My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

"I have extremely urgent confidential business to attend to at the Lizheng Hall to see the Empress Dowager! Anyone who dares to stop me and delays matters of state will have their entire family executed!"

Upon hearing this name and seeing the genuine Qin King's gold medal, the gatekeeper was terrified.

Now, everyone in Chang'an knows that this Prince Qin is the guardian immortal who summoned the heavenly lightning! He's a living ancestor whom even His Majesty the Emperor has to worship. They wouldn't dare to stop him even if they had ten times the courage!

What's more, the person running up behind, panting and whose face was too far to see clearly, was still shouting and yelling, looking like a madman.

"Your Highness, you deserve to die!"

The captain quickly waved his hand, and the imperial guards immediately put away their halberds, clearing a wide road for them.

Li Chen sneered, carrying the little ox, and swaggered into the Vermilion Bird Gate, heading straight for the inner palace.

It had been less than half an incense stick's time since Li Chen went inside.

Li Shimin finally arrived at the Zhuque Gate, panting heavily and staggering. His hair was disheveled, and the hem of his blue robe was covered in mud, making him look utterly wretched.

"Stop him...stop him...stop that rebellious son for me..."

Li Shimin leaned against the red wall of the palace gate, panting heavily, and pointed inside, shouting intermittently.

The gatekeeper was furious when he saw this undignified "madman" daring to shout in front of the palace gates.

"You audacious madman! This is the imperial city, how dare you cause such a ruckus here! Guards, seize him!"

Several imperial guards immediately pounced on them like wolves.

"Insolence! Open your dog eyes and see who I am!"

Li Shimin was so angry that his lungs felt like they were about to explode. He suddenly raised his head and let out a thunderous roar.

When the captain and the imperial guards saw that majestic face, twisted with rage yet all too familiar, they were all stunned, frozen in place as if struck by lightning.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty?!"

The captain's legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground, terrified out of his wits.

"Your Majesty, I deserve to die! I didn't recognize Your Majesty in disguise..."

"Get out of here!"

He no longer even had the heart to punish them. His mind was now filled with only one thought: he had to shut that rebellious son up before he could utter a word!

……

Lizheng Hall.

Empress Zhangsun, the mother of the Tang Dynasty, sat on a soft couch covered with bright yellow brocade, quietly reading a Buddhist scripture. The hall was warmed by the burning of fine silver charcoal.

"Giggle, giggle! Mother! The Prince is back!"

Suddenly, a cheerful child's voice broke the silence in the hall.

Empress Zhangsun looked up and saw Li Chen carrying Xiao Sizi, who was still holding half a candied hawthorn, rushing into the Lizheng Hall like a whirlwind.

"Chen'er? Why are you running so fast with Sizi? What happened?" Empress Zhangsun put down her Buddhist scriptures and looked at the composed Li Chen with some doubt.

Li Chen put the little ox on the ground, took a deep breath, and his face instantly changed to an exaggerated expression of utter shock and heartbreak.

"Mother! Your son has rushed back to deliver this message! You have no idea, Father... he has gotten himself into a terrible mess today!"

Li Chen strode over to the soft couch, lowered his voice, and spoke with an exaggerated sense of mystery.

"Your Majesty? What trouble has Your Majesty gotten into?" Empress Zhangsun frowned slightly, even more puzzled.

Li Chen slapped his thigh and began his elaborate embellishment project with great enthusiasm.

"Just now, I was strolling through the East Market with Sizi. And guess what? I saw with my own eyes that after court, Father didn't return to the palace, but instead stared intently at a respectable woman on the street!"

"That woman was... well, exceptionally voluptuous! But Father Emperor, for some unknown reason, in broad daylight, in front of so many people, he simply reached out and tightly embraced that woman's... breasts!"

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, Empress Zhangsun's dignified face instantly changed color, and the Buddhist scripture in her hand fell onto the soft couch with a "thud".

"That's not all!"

Seeing that the situation was ripe, Li Chen added fuel to the fire: "The woman screamed in terror, cursing the Emperor as a lecherous old man. Then, the Emperor's guards even drew their swords to attack her! The woman was so frightened that she dropped her basket and ran away crying!"

"Mother, you must do something about Father! If word gets out that our Tang Emperor has this strange fetish of molesting others in the street, what will become of the royal family's reputation!" Li Chen cried out in anguish, pounding his chest and stamping his feet.

Little Sizi, who was standing to the side eating a candied hawthorn, couldn't understand what they were saying at all.

She just waved her little hands happily and chimed in her childish voice, "Yes, yes! Father touched the chubby auntie on the street! Later, Father played tag with Sixteenth Brother, and he ran so fast!"

Hearing his youngest daughter's unintentional yet "fatal" testimony...

Empress Zhangsun's face darkened completely, and her originally gentle eyes now held a fury that chilled the entire Lizheng Hall.

Just then.

"Bang!"

The vermilion gate of the Rikjeong Hall was violently rammed open from the outside.

Disheveled and panting heavily, Li Shimin stumbled into the main hall.

"You unfilial son! I will fight you to the death today!"

Li Shimin spotted Li Chen standing beside the Empress with a smug grin on his face. His eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and he let out a roar like a wounded beast, baring his teeth and claws as he lunged forward to grab Li Chen's neck.

"stop!"

A sharp, cold shout, like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguished Li Shimin's madness.

Empress Zhangsun abruptly stood up, unleashing her overwhelming power and authority. She looked coldly at her disheveled husband and spoke in a chilling tone.

"Your Majesty, as the ruler of a nation, how can you behave with your hair disheveled and shouting in the inner palace? What kind of decorum is this!"

Li Shimin was so frightened by the Empress's cold shout that he froze, and his rationality finally returned somewhat.

He glanced at his wife, whose face was full of anger, and then at Li Chen, who was hiding behind her and winking at him. He immediately thought to himself, "Oh no!"