The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

“I don’t really understand either. I heard from those yokai that something called the ‘Shikon Jewel’ brought me back to life. Anyway, it’s great to be able to live again. It’s a pity… I’m very dissatisfied with you now.”

As the man named Soichiro spoke, he turned around, took a step, and walked slowly toward Su Qi and Liuli.

"Wait! This is between us, don't involve Ruri and outsiders!!"

"Then stop me yourself!"

He suddenly launched his attack, his figure flashing as he appeared behind Liuli, and without hesitation, he slashed down with his sword.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Recovering the Flag

"Get out of the way!"

Su Qi pulled Liuli behind him and immediately drew his sword to parry.

clang!!

The two swords clashed, a shockwave exploded outwards, his body sank suddenly, and the floor beneath his feet shattered instantly.

So heavy!!

Su Qi's pupils contracted slightly, and with a soft shout, he unleashed his full power. The blade thrust forward fiercely, cleaving his opponent away in one blow.

"Oh, not bad strength."

The latter, however, performed a somersault and landed easily, appearing completely unharmed, and even had time to comment on him.

But at that moment, a blade of light, as clear as a gentle breeze and a bright moon, flashed behind him, seemingly merging into the void, and naturally and silently slashed towards Soichiro's neck.

"boring."

A flash of light, like a thunderclap, sent Chang Gu Ba Lun flying. Blood splattered from his chest as he crashed into a screen and slammed to the ground with a thud.

Soichiro turned around, frowned at Choko Hachirin who was clutching his wound and getting up in a disheveled state, and said coldly, "Do you think you can kill me, Soichiro, with this weak and powerless sword? Don't be ridiculous! Show me your true skills!"

"Cough cough..." The latter swayed, steadied himself, gripped the knife tightly with his only remaining right hand, letting the blood flow from the wound on his chest, and said with the same cold face, "This is my true skill. If you expect more, then I'm sorry to disappoint you."

As he spoke, he glanced at Liuli and Su Qi beside him, his heart filled with anxiety.

This time, things are likely to turn out badly—he had this thought when he first saw Soichiro draw his sword.

Compared to the last duel, he was now missing an arm, and his physical abilities had declined considerably due to his dissolute lifestyle in recent years. Although his swordsmanship had improved, Souichirou, having experienced death and rebirth, had also gained some insights and was no less capable than him.

Besides, seemingly empowered by the Shikon Jewel, Souichirou's speed, strength, and spiritual power are all significantly greater than in his prime. As a result, he is undoubtedly at a complete disadvantage, utterly suppressed, making this duel a near-certain death for him.

Chang Gu Ba Lun was not afraid of death. If it weren't for his daughter Liu Li, he would have already followed his wife in death, but now, also for his daughter, he could not die.

If he dies, given Souichirou's bloodthirsty nature, Ruri, being a powerful martial artist, will undoubtedly become his prey and be killed by him. Therefore, no matter what, we must at least create an opportunity for Ruri and that kid to escape!

"Soichiro!!"

Having made up his mind, Changgu Balun suddenly unleashed his full power, charging at his opponent.

"Liuli, run!!"

As he shouted, he unleashed a powerful strike, gathering all his strength, speed, and spiritual energy, like a galaxy hanging upside down, cleaving through the air.

"That won't do..."

Soichiro chuckled and was about to give chase when he suddenly felt his head go blank, as if he had been hit by a sledgehammer. His consciousness trembled, and his whole world shattered.

"A fleeting illusion? Is this a desperate gamble? But it's not enough!"

The spiritual energy erupted, and the thoughts that had been stagnant for a moment flowed again. Suddenly, the world, which was collapsing like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, stopped and began to recover piece by piece as if time had reversed.

At the same time, Changgu Hachirin also froze in place, the cold, gleaming blade resting on Soichiro's forehead.

……

On the other side, seeing that Changgu Hachirin and Souichirou suddenly stood still for some reason, Su Qi's eyes flashed and he rushed over without hesitation.

Why didn't they listen to Chang Gu Ba Lun's advice to run away, but instead rushed up to fight back?

