My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

The purple-robed youth kicked wildly in mid-air, his expensive soft-soled brocade boots stomping on Li Chen's gray-white robe without leaving a single mark.

He gripped Li Chen's hand tightly with both hands, his nails curling and bleeding, but he couldn't budge that iron-like hand an inch.

As his throat was squeezed more and more, the blood vessels in the young man's eyes quickly merged into one. His originally purplish cheeks began to turn ashen blue, and his tongue protruded uncontrollably.

The onlookers remained deathly silent.

Just as the young man rolled his eyes and was about to completely faint,

"Tick-tock".

A faint sound of water was heard.

Immediately afterwards, a stream of warm yellow liquid flowed down the young man's silk trouser leg, dripping onto the bluestone slab.

A pungent smell of urine instantly filled the sweltering air.

Li Chen frowned, a hint of extreme disgust flashing in his eyes.

"Huh..."

He released his fingers as if he had been electrocuted, and flung his arm outwards with a sudden movement.

"Bang."

The purple-robed youth crashed to the ground like a lump of mud, landing right in the puddle of his own urine.

He clutched his neck, making violent, dry heaving sounds like a broken bellows, and scrambled under the carriage, vomiting and desperately trying to shrink back. He looked at Li Chen as if he were a man-eating monster.

Li Chen pulled a tattered cloth from his sleeve and disgustedly wiped his right hand, which had just choked the other person's neck.

"Is this the kind of upbringing the Wang family of Taiyuan—making people wet their pants in the street?"

He casually threw the rag at the young man's face.

The voice just fell.

A series of clanging sounds came from the street corner.

"Get out of the way! You're all on official business at Wuhoupu! Get out of the way!"

A group of military officers patrolling the streets of Chang'an, clad in leather armor and carrying swords at their waists, rudely pushed through the crowd. The leading captain, with a fierce-looking face, strode into the arena, his right hand gripping the hilt of his sword.

The captain first glanced at the broken water-fire stick on the ground, then at the two wicked servants whose fates were unknown. When his gaze fell on the Taiyuan Wang clan emblem on the carriage, and the foul-smelling purple-robed youth huddled under the carriage, his expression instantly changed.

"Young Master Wang!"

The captain rushed over, intending to reach out and help, but the stench of urine made him pause.

The young man in purple robes grasped at the captain's leather armor as if it were a lifeline, his knuckles turning white from the force. He looked up, his face covered in snot, tears, and dirt, and screamed as he pointed at Li Chen.

"Kill him! Kill him right now! He committed a violent act in the street, beating and killing my Wang family servant! Lock him up and throw him in the death row! I want him skinned alive!"

The captain turned his head, his cold gaze fixed on Li Chen.

An old man with white hair, wearing a coarse cloth robe and carrying an oil paper package in his hand.

There was no waist tag, and no attendants.

"Beatling a scion of a powerful family in the street, seriously injuring and killing him." The captain drew his sword, the tip pointing directly at Li Chen's nose. "Guards, bring the iron shackles! Lock him up!"

Several fierce-looking warriors immediately unfastened the iron chains and thirty-pound wooden shackles hanging from their waists, the clinking of the metal making a piercing sound, and strode toward Li Chen.

Li Chen did not move.

He stood still, his mind racing through his thoughts.

Hands-on?

This is the West Market, surrounded by ordinary people. If true energy were to erupt, these dozens of martial masters would instantly turn into a pile of minced meat.

But what happens after they are killed? The Tang Dynasty's state apparatus will immediately lock down this area.

Escape by stealth is easy, but now that he's in the guise of an old white-haired immortal, suddenly disappearing in broad daylight could easily lead to trouble if the Hundred Cavalry's spies track him down to a side hall in the northwest corner of the palace.

More importantly, he was too lazy to move.

Anyway, this body in the shape-shifting mask is completely immune to ordinary torture instruments. Go sit in the prison, where there's food and drink and no one to bother you. You can also see how anxious Li Shimin will be if he doesn't see you tomorrow.

Thinking of this, Li Chen's lips curled into a strange smile.

Instead of dodging, he proactively extended his hands.

"Tighten it." The old man's hoarse voice carried a hint of mockery.

The guard holding the shackles was stunned for a moment, seemingly never having seen such a cooperative prisoner before. He sneered and snapped the heavy wooden shackles around Li Chen's neck, then wrapped the thick iron chain around his wrist twice, locking it tightly.

With thirty pounds of weight pressing on his shoulders, Li Chen didn't even flinch.

"Go! Take them back to the Chang'an County jail! Keep them under strict guard!" The captain waved his hand and sheathed his sword.

Two martial arts masters shoved Li Chen's shoulders.

Li Chen followed the force and walked forward. Under his wide gray-white sleeves, his fingers gently pinched the still warm mutton flatbread. With a thought, he sent it directly into the still space of his storage bag.

We'll give it to Xiao Sizi when we get back; it'll be warm.

……

The Chang'an County Government Office is an underground death row.

A strong musty smell mixed with the stench of blood wafted towards us.

The torches on the walls crackled as they burned cheap grease, casting an intermittent glow on the narrow corridor. From the cells on either side, the occasional sounds of chains being dragged and suppressed groans of pain drifted out.

The jailer pushed open the iron bars of the deepest cell.

"Go inside, you old fool. You've offended the Wang family, so you'll just rot away here for the rest of your life."

Li Chen stepped over the threshold.

The cell contained only a stone bed covered with blackened straw, and in the corner sat a foul-smelling wooden barrel. Two enormous rats were gnawing on a bone from some unknown animal when they heard the noise and darted into a crack in the wall.

"Bang!"

The iron gate slammed shut and locked with a large brass padlock. The sound of the jailer's footsteps faded into the distance.

Li Chen stood still and stretched his neck.

He gripped the iron chains fastened to his wrists with both hands, using less than 10% of his strength with his thumbs and forefingers.

"Creak—"

The iron shackles, as thick as a baby's arm, were crushed into dust by him, like damp mud. The heavy wooden yoke, now unsecured, fell to the ground with a thud and broke in two.

Li Chen kicked aside the broken pieces of wood on the ground, walked to the blackened stone bed, and sat down cross-legged.

I closed my eyes, and my breathing gradually became long and even.

The underground death row fell completely silent.

Meanwhile, outside the prison in Chang'an, time passed slowly amidst the tension.

One night passed.