"Then, I am very grateful for Your Highness's kindness."
Tang Yuehua smiled as she responded.
She maintained a friendly attitude toward Xue Qinghe. After all, he was competent and poised to become the next emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire. Naturally, she had to treat him with the seriousness he deserved.
"Teacher Tang, I wonder—what do you think of this man named Tang San?" Xue Qinghe asked casually.
"He stands out like a tree in a forest, yet he's ignorant of the vast world. He only seeks fame. He's not worth paying attention to," Tang Yuehua replied lightly.
She deliberately downplayed Tang San, not wanting Xue Qinghe to shift his focus to him. "The foundation of the Heaven Dou Empire lies with the people. Your Highness need not concern yourself with such individuals. While soul masters are powerful, they do not determine the outcome of wars. Eighty percent of the army is made up of ordinary soldiers. Well-trained, capable of forming tight battle formations—they can still render soul masters helpless."
"Those so-called powerful soul masters are mostly lone fighters. At most, they form seven-person squads. Any larger, and they lose cohesion."
"As for the Titled Douluo, unless the two empires go to full-scale war, they won't be mobilized easily. They're all pursuing their own breakthroughs to higher realms."
Xue Qinghe sighed. "As expected of Teacher Tang. Though you are a woman, your grasp of continental affairs is sharper than most men. I have much to learn from you."
Realizing she had said too much, Tang Yuehua didn't backtrack. Instead, she smiled sweetly. "Your Highness flatters me. I only possess some shallow insights. Compared to your trusted aides, I'm far inferior—just a woman's perspective."
"Teacher Tang is too modest."
Xue Qinghe smiled and continued chatting with her for a while. After some time practicing music, he left Yuexuan, returned to his palace courtyard, and summoned a twelve-year-old boy.
"Wang Chen, do you regret it?"
Xue Qinghe looked calmly at the handsome youth before her.
"Whale glue can enhance physical strength—you discovered it first. Yet you insisted on keeping it secret. Now, someone else—Tang San—has published the information through the Spirit Hall Newspaper. As a result, Spirit Hall reaped massive benefits, and your contribution was completely overshadowed."
Wang Chen's expression darkened. After a pause, he sighed. "Young Master, it was my oversight. But Tang San's actions benefit everyone, including the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. He won't side with Spirit Hall."
"Besides, anyone capable of writing something like The Self-Analysis and Positioning of Soul Masters, helping soul masters analyze their own strengths and paths, must be extraordinarily sharp-minded."
"Someone like that won't submit to Spirit Hall. And he certainly won't bow to you, Young Master."
Xue Qinghe's smile faded. "So?"
Wang Chen's tone turned cold. "Therefore, I suggest eliminating him now, before he becomes a threat."
A sharp glint of killing intent flickered in his eyes. Tang San had disrupted his expectations again. Whether due to butterfly effects or something else, Wang Chen didn't intend to follow the clichés of those fanfiction protagonists who could kill but didn't—dragging things out for the sake of plot.
If possible, he would kill Tang San while he was still young.
But in hindsight, when Tang San had been born, Wang Chen had only been six years old—just awakening his martial soul. He'd had no means to act.
Back then, Xue Qinghe had discovered him because of his innate full soul power and brought him into the palace. But he rarely met her in person. Instead, he was taught by a Soul King alongside other talented children.
When he had tried to offer tactical suggestions, he'd been dismissed by the Soul King, who reported him as arrogant and unruly due to his talent.
Xue Qinghe didn't defend him. Instead, she had him stripped of his noble robes, smeared with mud, and thrown out into the streets of Tian Dou City.
She had told him: "If you can survive for three days with nothing, then I'll consider believing you."
In reality, he hadn't lasted even one day.
Though a few passersby pitied the filthy six-year-old and gave him food, no one listened to his "nonsense." At his age, he couldn't find work. The well-dressed citizens of Tian Dou City looked down on a muddy child from some rural village.
Eventually, he'd returned to the palace's outskirts, begging for forgiveness. Xue Qinghe ignored him for two days before finally letting him back in.
It was then that he realized the difference between himself and Xue Qinghe—no matter how talented he was, she came from a different world. Whether in status or talent (she possessed innate level twenty), he could not compare.
From that point on, Wang Chen stopped being frivolous. He accepted the Soul King's teaching and relied on his full soul power talent to advance faster than his peers. By nine, he had broken through level twenty and—"coincidentally"—discovered whale glue's effects.
He reported his findings to Xue Qinghe, earning more trust and gradually becoming one of her more important confidants.
However, despite learning of whale glue's value, Xue Qinghe had not shared the knowledge with Spirit Hall. Wang Chen suspected she intended to wait until after securing control of the Heaven Dou Empire to use it as a bargaining chip with Bibi Dong.
That would explain why she only collected a small amount. If she had stockpiled too much, others would notice. No one on the continent was a fool. Buying it three or four times could be dismissed as personal health concerns. But if she made frequent large purchases, anyone—especially Ning Fengzhi, her supposed teacher—would become suspicious.
And in this world, even if the bond between master and disciple wasn't sacred, it still carried expectations. A disciple could keep secrets, but if asked, they were expected to answer truthfully.
"Kill him?"
Xue Qinghe looked at Wang Chen for a long moment before saying indifferently, "Your heart is too narrow."
Wang Chen's face tightened, but he didn't back down. "If he keeps leaking things like this, it may interfere with your long-term plans. It's safer to eliminate unstable variables—even if it means dispatching a Titled Douluo."
He deliberately didn't mention Tang San's true identity as the son of Tang Hao. After all, how would he even know that?
Wang Chen had never left Tian Dou City, aside from his own village. If he mentioned such background knowledge now, Xue Qinghe—who was extremely meticulous—would immediately question the source.
And Qian Renxue's personality was deeply controlling. Even if a genius came from another force, she would investigate their entire background. If someone like Wang Chen, raised under her watch, knew something she didn't, would she still trust him?
He thought back to the original novel.
Qian Renxue had come to Tian Dou posing as the crown prince, not just for infiltration—but to prove herself to Bibi Dong.
Looking at it now, that might explain why she crumbled so easily after being defeated by Tang San.
This was a world defined by overwhelming power and limited by rigid social hierarchies. Given her upbringing and environment, her pride was inevitable—and fragile.
She lacked love:
Her father? Absent at birth.
Her mother? Emotionally abusive.
Her grandfather's affection? Merely expectations—he only loved the god she might become.
And as an elite soul master with a domineering, arrogant nature…
Pretending to be Xue Qinghe for so long had fractured her identity. Her collapse was not surprising.
To remain sane would have been the real miracle.