[{"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-344":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},2269990,4431,"Chapter 344: Breaking Through the Shallow Layer","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-344",344,"\u003Cp>Time never halts for any single individual.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eras advance quietly while most people are busy with their daily lives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Boom!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The suddenly shattered wall sparked a wave of cheers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the tail end of the Harvest Festival celebrations, cheers echoed across the square.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s open, it’s open! It’s unlocked!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid shrieks, the Great Mirror Demon’s focus turned to a group of front-line explorers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had seemingly finally traversed the dark underground ruins and entered a new realm that felt oddly familiar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There’s light—smash through this wall!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the incredulous eyes of all, the wall shattered right before them. The broken wall meant most prior assumptions were wrong—the underground ruins were not merely a labyrinth, but\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What is this?! How is there another world?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the near-infinite maze of underground ruins was breached, what emerged was an endless “Underdark.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or rather, a network of subterranean caverns resembling the Underdark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a different kind of labyrinth—even if one could see more glowing fungal “suns” in the “sky,” countless rock walls still divided the space into layers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This sight made Li En Sudar feel a sense of familiarity; in every way, it reminded him of the Underdark he had previously explored.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had the underground ruins been fully excavated?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En Sudar shook his head. The Snake had spouted many half-truths and lies; now it seemed they were all spoilers. The terrain below was likely complex, with not only wastelands but also volcanoes and snow-capped mountains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En Sudar vaguely sensed some limitations in the Snake’s nature—or perhaps it was just his cruel sense of humor. His words were mostly half-truths, and he always wrapped crucial information in jokes. If you didn’t believe him, it seemed to have no effect—but when something actually happened, his words became a guide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The volcanoes and snow-capped mountains are probably only half-true—the volcanoes might exist, but snow-capped mountains are unlikely. Yet even this mix of truth and falsehood hints that the depths are layered.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was likely just the first layer breached—the shallow zone filled with architectural labyrinths.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And now, with layers upon layers and everywhere glowing with a soft light, they seemed to have entered the familiar Underdark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is this the standard of a continental superpower, the Sindac Empire?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En Sudar watched the golden-armored warriors on the live feed, wary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leading them was a lightly armored swordsman—Li En Sudar had seen him in the Heroine’s legacy—but it was the seven warriors behind him, each stronger than a Grand Warrior, that truly unsettled him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While the entire city reveled in autumn harvest and joy, undergoing brief yet fulfilling adjustments, these outsiders would not pause for “another nation’s victory.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Sindac Empire’s Hero, accompanied by his guards, quietly advanced through the underground ruins—and today, for the first time, broadcasted it live, utterly stunning the crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their uniform golden armor, the eagle-emblazoned imperial crest, and the duke’s son—who looked like a prince stepped straight from a fairy tale—immediately drew every eye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Bazak Simo.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the Heroine’s legacy, he was never the most striking figure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His appearance, strength, and lineage were all unremarkable; he never stood out in the Heroine’s legacy’s internal struggles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he appeared to be the first to arrive—and he’d just pulled off a massive move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li En Sudar watched the excited crowd around him; many were shouting the empire’s and the Hero’s names. He suspected many were planted, but their goal had already been achieved—soon, everyone in Huicheng, even the entire kingdom, would remember this team, and the lone “face-revealing Hero” without a helmet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They actually pulled it off.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many informed individuals had their own exploration plans. Based on Li En Sudar’s estimate, breaking through the shallow layer was merely a matter of time—previously, the failure stemmed from insufficient attention and everyone dragging their feet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Breaking through the shallow layer, changing scenery and terrain, fundamentally changes nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>",642,"2026-06-19T21:45:42.084Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","6782e71d01c38d0cd81063fa8037cc6d1cf0713f0dc2fb43506af11934fd6dcb","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-345","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-343",362,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-cover.jpg"]