The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

"Why won't either Kazuhiko or Kenshin listen to me, their senior? I'm doing this for your own good..."

As he spoke with a look of regret, his figure was completely swallowed up by the shadows of the trees by the roadside, gradually disappearing from Su Qi and Liu Li's sight.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Staying Tonight

After sending Yamada Yasuhiro away, Su Qi and Liuli led Changgu Hachirin into the dojo.

Behind the dojo is a spacious courtyard and living quarters, where the father and daughter live their daily lives.

The two remained silent the entire way until they carried the drunkard into their bedroom, laid out a straw mat, and then went outside. As they strolled side by side along the quiet, moonlit corridor, the girl suddenly spoke, "I'm sorry."

As Su Qi walked, he sighed softly, "Since you know you should apologize, why did you drag me into this?"

"That's disgusting."

"You mean Yamada-senpai? If he heard that, he'd probably cry."

"No, he wouldn't." A hint of disgust flashed in the girl's eyes. "Do you think I haven't said this to your face?"

"I see." Su Qi clapped his hands, pretending to suddenly realize something. "No wonder things turned out this way. So Yamada-senpai is a simp."

"Lick the dog?"

"It refers to a man who shamelessly fawns over women, a lowly man without any dignity, like a dog. 'A simp will eventually end up with nothing' is a universal truth, so it's perfectly reasonable for you not to like him."

"You always have so many weird things to say." The girl rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. "But you're wrong. He doesn't like me."

"Hmm?" Su Qi was slightly taken aback, then realized, "Could it be that he likes your father?"

Upon hearing this, the girl immediately became wary, distanced herself from him, and glanced at him with a strange look, saying, "Does Kenshin also have a thing for men?"

In ancient Japan, male beauty was very popular for a period of time. It is said that this trend originated in the Heian period, and then spread and developed as an elegant fashion among monks, nobles and court nobles during the Kamakura period; it then reached its peak in the Sengoku period and Edo period, and even developed into something called "shudo".

Liuli had seen some disciples in the dojo being affectionate with each other, and seeing Su Qi think of that kind of thing in the blink of an eye, she naturally suspected that he had a deep understanding of this dojo.

"Of course not," Su Qi quickly denied. "What I mean is, does he have his eye on your father's wealth or swordsmanship?"

“You could say that.” The girl’s expression softened, and she stopped keeping her distance, saying in a cold tone, “That man’s eyes are full of ambition and greed, so I’ve disliked him from the very beginning. The reason he’s stayed here for the past ten years is not because of his swordsmanship or his master, but simply to use the dojo to get in touch with the city lord and at the same time to plot the secret scroll of the Fudo Myojin-ryu.”

"If that's all there is to it, it's only natural. After all, people strive for better things, and water flows downhill."

"That's not all. In order to climb up the ranks, he not only wanted to get me and used my father, but also ostracized and suppressed everyone who got close to me, and even... may have caused the death of a junior who was studying at the same dojo."

"Killed a junior?" Su Qi's heart skipped a beat. "Could that junior who was killed be He Yan?"

“I have no evidence, but I feel in my heart that it’s related to him.”

At this point, Liuli suddenly stopped. "Alright, let's leave the topic of that guy at that. It's so late, aren't you hungry?"

Su Qi touched his empty stomach. "It's definitely a bit late."

"As an apology, shall I treat you to dinner?"

"It feels like I've lost out a bit."

"I'll give you other compensation later. Shall we eat first?"

"it is good."

……

Not long after, in the Japanese-style room facing the courtyard, which was used for receiving guests, Ruri placed small dishes on the low table in front of Su Qi and said, "I'm sorry, I can only offer you some simple food."

Su Qi looked down and saw a bowl of rice, a small fish about two fingers wide, a small dish of pickled radish, a bowl of boiled wild vegetables, and a small bowl of miso soup... Compared to the rich dishes of modern times, it was indeed a simple meal, but in Japan's Warring States period, it was a luxurious dinner that only the rich could afford.

So he shook his head and said, "It's already very good, thank you."

Next came the meal. Knowing that Liuli was strict with herself, observing the rules of not speaking while eating or sleeping, Su Qi followed her lead and the two ate in silence. Fortunately, they were already familiar with each other, and their friendship had deepened during the previous battle, so it wasn't too awkward.

After dinner, Ruri cleared away the dishes and tables, and the two sat on the edge of the Japanese-style room, leisurely sipping tea while gazing at the beautiful courtyard bathed in moonlight.

"By the way, speaking of which... how do you know about the Shikon Jewel?"

After a moment of silence, Liuli, as the host, took the initiative to start the conversation.

"Well..." Knowing the other person's keen intuition, Su Qi dared not lie, so he said vaguely, "For certain reasons, I want to destroy the Shikon Jewel, so..."

