The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

Su Qi also wore a smile, was humble and polite, and looked like a well-behaved disciple.

Afterwards, the two exchanged a few more meaningless words, one praising and the other being modest, one complimenting and the other flattering, creating a harmonious and respectful atmosphere. It wasn't until they reached the end of the road and were about to see Su Qi off that Dao Shuo changed the subject, speaking in a concerned tone like a senior teacher: "However, Dao Cheng, as the saying goes, 'The tallest tree in the forest is the first to be blown down by the wind.' While your outstanding qualities are a blessing for our Daoist school, they may not necessarily be a good thing for you."

Su Qi frowned. "You mean?"

"The Taoist sect is vast, with numerous branches and diverse hearts. Although they are all under the command of the main family, they each have their own stance. The position of the next head of the family has long been coveted by everyone. If Dao Lian were to succeed him, with the main family keeping him in check, naturally no one would dare to provoke him. But you are quite different."

He asked curiously, "But even if I die, won't Dao Lian be the next head of the family?"

"You forgot, Dao Lian lost to you and is about to go into seclusion. It's not certain whether she'll come out alive."

"So as long as I'm removed, the position of the next family head will be vacant... I see. Thank you for the reminder, Palace Master. If I become the family head in the future, I will definitely repay you."

"It's alright, it's alright. I just couldn't bear to see the genius of my Taoist school ruined by internal strife, so I'm just giving you a heads-up. Once you've achieved Tao, please don't blame me for speaking so frankly with someone I don't know well."

"Your Highness is too kind. I am grateful and would never dare to blame you."

After exchanging a few more insincere pleasantries, the two finally parted ways and went their separate ways.

As soon as he stepped out of the Kanli Palace, Su Qi's expression turned cold. He turned back to look in the direction of the Kanli Palace, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Hmph, there are always treacherous subjects who want to harm me!"

While channeling his inner chuunibyou (adolescent delusions of grandeur), he pondered in his mind why Dao Shuo harbored murderous intent towards him.

That's right. Dao Shuo, who looked like a kind and gentle teacher just now, actually harbored murderous intent in his heart. He just didn't show it on his face. But he never dreamed that Su Qi could directly sense other people's emotions. So his performance was all for nothing.

However, Su Qi could only sense emotions, not read minds, so he didn't know why Dao Shuo wanted to kill him.

Could it be, as he said before, that he's one of those people who wants to get rid of me and support someone else to take over? But isn't that too early? Dao Lian isn't even dead yet. Or is he simply a mortal jealous of my genius? Or is he deliberately trying to warn me, to make me wary of the Daoist school, so he can reap the benefits later?

In an instant, Su Qi thought of several possibilities, but because he knew too little about that Palace Master, he couldn't be sure. So he could only put it aside for the time being and follow Dao Yuan's instructions to go to Dan Yuan Palace to pay his respects.

……

Not long after, in a spacious hall, red pillars were covered with gold leaf engravings of cloud patterns and immortal images. Yellow curtains with tassels hung between the beams. At the far end of the hall, directly opposite the gate, was a shrine where a tall statue of Laozi sat. Incense smoke rose from the incense burner in front of him, vaguely obscuring his kind-faced face with downcast eyebrows.

Dao Yuan remained in his exaggeratedly large super spirit body, sitting in front of the incense table, with Dao Lan and Dao Zhen standing on his left and right respectively. All three of them focused their gazes on Su Qi in front of them.

"Daocheng, you also have Taoist blood flowing in your veins, and we are very satisfied with your strength and aptitude. We have decided to send you to the Spirit Summoner War three years from now, and will fully support you in improving your strength..."

After the opening greetings, the previous family head, Daozhen, spoke first and got straight to the point, but halfway through his sentence, he suddenly changed the subject and said with a serious expression, "But before that, we need to confirm that you are not from the other side."

Chapter Twelve: Two Conditions

The so-called other side is Xuanzhen Dao, which is another spiritual organization that split off from Taoism, and is also one of the main targets of Taoism's revenge.

Over the past month, Su Qi has used various methods, both indirect and direct, to gain a basic understanding of Taoism and the world. He has also, of course, heard of the Xuanzhen Dao, a formidable enemy of Taoism.

The feud between Taoism and Xuanzhen Taoism dates back more than a hundred years.

