I found out how to fix the <br > issue from this link:
http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2003/12/29/remove-extra-line-breaks-in-wordpress/
It turns out that all the php module will do the same thing because wordpress’ core engine is adding the line breaks, and not the plugins.
Basically, edit the file functions-formatting.php in folder wp-includes
Change:
function wpautop($pee, $br=1) {
to:
function wpautop($pee, $br=0) {
and it should fix the problem.
