The Great Sage's Holy Son

When the old emperor arrived at the academy, he was already on the verge of breaking through to the Spirit Essence realm.

That was perfect. He could escort Han San back to Suotuo City. Old Mu wasn't there, so he could sneak into the village and investigate whether the Jade Little Sister who had poisoned his right leg bone ten years ago was there.

Soon afterward, the old emperor hurried to Suotuo City.

He would deceive King of Pirates.

He wanted to see Bibi's son, and the child who had taken the Immortal Herb.

Now that the matter had been settled, there was no need to worry about Tang Ritian using his strength to bully the weak.

As for spirit power, Bibi was probably no match for Tang Ritian.

But Tang Ritian wasn't alone. If he could find a way to kill him, Han San would have one less obstacle to overcome.

Tang Ritian wouldn't dare risk his own son's life.

He was only going back to Suotuo City. Afterward, he would join the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy.

No matter whether it was the old emperor or King of Pirates, both would be able to enjoy a drink together.

King of Pirates rested his hand on Tang Qinghe's shoulder and smiled. "If that's the case, Qinghe, I'll go with you."

The old emperor stood to one side, watching silently. He could tell that his rival had made his move.

But contrary to everyone's expectations, Tang Qinghe refused. "There's no need. I'm only sneaking back for a short visit. If my enemies find out, I'm afraid they'll put you in danger."

"Enemies? What do you mean? Do they want to kill you? Let me tell you, I'm the one who killed them. I'll take care of them for you." King of Pirates was furious to hear that someone wanted to kill the woman he had already decided would be his. His eyes flashed with murderous intent.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear... Tang Qinghe smiled to herself. Her expression remained calm as she said, "King of Pirates, that won't be necessary. One of my enemies is Jade Little Sister, the eldest son of the Azure Dragon Clan's patriarch. The other might be Haotian's Ghost Shadow."

"Ah—" King of Pirates was momentarily stunned.

Jade Little Sister didn't worry him. After all, that fellow had already been expelled from the Azure Dragon Clan.

Even if she killed him, the Azure Dragon Tyrant wouldn't know.

And even if he did find out, he wouldn't dare do anything to her.

Unless, that was, he deliberately wanted to make the whole Azure Dragon Clan his enemy and wouldn't rest until one side was dead.

But Tang Qinghe was in the Haotian Sect, where she had killed Bibi. Though she was unharmed, she surely wasn't someone to trifle with.

King of Pirates asked, "Tell me, how did you offend Haotian?"

Tang Qinghe chuckled, wearing an expression that said it was no big deal. "It's true that I offended his son. I'll have to go back and apologize to him in person..."

Before she could continue, he quickly blurted out, "I'll go with you."

He would go with Tang San to apologize to Haotian, then head to Suotuo City. He could say he was there to help the elders of the village, and no one would suspect that Jade Little Sister was his son. He had kept that secret from Tang San.

But Tang San wasn't grateful. Instead, he resented him for it.

Not only that, but he had also been reluctant to help Jade Little Sister, even though she had been forced to absorb the poisonous spirit essence of a beast.

In the past year, he had even wanted to kill him for no reason.

He'd even beaten Tang San. During the fight, Tang San had revealed his second martial soul, the Haotian Hammer. Only then did King of Pirates learn that his father had wanted him to call Yin Chen "Father." He guessed that Yin Chen might be a member of the Haotian Sect.

That was how he had managed to escape...

King of Pirates listened silently, his eyes narrowing as a cold light flashed in them. "You'd better not go to Heaven Dou City by yourself. So that fellow named Tang San was the one who drove you away. That's outrageous. I won't stand for it. From now on, I'll take charge of Little Bai San. Otherwise, I'm done with you."

The old emperor was silent too, a chill flashing in his eyes. "Don't worry. With me here, Tang Yin won't dare lay a hand on you."

If Tang Yin were merely an ordinary person, he could only cautiously protect Tang Qinghe. But Tang Yin had a son, and that made all the difference.

Tang Qinghe was the woman the old emperor had already set his sights on.

If Tang Yin dared to touch Tang Qinghe, he'd deal with his son, Tang San.

When it came to bullying people, he had plenty of people who could do it better than him.

At worst, he'd have everyone in the city deal with Tang San.

Or he could simply reveal Tang San's identity to Haotian and let him clean house.

With the old emperor's protection, Tang Qinghe felt relieved. She could finally focus on increasing her affection score.

But time passed, and for the past three years, she had no idea what Little Bai San had been up to.

He had actually started acting up and trying to increase his affection score with her.

She remembered that during those three years, he'd gone from being worth a thousand points to being worth five thousand.

But his affection score had stopped at -60 and wouldn't go any lower.

Tang Qinghe had started to find it rather strange.

Could it be that the boy's height wasn't increasing because of something she'd done?

That didn't seem likely. If he really had stopped growing, Tang Ritian would have come looking for her long ago.

After all, very few people knew that he had gone to the Hundred-Flower Academy. But if Tang Ritian sent the Spirit Hall to investigate, and then asked the villagers, he would learn that Tang Qinghe had arranged for the old Mu to be cared for by the academy's dean.

