[{"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-317":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},2269963,4431,"Chapter 317","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-317",317,"\u003Cp>How much time has passed? It doesn’t matter anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is this rain? It feels slightly damp. The pain seems gone—can I still sense this dampness? More rain, please.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wait, I open my mouth to drink some. Oh, my mouth is sewn shut. Never mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Night or day? It’s even less meaningful now. I can’t see anything. I can’t hear anything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Did pain return for a moment? No—it must be a curse placed upon me. The great sinner is already hanging on the city wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uncomfortable? Painful? Helpless? No, perhaps only emptiness remains.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Li En” is hung upside down. All he perceives is void. His body has long lost all sensation; his eyes, nose, throat, and ears are destroyed—he senses nothing at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thud!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thud thud!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No, there is still one thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My heartbeat still continues. I am not finished yet.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Li En” listens to his own heartbeat, feeling time slip away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“One beat, two beats… drip… drip-dada-daa.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The heartbeat became the only thing he could still perceive, after losing everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vitality continues to drain. Even though Fiestrion’s condition is unusual, if left hanging on the wall to dry, death will still come eventually.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He counts his own heartbeat, waiting for that moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at some point, he began to play again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, his heartbeat remained steady, jumping like a rhythmic drumbeat—actually, it was his consciousness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at some point, that consciousness merged with his heartbeat, and the heartbeat took on a joyful rhythm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Papapapapa.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the joyful rhythm of his heartbeat, his body trembled slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more vital energy drained away, the weaker his life became—the louder the heartbeat grew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, at some unknown moment, his body began to “accompany” it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gradually, he regained pain and touch, and realized he could still sing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you want to hear my song?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aaaaaaah!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En awoke from the dream and instinctively screamed. Only someone who has endured such utter loss of self—unable to express, unable to perceive—can know the agony that easily drives one mad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sat on the bed, dazed for a long time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s fine. I’m fine.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the door opened and Saliman, Lana, and the maids rushed in, Li En quickly soothed them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just a nightmare. Just a nightmare.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was still midnight. This was Li En’s first Hero Soul dream without a visible endpoint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps, because what came after was too early for Li En right now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Outside the window, darkness still reigned. After spending some time sending away those who cared for him, Li En lay back on the bed and recalled what he had seen in the dream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I can’t see through it. I can’t see through it. Is he really Li Ensu?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Returning from the dream, Li En himself felt slightly dizzy, his throat sore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was like singing all night without drinking a drop of water—not just a feeling, Li En had actually sung all night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, the exchange between them was relatively calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Li En spoke, the other immediately agreed, and Li En relaxed.\u003C\u002Fp>",504,"2026-06-19T21:45:42.084Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","15a273e8410eecd0babe8d760b7d2f284b790fddaef02ed0fbab29e01b6a3f37","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-318","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-316",362,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-cover.jpg"]