The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

The latter stared intently until the figure disappeared from sight, then picked up the knife, carefully wiped it clean with a handkerchief, held it in his arms, and returned to the dojo.

As soon as Chang Gu Balun, who had been guarding the door, saw her return, he immediately went to greet her, but before he could say anything, he was embraced.

"Father..." the girl buried her face in his arms, her voice trembling slightly, "Can I hold you for a while?"

Chang Gu Balun felt a pang of pain in his heart and hurriedly said, "Of course, of course, you can stay in Dad's arms for as long as you want."

Feeling the faint dampness against his chest, he held his daughter, gently stroking her back and softly comforting her, all the while inwardly cursing: It's over! That wretched brat, because of him, Ruri's marriage is even more out of the question… Meihui, I'm so sorry…

……

On the other side, Su Qi, wearing straw sandals, carrying a bundle, with a long sword at his waist, dressed as a Warring States period ronin, wandered alone on the country roads.

"Life's journey... a beautiful dream is long... the road is filled with wind and frost... the wind and frost sting our faces..."

He softly sang a foreign song that no one could understand, then took out a folded small cloth bag from his pocket, carefully opened it, and a jade fragment that shimmered with an eerie pinkish-purple light immediately appeared before his eyes.

Without a doubt, this is the Shikon Jewel that both humans and demons are madly pursuing.

Okay, it seems a lot of people are concerned about the ending of Love and Redemption, so I'll give you a little more spoiler: she won't get married, she won't take stomach medicine, she won't die alone, in short, it won't be a sad ending, so you can rest assured.

Chapter Fifty: Do You Crave Power?

The Shikon Jewel shards were naturally obtained from Soichiro. Su Qi had studied them carefully and found that they were strange crystals formed from the materialization of countless souls.

Spiritual power originates from the soul, so the Shikon Jewel also has its own spiritual power fluctuations and field. Moreover, even though it is only a fragment, its spiritual power is more than ten times stronger than the Shikon Jewel, and its limits are difficult to calculate.

As long as you carry the Shikon Jewel with you and make a wish upon it, it will automatically amplify your spiritual power and distort reality in an unpredictable way, thus fulfilling your wish to some extent.

Su Qi had previously made a small attempt to increase his strength by wishing for it, and his overall muscle strength immediately increased to nearly three times its original level, and that wasn't the limit; it could still slowly increase. If the Shikon Jewel's main purpose during his battle with Souichirou hadn't been to sustain his life but simply to enhance his strength, achieving victory would have been even more difficult.

In addition, it can enhance the capabilities of the object itself.

By simply embedding the fragment into an ordinary samurai sword, a single swing amplifies the sword's energy to an absurd degree, enough to cleave a large house in two with a single blow. As for basic qualities like sharpness, cutting through gold and jade is a piece of cake.

But as expected, the Shikon Jewel has both advantages and disadvantages.

Once one uses the Shikon Jewel under the guidance of desire, their spiritual power will be gradually corrupted by the evil thoughts within the jewel, indirectly distorting their soul and corrupting their personality. If used for too long and one becomes overly dependent on it, the inevitable consequence is falling into the demonic path.

If the user harbors deep-seated evil thoughts, they will resonate with the evil thoughts within the jade, accelerating the process of corruption and causing the user to transform into a demon more quickly.

However, Su Qi had already broken through to the second level of visualization in the previous battle. His spiritual power, concentration, and willpower were far superior to those of ordinary humans or demons. He could completely resist and isolate pollution in a short period of time, so he planned to use the Shikon Jewel fragments as a trump card.

After all, he was just an ordinary human being, unlike the main characters in the original story who had various advantages. So, he should make full use of the powerful tools he had, as long as he was careful not to get corrupted.

Do you crave power?

As Su Qi gazed at the Shikon Jewel fragments, a seductive voice faintly echoed in his mind, "Come, make a wish upon me. As long as you make a wish, you can obtain everything."

"Stop nagging, you definitely can't give me what I want."

He remained unmoved and was about to retrieve the fragment when a figure suddenly pounced from the roadside bushes.

"Hand over the Shikon Jewel to me!!"

Before he could finish speaking, a flash of sword light appeared, blood splattered, and a green-skinned lizard, its limbs severed and the size of an adult man, crashed heavily in front of Su Qi.

Chi!

The gleaming blade pierced the ground close to its face, silencing the cry of pain it was about to utter.

“Sir…” Su Qi squatted down beside its head, smiling kindly, “What did you just say you wanted me to hand over?”