First, this world's timeline is different from Earth's; it's a timeline where the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the restoration of the Ming dynasty were successful, and the new Ming dynasty after the restoration was called Zheng Ming. As history progressed, the Industrial Revolution occurred, capitalism spread, and Zheng Ming, impacted by various foreign influences, opened its customs and gradually connected with the world. The domestic bourgeoisie was also influenced and began to develop.

However, as latecomers, the other capitalist countries that had taken the lead naturally did not want Zheng Ming to also climb onto the table of dividing the world; instead, they wanted to make it the biggest piece of meat on the table. As a result, the conflict intensified, and a war similar to the Eight-Nation Alliance invasion of China in the original Earth's history broke out.

It was during that war, under various internal and external pressures, that Zheng Ming successfully completed the bourgeois revolution and became a parliamentary monarchy. Influenced by that war, many insightful individuals opened their eyes to the world, traditional ideas were greatly challenged, and a growing divergence emerged between them and the conservative forces representing tradition. The Xuanzhen Dao was a product of that era.

At that time, under the influence of various advanced ideas from the West, some people within the Taoist community gradually became dissatisfied with the Taoist's domineering and cruel style of conduct. They eventually banded together and left to establish the Northern School of Taoism, which was the predecessor of Xuanzhen Taoism.

Due to ideological differences, the Northern School of Taoism and the Main School of Taoism were mutually hostile and irreconcilable. Initially, the Main School of Taoism, with its two thousand years of history, undoubtedly had the upper hand and even nearly wiped out the Northern School on several occasions.

However, during the Japanese invasion of Ming China fifty years ago, the Northern School of Taoism secretly allied with the new Ming government. On the surface, they hired Taoist spiritualists to fight against Japanese spiritualists, but behind the scenes, they plotted against each other and even set a trap to sell their intelligence to the Japanese. As a result, most of the Taoist elite spiritualists were wiped out in one battle and could no longer compete with the Northern School.

Therefore, after the war, the Northern School joined forces with the new Ming government to sweep away the Taoist sect's strongholds throughout the country. The latter was powerless to resist and suddenly became a pariah, eventually being driven to the deep mountains and forests, losing most of its territory, and could only eke out a living in the Taoist city of Lishan.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the Taoists, who have a history of over two thousand years, might still have some trump cards, the desperate struggle of cornered beasts would have resulted in heavy casualties, and the mere high mountains and steep ridges probably wouldn't have been able to stop the encirclement and annihilation of the army.

However, neither the New Ming government nor the Xuanzhen Dao, which was later designated by the government as the head of local religions, has relaxed its suppression of Taoism for more than 50 years. At most, it has only changed the brutal killing to the gentle bleeding.

In the struggle between the two sides, it was common practice to send spies to sabotage each other. The most hated person is never the enemy, but the spy. Therefore, before deciding to fully cultivate Su Qi, the Taoists needed to make sure that he was definitely not on the other side.

"On the other side, the Xuanzhen Sect?"

Su Qi remained calm. After all, he wasn't a traitor, so what was there to be afraid of?

"That's right, are you willing to take the test?"

If you answer no here, you'll probably come in standing up and leave lying down...

Seeing the three men's expressions, as if they might suddenly turn on him and kill him at any moment, Su Qi wisely nodded, "Of course, please do as you please."

"it is good!"

Dao Zhen's expression turned solemn. He took out a vermilion brush painted with a blue phoenix and uttered a soft shout, "Super Spiritual Body - Spiritual Writing Plate!"

The next moment, a spirit in purple robes with her hair tied up, resembling a beautiful woman, appeared behind him, transforming into a stream of light that entered the Azure Phoenix Brush; then, the light and flames exploded, condensed, and transformed, turning into a sand table in front of him for divination by spirit writing.

The so-called "Fuji" is an ancient divination method, also known as Fuji, Liaisongji, Fuluan, Huiluan, Jiangbi, Qingxian, Buzigu, Jiaji, etc. "Fu" refers to supporting the frame; "Ji" means to divine to ask questions.

In simple terms, it involves placing a pen under a Y-shaped, T-shaped, or inverted triangular frame, with the pen tip suspended over a sand tray. Two people then hold the ends of the frame, inviting spirits to attach themselves to it. The frame is then moved to draw symbols or characters on the sand tray to obtain answers—a divination ritual somewhat similar to Ouija board.

"Come on, hold onto this right side."

