My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

Half of a tiger-headed figure peeked out from the wall of the backyard of the Qin Prince's mansion.

Sangza lay on the cold blue bricks, staring down silently with his wild eyes.

In the training ground in a corner of the courtyard, a tall, dark figure, as thick as an iron tower, was shirtless, rising and falling in the moonlight.

Sangza looked closely, and his eyelids twitched suddenly.

It was a gigantic man with bulging muscles all over his body, carrying a huge water vat filled with water on his shoulder, and he was doing a strange squatting motion. The water vat weighed at least five or six hundred pounds, and the water swayed with his movements, but not a drop spilled.

Sangza swallowed hard.

Were all the people of the Tang Dynasty this strong?

However, his target tonight wasn't this big, dark-skinned man. His gaze swept across the training ground and landed on the spacious corridor in front of the main house.

A small red clay stove sat in the corridor, burning silver-bone charcoal and making a soft crackling sound.

Li Chen was covered with a thick blanket, nestled in a rattan chair, holding a pair of iron tongs, slowly roasting a few chestnuts.

And on the small stool next to him.

Little Sizi was wrapped in a fluffy white fox fur cloak, looking like a round, plump snow dumpling. She held a freshly roasted sweet potato in her two little hands, blowing on it to warm it up as she carefully nibbled on it.

Sanza locked onto his target, his eyes instantly sharpening.

He braced himself against the wall with both hands, and like a nimble snow leopard, he used the branches of a large tree next to him to land steadily on the snow in the yard.

"tread."

The sound of boots treading on the snow was faint, but exceptionally clear in the quiet backyard.

On the training ground.

Li Chengqian, who was doing squats while carrying a water vat, suddenly twitched his ears.

"Bang!"

With a shrug, he smashed the large water vat, weighing five or six hundred pounds, directly onto the ground. The bluestone pavement resounded with a dull thud, and the surrounding snow was shaken up.

"Who's lurking around like that!"

Li Chengqian shouted loudly, his bones cracking like popping beans, and strode towards the base of the wall.

Sanza's breath hitched slightly as he looked at the giant man approaching like a mountain of flesh.

But he gritted his teeth, straightened his back, and didn't take a single step back. He ignored Li Chengqian and instead raised his hand, pointing directly at Xiao Sizi, who was eating a sweet potato down in the corridor.

"I am Sangza, the future greatest warrior of Tibet!"

Speaking in somewhat broken Tang Dynasty Mandarin, he shouted, "We haven't settled the score from today! I've come tonight to challenge you to a duel! I'll defeat you in the style of a warrior from the grasslands!"

Down in the corridor.

The little ox stopped eating the sweet potato.

With a smear of golden sweet potato puree still on the corner of her mouth, she blinked her big, dark eyes, looked at Sangza, who stood defiantly in the wind and snow, then tilted her head and looked at Li Chen, who was lying on the rattan chair, with a bewildered expression.

"Sixteenth Brother, what is a duel?" the little girl asked in her childish voice.

Li Chen used the fire tongs to pick out a chestnut that had been roasted until it was slightly cracked, and blew off the ash. He already knew that the kid was here; if he hadn't secretly stopped the formation, the kid wouldn't have been able to get in at all.

"A duel, huh? He's staying up all night and wants to play wrestling with you," Li Chen replied casually while peeling chestnuts. "If you want to play, go ahead and play with him. Just think of it as digesting your food."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Sizi's eyes immediately lit up.

She placed the remaining half of the sweet potato in her hand on the porcelain plate next to her, wiped her oily little hands with a handkerchief, and stood up from the stool.

"Sixteenth Brother."

Little Sizi took short strides, walked to the edge of the steps, turned around and asked in an eager tone.

"Then... can Sizi use the 'Sixty Years of Ear Attunement' on him?"

Li Cheng just popped a sweet chestnut into his mouth.

Upon hearing this word, he froze instantly, and the corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably twice.

"Explain to me first what you mean by 'at sixty, one can hear anything'?" Li Chen stared straight at her.

Little Sizi, counting on his slender white fingers, answered earnestly, "Brother Crown Prince taught Sizi that 'sixty ears are attuned' means that if you give him sixty big slaps until his ears are ringing, he will obediently listen to you and follow your will!"

Hearing this perfect answer, Li Chengqian, who was standing next to him, nodded with satisfaction and even gave a thumbs up.

Li Chen felt a throbbing sensation in his temples.

"We're civilized people, let's not slap people so easily." Li Chen waved his hand with a dark face, "That move is too violent, let's not use it."

Little Sizi gave a somewhat disappointed "Oh".

She lowered her head and pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised her head again.

"Then... we don't need to wait until we're sixty to understand. Would it be alright if we used the phrase 'Since you're here, make the best of it' from the *Lunyu* to describe him?"

Several black lines appeared on Li Chen's forehead.

"How do you interpret this?"

The little ox puffed out its chest, its voice clear and loud.

"Since he dared to come to our Prince Qin's residence, let's just bury him here!"

These menacing words, spoken by a beautifully sculpted little girl of only a few years old, created an indescribable sense of eeriness.

Standing in the snow, Sangza didn't fully understand the meaning of those few lines of ancient Tang Dynasty text. But he felt a chill run through him from the inside out.

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Li Chen rubbed his temples, utterly exasperated by the girl's thought process.

"He only climbed over the wall; it's not a capital offense. Just give him a light beating, but don't kill him. The soil in our Prince's mansion's backyard is precious; we don't bury just anyone."

Little Sizi nodded as if he understood but not quite.

She tightened her snow-white cloak, walked up the steps into the courtyard, and stood a few steps away from Sangza.

"Come on, you little punk." Little Sizi beckoned with his finger.

This familiar title once again stung Sanzana's proud nerves.

"I already told you! My name is Sanza!"

He let out a low growl like a wolf cub and kicked his legs hard in the snow.