The other party was so frightened by the smile that its tail straightened, its whole body trembled, and it froze for a moment before finally managing to force a fawning smile on the green lizard's face and say in a trembling voice, "What... what did you say, sir? I was just saying... that the Shikon Jewel fragment in your hand is really beautiful."

Su Qi glanced at it with a half-smile, not caring at all. He simply put the fragment back into his pocket and stared at it, saying, "Let me ask you a question. Have you ever heard of Kikyo, the priestess who guards the Shikon Jewel?"

Under that sharp, yet discerning gaze, the latter dared not lie, nor could he tell a lie, and could only say in a trembling voice, "Okay, okay... I think I've heard of it."

Do you know where that shrine maiden lives?

"Uh...it seems...I've never heard of it."

"Sigh, you can't even answer such a simple question. I find it hard to convince myself to spare your life."

It trembled with fear, struggled to roll over, and kept kowtowing, pleading, "Sir, spare me! Sir, spare me! I'll never dare to do it again, please forgive me this time!!"

"So, one last question: have you ever eaten a person or attacked a human?"

The lizard froze, its eyes wide with terror.

"Wrong answer."

With a flash of light, the head was severed from the body. Water droplets then rapidly seeped from the gleaming, slender blade, diluting the blood.

Su Qi stood up, casually flicked the blood off his sword, and sheathed it. Then, his gaze fell on the three-way intersection not far ahead, his brow furrowing slightly. "Which way should we go next?"

In the end, he used the knife as a staff and determined which path to take by observing the direction it fell in.

The reason for using this metaphysical method is that the geographical locations in "Inuyasha" are basically all vague. Although we can deduce from the original work that Kikyo's village is in Musashi Province, we have no idea about its exact location.

While Japan's territory is small, that's relative. Relying solely on foot (or "route 11") to traverse mountains and valleys in an era of extremely poor road conditions was by no means an easy task.

Therefore, Su Qi has begun to consider whether to capture a flying monster for transportation. Meanwhile, having no other options, he plans to search for his target both on his own and by asking monsters for directions.

Because in this era, the speed at which information is transmitted between yokai is much faster than that between humans, and since many yokai are frantically pursuing the Shikon Jewel, there should be quite a few who know about it.

However, perhaps he was having a run of bad luck. Two days passed, and he had been eating and sleeping outdoors, but he had neither caught the flying monster nor found any information about Kikyo Village. It wasn't until dusk on the third day that a huge shout and scream attracted his attention.

When Su Qi arrived at the mountain hollow that had served as the battlefield, a brief but fierce battle had just ended.

A quick glance revealed a field strewn with corpses, rivers of blood, scattered weapons, and flags covered in dust and burning... Upon closer inspection, there were at least three or four hundred bodies, all dressed in uniform armor. Their headbands, armor plates, and the turbans tucked into the backs of the samurai all bore family crests, clearly indicating they belonged to a daimyo's regular army. However, he lacked detailed knowledge of Japan's Sengoku period, so he had no idea which unfortunate lord they were.

Why is he considered unlucky? Because the culprit who wiped out the entire army was just one person, or rather, one demon, who was almost certainly not his enemy. And the cause of death for those people was probably just that they happened to be in the way, and a conflict broke out accidentally—a ridiculous reason, in short, an undeserved disaster.

That monster was named Sesshomaru.

He was tall and slender, with a cold and handsome face. His long silver hair cascaded down his back. He wore a snow-white kimono with red hexagonal plum blossom patterns printed on the sleeves and left shoulder. Over the kimono was a fitted black suit of armor and a skirt armor. A white fur trim was wrapped around his right shoulder. Despite being in the midst of a ravaged battlefield, he was completely untouched by dust or blood, exuding the composure and elegance of a noble young master strolling and admiring flowers.

Finally, I encountered the characters from the original work!

Su Qi's eyes lit up, and he immediately stepped forward, greeting him in a very familiar manner, "Hey handsome, can you tell me how to get to the village where Inuyasha is sealed?"

Chapter 51 Teetering on the Brink of Death

While asking the question, Su Qi looked at Sesshomaru, his gaze going directly to his left arm. A crimson demon hand, with bulging veins, extremely thick and disproportionate to his body, with an appearance comparable to the legendary Qilin arm, immediately came into view.

In an instant, his mind raced, and he immediately knew which time period of the story they were currently in.