Of course, this is because the rollback has a time limit. If he successfully escapes this time, his respawn point will be moved to after this battle. In this way, if Chang Gu Ba Lun dies in this battle, there will be no way to bring him back.

Conversely, if he dies in this battle, he can be reborn after the previous battle, either against Yamada Yasuhiro or the Executioner's Blade Tsukumogami, and can repeatedly attempt this battle until he achieves a perfect victory.

Furthermore, in order to gather more intelligence on his opponents, he himself had no intention of running away. Anyway, with the ability to rewind time, there was no way he would desert, not even in his life. Who cares who the opponent is, he'll just fight them head-on.

The two were extremely close, and with Su Qi's speed, he arrived in front of Zong Yilang in the blink of an eye.

In the next instant, a chilling arc of light sliced ​​through the air, aiming for the latter's neck.

He overheard their conversation and knew that Soichiro was likely resurrected because of the Shikon Jewel. To avoid dying without hitting a vital spot, he deliberately aimed for the neck, preparing to cut off the head like he would a zombie.

However, the next moment, just as the blade was about to slice into his neck, Soichiro's dazed eyes suddenly regained their sparkle.

Then, a flash of light appeared before Su Qi's eyes, his mind went blank, his consciousness trembled, and his entire world collapsed.

what happened?

In a moment of surprise and doubt, I suddenly found myself in another world.

He turned his head and looked around. He saw the sun hanging high in the sky, the heavens weeping blood, and a blood river a hundred miles wide dividing the land. On both banks lay piles of white bones, and corpses piled up like mountains. Countless black-winged bone birds, like vultures, circled and took off, pecking at the rotting flesh and blood on the corpses and then sliding off their own skeletal necks and abdomens. They got nothing, but they were still happy to do it.

He himself was trapped in the very center of the blood river, within a massive crimson vortex. The vortex was filled with floating skeletons and corpses, and amidst the churning blood waves, countless distorted human faces could be faintly seen emerging from the water's surface, seemingly trying to break free from the blood river, yet as if stuck by sticky insect glue, their struggles futile, leaving them only to utter endless desperate howls.

This is bad! We must break free immediately!

The pungent, nauseating stench of blood filled Su Qi's nostrils, and an extreme sense of danger rose within him. He instinctively tried to escape the whirlpool and swim to shore, only to find his waist and legs firmly gripped by countless ghostly hands beneath the surface, rendering him immobile. Moreover, those ghostly hands were forcefully dragging him further underwater.

He had a premonition that he would die once he was pulled into the river of blood, so he struggled desperately, constantly sinking and rising, and was stuck in a stalemate.

But at that moment, Su Qi's head suddenly fell off without warning and landed in the river with a splash.

Huh? I'm dead? How did I die?

Looking through the water at his headless corpse gushing blood, Su Qi, filled with questions, sank into darkness.

……

"What the hell?! What happened to the promised real sword fight, a duel between martial artists? Why is this happening? Is this even considered swordsmanship?"

In the pure white space, Su Qi stood up from the floor, touched his neck, grumbled a few times in annoyance, and pondered the cause of his death.

Cause of death... cause of death... cause of death... right, could it be that?

Suddenly, a scene flashed through his mind... It was after the last save file was loaded, in the bedroom that Liuli had assigned to him, when he confirmed that his spiritual power could be taken out of this space and said a sentence: "Hmph, now there's nothing to be afraid of."

There's nothing left to be afraid of... There's nothing left to be afraid of... There's nothing left to be afraid of... What's there to be afraid of... Nothing left to be afraid of... I'm so afraid... I'm scared ...

The senior's chubby voice echoed in his mind. Su Qi covered his face and said, "Okay, if you're going to court death, you'll die. Why can't I control my mouth?"

Thank you to "叫~叫毛线", "吾王威武", "秀吉的性别是秀吉", and "浮云望月" for the Happy Coins. May you all have a peaceful and happy life~ (heart emoji with chest hair).

The fortieth chapter has begun.

Even when making memes in the future, I will never set a flag lightly again!

After making up his mind, Su Qi began to recall the circumstances before his death and seriously consider the cause of his death.

