[{"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-323":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},2269969,4431,"Chapter 323: Living Equipment","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-323",323,"\u003Cp>How can I satisfy you?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the dream, Li En refused to play guessing games with the spirit and asked directly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Singing, and performance.” Along with the vibrating strings came a melody like lyrical verse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The answer was honest enough, but to Li En, it was hardly friendly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But earlier, when I performed in the square, why did you deduct 1% satisfaction?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En had already thought of this answer himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He fully committed—he put on makeup, grabbed a lute, and hit the streets to sing for coins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after singing only two songs, he stopped; satisfaction and synchronization kept dropping, even falling below the dream mode’s baseline requirement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, was that performance? I thought you were performing a shamanic ritual.” Even the perpetually aloof Fiestrion couldn’t suppress a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who performs a shamanic ritual at the entrance to the square!” Li En had deliberately chosen the busiest spot to perform—he wasn’t afraid of humiliation, especially with professional-grade disguise assistance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then you were directing traffic. Huh. Efficient.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En froze, then bristled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After you started singing, the flow on that road at least doubled. Not just pedestrians sprinting away—even carriages dared not stop.” The bard shook his head; such a tone-deaf fool becoming his heir was nothing short of tragic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lies don’t hurt; truth is the sharp blade. The first half was slightly off—lies can hurt too, but truth inflicts real wounds. The scene from earlier that day had cut Li En deeply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Recalling how, after he opened his mouth, vehicles and pedestrians had fled in panic—even oxen broke into a trot and stray dogs didn’t pause—he felt a pang of sorrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he hadn’t run off quickly, the constables would’ve caught him, and Talia\u002FSaliman would’ve had to come fetch him again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sighed, half-speaking, while the spirit opposite silently played the lute, ignoring him completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I can’t learn it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hopeless.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both confirmed: the other was not the right person. Even if forced to teach, nothing could be learned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Art is creative—it expresses the self and evokes emotional resonance. Li En might be a fine user, but he was no pioneer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He instinctively pursued “answers,” even if he couldn’t or didn’t believe it was the only one, striving always for the optimal solution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if countless creative paths before him were all valid, with no essential superiority, each capable of forging a future—he would naturally become lost, utterly unable to decide based on data.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just go with instinct already. Stop wasting words.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To Fiestrion, Li En was a “common mortal,” utterly beyond redemption.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For such common things, Fiestrion usually ignored them entirely. And if it were another version of himself, merely witnessing this filled him with shame.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a scientist seeing his childhood self believing in all sorts of folk-science nonsense like “water into oil”—just witnessing it made him deeply uncomfortable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, that was himself—undeniable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do one good deed a day. Save an innocent life, and I’ll grant you the baseline satisfaction reward according to the mechanism.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since emotional connection was impossible, let’s talk trade. Since he couldn’t truly inherit all the spirit’s arts, at least spread a little of the philosophy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fiestrion seemed easygoing, but that was precisely the barrier—like a homeroom teacher giving you a passing grade as long as you didn’t cause trouble or misbehave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he himself said, to truly satisfy him, Li En would need to create a new work he liked—whether painting, drama, or music, Fiestrion didn’t care. But since all were Li Ensu, plagiarism was useless; Li En had nothing new to offer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As for my legacy—I suggest you learn how to broadcast.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What does that mean? Play recordings?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En thought for a moment, nodded, and accepted. What if he couldn’t learn it? He’d copy the shape—imitate as much as he could.\u003C\u002Fp>",630,"2026-06-19T21:45:42.084Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","fd893fa5cafadab31ecf980a45a16a044d342ebc2228406aa4c95189ae4658e5","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-324","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-322",362,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-cover.jpg"]