My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

Empress Zhangsun visited the Prince of Qin's residence, accompanied by several palace maids, and brought Xiao Sizi back to the palace, where she would stay for a few days.

Li Chen rolled his eyes. The old couple were afraid that if the little girl followed them around all day, she would learn all the underworld slang and gang ways perfectly, and that the dignified Tang princess would grow up to be a female bandit.

The little girl's chasing butterflies was no longer in the yard, nor was her childish voice calling "Sixteenth Brother." The entire backyard suddenly became empty.

Qin Wan'er was still guarding the alchemy furnace in the east wing, while Qin Huaidao followed Old Qin to the southern suburban camp for training.

Li Chen lay on the rocking chair covered with a white tiger skin all morning, turning over twice, feeling like all the bones in his body were about to rust.

Cultivating immortality is all about following the natural order. Right now, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth hasn't reached a certain concentration, so let alone breaking through, I can't even unleash one percent of my current Golden Core stage strength.

He stood up from the rocking chair, stretched out a big yawn, and his bones cracked like popping beans.

He straightened his moon-white casual clothes, and without any guards, strolled out of the Qin Prince's mansion.

In early spring, Chang'an City was bustling with vibrant life.

The snow had long since melted away, and the bluestone pavement was now dry and hard from the passing vehicles and horses.

The willows on both sides of the street sprouted tender green buds, swaying in the wind, and the whole city was filled with the fresh scent of spring, a mixture of soil and vegetation.

Li Chen walked leisurely down the streets of West Market with his hands behind his back.

The West Market was the busiest place in Chang'an, where merchants from the Central Asian countries, Persians, and caravans from the Western Regions all crowded together.

The air was filled with the strong aromas of cumin, roasted meat, and various spices. Acrobats, fire-breathing performers, and street performers surrounded the crowd, their cheers and the crisp sound of coins falling into gongs creating a vibrant atmosphere.

Li Chen stopped in front of a sesame seed cake stall, tossed in two copper coins, and took a freshly baked sesame seed cake that was golden brown and oozing oil on both sides.

While munching on a crispy flatbread, he wandered aimlessly through the crowd, watching the people of the Tang Dynasty struggling to make a living in this early golden age. He found the everyday life of the common people quite interesting.

As we were walking, a large crowd suddenly gathered at the street corner ahead.

A somewhat chaotic argument arose from the crowd, as if a conflict had broken out. The people of the Tang Dynasty loved watching a spectacle, and the crowd was packed tightly, with people on the outside constantly standing on tiptoe to peek inside.

Li Chen, biting into a flatbread, relied on his strength to quietly push aside several burly men blocking his way and squeezed to the very front of the inner circle.

In the center of the circle was a stall selling lacquerware.

The stall had been overturned, and several exquisitely carved wooden lacquer boxes that could have fetched a good price were lying on the ground, trampled to pieces, with wood shavings and red lacquer fragments scattered all over the place.

The stall owner, a gaunt old man, was slumped in the mud, one hand covering his forehead. Crimson blood trickled down between his wrinkled fingers, dripping onto his patched, coarse cloth shirt—a horrifying sight.

Two people stood in front of the old man.

Li Chen only glanced at it before abruptly stopping the chewing motion of the flatbread in his mouth.

Even in Chang'an, a city teeming with non-Han people, the two men's attire still stood out as incredibly strange and conspicuous.

He was very short, only reaching Li Chen's chest, and his legs were slightly bowed. He wore an extremely large and ill-fitting linen robe, tied haphazardly around the waist with a rough belt.

What's most striking are their hairstyles and the things hanging from their waists.

The two men had a large patch of hair shaved off in the center of their heads, revealing a patch of bluish scalp. The remaining hair on the sides and back of their heads was tied into a short ponytail, sticking out stiffly at the back of their heads.

Two narrow, short knives were tucked into each of their belts, and the scabbards were wrapped with strips of black cloth.

The short man on the left was wearing wooden clogs and was raising his foot to step on the only intact lacquer box left on the old man's stall.

With a sharp crack, the lacquer box shattered into pieces.

"Baka!"

A short, extremely harsh voice, filled with arrogance, came from the mouth of the short man who had smashed the lacquer box.

These two words were uttered.

Li Chen suddenly stopped in his tracks, and two sharp beams of light shot out from his originally lazy black eyes, staring intently at the two dwarfs dressed in strange clothes.

"Your thing is broken and blocking the way."

The short man, speaking in extremely broken and awkward Mandarin, pointed condescendingly at the old man on the ground, his chin held so high that his nostrils were almost visible. "The shoes of the Japanese envoy are dirty. You'll have to pay for them."

The old man trembled all over, clutching his bleeding head, too frightened to utter a single word, and could only desperately shrink back.

The surrounding Tang Dynasty people all wore angry expressions and whispered their accusations.

But seeing the two short men's hands still resting on the hilts of their short swords, and hearing the stiff address of "envoy," no one dared to actually step forward to stop them.

The laws of the Tang Dynasty were harsh, especially those concerning diplomacy and foreign envoys, which were extremely troublesome to handle.

If ordinary people offended foreign envoys, they would be imprisoned for a serious offense. No one would dare to risk such trouble for the sake of an old man selling goods at a stall.

The front row of the crowd.

Li Chen stared intently at the two short men with shaved heads and wooden clogs, listening to the occasional gibberish they uttered.

He took a deep breath, then suddenly raised his right hand and slapped his thigh hard.

"Damn it!" Li Chen cursed himself inwardly, "I've been living too comfortably in this Tang Dynasty, how could I have forgotten such an important matter!"

The early years of the Tang Dynasty, the Reign of Zhenguan!

This was the time of peaceful life on the neighboring island, a time when Tang envoys were being sent to the Central Plains in batches.

These people were like bloodsuckers drawn to the smell of blood, coming to the Tang Dynasty to act like cowards, stealing technology, culture, metallurgy, and architecture.

After returning home and developing for thousands of years, they turned on us and committed countless atrocities on the land of China.

These people are actually roaming right under my nose, and they even dare to be so arrogant on the streets of the Tang Dynasty?

At this moment, an anti-Japanese DNA deeply buried in the bones of future generations, belonging to the descendants of Yan and Huang, awakened uncontrollably and burned wildly in Li Chen's veins.