My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

The screams in the alley subsided.

It turned into intermittent gasping sounds.

The warriors stopped fighting.

He was panting heavily.

The two lumps on the ground were no longer recognizable as human figures.

Mud, blood, and shredded cloth were mixed together.

Less air intake, more air output.

Qin Huaidao walked over and kicked him.

no response.

"Tie them up, and wrap them in this tattered straw mat," Qin Huaidao waved his hand.

Zhuge Liang found some hemp rope.

Like binding a dead pig, the two Japanese men were folded over and bound together. The broken bones made a teeth-grinding grinding sound under the pressure.

The two Japanese men didn't even have the strength to scream; they fainted from the pain.

Li Chen stood at the alley entrance. A night breeze blew by, carrying a slight chill.

He glanced down at the blood and mud stains on the hem of his robe.

He frowned.

This garment is ruined.

"Your Highness."

Qin Huaidao stepped forward and clasped his hands in greeting.

"I've taken them away. I'll interrogate them personally and make sure they reveal even things like how they wet the bed when they were three years old."

Li Chen nodded.

"Wash the floor," Li Chen said, pointing to the bloodstains in the alley.

"I understand." Qin Huaidao grinned.

Li Chen turned around and slowly walked into the crowd in the West Market.

His back view was casual.

……

The next day.

The early morning air in the Taiji Hall carried a lingering chill of late spring.

In the corner of the main hall, several bronze crane incense burners emitted swirling ambergris.

What should have been the time for officials to present their reports and for the emperor and his ministers to enjoy a harmonious court session was instead disrupted by a series of mournful wails.

Li Shimin sat on the high dragon throne, raising his hand to press his throbbing temples.

His brows furrowed into a deep knot as he coldly stared at the center of the hall.

The civil and military officials stood on both sides, completely silent.

All eyes were on Dianxin and his group.

A short man wearing a loose hemp robe and with a shaved head was kneeling on the gold bricks. He was prostrate on the ground, crying with snot and tears streaming down his face, and was making a hysterical accusation in broken Tang Dynasty Mandarin.

This man is the chief envoy sent by Japan.

Behind him, two simple stretchers were placed side by side.

Two unrecognizable human figures lay on the stretcher.

His whole body was wrapped in white cloth stained with brown medicine and glaring blood.

The one on the left had a mouth swollen like a rotten peach, a chin tilted to one side, and legs in splints.

The one on the right had its head wrapped up like a rice dumpling, and its chest was tied with thick hemp rope.

The two men on the stretcher twitched from time to time, their throats making a hissing sound like broken bellows, taking in more air than exhaling.

"Your Majesty the Emperor of the Great Tang! You must do justice for us!"

The Japanese envoy suddenly sat up, his face covered in tears and snot, and pointed at his two subordinates on the ground, weeping bitterly.

"We came across the ocean to learn the etiquette of this celestial empire, with reverence for the Tang Dynasty!"

"Yesterday in the West Market, His Highness the Prince of Qin of the Tang Dynasty, without any reason, dragged my two attendants into a dark alley and brutally beat them!"

As he spoke, he became increasingly excited, waving his hands in the air and spitting everywhere.

"Look at them! Their teeth are all shattered, their leg bones are broken into pieces! This is a barbaric act of violence!"

"Is this how the Tang Dynasty treats envoys from friendly nations? If the perpetrators are not severely punished, how will these foreign envoys explain themselves to their own countries upon returning home?"

The hall was so quiet that you could hear the crackling of the burning candles.

Wei Zheng stood at the front of the civil officials, his brows furrowed, seemingly preparing a draft of his impeachment.

Cheng Yaojin stood among the generals, stroking his stubble-covered chin. Looking at the miserable state of the stretcher, he wasn't angry at all. Instead, he secretly grinned, thinking that the Sixteenth Prince had really gone too far.

Li Shimin felt his head ache even more.

