My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

The cold wind outside the palace blew in through the half-open vermilion gate, causing the rows of thick red candles in the corner to sway.

Heavy, hurried footsteps echoed on the white marble steps, and the armor plates clashed against each other, producing a crisp metallic scraping sound.

Qin Huaidao strode into the palace gate.

He ignored the two Japanese men on the ground, wrapped up like blood-soaked rice dumplings, and the Japanese envoy beside him, who was trembling with rage. He walked straight to the center of the hall, slammed one knee on a gold brick, clasped his hands together, and the impact of the armor plates made a muffled sound.

"Your subject, Qin Huaidao, General of the Left Guard, pays his respects to Your Majesty."

Li Shimin leaned back on the dragon throne, his fingers unconsciously tapping the golden nanmu armrests, his gaze fixed intently on the young general he had watched grow up.

"Qin Huaidao, the Japanese envoy has accused the King of Qin of assaulting a foreign envoy without cause in a dark alley in the West Market yesterday."

Li Shimin's voice echoed under the dome of the hall, exuding a deep and imposing aura, "The Prince of Qin said that these two thieves were plotting robbery and intended to commit crimes, but you happened to witness it while you were patrolling the streets."

Li Shimin paused for a moment, then leaned forward slightly. "You were there at the time. Tell me everything you saw yesterday, in detail, without hiding a single word."

The main hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

All the civil and military officials pricked up their ears.

Qin Huaidao raised his head. His face, which inherited the resolute features of Qin Qiong, showed not a trace of panic. His eyes were as clear as a pool of well water that had just been drawn up.

"Your Majesty, His Highness Prince Qin's words are all true. I am willing to stake my head on it. I absolutely witnessed these two villains committing the crime with my own eyes!" Qin Huaidao's voice was extremely loud, making the ears of the Japanese envoy next to him ring.

"Yesterday at Shenshi (3-5 PM), I was leading my brothers on a routine patrol of the West Market when we heard an extremely pitiful cry for help coming from the entrance of Muddy Water Alley."

Qin Huaidao frowned and began to describe it vividly.

"As soon as I heard the sound, I drew my sword and rushed in. As soon as I entered the alley, I saw two strangely dressed thieves, one on each side, cornering His Highness the Prince of Qin against the wall."

"His Highness was still clutching half a half-eaten flatbread, trembling with fear. These two not only hurled insults at him that we couldn't understand, but they even drew their short swords, the blades almost touching His Highness's neck!"

At this point, Qin Huaidao suddenly turned his head, pointed at the person on the stretcher, and his face was full of righteous indignation.

"Most outrageous of all, one of them even reached out his filthy hands to tear at His Highness's robes. The huge muddy handprint on the hem of His Highness's robes is irrefutable evidence of their violence!"

Qin Huaidao's words were resounding and righteous.

Li Chen, who was standing next to him, immediately shrank his neck and raised his sleeve to cover half of his face. His shoulders shrugged slightly, making it look like he was sobbing from fear. In fact, the corners of his mouth under his wide sleeves were almost stretched to his ears.

An eerie silence fell over all the civil and military officials in the court.

Wei Zheng stood in the front row, his eyes twitching violently. He was about to take half a step forward to say something when Cheng Yaojin grabbed his jade belt tightly from behind.

"Don't spoil the fun," Cheng Yaojin whispered in Wei Zheng's ear, his voice low and barely audible.

We're all ancient foxes, why are we playing at Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio?

Who was the King of Qin? He was a living immortal who could crush boulders with one hand and even possessed magical powers. How could two dwarfs, whose combined height was less than the King of Qin's chest, force him into a corner and make him tremble? And even tear his clothes?

This is simply the most absurd joke since the founding of the Tang Dynasty.

The big joke of slipping the world!

But no one dared to expose it, after all, the victim was the King of Qin, a living immortal, and the witness was the eldest son of the Duke.

Upon hearing this testimony, the Japanese envoy's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

He sprang to his feet, pointed at Qin Huaidao's nose, his voice hoarse and distorted: "You're lying! You're covering for them! They are the most elite samurai in Japan, how could they possibly rob? How could they possibly tear a man's clothes! Look at the state they've been in!"

"Your Majesty, he's slandering us! He's slandering us!"

The envoy rushed to the stretcher and ripped off the white cloth covering one of the Japanese men.

The man's ribs had almost completely collapsed, his legs were twisted at an angle that no human could possibly do, and his mouth was rotten like a clump of crushed raw meat, oozing bloody foam mixed with pieces of internal organs.

"Look! All their teeth are gone! All four limbs are broken! Is this what you call murder? It's clearly a one-sided beating by your Tang Dynasty prince!"

The envoy turned around and roared at Li Shimin with tears streaming down his face.

Qin Huaidao didn't even glance at the horrific scene, and let out a cold laugh.

"That's because I arrived in time!"

Qin Huaidao crossed his arms and continued weaving without batting an eye.

"I shouted 'Stop!' because I wanted to capture them alive, but instead of submitting, these two men acted like mad dogs, brandishing their knives and hacking at me and dozens of my brothers."

"The alley was too dark, and the ground was covered with mud and moss, making it very slippery. In order to subdue them, the brothers had no choice but to swarm them."

Qin Huaidao shrugged, revealing a helpless expression.

"Dozens of people were crammed into a dead-end alley; the scene was incredibly chaotic."

"They slipped and fell to the ground. The brothers, wearing thick-soled military boots, were inevitably trampled in the dark. A few bones were broken and a few teeth were knocked out, but that was their own fault for violently resisting arrest. Who else can they blame?"

His teeth were crushed by dozens of strong men wearing military boots, and his legs and arms were also broken.

The Japanese envoy felt a buzzing in his head, his vision went black, and a mouthful of blood welled up in his throat.

He pointed at Qin Huaidao, then at Li Chen who was pretending to be pitiful next to him. His lips trembled for a long time, but in the end, he couldn't utter a single curse. His eyes rolled back, and he fell straight backward, crashing onto the gold brick with a "thud." He was so angry that he fainted.

The two accompanying young envoys were so frightened that they scrambled forward and pinched his philtrum.

Li Shimin sat on the dragon throne and quietly watched this clumsy yet extremely effective charade.

He knew perfectly well that these two rascals were talking nonsense, but what he needed right now was precisely this kind of excuse that could turn black into white.

Li Shimin cleared his throat, tightening his expression to be extremely serious, even displaying a hint of imperial majesty when offended.

"The matter is already very clear."

Li Shimin spoke in a calm voice, drowning out the noise in the hall.

"The Japanese delegation members, carrying sharp weapons, were rampaging through the West Market, plotting to rob a prince of the Great Tang Dynasty. When they were caught by the patrolling military officer, they not only refused to surrender but also resisted arrest with their knives drawn. According to the laws of our Great Tang Dynasty, they should have been executed in the street as a warning to others!"

Upon hearing this, the two young envoys who were pinching someone's philtrum trembled with fear and immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, kowtowing frantically.

"However, considering that you are envoys from a foreign land, unfamiliar with the teachings of the Tang Dynasty, and that Prince Qin was fortunate enough to escape without any real harm, I will show leniency today and spare their lives."

Li Shimin waved his hand, making a definitive judgment.

"Guards, take these two away. Have the Imperial Hospital apply some wound medicine to them. Send them, along with the unconscious envoy, back to the Sifang Inn under strict guard. Without my decree, no member of the Japanese delegation is to step out of the inn!"

Several fierce palace guards rushed in and dragged the stretcher and the chief envoy out of the hall like a dead dog.

After dealing with the outsiders, Li Shimin turned his head and his sharp gaze fell on Li Chen.