Your Excellency, Don't Worry-I Have a Plan

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

At Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy, Yu Xiaogang was in his room, sorting through the notes he'd made over the past six months while observing and guiding Tang Sanmei and her brother's cultivation. But his pen paused over the line about the maximum age of a first Spirit Ring.

"Four hundred and thirty-two years is still too limiting. Third Sister's first Spirit Ring is five hundred and twenty years, so I'll add another five."

After a moment's thought, Yu Xiaogang seemed to make up his mind. He crossed out 432 in his notes and wrote 525 beside it.

"When I get the chance, I'll go to the Theory Research Seminar in Heaven Dou City and update my theories!"

Knock, knock. Just as he was lost in thought, a sudden knock sounded at the door.

"Tang Yin, Third Sister, and Xiao Wu have all gone back to Holy Soul Village. Who would come bother me this late at night?"

Yu Xiaogang furrowed his brow. He hated being disturbed while thinking and organizing his theories.

"Come in."

At Yu Xiaogang's words, the door swung open, and a tall figure wrapped from head to toe in a cloak walked in.

"Hello, Grandmaster!"

"Who are you? What do you want?" The moment Yu Xiaogang saw the visitor, he instantly shifted into a battle stance.

He sensed an unusually powerful aura from the man, one that pressed down on him even more heavily than the aura his father had once exuded.

"My name is Tang Hao. You should have heard my story. We also met once, more than twenty years ago."

"You're Tang Hao?" Looking at the disheveled middle-aged man before him, Yu Xiaogang recalled the two brothers he had seen more than twenty years ago when he accompanied his father on a visit to the Clear Sky Sect—the pair he had envied and resented.

"Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao! So it's you!" Yu Xiaogang studied him for a long while before he could finally reconcile this man with the dashing Tang Hao he remembered. His emotions settled, and his face returned to its usual impassive calm.

"May I ask why His Excellency Haotian has come calling in the middle of the night?"

"Don't bring up my old title. The man standing before you now is nothing but a father." A trace of bitterness crossed Tang Hao's face before he continued, "Tang Yin and Tang Sanmei are my son and daughter."

"So their identities weren't ordinary after all." Realization dawned on Yu Xiaogang's face. An occasional genius among commoners was one thing, but for a pair of siblings to both have Innate Full Soul Power, there was a good chance it was due to their parents' powerful bloodline.

"That explains it!" Yu Xiaogang nodded repeatedly. Then he remembered that Tang Yin and his sister had only left the Soul Master Academy that morning, and now Tang Hao had come looking for him.

Could that brat Tang Yin have tattled on me?

Over the past six months, Tang Yin had mostly responded to him with things like "Grandmaster, you're brilliant," "That's right," "You're right," and "I think so too."

But every now and then, the two of them had argued, and those encounters always ended badly.

At the thought, Yu Xiaogang's expression stiffened.

"Tang Yin and Third Sister have already gone home. Why have you come here?"

"Because they've gone home. That's why I came to find you." As Tang Hao spoke, his gaze turned toward one side, a flash of hatred passing through his eyes.

"I've spent nearly ten years in a daze, but there are things I must do." As he spoke, he thought of Third Sister, and his eyes lit up.

"From the moment she set foot on the path of a Soul Master, it meant her life would never be ordinary. The road ahead will be full of storms."

"Fledgling eagles must eventually leave their parents and grow on their own. Besides, they're not only my children—they're also your disciples."

"I see." Yu Xiaogang breathed a sigh of relief. But when he heard the word "disciples," his expression dimmed. He gave a self-mocking smile. "What disciples? I've only given them a little guidance."

"Guidance? Does Grandmaster look down on Third Sister?" Tang Hao's face darkened at Yu Xiaogang's words.

Tang Hao hadn't read much and wasn't well educated. He couldn't make heads or tails of the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, but he had heard Grandmaster's name praised far and wide. And since Yu Xiaogang was the son of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's sect master, even if his Soul Power Level was low, taking his daughter as a disciple wouldn't disgrace her.

