Du Yuanying had supported Emperor Muzong's brother Li Cong () the Prince of Shen as emperor, rather than Emperor Jingzong. As a result, Li Shen was exiled and demoted to be the military advisor to the prefect of Duan Prefecture (端州, in modern Zhaoqing, Guangdong). Emperor Jingzong further agreed to put Li Shen to death, but after a defense of Li Shen submitted by the imperial scholar Wei Chuhou, Emperor Jingzong discovered past petitions in which Li Shen had sought to have him made crown prince. Emperor Jingzong, while not recalling Li Shen back to Chang'an, did not further carry out actions against Li Shen. In 825, when Emperor Jingzong issued a general pardon, the text of the general pardon initially indicated that those exiled officials who had been moved closer to Chang'an previously could be again moved closer – without stating that those who had not been could be as well. Wei submitted an objection, pointing out that the text had been written in the way that it was because Li Fengji was apprehensive that Li Shen would be moved closer to the capital. Emperor Jingzong had the text rewritten so that those who had not been moved closer to Chang'an before could be moved, and Li Shen was thereafter made the secretary general of Jiang Prefecture (江州, in modern Jiujiang, Jiangxi). He was eventually made the prefect of Chu Prefecture (滁洲, in modern Chuzhou, Anhui) and then of Shou Prefecture (壽州, in modern Lu'an, Anhui), and then advisor to the crown prince, with his office at the eastern capital Luoyang. During Emperor Wenzong's reign In 833, during the reign of Emperor Jingzong's brother and successor Emperor Wenzong, when Li Deyu was chancellor, Li Shen was made the governor of Zhedong Circuit (浙東, headquartered in modern Shaoxing, Zhejiang) and the prefect of its capital Yue Prefecture (). In 835, with their political adversary Li Zongmin as chancellor as well, Li Deyu was removed from his chancellor position due to the collaboration between Li Zongmin and Emperor Wenzong's close associates Li Xun and Zheng Zhu; Li Shen was subsequently made an advisor to Emperor Wenzong's son and crown prince Li Yong, again with his office at Luoyang. In 836, with the Li Faction figure Zheng Tan as chancellor, Li Shen was made the mayor of Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., the Luoyang region). Later in the year, he was made the