[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces":3,"chapter-the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-300":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Dragon of a Thousand Faces",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2269946,4431,"Chapter 300: The Age of the Gods","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-300",300,"\u003Cp>A torrential downpour suddenly arrived, dense clouds pressing over the tower, lightning and rain lashing the city weathered by storms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, for this city and its inhabitants, this might not be a bad thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Plop.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En closed the window, yet rain still seeped through the wooden frame.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to earlier rains, this one was entirely different; the endless black clouds obscured everything, and it seemed this rainy season would last a while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The maids at home were busy, wooden planks and buckets clattering as water leaked more severely from the top floor of the three-story house; Ophelia and Liya, the two mechanical maids, were exempt—until their metal bodies’ waterproofing was confirmed, it was safer not to risk them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The rainy season’s here, and not late this time—looks like the Lord of Storms is pleased with our offerings,” overheard from Martha, the head maid, and another servant, catching Li En’s attention; locals always gave him information he never expected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This… is connected to the gods?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The timing of the rainy season isn’t purely natural—it depends on whether the ocean’s monsoon reliably carries moisture-laden clouds to where they’re needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This summer has already been long enough; if it drags on further, the first planting and crops in the fields will suffer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To keep the sea and storm gods from causing trouble, offerings and sacrifices have been pushed to their limits everywhere—even so, they still cause trouble every few years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sometimes, it’s just to assert their existence. These ‘evil gods’ often expand their influence through fear and intimidation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you don’t want me to bring calamity, you must believe in me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If I don’t cause trouble, how will you know how important I am?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though it sounds absurd, throughout the histories of countless worlds, such ‘evil gods’ have existed—and often had many devoted followers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lord Li En, you come from the Desert Kingdom, where even storm gods can’t make rain succeed—it’s not their domain, so you wouldn’t know their ways. Every year, they send Storm Messengers to negotiate with royal houses; many nations pay heavily each year.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En was astonished—could churches really intimidate kingdoms? No payment, no rain?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Few are this direct. There’s competition among them—there’s more than one sea god, more than one storm god. If a nation’s offerings are insufficient, the rain comes late, and no god will adjust the timing or scope for you—accidentally, it becomes a disaster.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They claim it’s reasonable: the number of ‘divine representatives’ who can communicate with the gods and guide divine power to interfere in mortal affairs is limited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those big ones redirect weather—clouds, monsoons—exclusively for paying nations. After that, what happens to poor or small nations? That’s up to fate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s hard to call it luck—if you don’t offer for years, you’ll definitely face bad weather.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Li En understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is a world with gods—gods aren’t just embodiments of natural laws; they constantly and concretely interfere in all things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En found it absurd, but to the locals, it was perfectly natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The kingdom has long had no resources to offer the Storm Church; we scrape together offerings sporadically, hoping to avoid offending anyone by pure luck—perhaps because the kingdom has nothing left to give, these past few years have been barely tolerable.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This ‘luck’ isn’t natural climate—it’s what the climate becomes after these gods interfere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We prioritize the Sea God’s Church—if shipwrecks and sea monsters plague our harbor, our maritime trade is finished.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sea gods and storm gods often share overlapping domains; some deities hold both roles, while others are internally linked—only together can storm and ocean truly intimidate mortal nations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a small nation like Aithelin, if it truly lacks money or resources, it can only afford to offer one god—and then they won’t go too far, provided the nation openly permits worship; otherwise, they’ll target you relentlessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Superpowers, by contrast, don't bother to 'offer' at all—they only call on them when necessary, charging a one-time fee for the service.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, such ‘mortal interference’ has a precondition: no meddling in mortal politics, especially wars. Yet historically, there are far too many traces of interference.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not to mention the distant past—if this blinding downpour had come earlier and coincided with the cultists’ attack, no one could say what would have happened; Huicheng’s losses would have been far greater.\u003C\u002Fp>",721,"2026-06-19T21:45:42.084Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","caa386e7c1744af569d7d01f49b7304f560048482dc02cde90fd369de063abb5","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-301","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-299",362,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-cover.jpg"]