Once upon a time, there was a giant dog who had become a spirit, named Inu no Taisho, a famous demon who resided in the western lands. Later, Inu no Taisho had a son, Sesshomaru, with a demon, and a son, Inuyasha, with a human. Before his death, he left his two sons two demon swords, Tenseiga and Tessaiga.

Inuyasha is, of course, the male protagonist of this manga, "Inuyasha".

After Inu no Taisho's death, the older dog, despising the younger dog, who was a half-demon, and disliking the Tenseiga which couldn't kill, went to steal his brother's Tessaiga. However, he accidentally had his left arm severed by his brother in the battle. Naturally unwilling to accept this, he began to steal the left arms of other powerful demons and attach them to himself, preparing to seize the sword again for revenge... This is the current plot point.

Fortunately, the story is still in its early stages, and Kikyo hasn't been resurrected yet. My strength is enough to intervene in the story, but... it would be best to verify it first.

Su Qi breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at Sesshomaru again, he found that Sesshomaru did not respond to his question at all. He only glanced at the scarred demon hand before turning around and leaving.

Clearly, it was ignored.

"Hey, wait a minute, the saying goes that helping others is the source of happiness. Looking at you, you never seem to smile. Don't you want to try being happy?"

Sesshomaru, seemingly oblivious, continued on his way.

Behind him, a green-skinned demon servant dressed in a brown hunting robe, holding a staff with a human head, wearing a black pointed hat, with a round head and pointed mouth, and only half a person's height, stopped and looked over with a disdainful expression. "Hmph, a mere lowly human dares to speak to Lord Sesshomaru? Who gave you the courage? While your head is still on your neck, get out of Lord Sesshomaru's sight."

Before he could finish speaking, Su Qi, who had flashed forward, grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up, smiling as he asked, "What did you just call me?"

The demon servant named Jaken showed no fear, raising his head arrogantly and saying, "You lowly human, I advise you to put me down and kneel down to apologize, otherwise, if Lord Sesshomaru gets angry..."

Before he could finish speaking, Su Qi gave him a sound beating from both sides, then continued with a smile, "Say it again, what did you just call me?"

"You bastard!" Jaken, his face bruised and swollen, roared in fury. "A mere human... *crackling sounds*... how dare you... *crackling sounds*... hit me, Jaken-sama... *crackling sounds*... Master Sesshomaru, help me!!"

Covered in welts and looking like a Buddha reborn, it finally couldn't help but let out a loud scream, begging its young master for help. However, when it turned around, it found that Sesshomaru's figure was already more than ten meters away.

"Young Master Sesshomaru! Young Master Sesshomaru! Wait a minute, Jaken is still being held by this evil human! Help!"

It cried out like a wronged woman, but Sesshomaru showed no sign of turning back. It struggled to break free, but it was completely unable to shake Su Qi's iron arm.

"Alright." The latter jerked suddenly, interrupting its screams, and still smiled slightly, "Say it again, what did you call me?"

"Evil spirit (whispering)."

"Ok?"

"uncle!"

"That's more like it. Tell me, how do I get to the village where Inuyasha is sealed?"

"Go east, pass two more villages, and cross a few mountains, and you'll be there."

"If only you had been this sensible earlier."

Su Qi casually tossed it down, clapped his hands, and quickly chased after Sesshomaru, once again blocking his path.

"Get out of the way." The latter stopped in his tracks, his tone icy.

Su Qi didn't care, and simply said, "Sesshomaru, do you want to know how to gain the approval of the Tessaiga?"

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, finally becoming serious. "You know?"

Su Qi didn't answer, but looked at Xie Jian, who was panting and running up from behind, and asked, "Why didn't you save it just now? Isn't it your servant?"

Sesshomaru remained silent for a moment, then said calmly, "You have no killing intent."

"I see."

“Lord Sesshomaru! I knew it…you still care about me after all…”

With tears welling up in his eyes, Xie Jian rushed forward and grabbed the leg, then cried out in pain as he was kicked away.

Su Qi glanced at the corpses scattered around him and asked again, "Why did you kill these people?"

“A pointless question…” Sesshomaru said coldly, “If you waste any more of my time, I’ll kill you.”

"Hmph, that's because these fools blocked Lord Sesshomaru's path and even dared to point their blades at him, trying to kill us. How ignorant..."

Jaken returned once again, looking disheveled. Just as he was about to continue his mockery, he saw Su Qi's gaze sweep over him, and his body trembled as he hid behind Sesshomaru.

Su Qi withdrew his gaze. "But if you kill me, you won't get the answer, will you?"

"Then I, Sesshomaru, will take the sword back with my own strength."