Afterward, Tang Ritian would investigate, seek out the city lord, and find that he was at the White Crane Academy. Finally, he would follow the trail to the Hundred-Flower Academy and find the old emperor.

Tang Qinghe guessed that it was most likely because she had brutally beaten Little Bai San once. Under the influence of his son, the old man's "condition" had taken root in him.

It seemed like a good outcome, and the boy had done a fine job of it.

Still, it was a pity that the boy had paid her back.

Little Bai San had managed to provide her with that much affection, so she was still quite pleased.

After all, five thousand affection points were enough to exchange for a divine position.

She just didn't know what had happened to Little Bai San.

It was a real pity.

In fact, things had gone just as Tang Qinghe expected.

Tang San had recently been very troubled.

Or rather, ever since he had encountered Tang Qinghe, his troubles had never stopped.

From the moment they arrived at Suotuo City, Tang Qinghe had stopped him from worshipping Jade Little Sister as his teacher.

In Tang Qinghe's opinion, Jade Little Sister had stolen his Spirit Essence, which made him a thief.

Later, at the dance competition, after he had fallen in love with Xiao Wu, that woman had beaten him badly in front of the whole village. When they returned to the academy, she had even exposed Jade Little Sister as his father. He'd been humiliated, and the old man had cut ties with him.

Fortunately, the matter was soon put behind them.

He had thought that life would become peaceful again.

But before long, he was once again plagued by a life-threatening problem.

He didn't know when it had started, but he had stopped growing taller.

It seemed that he had stopped growing completely.

After Tang Qinghe had come to the Hundred-Flower Academy, Xiao Wu, who had once been about the same height as him, gradually grew taller and overtook him.

At first, he'd thought it was because he spent every day training too hard and wasn't getting enough rest. Besides, girls grew faster than boys.

So he didn't pay much attention. He simply added more meat to his meals.

But a year later, Xiao Wu was a head taller than him, and he still showed no signs of growing.

Tang San couldn't sit still. He examined himself carefully and went to the city to find a healer, but after checking him from head to toe, the healer said he was perfectly healthy and had no problems at all.

After that, he went to see Jade Little Sister again.

Jade Little Sister's explanation was that he worked too hard every day, and that his training was affecting his growth.

At the same time, she didn't forget to bring up how every morning he had to practice with Tang Qinghe, who remained motionless no matter how much he hit her. She made her into a textbook example for him.

Tang San immediately told Xiao Wu to go work as a blacksmith's apprentice.

After Xiao Wu arranged things for Jade Little Sister, he focused all his attention on cultivation.

He had assumed his body would return to growing normally, but another year passed. His spirit power broke through the twentieth rank, and he even acquired his second spirit ring, yet his height still showed no sign of increasing.

Only Xiao Wu had changed. After she obtained her spirit ring, she had followed Tang San and gained her second one as well. She grew considerably taller, and her shoulders now came up to his chin.

Tang San couldn't take it anymore. He went to see the healer again. After confirming that he had no health problems, he went back and asked Jade Little Sister.

Jade Little Sister's answer was that absorbing a spirit ring from a powerful soul beast would increase a tool spirit's power.

She also took him to see some children who had awakened spirit power, and he realized they were about the same height as him.

Jade Little Sister had also told him that after the spirit ring limit, a Spirit Body's height would begin to increase more quickly.

Tang San recently had his Azure Ganoderma martial soul improve his attack power. His other martial soul had been ridiculed by everyone from the beginning, but he trusted Jade Little Sister, who had become a powerful control-type Spirit Master.

But during those three years, his spirit power had only reached rank twenty-nine.

Little Wu, who had begun at the same rank as him, was already at rank twenty-nine as well, while he was still stuck at rank twenty-three.

By then, he had finally realized that there was no way he could become a great figure in the academy.

Tang San was completely desperate.

At the time, his old teacher had also come up with a new explanation, using Jade Little Sister's words to reassure him.

She said she had known about this all along, but hadn't wanted Tang San to sink into despair too soon. That was why she had kept the truth from him, and why he hadn't grown taller: when Tang Qinghe had cut his pulse, she had struck too hard and directly damaged his foundation. As a result, he would never grow any taller.

But it was fortunate that Tang San had continued cultivating according to his teacher's methods. The injury hadn't affected his cultivation.

Even so, his height would never increase.

For the past three years, this had only deepened Tang San's resentment toward Tang Qinghe.

He had simply been following Jade Little Sister's instructions. Tang Qinghe had probably taken too many herbs, and the side effects had killed her.

That was also why Tang San's affection score had stopped at -60.

After all, when someone's enemy died, it was only natural to feel relieved.

But Tang San was more petty than most. Even if you died, he'd still resent you.

So his affection score never recovered by even a single point.

P.S. This new book can only be updated once a day. I can't go over six thousand words, or it'll affect the novel's heat and cost me recommendations. For now, I can only update once a day. I'll try to make the chapters around three thousand words. Six thousand words a day.