[{"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-336":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},2269982,4431,"Chapter 336","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-336",336,"\u003Cp>“You’re such a busy person, what brings you here?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a smile, Victoria placed a cup of coffee and freshly baked bear-shaped cookies in front of Li En.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course I wanted to—well, seeing you is part of my job.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d originally planned to joke around, but remembering the dark elf’s reputation for being “too casual” in such matters, Li En decided it was better to avoid any chance of friendship turning sour.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heh, what’s up? I’m pretty busy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re not the one who’s busy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En glanced at the shop’s transaction area—there were indeed many customers—but those brooms, cabinets, and other objects with hands, feet, and faces not only handled the register but even went out to solicit patrons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That bouncing, hopping “bunny girl” looked like a female cosplay doll—now waving a sign wildly, drawing the attention of passersby.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re awake?” After a moment’s thought, Li En still used that word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Previously, Victoria had been in a dissociative, schizophrenic state—surrounded by countless abnormalities that made others’ scalps tingle, yet she felt nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, though outwardly unchanged, she no longer ran the shop, leaving all work to her creations, and her speech and actions seemed clearer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mm.” The female elf touched her head; she had only fully awakened these past two days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More precisely, her soul ability had fully awakened, rendering her original self-protective cognitive barrier useless, allowing her to see the abnormalities around her clearly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En did not ask about her specific condition or probe her abilities—even as a friend, such life-or-death information was safer known by fewer people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Speak up, what’s it about? First, I’m weak, terrible at fighting, and broke.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En turned his head toward the shop’s commotion: two trash bins had risen up and were beating a group of adventurers to a pulp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hmm, not good at fighting? Fine, if you say so.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at Victoria’s weary face, Li En fell into thought—if Kuku’s heroic soul inheritance was underway, the eventual victor would most likely be this woman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Others who received the “inheritance” either used it to supplement their own abilities or mechanically employed the “multi-tasking” power, but she, with it as her core, had hatched a soul ability that seemed endlessly potent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The key has always been that elusive thing called “compatibility”—she was nearly the perfect inheritor of the heroic soul’s potential, and Victoria, who could produce life, was the true breaker of “common sense” among heroic soul inheritors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On this path, she walks alone; if she continues, she is destined to reach the world’s pinnacle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En was not in a hurry—he would patiently wait for these heroic soul candidates to grow—but now, he likely needed Victoria’s “knowledge.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Look at this holy symbol—it belongs to the next heroic soul. He can briefly reanimate. I plan to use this opportunity to establish a church.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En did not lie—he laid everything bare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though brief, the words amounted to a world-shaking conspiracy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Pfft!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She nearly spat her coffee straight onto Li En’s face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cough, cough, cough!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En quickly wiped her off, but she stared at him with terror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What an act of blasphemy—you’re planning to steal a deity’s power. No, you’re planning to steal the god’s very essence.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh, if you’re not interested, forget it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, I am! Very interested! Secrets of deities! Secrets of faith! Even the possibility of stealing divine magic to construct domains—how could I possibly refuse!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The female alchemist was even more excited than Li En—she leapt to her feet and seized his hand in return.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For researchers who pursued truth and knowledge, how could they possibly have no interest in the greatest “miracle”—a deity?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet any study of its essence easily angered deities; Li En’s plan—directly reviving a dead god and negotiating to borrow its corpse—was blasphemous, but after thinking it through, the danger seemed surprisingly low.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the deity refused, fine—but if it didn’t, a passive, non-rebellious “god corpse” was an opportunity no alchemist could ever refuse.\u003C\u002Fp>",660,"2026-06-19T21:45:42.084Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","b4b510e47820fa17db0d129ee171cbd2597cd4f4732496d34ca237af56016fc2","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-337","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-335",362,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-cover.jpg"]