The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

At first, he couldn't even last an hour, but he quickly figured it out through repeated testing. That is, after fighting (suffering) those monsters, he would immediately return to the Pure White Space to practice the Immovable Meditation. This not only quickly stabilized his mental state, but also gradually broke through the bottleneck, allowing the meditation method, which had been close to stagnation, to continue to grow.

Seeing the direction forward strengthened his resolve. He endured the excruciating pain that tore at his soul, honing himself time and again in endless cycles of battle. In return, his spiritual power and the level of his visualization techniques flowed like an ever-flowing spring, never experiencing explosive growth, but steadily improving.

Once... twice... three times... ten times... a hundred times... a thousand times... Because he had reloaded the save file so many times, Su Qi eventually became too lazy to remember how many times he had reloaded the save file or how long he had fought against the monsters in the Shikon Jewel. He only knew that it was definitely a long time of more than ten years.

Undoubtedly, after so many saves and such a long period of time, if he only kept repeating battles and training, even if his will and self-control were beyond that of ordinary people, he would inevitably become numb in the endless spiral of monotony and pain, and even suffer a personality breakdown.

But Su Qi would never make such a basic mistake. He paid great attention to balancing work and rest, maintaining a proper pace, and always being mindful of his mental and psychological state. Whenever he felt numb and depressed, or his mental state was nearing its limit, he would temporarily put aside his cultivation, or engage in awkward conversations with Kikyo, learn magic, or discipline young boys and girls to pass the time; he could even go fishing, picnicking, barbecuing, or sunbathing in the wild, using various methods to regulate his mental state.

In any case, time is on his side. As long as he knows how to move forward, as long as there is room for progress, and as long as the efficiency is acceptable, he can repeatedly reload his save file, infinitely extending a period of time, and then using this infinite time to grow rapidly.

He remained in this state until one day he discovered that the monsters' bites could no longer harm his soul in the slightest.

"How is this possible!? Why is your soul so strong!? Even Midori, the woman who has been fighting us for hundreds of years, couldn't have such a powerful soul! Are you really human!?"

In the dark world within the Shikon Jewel, the voice that seemed to be the overlapping of hundreds of people could no longer maintain that arrogant, mocking tone, as if everything was under control.

Su Qi pulled his hand out of the mouth of a bewildered monster and saw that his forearm was indeed unharmed, and he did not feel any pain.

Originally, his arm would have been pierced by fangs, and the monster's murderous intent and malice would have been injected like poison, causing him excruciating pain as if his soul were being torn apart. When his will could not bear it, he would rewind time; when his spirit was completely torn apart, he would die passively and return to the pure white space. But now... the excruciating pain could no longer shake his will in the slightest, and the malice and murderous intent could no longer pierce his spirit. He was now invincible.

"Looks like I've maxed out my experience points."

At this moment, even Su Qi himself didn't know how strong his spiritual power was. He had already reached the highest level of visualization not long ago, but he hadn't been able to become a Buddha in this lifetime, so... Grandmaster, you really were just bragging.

Although Shunfeng'er appears for a very short time, he is a key yokai in the original work who leads to the last Shikon Jewel shard, and has a bug-level intelligence gathering ability.

If Naraku had truly absorbed it, killing Inuyasha and the others wouldn't have been too difficult, but he didn't. The original text states that its "body was too filthy," but I'll add an extension here: it resides at the bottom of a swamp, and its body has accumulated terrifying toxins over the years, even Naraku fears. Otherwise, there's no reason he wouldn't have absorbed such a convenient ability.

Chapter 101 Locking the Loading Point

"Hmph, don't be so smug, human."

Seeing that they couldn't harm Su Qi, the demons, after their initial shock, immediately resumed their mocking tone, "We admit that your spiritual power is so strong that even we can't do anything to you, but even so, you can't kill us, let alone leave the Shikon Jewel. And the reason it's like this is entirely because of your own stupidity."

"Really? But I don't think so. If you don't believe me, I'll show you how to make a person disappear right away. Finally, thank you for being my sparring partner for the past ten years. Goodbye!"

After saying this, Su Qi smiled and waved his hand, and without waiting for their reply, he died on the spot.

The next moment, he returned to the pure white space.

"The long training has finally come to an end."

Standing beside the black stone base, looking at the boundless white earth, Su Qi couldn't help but recall the various experiences he had gone through during his previous cultivation, feeling incredibly fortunate that he hadn't run away back then.

Compared to himself before completing this training, he felt as if he had just undergone a complete rebirth. This rebirth was not about changing his physical body or increasing his strength, but about his heart experiencing a kind of growth that, though difficult to describe, could be described as a complete transformation.

There's nothing left to fear, nothing left to face, nothing left to accomplish... Right now, Su Qi has this illusion that he radiates boundless light and heat from within, as if he can move mountains and fill seas, change the world, and wants to create a world-shaking feat to vent his energy, feeling omnipotent.

He knew, of course, that it was an illusion, but even someone like him, a former otaku, had no reason not to like this wonderful feeling of boundless energy and action.

