We won't bring rain, but we can..." the fat third brother's voice trailed off, "...help them...fetch water?"

This is an absurd idea.

The eldest and second eldest snakes refused, feeling it was too shameful.

It's shameful for a great demon to be fetching water for ordinary people.

But in the dead of night, the three snake shadows still quietly slipped out of the mountain god temple.

They even went to check out the nearby mountain god temple and earth god shrine, only to find that the monsters in other places were living even worse lives.

Some were forced to help villagers dig wells, while others spent their days collecting cow dung for fertilizer; they all had a very difficult time.

"Third brother, do you know how to dig a well?"

"Won't!"

"Didn't you study that?"

"I've studied it, but I don't know how to do it!"

"..."

The three snakes slipped to the edge of the field.

"Are we really going to fetch water?" Snake Brother Two looked at the carrying pole and buckets. "We're demons who've cultivated for a hundred years..."

"Otherwise what?" the snake leader said irritably. "We've already made the promise, so transform!"

The three snakes transformed into a carrying pole and a bucket, climbed over the large rock, and began fetching water from the river. The bucket that the third fat snake transformed into was always too full, spilling water all the way.

"Third brother, swallow less water!" The carrying pole that the second snake had transformed into creaked under the weight.

"I couldn't control myself... Ouch!" The fat third brother tripped over a stone and spilled most of the water.

After a whole night of hard work, I only managed to water a third of the land.

What they didn't know was that they mistook weeds for crops and watered them extra diligently.

Early in the morning, the villagers were astonished to see the traces of water on the weeds. Where did the water come from?

"Could it be the Dragon King who did it?" a villager wondered.

"How is that possible? How could the Dragon King not be able to distinguish between weeds and crops?" someone retorted.

"This one too!"

The three snakes hid in the shadows, their faces flushed.

"How could we possibly tell the difference..." the fat third brother said, feeling wronged.

"Then what should we do?" Snake Brother Two asked.

The snake leader remained silent for a long time before suddenly saying, "Of course we have to do it. We made a promise. For demons who cultivate, a promise is more important than life itself. Since we've made it, we have to do it well."

The next day, they continued to fetch water, but just before dawn, they were spotted by a little girl who was out herding cattle early in the morning.

The little girl was so frightened that she was about to call for help when the eldest snake quickly swung its tail and transformed into a wooden bucket, while the second snake turned into a rope.

The fat third brother panicked and transformed into the second brother's appearance, leaving the second brother speechless. He quickly said, "Why did you transform into me?!"

The third brother gave an awkward smile, then quickly rolled over and turned into a mud ball.

When the villagers discovered it, the eldest and second eldest brothers took it away as if it were a discarded bucket and rope.

The third brother was treated like someone else's excrement, and was cursed with disgust.

This made the third fat brother feel very wronged; it wasn't poop at all!