My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

He turned his head and glanced at Li Chengqian, who was standing behind the door, his scalp tingling with shock at the oppressive aura.

"close the door."

Li Chen calmly gave the order, then pointed to the group of people lying on the ground outside, "Release the Crown Prince."

"what?"

Li Chengqian was completely bewildered.

Standing behind, Qin Qiong and Qin Huaidao nearly burst out laughing when they heard the phrase "close the gate and release the crown prince." It sounded more like they were about to unleash dogs to bite someone!

Li Chengqian was also speechless.

How come he, the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, became a mere gatekeeper and bodyguard when he came to his sixteenth brother?

Despite his inner grumbling, Li Chengqian obediently picked up his long sword and strode out the door.

"Sixteenth Brother, why did you call me out?" Li Chengqian asked in a low voice.

Li Chen gestured with his chin towards several burly men in the crowd who were desperately burying their heads in the mud.

"Go, drag out those guys in coarse clothes who were shouting the loudest just now."

Following Li Chen's gaze, Li Chengqian immediately locked onto those targets.

He strode into the crowd, the pressure from the Golden Core cultivator seemingly having no effect on him. He grabbed the dozen or so burly men who had led the disturbance, one in each hand, and dragged them off the ground, throwing them at Li Chen's feet like broken sacks.

"Ouch! That hurts so much!"

"Immortal, have mercy! I'm just an ordinary commoner, and I was only drawn in by the commotion. Please, Immortal, have mercy!"

The spies were terrified. Ignoring their excruciating pain, they kowtowed repeatedly, begging for mercy and shouting that they were innocent.

"Ordinary people?"

Li Chen let out a cold laugh filled with utter contempt.

He walked up to one of the burly men who was screaming the loudest, raised his foot, and ruthlessly stomped on the man's face with the white sole of his boot, pressing his face firmly into the mud.

"Please, even if you're here as spies and putting on an act, can't you at least use your brains? Have some basic professional ethics, okay?"

Li Chen looked down at him, his tone filled with an intellectually devastating blow.

"You said you're a starving and freezing refugee?"

Li Chen pressed down slightly with his feet and sneered, "In this freezing winter, aren't all the real refugees on the outskirts emaciated, their hands covered in chilblains and calluses?"

Li Chen grabbed the burly man's collar, and with a "ripping" sound, tore a large piece of his tattered coarse linen clothes off!

Under the firelight.

Beneath the burly man's coarse linen clothes, a layer of high-quality, soft, and smooth silk lining was surprisingly visible!

Moreover, although the burly man's face was covered in soot, his exposed neck and arms were exceptionally fair and strong, clearly the result of a diet high in meat and fish every day.

"What starving refugee family could afford to wear such fine Hangzhou silk?"

Li Chen kicked him away and clapped his hands with a look of disgust on his face.

"Look at your hands again. The base of your thumbs and the palms are covered with calluses from practicing swordsmanship. There isn't even a mark from holding a hoe."

Li Chen's gaze was sharp as he swept over the dozen or so terrified undercover agents.

"Beggars dressed in silk, vagrants carrying weapons. Do you think you're too clever, or do you think I'm a fool who can't even see this much common sense?!"

These words were spoken.

The ordinary people around them, still lying on the ground and shrouded in fear, suddenly realized what was going on!

They turned their heads with difficulty, looking at the burly men whose silk linings were exposed, their eyes filled with anger at being deceived and used!

After all that, it turns out that these truly poor people were just being used as pawns by the lackeys of these rich people!

"I can't be bothered to ask about your background."

Li Chen raised his head, no longer looking at the few hidden agents who had already wet themselves in fear.

He turned his gaze to the thousands of ordinary people trembling on the periphery.

The terrifying pressure that had been pressing down on everyone suddenly lessened a bit.

The people were finally able to breathe freely again.

Li Chen slowly raised his right hand.

Open your palms up.

Under the horrified gazes of everyone.

"Sizzle sizzle..."

A faint yet chilling crackling sound suddenly rang out in Li Chen's palm!

Immediately afterwards, streaks of dazzling blue-white lightning, like tiny snakes born out of thin air, leaped and gathered wildly in his palm!

In the time it takes to breathe.

A ball of lightning, the size of a fist, radiating a destructive aura and even making the surrounding air smell burnt, was casually held in Li Chen's palm!

Thunder in the Palm!

The blinding lightning instantly illuminated the entire area in front of the Qin Prince's mansion as bright as day! That pure power of destruction made all the mortals present feel their souls trembling wildly!

"This...this is divine punishment! He's truly a living god!"

"Good heavens! We actually came here to attack a god who can unleash heavenly thunder!"

A desperate wail erupted from the crowd.

Li Chen held the raging palm lightning, his cold gaze sweeping across the entire arena.

"Aren't you going to get lost?"

Li Chen's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears amidst the thunder.

"Shall I use my lightning magic to personally send you on your way?"

Whoosh!

This sentence is more effective than any imperial edict!

Those people who were originally lying on the ground scrambled to their feet from the mud after feeling the pressure lessen.

They abandoned the hoe and didn't even bother to pick up their shoes after running away.

Thousands of people fled in all directions like a flood after a dam had burst, crying and scrambling! They wished they had two more legs!

In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the once crowded street was completely deserted.

In front of the Qin Prince's mansion, only a dozen or so aristocratic spies lay limp on the ground, their crotches reeking of blood and stench.

Li Chen clenched his fist.

The violent palm lightning instantly transformed into specks of spiritual light and dissipated into the air, as if it had never existed.

He turned his head and looked at Li Chengqian beside him.

"Go, break one of their legs first. Then interrogate them one by one to see which bastard was stirring things up behind the scenes." Li Chen spoke casually, as if he were discussing what to eat for dinner.

Li Chengqian grinned, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth.

"Don't worry, Sixteenth Brother, when it comes to extracting confessions, I'm a professional."

A moment later.

On the quiet street, one after another, heart-wrenching screams of agony rang out.

With the crisp sound of bones breaking, these aristocratic assassins, who usually bullied others, didn't even last the time it takes for an incense stick to burn under the iron fist of the body-cultivating mad prince.

"Your Highness! We've gotten the answer!"

Li Chengqian shook the blood off his hands and strode up to Li Chen.

"These bastards are from the Cui family of Boling! All the rumors and incitement are being orchestrated and paid for by that brat Cui Jue!"

"Clan Bolingcui?"

Li Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.

He recalled what Cui Wanqing of the Qinghe Cui clan had said when she visited him before: the Boling Cui clan had always been arrogant and conceited, and it seemed that this time they really wanted to challenge the imperial power.

"Sixteenth brother, what should we do with these bastards? Should I inform Father right now and have the Hundred Cavalry Division raid their homes?" Li Chengqian's eyes still held a murderous intent.

"Why notify Old Deng? By the time the Hundred Cavalry Division finishes its procedures, those old foxes will have already destroyed all the evidence."

Li Chen turned around and kicked open the vermilion gate of the Prince of Qin's mansion.

He looked at Qin Qiong and his son Qin Huaidao, who were already itching for battle.

A chilling, arrogant, and bloodthirsty smile curled at the corners of Li Chen's mouth.

"After practicing at home for so long, your bones must be rusting by now!"

Li Chen dusted off his sleeves, strode forward, and led the way into the depths of the night.

"Walk."

"I'll take you to the Cui family's residence in Boling to stretch your muscles and bones."