[{"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-353":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},2269999,4431,"Chapter 353","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-353",353,"\u003Cp>“This oil painting is quite nice, this bow is good too, and so is this wooden music stand.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spirit Emma was having a great time; the changes of the age brought too many new things, and she was precisely the kind who loved change.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Sky Queen, using the alias Mary, had earned a good deal of money—but she spent it all clean within a short time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spirit, utterly unconcerned with money, had only a brief time in the present world, and spent without restraint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the temporarily rented house, too many odd and cluttered collectibles had piled up; most were worth little, yet all were new inventions from the past few centuries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>New artistic painting styles, improved woodworking for aiming aids, new musical instrument designs—these things seemed ordinary to outsiders, but to Emma, they radiated fresh wonder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even decade-old popular picture frames, small toys, and short tunes were fresh curios worth collecting to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And if her little hobby was merely spending money, then her next hobby was one that could bankrupt even those with modest means.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aww, so warm, sticky, and wonderful! Bought it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After buying this mutated fur-ball creature from a roadside alchemist, Emma acquired her twenty-seventh strange pet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this era, collecting inanimate objects wasn’t expensive at all—collecting living things was truly costly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cost of housing, feed, and toys for her new pet had already accumulated into a substantial sum.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh, eaten it all again? This isn’t the wilds—hunting’s such a hassle.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her pets included a primitive war elephant capable of serving as a war machine, a six-ton carnivorous sub-dragon, and a colony of mutated gorillas—the pile of meat and vegetables in the room barely lasted them one day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Food was extremely precious in this era.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To lavish so many “pets” with such luxury likely exceeded even noble limits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This won’t do. I’ll take a short job.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her time was limited, so she could only accept short-term missions, considering her required income and strength level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Any tasks involving dragons, demons, or great beasts? Preferably a one-time hunting job.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet for the most deadly short-term high-difficulty tasks, she actively sought them out at the Adventurer’s Guild.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was naturally good for the guild—too many lethal tasks were waiting for someone to take them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Recently, there had been an extremely dangerous dragon-hunting contract—and naturally, Li En’s contract fell into her hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was fate’s karmic cause, and an inevitability.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After setting a time, she went to meet the client.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh, this house doesn’t look like the kind someone with this kind of money would live in.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had no discriminatory thoughts—she was merely curious, staring at this “commoner district” small house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why would someone who could afford the “Dragon-Slaying” bounty live in such a modest house?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Observation and analysis of surroundings were instinctive for people like them; any inconsistency could be a sign of danger—in a sense, this was an overly realistic paranoid delusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Trap? Cultists?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing outside the small house, her long ears twitched unconsciously, gathering information from the surroundings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next moment, she understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A Holy Knight? This scent—Pure Oath Holy Knight? No wonder.” Emma, sensing the odors of “Radiance” and “Oath,” filled in the blanks in her mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She scratched her head, finding an explanation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the person living here was one of those self-torturing types, it probably wasn’t a trap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If it’s a Holy Knight, then it’s a dragon-slaying mission? That might be a bit easier.” True veteran adventurers often worried less about the task itself than about their teammates and employers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As an opponent, a rigid Holy Knight was troublesome—but as a teammate… well, still troublesome, but at least you didn’t have to fear a knife in the back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hey, anyone home? I’m here for the mission.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Emma had already heard the sound of sword practice inside, smelled the scent of Radiance, and faintly sensed the waves of “Exorcism Slash.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pretending ignorance, she still estimated the possible reward—Holy Knights were trustworthy, but usually had little money, and extreme ones often caused disputes over loot distribution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She walked in slowly, then saw the bare-chested figure earnestly swinging a sword.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Familiar. Just a quick glance.\u003C\u002Fp>",693,"2026-06-19T21:45:42.084Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","250514788ffacc73b4ec5f0827b52ca7cfc364bcb61396611e95b429ccac9bb8","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-354","the-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-chapter-352",362,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dragon-of-a-thousand-faces-cover.jpg"]