My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

The smugness on Li Chen's face shattered into countless ice shards on the ground with a crack.

His hands, holding the melon, hung awkwardly in mid-air.

That once aloof and ethereal face now looked as if it had swallowed a whole unripe, sour wild fruit, its features all contorted in a grimace.

He opened his mouth, trying to refute, but found himself completely blocked by the five-year-old girl's train of thought.

"Cough cough."

Li Chen coughed twice, forcibly lowered his hands, and put them behind his back.

He tried his best to adopt the airs of a powerful cultivator, attempting to forcefully steer the conversation back from its tangent.

"Sizi, you're focusing on the wrong thing."

Li Chen put on a stern face and earnestly corrected him.

"Right now, you shouldn't be worrying about your dry eyes. What you should be focusing on is how your sixteenth brother, wielding two watermelon knives, charged in and out of the enemy ranks seven times! Isn't that impressive, that spirit?"

Little Sizi nodded obligingly, her two twin buns swaying back and forth.

"So handsome! Sixteenth Brother is the most handsome!"

Little Sizi praised him earnestly, but then changed the subject and pointed her little hand at Li Chen's eyes again.

"But, Sixteenth Brother, why haven't you blinked for a whole month? Don't your eyes get dry or hurt?"

Li Chen's vision went black.

Why can't this girl get over this hurdle?

His lips twitched violently. He took a deep breath, just about to spout some nonsense about cultivators having their own eye drops.

A steady series of footsteps came from outside the courtyard gate.

Li Shimin, dressed in casual clothes, held Empress Zhangsun's hand and walked in through the moon gate.

"What do you mean by dry eyes?" Li Shimin asked casually when he heard the commotion in the courtyard.

As soon as Xiao Sizi turned her head and saw her father and mother, she skipped and hopped over like a happy little swallow, grabbed Empress Zhangsun's leg, and looked up to report.

"Mother!"

Little Sizi pointed at Li Chen, who was standing next to the rocking chair and frantically winking at him, and answered in a childish voice.

"Sixteenth Brother was just saying that he went to fight bad guys, wielding two watermelon knives and fighting his way in and out seven times."

"In that island nation, they cut down trees for a whole month without even blinking an eye!"

Xiao Sizi paused, then added with a puzzled look on her face.

"Then I asked, 'If you don't blink for a month, won't your eyes get dry and hurt?'"

"For some reason, Sister Wan'er suddenly laughed. Sixteenth Brother still hasn't told me!"

Li Chen stood there, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

Social death.

Utter social death.

Li Shimin was taken aback.

He glanced at Qin Wan'er, who was struggling to hold back her laughter, and then at Li Chen, whose face looked like he was constipated.

The Tang emperor quickly went through those words in his mind and instantly understood the cause and effect.

"Hahahahaha!"

Li Shimin burst into a thunderous laugh.

He laughed so hard he almost fell over, tears welling up in his eyes.

The mighty Emperor of the Tang Dynasty was now slapping his thigh without any regard for his image, his laughter so loud that the leaves on the trees in the courtyard were falling in a rustling sound.

While laughing, Li Shimin walked unsteadily to Li Chen with an extremely irritating pigeon-toed gait.

He deliberately brought his face closer, his eyebrows twitching up and down, his face full of the mocking smugness of a petty person who had achieved success.

"Oh dear, I'm curious too!"

Li Shimin dragged out his question in a sarcastic tone.

"Our great immortal Li, wielding two watermelon knives, fought his way in and out seven times, without blinking for a whole month."

"Do your eyes ever get dry? Do they hurt?"

Empress Zhangsun sat down on the brocade stool next to her, holding the little boy, and watched the two lively father and son playfully arguing with a smile on her lips.

Li Chen was completely enraged by Li Shimin's smug and obsequious face.

He took a sudden step forward, craning his neck forward.

"Bang!"

Li Chen pressed his forehead firmly against Li Shimin's forehead.

The two were like two stubborn bulls fighting for territory, neither willing to give way.

"What do you care if my eyes are dry or not!" Li Chen gritted his teeth, his spittle almost spraying onto Old Li's face.

"I've cultivated immortality! Can't I not blink? Can't the spiritual energy of heaven and earth nourish my eyeballs?!"

