My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

Not far away.

Little Sizi looked at Sixteenth Brother, who was squatting in the corner muttering to himself, his big eyes full of curiosity.

The little girl threw her ice crystal staff onto the stone table and ran over with her short legs.

She imitated Li Chen and found a small twig nearby.

Then, Xiao Sizi squatted down next to Li Chen, curling herself into a chubby little pink ball.

"Sixteenth Brother, what game are you playing? Si Zi wants to play too!"

As Xiao Sizi spoke, he imitated Li Chen's actions, poking the ground with a small twig.

She tilted her head, listening to the strange words Li Chen was muttering, and found it extremely interesting.

then.

In the backyard of the Qin Prince's mansion, a particularly comical and bizarre scene unfolded.

Two figures, one tall and one short, squatted side by side in the corner of the wall.

Li Chen stared blankly at the ground, a look of utter despair on his face: "Heh... a top-grade mutated ice spirit root..."

The little boy next to him chuckled and tapped the ground, mimicking the action with his childish, innocent, and cheerful voice.

"Heh... A top-grade ice spirit root... Heh..."

The little girl imitated him perfectly, even capturing the essence of Li Chen's utter despair in his "hehe."

Princess Chang Le, standing beside the white jade table, was completely bewildered as she watched the two of them, one big and one small, squatting in the corner and chuckling incessantly.

She had no idea what had happened.

"Sixteenth Brother? Sizi? What...what are you doing?"

Princess Chang Le couldn't bear to watch any longer. She lifted her skirt, carefully walked around the icy puddles on the ground, and prepared to go over and help the brother and sister up to find out what was going on.

"Bang!"

Just then, the moon gate in the backyard of the Prince of Qin's mansion was pushed open from the outside.

"Hahaha! Chen'er, I brought your mother and brother to see you after the morning court session today!"

It was accompanied by a hearty, unrestrained laugh.

Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty walked in with a majestic and imposing gait, dressed in ordinary clothes.

Following behind him was Empress Zhangsun with a gentle smile, and Crown Prince Li Chengqian, who was carrying two jars of imperial wine, his face flushed, and his muscles bulging out of his clothes.

Since Li Chen moved into the Prince of Qin's residence, Li Shimin and his family have clearly treated it as their private palace. They even skipped the formalities of announcing their arrival at the gate and simply walked straight in.

"Huh? Why is it so cold in this yard?!"

As soon as Li Shimin stepped into the backyard, he shuddered.

He looked at the flowers and plants in the yard frozen into ice sculptures, and the white frost covering the ground, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

But soon, his gaze was drawn to the strange sight at the corner of the wall.

"What's going on here?"

Li Shimin stared wide-eyed at Li Chen and Xiao Sizi, who were squatting in the corner frantically stabbing the ground and muttering incantations, his face full of astonishment.

Empress Zhangsun also stepped forward with a puzzled look and pulled Princess Changle, who was standing to the side at a loss.

"Lizhi, what's wrong with your sixteenth brother and Sizi? Why are they suddenly squatting on the ground playing in the mud?"

Princess Chang Le looked aggrieved, and her eyes were even a little red.

"Mother, I don't know either."

Chang Le pointed to the ancient spirit-testing plate in the center of the table, "Just now, Sixteenth Brother took out something called a 'spirit-testing plate' and said he wanted to test what kind of spiritual root we had."

"Sizi pressed it, and a faint light appeared. Sixteenth Brother even praised her. But when I pressed it, the plate suddenly emitted a blinding blue light, freezing the entire courtyard."

Chang Le felt increasingly guilty as she spoke, "Then... my sixteenth brother didn't say a word, he just walked to the corner and squatted down, ending up like this. Have I really caused a terrible disaster?"

Upon hearing Chang Le's description.

Li Shimin, Empress Zhangsun, and Li Chengqian looked at each other in bewilderment.

Li Chengqian put down the wine jar in his hand, strode to the corner of the wall, grabbed Li Chen by the back of his collar, and pulled this "True Immortal Protector of the Nation" up from the ground like a chicken.

"Sixteenth Brother, what are you doing, a dignified Golden Core cultivator, squatting in the corner like a mushroom?"

Li Chengqian looked at his lifeless face with curiosity, "What exactly happened? What was the result of the test on Chang Le's spiritual root that scared you like this?"

Li Chen was being carried by Li Chengqian like a salted fish that had lost its dreams.

He turned his head and glanced at Li Shimin and the others, whose faces were full of thirst for knowledge, and then at Princess Chang Le, whose face was full of guilt and whose beauty was breathtaking.

He took a deep breath, feeling as if a lump of blood was still stuck in his chest.

"What was the result?"

Li Chen gritted his teeth, his voice filled with an indescribable grief and indignation.

"The result is that the Princess of the Great Tang Dynasty before you is a once-in-a-millennium talent, someone who can sweep through everything in her path simply by cultivating, someone even the heavens would fight to feed—a top-grade mutated ice spirit root!"

"Her talent is more than ten thousand times greater than someone like me who relies on arduous training and external resources!"

This statement came out.

The entire backyard fell into a deathly silence in an instant.

Li Chengqian gasped, staring in disbelief at his usually gentle and frail younger sister.

Empress Zhangsun covered her mouth, her eyes blazing with undisguised ecstasy. Her own daughter was actually a once-in-a-millennium cultivation prodigy?!

Princess Chang Le herself was completely stunned.

She never imagined that what she thought was a terrible disaster would actually be a heaven-defying opportunity that would make even immortals jealous!

Only Li Shimin.

After a brief moment of shock, the Great Tang Khan's eyes instantly lit up like two searchlights.

He turned his head sharply and looked at Li Chen, who was being held in Li Chengqian's hand and had a constipated expression on his face.

A particularly wicked yet delighted smile quickly spread across Li Shimin's face.

"Yo."

Li Shimin walked up to Li Chen with his hands behind his back and a measured gait.

He looked Li Chen up and down, his tone full of sarcasm and smugness, as if he had finally gotten his revenge and was delivering a blow to Li Chen's face.

"I thought it was some earth-shattering event that could make our mighty and powerful guardian immortal of the Tang Dynasty hide in a corner and fuss over something so wronged."

Li Shimin stretched out his finger and poked Li Chen's shoulder twice, his smile brighter than a summer sunflower.

"So it was because she saw how talented her elder sister was, and she felt unbalanced and became so jealous that she broke down?"

Li Shimin raised his head and let out a loud laugh that echoed through the sky.

"Hahaha! Chen'er, Chen'er, you've finally met your match!"

"It seems this talent for cultivation is inherited from my excellent bloodline. Lizhi perfectly inherited my unparalleled genius. As for you..."

Li Shimin deliberately dragged out the last syllable, his eyes filled with mockery.

"With your poor health, you were probably switched at birth at the Imperial Hospital, weren't you?"