My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

The next day, the sun was high in the sky.

Inside the Li Zheng Palace.

The ice basins in the main hall had been replaced three times, but the air was still so stuffy that it was hard to breathe.

Empress Zhangsun leaned against the bright yellow cushions. Her cheeks, which had regained some color the night before, were now flushed with an extremely unnatural bluish-gray hue.

Her breathing became short and rapid again, and with each inhale, there was a slight pulling sound deep in her throat.

Li Shimin stood before the bed, like a furious lion trapped in a cage, pacing back and forth incessantly.

"What time is it?"

Li Shimin suddenly stopped and stared intently at the chief eunuch standing in the corner.

"Your Majesty," the chief eunuch's voice trembled like a falling leaf, "it's...it's already noon."

Noon, 3:45.

Two hours have passed since the time set by the old sage yesterday.

"Where are the medicinal herbs? Where are the herbs I ordered prepared?"

"Your Majesty, the 120-year-old Purple Mountain ginseng and the finest earthworm gentian are all placed on the jade table in the outer hall exactly as the Immortal Master gave us yesterday, and the fire in the stove has been kept warm..."

Li Shimin grabbed the chief eunuch by the collar and lifted him up.

"Where is he?! Where is the old sage?! What did he say yesterday? Not a single day can be missed! If he misses even a quarter of an hour, the Empress will die! Two hours have passed now, tell me, where is he?!"

The chief eunuch was strangled so badly that his eyes rolled back and he kicked his legs desperately.

"Your Majesty, please calm down..." Empress Zhangsun spoke weakly from her bed, her voice barely audible.

Li Shimin released his grip as if he had been electrocuted, and the chief eunuch fell to the ground, scrambling to the side.

Li Shimin walked quickly to the bedside and held Empress Zhangsun's cold hand.

"Guanyinbi, don't be afraid, I will send people to find her right away. Even if we have to search every inch of the Tang Dynasty, I will bring the immortal back to you."

He turned his head, his eyes bloodshot as if they were about to bleed.

"Are all the Hundred Cavalrymen dead? Where is Li Junxian! Tell him to get in here and see me!"

The door was suddenly pushed open.

Li Junxian, the commander of the Hundred Cavalry, rushed into the main hall, still drenched in sweat, and knelt heavily on one knee on the bluestone bricks. The sound of his knee hitting the ground was particularly jarring in the deathly silent hall.

"His Majesty!"

Li Junxian's face was as white as paper, and he didn't even dare to lift his head.

"Did you find out?!" Li Shimin strode over and kicked Li Junxian in the shoulder.

Li Junxian was kicked and staggered, but he managed to withstand it and quickly regain his balance.

"Your Majesty, I dispatched three hundred secret guards to search every inn, Taoist temple, and Buddhist temple in Chang'an. Finally... finally, we found the immortal's whereabouts."

The frenzy in Li Shimin's eyes instantly turned into a glimmer of hope, and he grabbed Li Junxian's nail plate.

"Where? Where are the gods?"

Li Junxian's Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty, and cold sweat dripped from his forehead onto the floor tiles.

"In...in the underground death row of the Chang'an County Government."

The air inside the hall froze instantly.

Li Shimin's hand, which was gripping the armor plate, froze in mid-air, and his pupils contracted sharply.

"What...did you say?" Li Shimin's voice was so low it sounded like a dream, "Death row?"

"Yesterday at Shenshi (3-5 PM), the Immortal was buying sesame cakes at the West Market when a carriage belonging to the Wang family of Taiyuan rammed into him in the street. The Immortal did not kill him, but only broke the weapon of one of the Wang family's servants. The Wang family's son then summoned the patrolling guards, and on charges of 'committing murder in the street,' the Immortal was put in a thirty-pound cangue and imprisoned in the death row of the Chang'an County government. Now... now the Chang'an County Magistrate, Wang Quan, will personally interrogate him..."

Li Junxian rattled off the intelligence he had gathered at breakneck speed, and with each additional word he uttered, the murderous aura emanating from Li Shimin intensified.

"The Wang family of Taiyuan..."

Li Shimin released his grip and slowly straightened his body.

He didn't roar, nor did he throw anything. But Li Junxian, standing in front of him, felt as if he were facing an active volcano spewing lava.

"A county magistrate, and a powerful family's dog."

Li Shimin's chest heaved violently as he forced out a few words through gritted teeth.

"The divine being who saved my empress, my savior, has been put in a thirty-pound shackle and locked in a death row cell?"

Clang!

Li Shimin pulled out the Emperor's sword that was hanging on the palace pillar.

"Prepare the horses."

Li Shimin, sword in hand, strode out. With each step, killing intent solidified into tangible frost beneath his feet.

"Order the Xuanjia Army to mobilize one thousand heavy cavalry. Crown Prince Chengqian and Princess Changle will accompany me."

Li Shimin stepped out of the palace gate, the blinding sunlight falling on his sword blade, reflecting a scarlet light.

"If even a single tile is missing from the Chang'an County government office today, I will skin the entire Wang family of Taiyuan alive!"

……

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

The musty smell in the air was getting stronger.

Outside the prison cell stood a grand armchair. Wang Quan, the magistrate of Chang'an County, dressed in a green official robe, held a cup of cold tea and coldly watched the white-haired old man behind the iron bars.

The jailer stood to one side, holding a leather whip soaked in salt water.

Inside the cell, broken wooden shackles and iron chains lay silently on the floor.

Li Chen remained seated cross-legged on the stone bed, without even opening his eyes.

"You're quite tough, old man. You broke the shackles yourself? You've practiced some external martial arts?"

Wang Quan put down his teacup, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.

"I don't care if you're a charlatan or a martial arts master, if you've offended the Wang family, you have no chance of survival in Chang'an. Use torture! Break his arms and legs, sever his tendons first, to teach him a lesson!"

The jailer grinned maliciously, raised the leather whip soaked in salt water, and lashed it out in the air with a loud "crack".

He lifted his foot, ready to step into the cell.

Just as his leather boots were about to hit the ground.

"Boom—!"

The floor of the entire underground death row cell suddenly trembled violently.

Dust fell from the cracks in the wall. The torches hanging on the wall swayed violently.

The teacup in Wang Quan's hand was shaken off and fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.

"What's going on? Has the earth dragon turned over?" Wang Quan stood up in alarm, grabbing the armchair next to him for support.

"Rumble—rumble—"

The trembling didn't stop; instead, it grew more and more intense. It wasn't the sound of an earthquake; it was the resonating sound of countless heavy iron hooves pounding against the bluestone pavement with an extremely synchronized frequency.

The dull thud of hooves, mixed with the chilling roar of armor plates clashing, crashed down on the county government office like a black tsunami.

"Bang--!!!"

A deafening explosion rang out overhead.

That was the sound of the county government gate being smashed open by a battering ram.

Immediately afterwards, heavy, dense footsteps surged in through the underground passage, mixed with the scraping sounds of swords being drawn from their sheaths.

Wang Quan turned his head, his face pale, and looked at the entrance of the passage.

The light and shadow of the torches were violently distorted.

A tall, imposing figure, dressed in a casual robe embroidered with golden dragons, appeared at the end of the death row stairs like a demon, holding a fine steel longsword dripping with machine oil (sword-protecting oil) upside down in his hand.

Behind him were densely packed heavy cavalrymen in black armor, their eyes hidden beneath their face shields.