My mind went blank, my consciousness was malfunctioning, and my spiritual energy was fluctuating abnormally. In addition, it was impossible for that guy to shatter the world with one strike and then recreate it. So it was obvious... that it was a consciousness attack similar to an illusion.

However, I practice the Immovable King meditation, and my greatest skill is calming my mind and keeping my thoughts still. Ordinary illusions shouldn't be able to affect me at all...

After a moment, he shook his head. "Although I can guess the general type of attack, it is difficult to guess the specific methods. However, Souichirou is the junior brother and mortal enemy of Choko Hachirin, so he should know something about it."

Unable to reach a conclusion immediately, Su Qi put the matter aside for the time being and began to think about how to defeat Soichiro, using him as a hypothetical enemy.

"The conclusion is that, by my current standards, the opponent's strength is overwhelming, and I have absolutely no chance of winning in a head-on confrontation."

After thinking it over for more than ten minutes, Su Qi sighed helplessly, "It seems I need to continue to improve my strength. If that doesn't work, I'll try to find some outside help."

Having decided on his direction, he patted his face, cheered himself up, and once again began his solitary cultivation in this pure white space.

Because his physical abilities couldn't be improved and his visualization and swordsmanship had reached a bottleneck, Su Qi could only train one thing at the moment—the skill of using spiritual power.

This training session was one of focused concentration, with no regard for time.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally mastered all the techniques for utilizing spiritual power, including the most basic weapon enhancement, to the point where his skills moved at will and became one with his instincts.

In this way, although there was no fundamental improvement in spiritual power and swordsmanship, the strength he could exert in battle increased by at least 30%. If he were to fight the demonized Yamada Yasuhiro again now, he should be able to easily crush him, but if he were to face the unfathomable Souichirou, he still wouldn't have the slightest confidence.

"Everything is ready, it's time to start a new playthrough."

After completing the last training exercise, Su Qi had a good long sleep to recharge his energy. Finally, he arrived at the Black Stone Base and pressed the save/load button.

……

Late at night, moonlight shone on the paper door on the side, letting in a faint glow and dimly illuminating the Japanese-style room.

Su Qi, who was lying on the straw mat, opened his eyes and immediately sat up. His gaze swept across the room and he knew where he was and what time it was.

"The time was probably after we defeated that tsukumogami, but it's strange... Apart from the two times we reloaded from the starting point, all three battles so far have been at night, but the stable points have two at night and one at dawn. The time span is quite large. What's going on?"

As he pondered this, he got up, picked up the knife that was lying to the side, and went out to the room where Ishii was.

"who!?"

As a powerful samurai, Su Qi didn't bother to conceal his footsteps. So, as soon as he entered, Ishii flipped over, gripped his sword, and stood ready. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was Su Qi and asked directly, "It's Kenshin. What's the matter?"

"Hmm." Putting that question aside for the moment, Su Qi said seriously, "Ishii, could you please die for a moment?"

"Clam!?"

……

Afterwards, Su Qi left the village alone and traveled through the night to the city.

Fortunately, the village where the exorcism was entrusted was not far from the city. After killing a foolish little monster blocking the way, they finally returned to the dojo before dawn, but did not go in immediately.

"There was no other way; to make the performance more realistic, I had to cut myself."

Outside the gate, he sighed softly, deftly drew his long sword, slashed himself a few times, then rolled on the ground a few times before finally entering the room. He went straight to Liuli's door and gently knocked.

Just a few seconds later, the paper door was pulled open, and a girl with long, flowing hair, wearing only a white undergarment and holding a long knife, appeared before him.

"I knew it was you from the footsteps." She finished speaking, then looked Su Qi up and down, her brows furrowing immediately. "What happened? Why did you rush back overnight? And why are you covered in so many injuries? Who could have hurt you like this?"

At this moment, Su Qi was disheveled, covered in dust, and had several wounds on his chest, arms, and legs that were bleeding. He looked extremely wretched.

“We encountered a formidable enemy…” He sighed sadly, a hint of grief and indignation flashing in his eyes at just the right moment. “Ishii may have already… sacrificed himself heroically to cover my escape.”

"What!?"