He didn't mind that Yu Xiaogang was a useless level-twenty-nine Soul Master. Was Yu Xiaogang going to look down on his child?

Wait, wasn't Yu Xiaogang entangled in some way with the current Pope, Bibi Dong? Tang Hao and Spirit Hall were mortal enemies. Could it be that...

Tang Hao's gaze grew increasingly dangerous.

"It's not that I look down on her. It's that your son looks down on me." Yu Xiaogang shook his head with an awkward laugh, oblivious to the murderous intent in Tang Hao's eyes.

"Tang Yin?" Tang Hao froze for a moment. He recalled Tang Yin's lazy, unruly manner and felt a stir in his heart.

"Yes, Tang Yin. That boy..." The moment Yu Xiaogang brought him up, he couldn't help wanting to say his piece. But then he remembered that the man before him was Tang Yin's father, and insulting the son to his father didn't feel right.

"Speak freely. I know that boy's nature better than you do."

"Well, all right." Seeing that Tang Hao had said so, Yu Xiaogang no longer held back. He gave a general account of Tang Yin's behavior over the past year from his own point of view, emphasizing in particular how Tang Yin had interfered with the cultivation system he had devised for Third Sister.

"Third Sister is a good child, but sometimes she values affection too much. When it comes to her older brother, Tang Yin, she practically follows his every word."

"As for Tang Yin, he's also a clever, studious child." Yu Xiaogang then changed tack. "But sometimes he's too conceited and stubborn. He still needs to mature."

"Damn it!" After hearing Yu Xiaogang's assessment of his two children, Tang Hao couldn't help shouting. He was especially furious to hear that Third Sister had absorbed a Jade Evergreen Vine on Tang Yin's advice. His breath grew ragged, and his face flushed red.

Though he wasn't well educated, he knew the Jade Evergreen Vine's reputation. It was meant mostly for support-type Soul Masters.

"Your Excellency, you did ask me to speak freely." Seeing Tang Hao flare up like that, Yu Xiaogang felt a little regretful. After all, they were Tang Hao's children.

"Grandmaster, don't misunderstand. I'm just furious that Tang Yin's wasted his potential." Tang Hao spoke with anguish. He remembered how the boy had shown no respect for him over the years—and how he had turned Third Sister, who used to call him "Daddy," into a girl who did nothing but call him "old geezer."

"I could put up with his antics before, but now that it concerns Third Sister's path as a Soul Master, he's still acting like such a reckless fool!"

"If I'd been there, I never would have let Third Sister end up with such a useless First Spirit Skill."

Tang Hao gritted his teeth, his heart swelling with regret.

If only he hadn't gone after that shapeshifting rabbit.

He had recognized Xiao Wu's identity as soon as he entered Nuoding City.

That was why, when he learned Xiao Wu was leaving, he'd immediately abandoned his plan to protect the siblings from the shadows and gone after Xiao Wu instead.

He never expected things to go so wrong!

Tang Hao took a deep breath, forcing down his anger, then turned back to Yu Xiaogang. "Grandmaster, I trust your ability. What does that little brat Tang Yin know? I'll go back and teach him a lesson right now."

In his eyes, though Tang Yin and his sister had seemed far brighter than other children since they were young, how could they possibly know more than Yu Xiaogang without ever receiving any Soul Master education?

"Wait!" Seeing that Tang Hao's anger wasn't directed at him, Yu Xiaogang breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to stop him.

"We both know that Third Sister is sentimental and practically blindly follows her brother. If you scold him over this without warning, you may only make things worse."

"Then what do you suggest, Grandmaster?" Tang Hao thought of how differently Third Sister had treated him as her father and her older brother over the years. He realized that if he went back and laid hands on Tang Yin, he might ruin the bond he had only just managed to rebuild with Third Sister.

He wasn't well educated, but the Grandmaster before him was a learned man. Learned men had plenty of tricks up their sleeves.

Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang smiled smugly and clasped his hands behind his back, assuming his usual air of lofty confidence.

"Your Excellency, don't worry. I have a plan that will preserve the bond between the siblings and keep Tang Yin from interfering with Third Sister."