Tang Liu Wouldn't Grow Taller

Tang Hao had not really guided Tang Liu's cultivation much. He had basically raised him in a free-range manner.

However, perhaps because of the Demon Eye Demon Tree incident last time, whenever they were somewhere safe, Tang Hao never let Tang Liu leave his sight for more than half a shichen. Whenever they went out, he made sure Tang Liu remained within his line of sight at all times.

Tang Liu was happy enough with that arrangement. Otherwise, it would have been hard for him to explain to Tang Hao why he spent over a shichen every day muttering to himself in a language Tang Hao did not recognize, reciting things Tang Hao could not understand...

Tang Liu had never worried about his cultivation either, because Soul Masters basically did not encounter bottlenecks in cultivation.

If there really were any bottlenecks, they would only be the transition from level eighty-nine to ninety, and the Soul Core cultivation from level ninety-eight to ninety-nine.

But Soul Cores did not even exist yet, so those supposed bottlenecks did not exist either.

If he really did run into a bottleneck, it would not be too late to ask Tang Hao directly. After all, Tang Hao had cultivated step by step until becoming a Titled Douluo.

If Tang Hao could not solve it either, Tang Liu decided he would ask Grandmaster.

If even Grandmaster could not solve it...

Then he would have to rely on his Assistant System.

Actually, if the system had not made him so wary that one time, he would have been perfectly willing to ask it directly.

After Tang San learned that Tang Hao and Tang Liu had left, he returned to Notting Academy with Xiao Wu the next day and began cultivating diligently.

Tang Hao, meanwhile, settled down with Tang Liu in Nuoding City, watching Tang San from afar. Every so often, he would take Tang Liu away for a month or two before returning.

Sometimes they went to the Star Dou Great Forest during those trips, and sometimes they went to other cities.

Whenever they went to other cities, Tang Hao usually arranged for Tang Liu to stay at an inn, then slipped off alone to do who knew what in such secrecy that it felt like he was meeting up with underground contacts.

Tang Liu had his own guesses about it. He felt Tang Hao was probably preparing to deal with Spirit Hall, or at the very least, paving the way for Tang San and him in the future.

This continued until the year Tang Liu turned eleven.

Over the four years from age seven to eleven, Tang Liu had finally succeeded in compressing and refining his Soul Power for the first time. Although Haolan Spell still consumed mana when he used it, he could sustain it longer than before.

Tang Liu's total Soul Power now should have been equivalent to that of a Soul King above level fifty. Even so, he still could not use Haolan Spell for extended periods, which showed just how terrifyingly mana-hungry Haolan Spell was.

After fully compressing his Soul Power, Tang Liu's cultivation speed finally slowed down. Yet he had still reached level forty shortly after turning eight.

However, he was in no hurry to have Haolan Spell condense its fourth Soul Ring. Instead, he continued compressing his Soul Power while also improving his Mental Power.

According to Grandmaster, a Soul Master's cultivation would not stop progressing just because they had not obtained a Soul Ring.

Moreover, Huo Yuhao had said that suppressing Soul Power advancement could improve Mental Power, so Tang Liu was naturally more than happy not to condense a Soul Ring.

After completing the first round of Soul Power compression, Tang Liu immediately began purifying and compressing his Soul Power for a second time without pause.

His cultivation had also been stuck at level forty for a full three years.

He was already eleven years old, yet he still had no intention of condensing a Soul Ring or raising his Soul Power.

By his estimation, the second refinement of his Soul Power should be completed within the year. By then, he would be twelve, and it would be time to condense the fourth Soul Ring for his Haolan Spell.

At that point, after breaking through level forty, he should be able to attach a ten-thousand-year third Soul Ring to his Ethereal Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul.

It was worth mentioning that Tang San had also obtained his second Soul Ring at the age of eight, successfully entering the Soul Grandmaster rank.

Tang San and Tang Liu were both eleven now. Tang San was level twenty-seven, while Tang Liu was level forty. The difference between Innate Realm level-ten Soul Power and Innate Realm level-twenty Soul Power was apparent here.

However, Tang San's talent was no weaker than Tang Liu's. It was simply that Tang San's Blue Silver Emperor Bloodline had yet to awaken, so his cultivation speed was still relatively slow.

Tang Liu's current advantage came from the extra ten levels of Soul Power granted by his Third Martial Soul, Haolan Spell, as well as his Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul already being awakened. This kept his cultivation speed from being held back by Blue Silver Grass as Tang San's was.

Still, as the gap between their Soul Power Levels narrowed and Tang Liu's cultivation speed slowed after compressing his Soul Power, that advantage gradually became less obvious.

There was something Tang Hao found rather amusing. At eleven years old, Tang San and Tang Liu were both boys, yet one was already a youth around 1.7 meters tall, while the other still looked like a child who had only just passed 1.3 meters.

Likewise, Tang San's face looked much more mature now, with almost none of a child's youthful immaturity remaining. Tang Liu, however, still had the tender face of his childhood, as though one could squeeze water out of his cheeks with a pinch.

"When you go looking for your brother, he'll probably say I haven't taken good care of you these past few years." Tang Hao looked at Tang Liu, who had only just grown past the root of his thigh, then could not help laughing as he pinched his cheek.

"How was I supposed to know I wouldn't grow much taller?!" Tang Liu was utterly depressed as well.

He had been in Douluo Continent for so long, and his height had always been about the same as Tang San's.

But during the previous three years, Tang San had shot up in height as though he had been taking growth drugs.

By the time Tang Liu had to look up at Tang San, he finally realized something.

Although he had transmigrated to Douluo Continent, he apparently had not inherited the local people's growth pattern of being 1.7 meters at ten, 1.8 meters at thirteen, and two meters at fifteen. He was still like an ordinary Chinese person from his previous life.

Being a little over 1.3 meters at eleven was fairly common for Chinese people. Tang Liu remembered that he had been roughly this tall at that age in his previous life.

In short, he was just especially short.

Still, to be fair, Tang Hao had raised Tang Liu quite well these past few years. His regular meals started with ingredients from hundred-year Soul Beasts.

Though he had not grown much taller, he had put on a few jin. His face had even become a little chubby.

"Why don't you learn from your brother and exercise more?" Tang Hao said.

"So tiring, so tiring. I refuse, I refuse." I'd rather die than exercise. Wouldn't it be better to sit and lie down comfortably? I'm a shut-in, depressed loser, and I don't see anything wrong with that...

"And yet you can't even lift a fifty-kilogram forging hammer. Tell me, then, how are you supposed to practice the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer?" A trace of disdain appeared on Tang Hao's face as he spoke.

"I'm a support-type Soul Master!" Tang Liu declared righteously.