There is a beast in the bright morning.

Chapter 328 The Request of the Clone

In front of the main hall.

Li Shimin's gaze swept over his eldest son, and a complex expression appeared on his face.

why!

Why has my eldest son, who was once gentle, kind, frugal, cautious, and benevolent, turned into this person who indulges in music and is unrestrained and dissolute?

Why would that once filial son, the son whom he regarded as the heir to the empire, embark on the path of forming cliques, plotting rebellion, and so on?

"Chengqian, do you know your crime!"

Li Shimin's cold voice slowly rang out in the hall, his gaze fixed on Li Chengqian, as if trying to see regret on his face.

However, Li Shimin was soon disappointed, as he could not discern anything from Li Chengqian's face.

All I could feel was that Li Chengqian's face was very calm at this moment, calmer than ever before, a calmness that was somewhat frightening.

After a long while, Li Chengqian suddenly smiled, cupped his hands to Li Shimin above him, and said, "Your subject is innocent."

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin's face visibly stiffened: "Innocent?!"

Immediately afterwards, an inexplicable anger surged into Li Shimin's heart.

But before Li Shimin could react, Li Chengqian's voice rang out again in the hall.

"Your Majesty, I am merely imitating you, Father, and ascending to the throne of the Tang Dynasty through the Xuanwu Gate Succession Law."

"If I am wrong, it is because I am not as ruthless as Father. If I were to bring my brothers' heads to Father today, what would Father do?"

"Hahaha... What a fine example of imitating me! What a fine Xuanwu Gate inheritance law! Chengqian, you are truly my good crown prince!!!"

Li Shimin couldn't help but laugh out loud, clearly on the verge of losing his temper.

The thing he least wanted to mention in his life was the Xuanwu Gate incident.

But this rebellious son actually said it openly and even dared to imitate the Xuanwu Gate incident.

Looking at Li Chengqian standing below the stage, a hint of hesitation flashed in Li Shimin's eyes, but he quickly dismissed that slight hesitation, leaving only anger and disappointment in his eyes.

Li Shimin shouted sternly, "Chengqian, do you really think I dare not depose you from your position as crown prince?"

"Your position as Crown Prince was established by Your Majesty, so naturally Your Majesty can depose him if you wish. I have nothing to say about that."

Facing the enraged Li Shimin, Li Chengqian wore a calm and composed smile, as if he didn't care about Li Shimin's questioning at all.

As an emperor, Li Shimin naturally possessed the suspicious nature often associated with emperors. It was precisely Li Chengqian's fearless behavior that made Li Shimin think a lot.

An eerie silence fell over the hall. Li Shimin, worried that Li Chengqian might have a backup plan, hurriedly ordered his men to go out and investigate.

Li Chengqian naturally saw through his adoptive father's thoughts and was equally pleased, as it gave him time to wait for someone, no, to wait for a beast.

Soon, the men Li Shimin sent out returned, but upon learning that there were no Li Chengqian's men outside the main hall and that there was nothing unusual in the Eastern Palace, Li Shimin's doubts were not dispelled; instead, he became even more worried.

"Hehe, Father, you're afraid."

Faced with Li Chengqian's affirmative gaze, Li Shimin wanted to say, "You're talking nonsense! How could I possibly be afraid?"

But Li Shimin couldn't bring himself to speak; the calmer Li Chengqian remained, the more confused Li Shimin became.

Even though the Zichen Palace was already surrounded by his Xuanjia Army, and Li Chengqian had no soldiers at all, Li Shimin's sixth sense was frantically warning him.

Li Chengqian must have something to rely on for his actions, otherwise how could he be so fearless? But where does his confidence come from? The Duke of Zhao? The Duke of Zheng? The Duke of Liang? Or someone else?

For a moment, the images of several important ministers flashed through Li Shimin's mind, but he rejected them one by one.

It wasn't that Li Shimin was boasting, but rather that he was confident that as long as he was still alive, even if his important ministers had ulterior motives, they would have absolutely no chance of succeeding.

At this moment, Li Chengqian seemed to have received some news, and his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, was completely relieved. He no longer needed to pretend to be calm and composed as before, because now he could truly relax.

"Father, you wanted to know why I rebelled, so today I will tell you why."

Ignoring Li Shimin's surprised and suspicious gaze, Li Chengqian calmly looked at Li Shimin and said, "Father, you are old and it is time for you to abdicate."

"What did you say?" Li Shimin was too shocked to understand Li Chengqian's words for a moment.

Li Chengqian remained calm and composed, and said again, "As the Crown Prince, I will rule the world sooner or later. Father, you should abdicate early to avoid damaging our relationship."

