Tang Dynasty: Father, if you don't rebel, I will!

"Your Highness, Prince Wei!!!"

Everyone was so frightened by his actions that their bodies went limp and they all knelt down.

However, upon seeing Li Tai, who appeared to be mentally unstable, Li Chengqian immediately and decisively turned his gaze to the Wei King's personal guards who were in another hot air balloon basket.

"If you dare to drop that cotton, I will slaughter your entire clan!"

The voice was cold and menacing, causing the Prince of Wei's personal guards, who had witnessed the Crown Prince's ruthless side during the persecution of Buddhism in Chang'an, to shudder as memories flooded back.

He quickly retreated back to the middle of the hanging basket, clutching the cotton bundle tightly in his arms.

His face was deathly pale.

If the crown prince said he would kill his entire clan, then it is absolutely impossible for any member of his clan to be left destitute and alone in the mortal realm.

Seeing this, Li Chengqian breathed a slight sigh of relief, then glared fiercely at Li Tai.

"Li Tai! You think you can just jump if you want? You want to prove what you're thinking? Dream on!"

really.

Despite others crying and pleading, "King Wei, don't jump!" and "Quickly save King Wei!", Li Tai remained unmoved.

Li Chengqian's simple order forbidding his personal guards from throwing cotton caused Li Tai, who was still in a daze, to suddenly shiver in the cold wind.

Look down.

"Oh my god!!!"

He let out a cry of surprise, amidst the cries of the crowd below, and narrowly escaped losing his footing.

He fell into the hanging basket.

"Aren't you going to pull this bastard down right now?!"

Li Chengqian cursed angrily and was the first to rush forward. He grabbed the rope below and used his waist and feet to pull the hot air balloon downwards.

After everyone busied themselves, Li Tai finally landed slowly, and then...

"Ouch! Brother, please, please don't hit me!"

"Ahhh! Brother, I was wrong! Please don't hit me! Please don't hit me... Not here, brother, let's go somewhere else!"

Li Chengqian was truly enraged, and he lashed the man's body with his riding whip.

They beat the latter until he screamed in pain, but that still didn't satisfy them.

If this kid hadn't been quick to react and arrived in time, by the time the palace received the news, all that would have been left was the task of collecting the body.

Thinking of this, Li Chengqian whipped his horse wildly once more.

When Li Zhi arrived from the palace in a state of utter despair, he found his fourth brother lying motionless on the ground, covered in blood.

"Fourth Brother~~~"

The trembling voice, carrying a drawn-out sob, came from Li Zhi's mouth even before he dismounted.

"Stop crying! Stop crying! You're not dead yet!"

Li Chengqian cursed angrily.

Li Zhi then came to his senses and discovered that his elder brother was also there.

He dismounted and quickly approached his brother. He saw that the injuries on his fourth brother's body were clearly caused by the emperor's whipping. He was lying on the ground, completely unable to move due to the pain.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Brother, what happened? Someone from the palace just came to report that Fourth Brother is contemplating suicide..."

Li Zhi asked, still shaken and puzzled.

Li Chengqian snorted coldly, glancing coldly at the troublesome fellow lying on the ground, too lazy to explain.

"Ask him. Go find the carriage and hurry to the palace. If the Empress Dowager and the others find out about this, they'll be very worried..."

Immediately realizing what was happening, Li Zhi hurriedly summoned a carriage, lifted his fourth brother, who was grimacing and crying out in pain, onto the carriage, and rushed towards the palace.

Empress Zhangsun had indeed received the news.

However, she was somewhat skeptical. Upon hearing that the Ninth Prince had ridden a fast horse out of the palace, she felt a shadow of gloom and worry. She sent people to inquire while she sat restlessly in the Lizheng Hall.

When Crown Prince Li Chengqian returned with his two younger brothers, Empress Zhangsun breathed a sigh of relief.

Since Gao Ming is here, nothing major must have happened...

Seeing Li Tai, who was covered in bruises and whose princely robes were now tattered shreds, Empress Zhangsun couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache. This was her own flesh and blood...

"Gao Ming, what... what happened? I heard that Qing Que was contemplating suicide?"

As she spoke, she glanced at Li Tai, who was still grimacing and cursing, telling the palace servants and eunuchs to lift him up more gently. He didn't seem like a cripple who wanted to commit suicide.

Li Chengqian snorted coldly and recounted what had just happened at the air force base.

Empress Zhangsun gasped in shock.

Seeing his mother looking nervous, Li Tai forced a smile.

"Mother, these injuries are minor. My brother was only doing this for my own good. I don't blame him..."

Li Chengqian rolled his eyes and turned his back.

The next moment, Li Tai's screams rang out again.

"Blame your imperial brother?! You still have the nerve to tell me not to blame your imperial brother?! Huh?!"

"Ahhh, Mother, please don't hit me! It hurts! I'm injured! My body is covered in... Ahhh!"

"You've really made me proud! What are you doing up there? Why can't someone else do it? Why do you, the Prince of Wei, have to risk your life yourself?!"

The feather duster in her hand left afterimages as she swung it. Empress Zhangsun, who had always been seen as gentle, virtuous, and kind in everyone's hearts, was finally shattered into pieces amidst the screams of the King of Wei.

"If your elder brother hadn't stopped you today, would you really have jumped?!"

"Do you know how the world will view your royal brother now that you, the dignified King of Wei, have committed suicide?!"

Consort Yin, Consort Yang, and other concubines of the imperial harem rushed to the scene upon hearing the news.

Seeing Li Tai whipped beyond recognition, everyone gasped in shock. The whip marks all over his body were already frightening enough, but the Empress had also swung the feather duster, leaving afterimages.

"Sister, sister, calm down, calm down, don't get sick from getting angry."

"We dare not fight anymore, or the King of Wei will truly be crippled..."

Amidst everyone's persuasion, Empress Zhangsun finally let out a cold snort, threw the bent feather duster in her hand on the ground, and glared fiercely at Li Tai, whose face was streaked with tears.

They had him carried into the Lizheng Hall.

"Hehehe...Brother, brother..."

Little Sizi looked at her fourth brother, Li Tai, who was beaten so badly. Still confused and not understanding what had happened, she crawled up to Li Tai and poked his wounds with her little hands.

The pain was so intense that Li Tai's eyes rolled back and his body convulsed.

Little Si Zi, however, thought that her fourth brother was playing a funny game with her...

After receiving a loving beating from his elder brother and a severe beating from his mother, Li Tai was left wrapped up like a mummy after the imperial physician treated him.

This made Little Sizi extremely happy.

Li Tai lay on the bed, looking utterly dejected and on the verge of tears.

Li Zhi, also curious, came over.

"Fourth Brother, I heard you've had an epiphany. What have you figured out? Do you know how to reincarnate and cultivate to become an immortal?"

Upon hearing these words, Empress Zhangsun, who was sitting at the table in the hall, snorted angrily.

"Cultivating immortality? Shame on your ancestors!"