The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

The commotion quickly attracted the attention of the servants, but they were unable to help at all. Then, a monster broke in from outside, making the situation even more chaotic.

In this extremely dangerous and chaotic situation, Su Qi's spirit and will were more concentrated than ever before, burning fiercely like a blazing flame of life, shining brightly and illuminating his entire body and mind.

Even if he were killed, he wouldn't die... Su Qi knew this clearly, but in the blink of an eye, he naturally forgot about it; because there was simply no extra time to think about it, and for survival, everything needed to be dealt with by deeper instincts.

Therefore, with every strike from Yamada Yasuhiro, he was on the verge of death, and the fierce battle with Yamada Yasuhiro was like dancing on the edge of a knife... Death kept coming, step by step, and the survival instinct accumulated in his genes over thousands of years forced Su Qi to squeeze out all his potential, burning everything in a short period of time, just to realize the most primal desire for survival.

At this moment, Su Qi was in perfect harmony with his body and mind, his spirit and mind as clear as a mirror. Every time he faced death and escaped death, it was a thorough tempering and baptism for his soul. He was like a rough stone covered in mud and dust, unpolished, being polished by death time and time again, gradually revealing the brilliant brilliance within.

And so, after an unknown amount of time spent in a desperate, all-consuming resistance, Su Qi gradually adapted to Yamada Yasuhiro's attack rhythm, and even saw through his attack patterns, finding more and more weaknesses in him.

Subsequently, with his strength and speed remaining unchanged, Su Qiguang, relying on his improved swordsmanship and skill, actually managed to suppress Yamada Yasuhiro, who was stronger and faster than him.

Unfortunately, he still lost in the end because his opponent cheated.

It was a long, shadowy spear. Just as Su Qi was about to win, the shadow beneath Yamada Yasuhiro's feet suddenly transformed into a spear, unexpectedly piercing through Su Qi's body.

So, nearly two months later, Su Qi returned to that pure white space once again.

Chapter Thirty: The Target is the Sword God of Shili Slope

They really have lost all humanity; no wonder they were confident they could escape unscathed even with a large number of monsters gathered...

In a world of pure white, Su Qi sat on a black stone base, recalling the moment before his death when Yamada Yasuhiro's shadow suddenly transformed into a sharp spear and pierced him through in one strike.

At that moment, he truly sensed another kind of eerie and evil power fluctuation, which was the "demonic power" belonging to demons.

"But it doesn't matter. Whether he's human or a transvestite, I've already achieved my goal."

Su Qi closed his eyes and quietly sensed the spiritual energy within his body.

Compared to before, they are now more abundant, pure, active, and easier to manipulate. At the same time, the basic frequency of their fluctuations has also increased. With the same amount of spiritual energy, the degree to which they distort reality is significantly stronger than before.

"Hmm, it seems that fighting to the death with someone does have an effect. So, should we keep going and try to defeat him a few more times? Or should we simply find other strong opponents as soon as we get a new save, such as Liuli's father, and fight them repeatedly until we can no longer improve?"

He slowly opened his eyes, his mind racing, and instantly thought of the fastest way to improve himself using the ability to rewind time.

In some third-rate online novels, in order to create plot conflicts of similar levels, there are many stupid protagonists who could have continued to level up in a safe place, but they like to go down the mountain to court death before they have mastered their martial arts. As a result, they are brutally beaten to death by powerful enemies, and only then do they level up at the last minute, have a near-death experience, and finally manage to kill the enemy with great difficulty.

When Su Qi saw this scene, he thought that if he were in that situation, he would definitely have to master the Ten Mile Slope Sword God first before going down the mountain and defeating all the enemies. So now, he immediately decided to use the time rewind to strengthen all his abilities to the limit, and then follow the system's prompts to complete the main storyline of "Inuyasha".

Anyway, every time there's a rollback, time will return to the previous post-war stable point, so even if he repeats this time period hundreds or thousands of times, the main storyline nodes will still be there, and he can push forward at any time.

After deciding to go all out on the upgrade, the next question was how to do it.

After much deliberation, he decided to abandon the simplest and most effective method of tempering... Once the game was restarted, he disregarded the consequences and directly engaged in a life-or-death battle with Liuli's father, the strongest person he knew at the moment.

The fundamental reason was not fear, not being unable to do it, nor being concerned about Liuli, but rather his own decision to impose some restrictions on himself.

With Su Qi's current mental strength, he is already able to endure the pain of death, but he does not want to take advantage of his ability to rewind time to do whatever he wants and indulge his desires indefinitely; because if he continues like that, he will sooner or later become a madman or beast who has no respect for life, no awe for anything, and only pursues his own desires—the most fundamental difference between humans and beasts is that humans have reason and know how to control themselves.

Furthermore, with his ability to rewind time, Su Qi can practically be considered "immortal." Whether his physical body is pulverized into countless atoms or his soul is scattered by magic, as long as the rewind ability, which is essentially time reversal, is activated, he can be reborn again, make up for his mistakes, and turn the tables on his enemies.

So the question is, how can we truly kill "Su Qi"? The answer is to destroy his spirit, distort his consciousness, and turn him into a mindless beast or a madman.