He received a secret report from the Prefect of Jingzhao yesterday evening, saying that the Prince of Qin had beaten two Japanese envoys to Tang China in a dead-end alley in the West Market and sent them directly to the Ministry of Justice prison. He originally planned to suppress the matter and have someone fabricate a charge to get rid of them in prison.

Who knew that the Japanese envoy had a sharp nose? He went to the gate of Taiji Palace early in the morning to beat the drum and appeal for justice, bringing the matter directly to the imperial court.

The Tang Dynasty considered itself a celestial empire and placed the utmost importance on etiquette and diplomatic relations.

In front of the entire court, they presented the bloody evidence; there was no way to cover it up now.

"Summon the Prince of Qin to an audience." Li Shimin sighed and waved his hand.

The eunuchs outside the hall immediately raised their voices to summon someone.

Before long, a series of unhurried footsteps came from the entrance of the main hall.

Li Chen was wearing a faded, moon-white casual robe, without even a prince's crown, his hair held up only with a wooden hairpin.

He slowly stepped over the high threshold of the Taiji Hall, yawning lazily as he walked.

Looking at his sleepy appearance and then at the two dying Japanese men on the ground, the entire court felt a sense of unreality.

Li Chen walked to the center of the hall, not even kneeling, but merely giving a perfunctory bow towards the dragon throne: "Father, you called me here so early in the morning, are you even going to provide breakfast?"

Li Shimin was so angry that he slammed his hand on the imperial desk.

"You filthy brat! You still have the appetite for breakfast? Look at the mess you've made!"

Li Shimin pointed to the stretcher on the ground and questioned it sternly.

"The Japanese envoy has accused you of dragging his entourage into a dark alley without cause in the West Market yesterday and subjecting them to brutal beatings. Tell me the truth: did this really happen?"

When Li Shimin asked this question, he kept giving Li Chen meaningful glances.

As a result, Li Chen didn't even glance at Lao Li's expression.

He walked to the stretcher and looked down at the two Japanese men wrapped up like dumplings.

He even stretched out his foot and lightly kicked one of the men's broken legs.

The Japanese man immediately convulsed in pain as if he had been electrocuted, letting out a bloodcurdling scream like a pig being slaughtered.

The Japanese envoy, his eyes bloodshot with rage, pointed a trembling finger at Li Chen: "You! You dare to act so arrogantly in front of His Majesty the Emperor!"

Li Chen withdrew his foot.

He turned around to face the Japanese envoy, slowly raised his hands, and began fiddling with his fingernails as if no one else was around.

"Ah! It's me."

Li Chen spoke in a flat tone, as if he were simply saying that the weather was nice today.

He blew the dust out of his fingernails, raised his eyelids, and looked at the envoy with a half-smile.

"I'm the one who hit him, I'm the one who broke his hand, and I'm the one who knocked his leg off."

A collective gasp filled the hall.

Li Chen lowered his hand, raised his chin slightly, and revealed an arrogance like that of a street ruffian in his eyes.

"What? You want to bite me?"

The moment those words were spoken, the entire Taiji Hall fell into a deathly silence for three full breaths.

Changsun Wuji almost dropped the ivory tablet he was holding.

Fang Xuanling's eyes widened suddenly, staring at the Tang Dynasty prince as if he were a monster.

Cheng Yaojin covered his mouth tightly, his shoulders heaving violently as he tried to suppress his laughter until his face turned purple.

Li Shimin, sitting on the dragon throne, felt a surge of blood rushing to his head, and his vision blurred.

My head hurts, it really hurts.

He was frantically giving his unfilial son meaningful glances, trying to find a way for him to back down.

But this guy did something else. Not only did he admit it outright, but he also used such vulgar language to provoke a national envoy in front of all the civil and military officials!

How was he, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, supposed to exonerate himself in this situation?

Are we really going to strip a prince of his title and imprison him in court to apologize to the barbarian tribes?