After conjuring the sand table, Daozhen lifted the Y-shaped frame and suspended it on the sand table, letting Su Qi hold the right side while she held the left. Then she asked, "Daocheng, answer me, are you a member of the Xuanzhen Dao?"

The next instant, Su Qi felt a faint power coming from the hand that was supporting the phoenix frame, which merged seamlessly with his own witch power.

Mind reading? Or lie detection?

A feeling similar to being spied on by the Enlightened Ghost in the previous world surfaced in Su Qi's mind. His intuition told him that it was best not to lie at this moment, otherwise he would either be accused of defection or time rewind, and would definitely break with the Taoist sect.

"I am not." As the thoughts raced through his mind, he answered without hesitation.

As soon as they finished speaking, the two of them, supporting themselves on the frame, moved around and drew six horizontal lines on the sand table below. The top three horizontal lines were broken in the middle, representing "Kun"; the bottom three horizontal lines were continuous, representing "Qian". This is the Tai hexagram among the sixty-four hexagrams, with Kun above and Qian below.

"When heaven and earth interact, all things prosper; when superiors and inferiors interact, their wills are aligned. The hexagram is Tai, signifying the flourishing of the superior man and the decline of the inferior man. He is speaking the truth."

Upon hearing this, the three Taoists' stern expressions immediately relaxed somewhat.

"Next is the second question, Daocheng, are you loyal to Taoism?"

Am I loyal to Taoism? Nonsense! I'm only loyal to myself, how could I possibly be loyal to Taoism? But answering like that will definitely cause problems…

The situation was not good. Su Qi's mind raced as he pondered how to answer.

Seeing his hesitation, the three Taoists' expressions darkened again. They exchanged glances and secretly prepared to join forces and capture him on the spot if the answer did not satisfy them.

"I don't like Taoism nowadays." In the end, Su Qi decided to speak the truth selectively. "In my opinion, Taoism's current style of doing things is a bit too extreme and cold-blooded, but I have no intention of betraying Taoism."

He truly had no intention of betraying Taoism, because there was no need, and he also had to prepare to deal with the big boss, Asakura Yo, so he didn't have the extra time and energy to waste on the trivial Taoist sect.

Upon hearing this, Dao Zhen and Dao Lan's expressions softened immediately, but Dao Yuan coldly said, "I am now the head of the Dao family, and I have set the rules in recent years, so... are you dissatisfied with my philosophy?"

"Daoyuan, why take an eleven-year-old child so seriously? As long as he is still a member of the Daoist school, that's enough. Besides... your recent actions have indeed been a bit too extreme."

Seeing that Dao Yuan seemed about to get angry, Dao Lan remained silent, but Dao Zhen spoke up to persuade him. Firstly, because Dao Cheng was, after all, a talented person, and they couldn't let him be easily ruined; secondly, he himself actually had some opinions about Dao Yuan's actions, but he couldn't oppose him because of Dao Yuan's status as the head of the family and his power.

"I was asking him!"

Dao Yuan ignored him, controlling his super spirit to bend down, pressing his massive head and upper body against Su Qi's head, and said in a deep voice, "Answer me, do you have any objections to what I'm doing?"

Su Qi looked up and met his gaze, saying calmly, "Yes, I think the Taoists' current practice of wantonly taking other people's lives and manipulating zombies is too evil and goes against the mainstream morality of human society today. Once exposed, it will be hated by all people. Moreover, with the development of technology, the power of ordinary people will become stronger and stronger. Even if the Taoists have the power of spiritual communication, they will eventually be eliminated."

Dao Lan and Dao Zhen exchanged a glance, somewhat surprised. They had thought that Su Qi, an eleven-year-old child, would use reasons such as "love and justice" to justify his argument, but they did not expect him to focus on reality and point directly to the main reason for the increasing decline of Taoism in modern times.

However, Dao Yuan coldly replied, "Foolish! Do you think we don't understand this principle? The Xuanming Palace has been doing this for a long time: combining modern weapons with zombies. We have also tried to transform ourselves, and we have also tried to strengthen ourselves with so-called science, but with the Xuanzhen Dao and those insidious villains blocking and pressuring us from the outside, we Taoists would not have been able to survive until now if we did not fight in such unscrupulous ways."

"That is precisely why the Taoists are determined to seize the throne of the Spirit King. My approach is the only way for the Taoists to continue to survive!"