Su Qi preferred to plan ahead and act only after careful consideration. Therefore, rather than indulging in desires and developing something like a demon in the future, causing his will to be distorted in repeated cycles of life and death, it was better to draw a line from the beginning and eliminate any potential hidden dangers.

Ultimately, the reason he set principles and drew lines for himself was for his own sake.

"So, in order to avoid becoming someone I don't like, I should choose an enemy as my opponent. I'll take down Yamada Yasuhiro first, and if he's no good, I'll find someone else... Hmm, maybe I can make use of his Cold Soul Incense and have a bunch of monsters become my experience packs."

Having finalized his plan, Su Qi stood up, about to rewind time, when he seemed to suddenly remember something. He turned and gazed at the vast, pure white space, his eyes gradually brightening. "Right, I almost forgot, this space is independent of the timeline. In other words, I have unlimited practice time here..."

"Although the essence of rollback is time reversal, and the physical state will return to that point in time when the save is loaded, my memories, my understanding, and my consciousness will not be reversed; and spiritual power originates from the soul and is a power related to consciousness and will. Does this mean that the spiritual power I improve here can be taken out of this space?"

He rested his chin on his hand and pondered for a moment before finally making up his mind. "No matter what, it's worth a try. Even if I fail, the insights and knowledge won't disappear, and if I succeed, I'll undoubtedly take a big step forward on my path to becoming the Sword God of Shilipo. I won't lose out either way."

After thinking it over, Su Qi immediately sat cross-legged on the ground and began to try to practice the visualization method.

It works! My spiritual power has indeed increased slightly!

About an hour later, he suddenly opened his eyes, his face filled with excitement and surprise.

Keep practicing! Keep practicing until you can't make any more progress and can't practice anymore!

With that thought in mind, he closed his eyes again and began an incredibly long period of cultivation.

The theory of the "Acala Vidyaraja" is divided into nine levels. It is said that if one cultivates to the last level, one can have the concentration of a Buddha and even become a Buddha in this lifetime. However, it seems that even the founder did not reach the last level, so it is mostly just boasting.

Even so, the fact that such a slogan was dared to be shouted out, and that it truly had extraordinary effects, is enough to demonstrate the extraordinary nature of this method.

The first level of visualization is the basic "Six Calamities", which correspond to six things: war, hungry ghosts, plague, water, fire, and wind. Beginners should progress from easy to difficult, step by step, visualizing themselves suffering from these calamities in order to temper their mind and spirit.

The next eight levels correspond to the eight great hells: the hell of the living, the hell of the black rope, the hell of the multitude, the hell of the howling, the hell of the great howling, the hell of the scorching, the hell of the great scorching, and the hell of the Avici. Practitioners also progress from easy to difficult, visualizing themselves falling into hell and suffering its punishments, until they can fully endure the pain and their minds remain unwavering, before they can advance to the next level to continue their practice.

Even the easiest level, the "Disaster of Swords," requires visualizing oneself being torn apart by countless blades; one can imagine how difficult the later levels will be.

As far as Su Qi knew, Liuli, who had been practicing visualization for nearly seven years, had only reached the fifth calamity, fire, among the six calamities. Ishii and Yamada Taihiro were both at the second calamity, hungry ghosts, and Changgu Hachirin was at the second level of life. As for him, a beginner, he was naturally still at the first calamity, weapons.

At this moment, there is no one to disturb him, he doesn't need to eat, drink, or relieve himself, and it is exceptionally safe so he won't get hurt. It is truly the best place for seclusion, and he can take this opportunity to level up.

After an unknown amount of time—perhaps a month, half a year, two or three years, or even ten years—Su Qi, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground without moving for a long time, finally slowly opened his eyes.

Chapter Thirty-One: Unless They Surpass Humanity

He's already invincible... just kidding.

After an unknown amount of time spent in deep meditation, Su Qi did make significant progress, but he only advanced from the first calamity to the sixth calamity, still stuck at the first level.

But once he got to this point, he could no longer continue his cultivation.

The reason is not that I can't stand the loneliness, or that my legs hurt from sitting for too long, but rather that I am inexplicably irritable and find it difficult to get into the zone. I really can't calm my mind during the sixth calamity.

He had a feeling that if he stayed here and stubbornly held on, he might be able to enter the second level in a few decades or hundreds of years, but what about the third and fourth levels? Would it take thousands or tens of thousands of years?

Moreover, since Chang Gu Ba Lun has already entered the second level, he clearly did not spend decades or even hundreds of years grinding away. This indicates that Su Qi's current cultivation method may be problematic, and continuing would only be a waste of time and energy.

"It seems that the practice of visualization techniques will have to be put on hold for the time being. Next up is swordsmanship."

Su Qi slowly exhaled, stood up, and checked his body. He found that his physical condition was no different from when he first entered. His hair and nails showed no signs of growth, indicating that his physical condition was also locked in this space.

Then he got into position, making a standard knife-holding gesture with his hands loosely clenched in front and behind, but without actually holding a knife.

This pure white space contained nothing but the existing objects and Su Qi, and of course, there was no sword. So, how could one practice swordsmanship?