Li Shimin was pushed back slightly, but he stubbornly refused to back down.

"Old Deng, you seem to have a lot of free time today!"

"In broad daylight, instead of going to the Ganlu Hall to review your memorials and handle your Tang Dynasty affairs, what are you doing in my backyard? Hogging some fruit?"

Li Shimin snorted coldly, put his hands on his hips, and spoke with righteous indignation.

"I have a Crown Prince! Chengqian is currently overseeing the country and gaining experience; he's in the Eastern Palace helping me with state affairs!"

Upon hearing this, Li Chen rolled his eyes dramatically and let out a loud sneer.

"cut."

He loosened his grip, took a half step back, and spoke with a sarcastic tone.

"If you're going to slack off, then so be it. And you still have to say 'I have a prince'? You dump all the work you should be doing on your own son and then run off to enjoy yourself."

"You are a truly shameless emperor. I despise you."

Li Shimin, without batting an eye, patted his chest.

"I've worked so hard to build this great Tang Dynasty, and I've been emperor for so long. What's wrong with enjoying myself a bit? It's what I deserve!"

Having said that, Li Shimin didn't bother to dwell on the topic.

He dropped his playful grin, and his eyes suddenly became shrewd.

He stretched out his right hand and rubbed his thumb and forefinger vigorously in front of Li Chen.

Li Chen looked at him warily: "What are you doing? Did your hand cramp?"

Li Shimin glared at him and lowered his voice: "Stop playing dumb with me! What about that Ishimi Silver Mountain that you used your divine powers to uproot and seize from that island? Hand it over now, the national treasury is waiting for this money to save its life!"

"No."

Li Chen refused decisively and without any hesitation.

"Those are spoils I earned through my own skills. Once they're in my pocket, you expect me to take them out? Are you kidding me?"

Li Shimin was so angry he jumped up and down, pointing his finger at Li Chen's nose and yelling, "You unfilial son! What do you need so much money for! You're a cultivator, not a merchant, what use are you for all that!"

Li Chen pulled over a rocking chair, plopped down, and crossed his legs.

"I like to sleep with silver coins as a mattress, is that a problem? I won't give them to you, what are you going to do about it?"

"You—!" Li Shimin was so angry that he looked around for a stick.

The two started arguing loudly again in the yard, each trying to outdo the other in shouting, so loudly that all the birds in the trees flew away.

"alright!"

Empress Zhangsun was so annoyed by the two of them that she couldn't help but raise her voice to stop them.

She rubbed her temples helplessly, looked at Li Chen, and spoke in a gentle tone that carried an irresistible plea:

"Chen'er, the Tang Dynasty is currently in dire need of reconstruction, and everyone is asking for money. Your father is doing this for the sake of the people. Why don't you help the Tang Dynasty through this difficult time?"

Li Chen couldn't stand Empress Zhangsun's slow, insidious persuasion.

He scratched his head in frustration and let out a long sigh.

"Alright, alright, I'll give Mother some face."

Li Chen pointed at Li Shimin and gave him a fierce warning.

"Old Deng, you've gotten a good deal! Tonight, I'll dump that mountain of silver on a deserted mountain in the southern suburbs outside the city."

"You'll have to send your own Imperial Guards to seal off the mountain and recruit laborers to dig it up yourself. This is a one-time opportunity; don't expect to get it for free next time!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin's old face instantly brightened, and he smiled like a blooming chrysanthemum, nodding repeatedly.

Just as the father and son reached a deal.

Outside the courtyard gate, Princess Chang Le, Li Lizhi, walked in gracefully, dressed in an elegant light blue dress.

"Your subject greets Your Majesty and Your Majesty."

Li Chen's eyes lit up.

He sat up straight in the rocking chair and rummaged through his spiritual space.

"You've come at just the right time."

Li Chen flipped his wrist and pulled out an ancient book with a yellowed cover that exuded a faint chill from his sleeve, then casually tossed it onto the stone table beside him.

"This is a beginner-level ice-type cultivation manual. Your ice spirit root is perfectly suited to this cultivation method. Take it and practice it."

These words were spoken.

Li Shimin, who had been smiling, suddenly stopped breathing.

Empress Zhangsun's eyes widened in disbelief.

Cultivation Secrets!