At the same time, this experience of continuous growth and self-improvement gave Su Qi a wonderful sense of satisfaction that was different from other forms, to the point that he even became somewhat addicted to it in the later stages of his cultivation, and felt a sense of loss after completing his cultivation.

Regardless, this training has come to an end, and it's time for time to move forward in the outside world.

"I don't know if I can kill Naraku with one person right now, but to be on the safe side, I need to prepare more. At least I need to see if I can find a good sword that I can take him down in one go."

With this in mind, Su Qi chose to reload the save file once again.

……

The time was after returning to the shrine, but before the ceremony, and the location was the shrine's rear hall. To avoid traveling back and forth, Su Qi deliberately went to the nearby mountains to fight a small monster on the day he returned to the shrine, thus updating his save point.

When Su Qi's soul and will returned to his physical body and this vibrant world, he suddenly felt as if he had gained an extra "eye." This eye was neither a physical eye nor simply a mental eye; it was more like a fusion and upgrade of the physical and mental eyes.

He didn't have any extra organs, yet it was as if he had gained a sensory organ that didn't exist in a physical form, allowing him to see a colorful and new world.

According to Su Qi's own understanding after his research, that was a world of matter and energy at a higher level of perception. Now, he can directly "see" the subtle textures and internal structures of matter, and he can directly "see" the magnetic fields and energy fluctuations, including spiritual energy fluctuations, between all things in the world.

He compared himself to the five eyes of Buddhism (physical eye, heavenly eye, wisdom eye, Dharma eye, and Buddha eye) and felt that his newly created "eye" was above the physical eye of ordinary people and the mind eye of martial artists. It had some of the functions of the heavenly eye, but it was not the complete heavenly eye, so he temporarily called it the pseudo-heavenly eye.

Without a doubt, this is a natural change brought about by his spiritual power reaching another level, or supernatural power. It is also the only change he has discovered so far, apart from the increase in other abilities brought about by the strengthening of spiritual power itself.

Even so, even if it's just having an extra perspective and a stronger sense of perception, it can bring him immense benefits. For example, simply having a fresh perspective on the world gave him a new understanding of the "First Sword".

"Hmm, I've gained new inspiration and seen new room for improvement. It seems I spoke too soon; this training isn't over yet."

So, a thought arose, and he went back to the save file dozens of times. He became completely absorbed in cultivation, unable to extricate himself.

……

Snapped!

Su Qi flicked his finger, and a leaf that was falling in front of him was instantly split in two by a subtle force, breaking into pieces along the veins.

At this moment, he was standing at the entrance of the shrine, carrying a bundle on his back, waiting for Kikyo and the Komainu siblings to say goodbye. He casually tried out the new sword technique he had mastered. He called it "Miao Jie," which means to use skillful methods to dismantle things effortlessly by following the structural weaknesses and gaps in their textures.

"let's go."

Just then, Kikyo walked over.

"By the way, do you really believe the reasons I gave you yesterday?"

Yesterday, Su Qi suddenly told Kikyo that he wanted to give up using the Shikon Jewel to hone his skills, explaining that "I am actually a peerless genius. Today, I observed the stars and suddenly had an epiphany, which greatly increased my spiritual power. Therefore, I no longer need to use this method to cultivate."

Obviously, this reason was utter nonsense, and Su Qi deliberately made it sound so absurd, but Kikyo agreed without even asking.

"Is that important?"

"Isn't that important?"

"As long as you are still my companion, that's enough."

"Alright, thank you for your trust, Miss Kikyo."

Finally, they waved goodbye to the Komainu siblings and set off on their journey, chatting as they went. Incidentally, they were currently in the early morning of the third day after their battle with Naraku.

Now, Su Qi has all six Shikon Jewel shards on his body. He uses their power to restore his body to its full potential and add a comprehensive enhancement buff without any risk of contamination. That's why he was able to return to the shrine just one day ago and immediately go out again with full energy to hunt down Naraku.

"By the way, Kikyo, there's something I need to ask you."

Kikyo didn't speak, but simply walked alongside him, listening quietly.

Having spent over ten years with Kikyo, Su Qi was already familiar with her style. He paused briefly before continuing, "For some reason, from today until I encounter Naraku, I will not draw my sword to participate in any battles. Therefore, you will be responsible for resolving any conflicts we encounter along the way. Is that alright?"

The reason he made this request was that he planned to lock the save point to yesterday. Even if Naraku caused a lot of trouble, he only needed to die on the spot to make all of Naraku's plans go to waste and find the key points to destroy.

This time, swearing on the confidence of a cheat-like player, he wouldn't give Naraku any chance to win or escape. Well, in a sense, this was downright bullying, but players don't reason with bosses; they'll use every means possible to knock them down again and again.

Whether it's satisfying or heartbreaking remains to be seen until the ending, so please watch until the finale before drawing any conclusions. (Shuttering)

Chapter 102 Undeterred by Adversity

"I understand."

Kikyo's responses were usually quite calm, but once she agreed, she would do her best to fulfill it, and Su Qi was not surprised that she would agree to the request.