He had already considered this point.

Su Qi maintained his knife-holding posture, slowly closed his eyes, and then easily entered a meditative state, beginning to use the method of visualization, imagining himself holding a knife in his hand.

Texture...shape...mass...color...the subtle movement created by contact with air...

As the image of the knife in his mind became more and more concrete, he gradually felt as if he were actually holding a knife in his hand.

With focused intent and concentrated spiritual energy, the knife became increasingly real in Su Qi's hand. Finally, when he opened his eyes, a knife truly appeared in his hand—the very samurai sword he had brought from the village and had recently become accustomed to using.

In reality, he didn't actually have a knife in his hand at that moment, but to him, it was no different from having one.

This can be considered a form of self-hypnosis, but because it cleverly utilizes visualization techniques and spiritual power, it is clearly more realistic and lasting than ordinary self-hypnosis, and has even approached the realm of illusion.

Visualization Training Method – this is the temporary name Su Qi gave to this training method, inspired by a certain cover boy.

Then, with the knife problem solved, he began to train, practicing the most basic swordsmanship move... also known as "Suzhen".

Swing the sword one hundred times... swing the sword one thousand times... swing the sword ten thousand times... swing the sword one hundred thousand times... swing the sword one million times... swing the sword ten million times...

Gradually, Su Qi felt as if his arm had become one with the sword. With each swing, all the muscles, tendons, and cells in his body were connected and penetrated by the same force, ultimately merging perfectly into one and flowing into the blade, striking out with each strike.

Only when he felt that there was no longer a knife or person separating him from his hands and mind did he finally stop moving.

"It's time..."

Su Qi blinked, his focused gaze instantly transforming into a bright and clear one. At the same time, the knife in his hand vanished into thin air as if from a dream.

“Next…” He walked to the black stone base, opened the system panel, and pressed the load button, “is this the moment to witness a miracle…?”

As his fingertips touched the button, Su Qi's figure vanished into a pure white space in the next instant.

……

In the early morning, in a clean and tidy Japanese-style room, Su Qi opened his eyes on a bamboo mat.

This is... my room in the dojo?

He sat up, glanced around, and pinpointed the location. He then walked to the corner of the room, opened a small wicker box, took out a piece of white paper with tally marks written on it, and with a quick glance, he knew exactly where it was.

Thirty-six days have passed since I transmigrated, which is exactly the day after Chang Gu Ba Lun killed the demon. Does that mean that sparring without danger doesn't count as "battle"? Only battles involving life and death count?

As he pondered, he casually picked up a charcoal pencil and added another mark to the last tally mark on the white paper. Then he neatly arranged the items, quietly sensing the spiritual energy within his body. After a moment, a slight smile appeared on his lips.

It has been confirmed that spiritual energy cultivation in the pure white space is indeed effective. Although the increased spiritual energy was inexplicably reduced by more than two-thirds after the rollback, the cultivation level is still there, and it will be fully recovered after a period of time.

"Hmph, now there's nothing to be afraid of."

In high spirits, Su Qi couldn't help but set a goal for himself. He then stood up and took a few steps, only to immediately frown. He had been so focused on checking the time that he hadn't paid attention, and now he realized that his current body was far too sluggish.

It's tough! We need to get back into the swing of things as soon as possible and work our way up again!

Compared to the body that had been thoroughly trained in the pure white space, the body at this point in time is like the difference between a car and a bicycle.

Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Su Qi quickly tidied himself up. After a basic wash, he changed into his kendo uniform and couldn't wait to head to the dojo.

In the corridor, he happened to run into Yamada Yasuhiro, the man who had killed him last time.

As the two approached each other, Yamada Yasuhiro saw Su Qi but kept a straight face and pretended not to see him.

Given the current time, he had just been "stealed away" by Su Qi last night, greatly losing face as a senior, so of course he wouldn't be in a good mood if they met again now.

But Su Qi smiled kindly and warmly, and stopped Yamada Taihiro, who was about to walk straight over, and said out of the blue, "Thank you, Yamada-senpai."

"Huh?" Yamada Yasuhiro was completely confused, frowning as he asked, "What did you say? Thank me?"

He stared at Su Qi with suspicion. "I don't recall ever doing anything that would make you grateful. What do you mean by this?"

"Don't overthink it, I just wanted to give you a 'good guy' card." Su Qi patted Yamada Yasuhiro on the shoulder, looked him up and down, and shook his head slightly. "Unfortunately, Yamada-senpai is no longer qualified to be an experience pack, unless you can surpass humans."

That's right, Yamada Yasuhiro is no match for him now. Without even fighting, he can roughly estimate Yamada Yasuhiro's fighting strength with just a glance, concluding that although he's still recovering, the human Yamada Yasuhiro poses no threat whatsoever.

What exactly are you talking about?

Yamada Yasuhiro was completely baffled, but Su Qi offered no explanation, simply waving his hand before turning and leaving.

How dare you treat your senior with such rudeness! You just wait!

He stood there, staring at Su Qi's back with a sinister look. Just then, another voice suddenly rang in his mind, "He's right, Taihong. You are far from being his match now, unless you can surpass humanity."