"Li Chengqian, who gave you the audacity to rebel!"

Li Shimin trembled with rage. This time he heard clearly that this rebellious son harbored treacherous intentions and actually dared to attempt to force the emperor to abdicate.

However, the next moment, Li Shimin was stunned. A golden light suddenly appeared in the hall, and a dark shadow could be vaguely seen in the golden light.

As the golden light faded, Li Shimin could see the shadowy figure clearly. It looked like a dog, but had a golden horn on its head.

It is not very big, only about half a meter tall, and its whole body looks furry. It has black circular patterns on its thighs, and its tail is fluffy and black, which seems to shine with golden light when viewed from a distance.

The visitor was none other than Hao Chen, the very person Li Chengqian had been longing for.

After learning about the clone from Tianlu, Haochen had no choice but to reluctantly give up the Heavenly Dog he had acquired and deal with the clone first.

However, although Li Shimin was Li Chengqian's father, he did not know Haochen.

Therefore, when Li Shimin saw Hao Chen suddenly appear, he did not lower his guard at all because of the other party's small size.

On the contrary, his intuition told him that the other party was dangerous, extremely dangerous.

At the same time, Li Chengqian walked past Li Shimin and headed towards Haochen.

However, the next moment, Li Shimin suddenly stepped forward, grabbed Li Chengqian's hand, and used his own body to shield Li Chengqian.

“Chengqian is in danger. Father will hold him off for a while, so you should take the opportunity to run away.”

Li Chengqian was stunned for a moment after hearing Li Shimin's words, then felt a warmth in his heart, as if this adopted father wasn't so bad after all.

"Father, rest assured, he has come to see me."

Li Chengqian reassured Li Shimin and then continued walking towards Haochen.

During this time, Li Shimin tried to pull Li Chengqian back several times, but after seeing Hao Chen's shattered golden eyes, he felt an unprecedented pressure and was forced to stop.

"My lord, you've finally remembered me! I'm so touched. Let me hug you."

Amidst Li Shimin's astonished, puzzled, and shocked gaze, Li Chengqian scooped up Haochen and rubbed his chin against the other's head repeatedly.

For some reason, watching Li Chengqian's actions, Li Shimin thought of the concubines in his palace who kept pets, and it seemed that they liked to pet their pets like that.

"Alright, that's enough. You've got no manners. I'm still your original self, after all."

Hao Chen was speechless. How could his clones be so bold as to try to flirt with his original self?

However, considering that Li Chengqian is essentially my alter ego, I'll let him touch me; I'll just treat it as a massage.

With a burst of strength, Hao Chen jumped back to the ground from Li Chengqian's arms. After shaking himself off, Hao Chen explained the purpose of his visit.

When Li Chengqian heard that Hao Chen intended to take him back, he turned to look at Li Shimin and fell silent.

Although Li Shimin had not yet figured out Hao Chen's intentions, judging from his conversation with Cheng Qian, it seemed that he wanted to take Cheng Qian away.

"No, I don't care who you are, you can't take my son away." Faced with the possibility of Li Chengqian leaving, Li Shimin also mustered his courage.

Immediately afterwards, Li Shimin, like a mother hen protecting her chicks, shielded Li Chengqian behind him: "Chengqian, don't be afraid, your father will definitely protect you and won't let him take you away."

“Father, I…” Li Chengqian opened his mouth, but didn’t know how to explain.

As if he knew about the clone's predicament, Hao Chen took the initiative to say, "Alright, you can stay here for now. After all, with your current status as the crown prince, you can't gather too much dragon energy and national fortune, so it won't be of much help to me."

As he spoke, Hao Chen prepared to return. Just as he himself said, Li Chengqian, this alter ego, was still the Crown Prince, and an unfavored one at that.

Under such circumstances, no matter how powerful the Tang Dynasty was in this world, Li Chengqian would not be able to gather a large amount of the Tang Dynasty's national fortune.

Furthermore, after Li Shimin has seen his own abilities, he probably won't think about deposing Li Chengqian from his position as crown prince, but will instead ensure that Li Chengqian remains firmly in that position.

Therefore, after some consideration, Hao Chen felt that continuing to let Li Chengqian roam freely would be more cost-effective.

Instead of wasting his time, he should be thinking about whether the tengu in the deer shop has woken up yet, and what excuse he should use to pet it.

Just as Hao Chen was about to leave, Li Chengqian suddenly had a flash of inspiration, stepped forward to stop Hao Chen, and told him his idea.

Hao Chen was somewhat surprised, not expecting that Li Chengqian's clone actually wanted to create a cultivation version of the Tang Dynasty and asked him to help activate the spiritual energy revival.

"In that case, I'll lend you another hand."