“No…” Su Qi said, “If we continue to stubbornly persist like this, defeat is only a matter of time, and becoming a Shaman King is not the only way to obtain great power.”

What are you trying to say?

"What do you think of me?" He spread his hands and volunteered, "If I am strong enough, strong enough that even the enemy has to be wary, wouldn't that ease the situation and give the Taoists room to maneuver?"

"Ridiculous, you think you can?"

“There’s nothing funny about it…” Su Qi said seriously, “Anyway, we’ve been around for so many years. Trying it out won’t kill us off immediately. So why don’t you let me give it a try?”

Dao Yuan stared at him, remained silent for a moment, and finally pulled his upper body back, saying coldly, "Then prove it to me. In Taoism, the strong are respected. As long as you can defeat me, resolve the predicament of Taoism, and revive Taoism, what does it matter if you set the rules of Taoism?"

"Then thank you very much for giving me this opportunity, Patriarch." Su Qi said, "However, in order to become stronger as soon as possible, I hope you can grant me two conditions."

What do you want?

"The complete right to read the Daoist Canon belongs to a sufficiently powerful spirit that holds it."

"The right to read the entire Daoist canon...?"

Dao Yuan remained silent in thought. He didn't care about a powerful spirit holder, because with two thousand years of Daoist heritage, he could easily produce a spirit holder. Moreover, since he planned to train Su Qi to participate in the Spirit Summoner War, it was only natural to equip him with a powerful spirit holder.

However, the Daoist Canon contains invaluable knowledge accumulated by Daoists over two thousand years. It is the true inheritance of Daoism and its most important treasure. Some of its top-secret contents are even only accessible to the head of a Daoist family and are not something that can be easily shown to others.

Chapter Thirteen: Sudden Traitor

"it is good!"

After hesitating for a moment, Daoyuan made up his mind.

When things are at their worst, they must change; change leads to progress; stagnation leads to death. According to the old rules, borrowing books from the Daoist canon required corresponding contributions, and some secret texts could only be revealed to senior Daoist figures who had undergone long-term trials, or even the head of the clan. But Daoism had already declined to this point, and it was necessary to seize every possible opportunity to break the deadlock. He also had the courage to change the rules.

"However, I will send someone to accompany you throughout the entire process. When you are reading the Daoist Canon, you must not damage the scriptures in the slightest."

Finally, Daoyuan made a condition. However, this condition was reasonable, and Su Qi naturally agreed.

The conversation then drew to a close. Daozhen stepped in and offered some kind words of comfort, easing the tension. He urged Su Qi to remember his bloodline and to work hard for the revival of Taoism. He promised to prepare the spirit tablet the next day, take him to read the Taoist canon, and then see him off.

Can we really trust him?

After Su Qi left, the three of them reunited, and Dao Lan spoke with unease.

Daozhen glanced at him indifferently, "Xiaolan, don't let your emotions get the better of you just because Lian'er was defeated by Daocheng. In my opinion, Lian'er's defeat is actually a good thing."

“I’m not acting on emotion. I’m just worried that if we let him grow any further, he might get out of our control. To be on the safe side, I think it would be best to use magic to restrain him, such as… the Soul Lamp.”

The so-called "life-soul lamp" is a Taoist art that was improved by the Taoist ancestors based on the sorcery of witchcraft and exorcism. Simply put, it is a ritual to capture a wisp of a person's soul and put it into an oil lamp. Afterwards, if a spell is performed on the oil lamp, the person affected will be cursed. At best, they will suffer from splitting headaches, confusion, and become insane or stupid; at worst, they will die, the lamp will go out, and their soul will be scattered.

"Xiao Lan, what nonsense are you spouting?" Dao Zhen's expression darkened slightly. "Once the soul is controlled, not only will the sorcery power stagnate, but it will also never advance. What meaning does a Dao Cheng who cannot become stronger have for our Daoist school?"

"It's not a permanent restriction, but just a period of time to temper him and test his loyalty to our Taoism. He had his limbs broken by Lian'er before, and then he rebelled against his superiors by attacking Run'er and Lian'er. His answer just now was so ambiguous, so he may still harbor resentment towards us."

"He did not kill Dao Lian in the arena."

"Perhaps it's just a temporary suppression, waiting to erupt later."

“You heard my question just now; he has no intention of betraying Taoism.”