So, was it ever investigated?

Guided by Su Qi, Liuli naturally completed the cause-and-effect relationship, and then couldn't help but ask with some curiosity, "Why do this? Is it because the Shikon Jewel is an evil object?"

Su Qi shook his head. "No, it's not for such a noble reason. My task is simply to destroy it."

After saying that, he added in his mind, "That should be it."

Because so far, he still hasn't figured out the specific conditions for passing the checkpoint.

"A mission?" Liuli frowned slightly. "Who gave you this mission? Or is it a mission passed down through your family?"

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you that."

"Is that so? Then I won't ask. But you should know very well how dangerous this mission is, right?"

“Of course.” Su Qi sighed. “How could it be an easy task to snatch something from countless demons and monsters?”

"You will die." Liuli gazed at him quietly, her tone calm. "With your current strength, fighting those monsters will only lead to your death."

“I know.” Su Qi met her gaze and said calmly, “That’s why I went to the dojo to study, because I don’t want to die.”

Is this why you crave power?

"That's the main purpose..." he said honestly, "But besides that, we can't rule out a bit of vanity involved, a desire to be seen differently by others. After all, what's the difference between a person without dreams and a salted fish?"

"Is that so..."

Liuli scrutinized Su Qi for a while before finally saying, "Alright, in that case, you can stay tonight."

"Huh? Could this be... a shocking statement about unspoken rules?"

She frowned slightly. "I don't know what you mean, but I feel like you're thinking something rude. Never mind, you should go back."

"Wait!" Su Qi immediately backed down, kneeling down in a tiger-like motion. "I was wrong, I shouldn't have said those frivolous things. Miss Liuli, please let me stay! Please!"

Fortunately, Ruri knew that this guy was unreliable, so she didn't hold it against him. She then explained why she kept him there—it was just as an apology for using him as a shield before, and she wanted to teach him the secret breathing and visualization techniques of the Fudo Meishin-ryu school.

So, within a month of enrolling, Su Qi was promoted from a student to a disciple. As for whether such a short time would lead some malicious people to speculate about any dirty deals behind it, that was not something he cared about.

The appearance of the Shikon Jewel shards signifies the start of the storyline. He must acquire the power to intervene in the plot as quickly as possible, even at the cost of some price. This is one of the reasons why he didn't hesitate to offend Yamada Yasuhiro before.

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Protagonist Finally Begins to Get Stronger

That night, Su Qi studied at Liu Li's house until late into the night, focusing on breathing techniques and visualization.

First, there was the breathing technique. Through Liuli's explanation, he realized that there were many intricacies involved in what seemed like a simple breathing exercise.

For example, what is normal breathing, what is reverse breathing, what is external breathing, and what is internal breathing; there are also various concepts such as continuous breathing, arrow breathing, fetal breathing, and heel breathing, and various techniques such as inhalation, breath holding, swallowing, and exhalation.

These are just the basics. Next, the Buddhist Tantric practice of "Vase Breathing" is explained, and finally, the breathing technique of "Thirty-Six Yoga Practices," which is the core secret technique of the Fudō Myōshī-ryū school, is introduced.

The name itself suggests it originates from Tantric Buddhism.

The so-called "Thirty-Six Yoga Practices," also known as "Thirty-Six Forms of Yoga," is not strictly speaking a single breathing technique, but rather a system of breathing methods that corresponds to thirty-six different postures of the human body, encompassing almost all human movements such as walking, sitting, and lying down.

There are thirty-six breathing techniques, each of which involves both forward and reverse breathing. They are all more complex than the vase breathing technique, and even have strict rules about when to breathe, how many times to breathe, how deep to breathe, and which nostril to exhale through. Some of them also involve the changes in time and weather.

When Liuli was explaining these things, Su Qi thought he was learning how to cultivate immortality instead of swordsmanship.

However, it wouldn't be wrong to call it cultivating immortality. According to Liuli, once one has fully mastered the thirty-six breathing techniques, integrated them into one, and made them an instinct of the body, one can use them to open one's spiritual light, gain the mind's eye, and perceive spiritual power.

When it comes to supernatural abilities like spiritual power, it's clear that the "Thirty-Six Forms of Yoga" transcends the level of ordinary techniques. This is why Muto Ishii was able to wield a sword powerful enough to sever steel bones, and why Choko Hachirin was able to cut the demon head in two with a single strike.

However, the Thirty-Six Forms of Yoga can only strengthen the Qi and blood, train the coordination between body and mind, thereby subdue the mind, enhance perception, and allow people to discover the spiritual power hidden within themselves and use it to strengthen the body; to truly enhance and purify spiritual power, one still needs to practice the Acala visualization method.

