My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

Little Si blinked his big eyes, seemingly realizing that in his excitement he had let slip some of the vocabulary his sixteenth brother had taught him.

The little girl reacted very quickly.

She immediately dropped her playful, amused look, obediently crossed her hands in front of her, and raised a smile sweeter than honey.

"Father!" Little Sizi called out sweetly, as if the person who had just called "Your Majesty" was not her at all.

Li Shimin looked helpless and bewildered.

He recalled how, ever since he entered the courtyard, his sweet little girl had been frantically stirring things up and fanning the flames.

The Tang emperor suddenly realized the truth.

Without a doubt, this is definitely another example of that scoundrel Li Chen's wicked teaching! He's turned a perfectly well-behaved princess into someone full of scheming and evil schemes!

Empress Zhangsun stood by the door, utterly helpless, and held her forehead with her hand.

She looked at her adorable yet mischievous little daughter and sighed.

This girl spends all her time at the Prince of Qin's mansion, following Chen'er around, and she's becoming more and more unruly.

"The traitor!"

Li Shimin finally found the culprit.

He strode aggressively to the rocking chair and slammed his hand on the small square table, making the fruit plate bounce around.

"Look what you've done!"

Li Shimin pointed at Li Chen's nose, furious.

"You've turned a perfectly good Tang Dynasty princess into a female bandit! You've even learned to sow discord and kick someone when they're down!"

"And the Crown Prince! The heir apparent spends all day hammering trees—what kind of behavior is this!"

Li Chen lazily spat out the sunflower seed shells from his mouth.

He didn't even lift his eyelids, just rolled his eyes dramatically.

"You don't know anything."

Li Chen picked up his teacup to moisten his throat and retorted without any politeness.

"That's called balancing work and rest. Your lousy memorials are all you do every day, asking for money and complaining about being poor. How can that compare to the fun of cultivating immortality?"

"Besides," Li Chen said with a wicked smile, glancing at Li Shimin.

"It's just 'Your Majesty,' right? I bet you were angry just now, but when you heard that title, you probably felt pretty powerful and satisfied, didn't you?"

"You...you're talking nonsense!"

Li Shimin's secret pleasure point was touched, his old face turned red, and he immediately jumped up and cursed.

"I am the Heavenly Khan! What emperor? That's just something common street thugs say!"

The two immediately started fighting each other in the yard like cockfighting, shouting and yelling.

At this time.

Standing under the old locust tree, Li Chengqian finally put away his fist.

He turned his head and looked at Xiao Sizi, who was hiding to the side and snickering, with a look of deep resentment.

His Highness the Crown Prince sighed, walked up to the little girl, squatted down helplessly, and gently pinched the little girl's soft, chubby cheeks.

"Sizi!" Li Chengqian was on the verge of tears.

"Is the Crown Prince usually good to you?"

Little Sizi nodded without hesitation: "Okay! Brother Crown Prince will bring me candied hawthorns!"

Li Chengqian pointed at himself in utter despair: "Then why did you betray my brother, the Crown Prince, just now? Do you know that Father Emperor almost wanted to beat me just now!"

Little Sizi playfully stuck out its pink little tongue.

She made a cute face at Li Chengqian, then, with a grin, she strode over to Empress Zhangsun's side like a gust of wind and buried her head in her mother's arms.

Empress Zhangsun affectionately stroked her daughter's hair.

She smiled helplessly and gently poked Xiao Sizi's smooth forehead with her finger.

"You," Empress Zhangsun said gently, scolding him.

"From now on, stop learning those weird and strange things from your sixteenth brother. You, a dignified little princess, are turning into a little rascal."

The little girl giggled in her mother's arms, completely ignoring what she was saying.

In the center of the courtyard.

Li Shimin and Li Chen finally got tired of arguing.

Li Shimin, his mouth dry, gulped down a large cup of cold tea and turned to look at Li Chengqian, who was still standing there like a wooden stake.

"Alright! Stop embarrassing yourself in public!"

Li Shimin waved his hand impatiently.

"Hurry back to the Eastern Palace with me! If you don't finish reviewing that mountain of memorials today, you won't be getting any sleep tonight!"

Li Chengqian did not move.

He simply stood there quietly, a very subtle smile playing on his lips.

"call--"

A gentle breeze blew in along the courtyard wall.

The wind wasn't strong; it just gently brushed past the century-old locust tree with its lush branches and leaves in the center of the courtyard.

next moment.

A series of teeth-grinding, rapid "crackling" sounds suddenly came from inside the tree trunk.

Li Shimin had just turned around to leave when he heard this sound, and subconsciously stopped and looked back.

In his line of sight, the old tree that had just been lightly punched by the Crown Prince, which didn't even seem to have broken its bark, suddenly developed countless fine cracks on its trunk.

Followed by.

Under the horrified, wide-eyed gazes of Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun.

"boom!"

A dull thud.

The century-old tree, which required two people to encircle, actually exploded from the inside.

The entire tree trunk instantly turned into countless tiny wood chips and dust, which scattered all over the ground.

The once towering tree canopy lost its support and collapsed with a crash, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Everyone in the courtyard was stunned.

Li Shimin opened his mouth wide, and the teacup in his hand fell uncontrollably to the ground and shattered.

He finally understood that the seemingly soft punch had actually injected violent internal energy into the tree, completely crushing its vitality and structure into powder!

Such terrifying destructive power, if it hits a person, even if they are wearing the most sturdy Mingguang armor, their internal organs will instantly turn into a puddle of mud!

"Gulp."

Li Shimin swallowed hard.

He looked at Li Chengqian, who stood tall and straight amidst the flying wood chips, and his eyes instantly turned from shock to fanatical crimson.

The Tang emperor rubbed his hands together, then suddenly turned his head and stared intently at Li Chen, who was lying in the rocking chair, like a hungry wolf eyeing its prey.

Li Chen felt a chill run down his spine from that look and quickly covered his chest with his hands.

"Holy crap! Harden, what are you trying to do?"