As they spoke, the two had already climbed the steps in front of the shrine and arrived at the foot of the mountain.

Kikyo looked up at the road and fields ahead and asked directly, "Where are we going next?"

"The next goal..."

Su Qi's mind raced, and he instantly sorted out his target in his mind.

His primary objective, of course, was to find Naraku's whereabouts and eliminate him. Although Naraku would undoubtedly be hiding even deeper after the last battle, he wasn't worried about not being able to wait for Naraku to appear, since he had locked onto a save point and possessed six Shikon Jewel shards. It just might take a while.

Besides, even if Naraku is determined to survive to the end and gives up on collecting all the Shikon Jewel shards, he will always find a way to find out about him. For example, he remembers that there was a demon with super hearing in the original story who had an almost bug-like ability to gather information. As long as he finds him, he won't have to worry about not finding Naraku.

Ultimately, however, he did not believe that Naraku was the kind of guy who would become cowardly and afraid to cause trouble again after almost being beaten to death once.

Secondly, he wanted a weapon that could pose a threat to Naraku, at least one with reliable area-of-effect attacks to counter Naraku's regenerative abilities. Speaking of weapons, there are actually quite a few powerful ones in the Inuyasha world. Just considering swords, there's Inuyasha's Tessaiga, Sesshomaru's Tenseiga, Tokijin, and Bakusaiga, as well as the Sounga from the movies, and the demon sword Tōki wielded by villains.

Of these, the Tessaiga, Tenseiga, and Bakusaiga are self-explanatory. The Tokijin, forged from Goshinki's teeth, is relatively weak, but it should still be usable. However, Goshinki is dead, and to forge swords from his teeth, the Tenseiga needs to be cleansed of its death aura (this is also mentioned in the original work; initially, Kaijinbo, who was in charge of forging the swords, didn't even consider Goshinki's teeth worthwhile), and Sesshomaru obviously wouldn't be kind enough to help him.

The Tenseiga is a demon sword that appears in the theatrical anime film *The Sword of World Domination*. It's also the sword of Inuyasha's father and is said to be more powerful than the Tessaiga and Tenseiga. The evil spirit residing within it isn't a problem for Su Qi; there's no reason why Inuyasha's father and Sesshomaru couldn't resist him. The key question is whether this sword actually exists.

Actually, Su Qi himself preferred the demon sword, the Demon-Slaying Blade. It was forged from the scales of a dragon-man and possessed the ability to steal the demonic power of its enemies. In the original story, it almost drained the demonic power of the Tessaiga and also stole the Wind Scar. Therefore, if he obtained that sword, he could try to cultivate it into a weapon that best suited him.

Finally, he also planned to tame a flying shikigami. It would be too inconvenient not being able to fly while chasing Naraku, so he needed a mount. The shikigami taming method he had recently learned from Kikyo would come in handy.

So, Su Qi decided to search for Naraku while simultaneously preparing weapons and shikigami. After the last battle, he reflected on his actions and realized that he had indeed underestimated Naraku and been too hasty. Therefore, this time he would be fully prepared and find the right opportunity to finish Naraku off.

"Then let's go back to the village first."

Ultimately, Su Qi decided to first meet with Inuyasha and his group. His purpose was to consult the experienced old demon Myoga to see if he knew the location of the Wind-Following Ear, and also to probe whether the Cloud Fang truly existed.

……

Several days later, in a small town, Inuyasha and his companions, who were tracking Naraku, heard a strange story.

"A monster launched a frontal attack and stole the city lord's precious armor?"

“That’s right. Just last night, I saw it with my own eyes. It was a monster that looked like a giant turtle, with a thick shell on its back.”

"Really? Thank you for letting me know."

At a roadside tea stall, Miroku finished his conversation and looked at his companion, "Inuyasha, do you think this matter is related to Naraku?"

"It doesn't seem to matter much. Let's go into the city later and see if we can smell Naraku..."

As Inuyasha finished speaking, his expression suddenly changed, and he looked towards the woods beside the road. "It's Naraku's stench! I can smell it, it's over there!"

Before they finished speaking, several of the fiercest birds flew out of the forest, circled in their sight, and flew into the mountains.

"They're the fiercest! Are they deliberately trying to lure us into chasing them?"

"Of course! We finally found Naraku's trail, how could we let him get away!"

So the group immediately set off, following Saigatsu all the way to a clearing deep in the mountains. There, Naraku, dressed in a white baboon skin, was waiting for them with an air of nonchalance.

"We meet again, Inuyasha."

"Enough with the nonsense! Naraku, prepare to die!"

Upon seeing him, Inuyasha drew his Tessaiga and unleashed a Wind Scar.

"Heh, the Wind's Wound, huh?"

Naraku was not afraid at all. With a thought, he erected a barrier to completely block the Wind Scar.

"How is this possible? It actually withstood the wind wound head-on!"

Everyone was shocked, but he didn't care. He suddenly removed the barrier and said with an enigmatic smile, "Come on, try to cut me with your Tessaiga again. This time I won't use the barrier to block it."