The "Acala Vidyaraja Visualization Method," or "Acala Vidyaraja Visualization" for short, is a visualization method in which one visualizes oneself as Acala, remaining unmoved and subdued by various external forces such as earth, water, fire, wind, weapons, and evil spirits.

Its core idea lies in "the mind is not swayed by external appearances; the world moves, but I remain unmoved. Because of this unmovement, I can observe all appearances, know that all appearances are not appearances, and transcend appearances." In simple terms, it means that one's mind will not be shaken in the face of any situation, so one can have a clear mind, observe all things, leave no trace, and calmly deal with everything.

This is not only the core idea of ​​the "Fudo Myo-o" (Acala) doctrine, but also the core concept of the Fudo Myo-shin-ryu swordsmanship.

Of course, this is a simplified explanation. The actual visualization method is certainly not simple and is even more complex than the "Thirty-Six Yoga Practices".

Most of the Thirty-Six Forms of Yoga only require the simultaneous coordination of body posture and breath, with occasional visualization. However, the Acala Vidyaraja ...

The saying goes, "The mind is like a monkey, and the will is like a horse." The will is like a white dragon horse, and the mind is like Sun Wukong. Locking down the mind and the will, and concentrating on a single thought, is actually more difficult than the former two combined. Therefore, the "Immovable King Contemplation" is naturally more difficult to practice than the "Thirty-Six Forms of Yoga."

However difficult it may be, Su Qi, who currently has only one option, has no room to back down.

After a night of intense classes, he began practicing breathing techniques and visualization methods the next day. He devoted himself entirely to this practice, working day and night, sleeping in the dojo every day, with nothing else to do but cultivate; while Liuli transformed into a devilish coach, training Su Qi to an almost perverse degree, driving him to the brink of ecstasy.

Fortunately, he was indeed extremely talented in cultivation, and with Liuli's various training methods, he made rapid progress at a visible speed.

On the first day, he mastered various basic breathing techniques and memorized the Thirty-Six Forms of Yoga.

On the sixth day, I had memorized all thirty-six breathing techniques and coordinated each breathing technique with my physical condition.

By the twelfth day, he had mastered all thirty-six breathing techniques, able to switch between them at any time, and they were subtly integrated into one.

It took a full twenty days to naturally integrate the thirty-six breathing techniques into one, allowing the body to barely remember the breathing methods for various states.

During the past month or so, Su Qi was able to think about other things in the early stages, but in the middle and later stages, his mind was only filled with things related to breathing techniques. So to others, he seemed to be sleepwalking around the dojo, sometimes bumping into walls, sometimes suddenly making strange movements, and sometimes standing blankly in a corner for hours. It looked more like he was possessed than practicing.

In Su Qi's own perception, everything in the outside world seemed to be veiled by an almost transparent gauze. He could still see it clearly if he wanted to, but he wouldn't care or want to look at it. All his mental energy was focused on the seemingly simple matter of how to breathe, and his body was operating almost entirely on instinct.

So even he himself didn't know that later on, his eating, drinking, defecating, and sleeping were all assisted by Liuli, and his "pure and innocent" body had already been seen naked by others.

In fact, Yamada Yasuhiro and Muto Ishii also learned the "Thirty-Six Forms of Yoga," but they and all the other disciples of the lineage were not as obsessed as Su Qi. They did not learn the entire breathing method in one go, but rather divided the time, learned it one by one, and then integrated it after mastering each one.

Among them, Yamada Yasuhiro was slightly less talented, but had extraordinary perseverance, and it took him a full year and eight months to learn this breathing method; Muto Ishii had average talent and perseverance, but not as good as Yamada Yasuhiro, but still better than the average person, and it took him two years and two months to learn this breathing method; the other disciples of the lineage were roughly between one and four years.

Su Qi was able to learn it within a month thanks to his genius, extraordinary perseverance, obsessive practice, and Liu Li's constant sparring.

But all of this was worth it.

When the entire breathing technique finally became almost instinctive and natural in his body, he finally woke up from his more than twenty days of immersion and then discovered that the whole world was different.

First, the body feels very light. It's as if every cell is breathing, as if gentle breezes are flowing through every pore, surrounding the body, making you feel light and ethereal.

Secondly, there is a more powerful visual experience. Everything in the world seems to have suddenly changed from standard definition to blue light, with brighter colors, clearer details, and a greater viewing distance; in addition, one can vaguely "see" the distribution of qi and blood on living beings and the scenery behind them, things that the naked eye should not be able to see.

Secondly, he had an even more powerful hearing. He could hear the rustling of leaves three zhang away, the crawling of ants under the floorboards nearby, the long, soothing breaths of a girl two meters behind him, and even the shouts of the disciples in the training ground in front of him.

In addition, there is a comprehensive enhancement of the senses of smell, taste, touch, strength, and even nerve reaction speed.

But none of these can compare to a wondrous power—spiritual power.