The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

"Then what will you do? Do you want to continue being controlled? Besides, there might be other spies in the Taoist community. Once Dao Shuo dies, they might suspect you. Also, the Taoist community has lost a temple master, so they probably won't let it go. They might use divination to find me. Furthermore... you can't hide forever. What if the Xuanzhen Taoists send you to kill me again?"

"That's why I said you were being too reckless! How are you going to clean this up now?"

"What's the point of ending this? If you can't stop, then keep going. Do you want to be an undercover agent for the rest of your life?"

He didn't reply, but turned to stare at Dao Shuo, his expression changing. After a long silence, he finally took a deep breath and said, "Then let's put on a show. I'll assassinate you, but I'll be exposed and eventually killed. Then you'll find Dao Shuo yourself... As long as I haven't betrayed you, they shouldn't harm my family, and you'll have a legitimate reason to kill Dao Shuo."

"Have you suddenly become stupid? Saying such silly things."

“This is the best choice.” Daohe clenched his fist, met Su Qi’s gaze without showing any weakness, and tried to make himself appear more determined. “Anyway, death is not the end. I’ve had enough of this kind of life. It’s not a big deal to go first.”

"Wow, my friend, are you going to sacrifice yourself for me? I'm so touched... just kidding!"

After a sarcastic and sarcastic remark, Su Yong said in an unquestionable tone, "Don't do anything stupid! I'm not that weak, and I don't need you to sacrifice yourself to save me! As for your matter, I'm prepared to persuade the Taoists to help; it might be possible to resolve it."

"Impossible! You don't know the extreme attitude of Taoism towards traitors; they would never help me!"

"How will you know if you don't try? You haven't caused any trouble in Taoism. Later, you'll act like a righteous spy who abandons darkness for light and risks his life to rebel against his superior. Do you think Taoism can't even tolerate someone like that?"

"Yes, they can't tolerate it."

"Enough." He ripped off his pendant, instantly manifesting his super spirit body. Pointing his sword at Dao He, he said seriously, "Now, come and help me carry Dao Shuo to Dao Yuan Palace. Let's see if Dao Yuan's heart is really that narrow."

What if it fails?

"Then I'll persuade him!"

Chapter Eighteen: Persuasion (Physics)

In the end, Daohe couldn't resist Su Qi's insistence and helped carry Daoshuo into Daoyuan Palace.

To prevent others from seeing the Kanli Palace Master bound and causing a huge uproar, Su Qi first put Dao Shuo in a sack. Only after seeing Dao Yuan and explaining the situation did he take him out of the sack and expose him to the Dao family head.

"How can you prove that the Lord of Kanli Palace is a spy for Xuanzhen Dao? Based solely on the words of the two of you?"

Inside the main hall, after Su Qi finished telling his adapted story, Dao Yuan asked in a cold and solemn tone.

"Isn't Lord Daozhen here? If we just have him question the person involved, we can find out the truth, right? Besides, Daohe has a Three Corpse Gu Divine Pill. If it wasn't given to him by someone else, how could a mere Daoist novice possess such a wicked pill?"

Of the three highest-ranking members of the Daoist sect who entered the Daoyuan Palace this time, only Daoyuan and Daozhen were present. When they saw Su Qi looking at them, Daozhen nodded and said, "Alright, let me ask him."

"Thank you for your trouble. However, Dao Shuo has Dao He's mother Gu on him. It would be best to wake him up outside the hall. In addition, he also has a strange object called 'Painted Skin,' which was specially made by Xuanzhen Dao for Dao Zhen's Spiritual Inquiry. It is because of that Painted Skin that he has been able to infiltrate the Daoist high-level for so long. Before interrogating him, it would be best to peel off the Painted Skin on his body first."

"Painted Skin?"

Daozhen's expression changed slightly, and she nodded, saying, "I understand, I will be careful."

After saying this, he greeted Daoyuan and ordered the corpse guards in the hall to take Daoshuo away for interrogation outside the hall.

"Is he Daohe?"

After Daozhen left, Daoyuan immediately turned his gaze to Daohe.

“Yes.” Su Qi stood in front of Dao He, looked up at Dao Yuan, and said solemnly, “If he hadn’t stopped at the critical moment and even reported me, I might have been controlled by Xuanzhen Dao. Moreover, he had only been following orders to lie low before, and had not done anything that would harm the Daoist school.”

"Why didn't you inform us first, and instead went directly to Daoshuo?"

"I was afraid there might be other spies among the Taoist elites, and that sending them the message would alert them."

"I see."

After Daoyuan finished speaking, he fell silent, closing his eyes and waiting in silence. However, the air in the hall gradually became oppressive, like the calm before a storm.

Soon after, Daozhen, who was interrogating Wen Shuo, walked in from outside with a gloomy expression.

"How about it?"

"It's basically the same as what they said. The original Dao Shuo is dead, and his soul was sealed in that painted skin by them. That's why he was able to evade my investigation before."

"Is that so? He's already dead..." Dao Yuan slowly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with icy killing intent. "The people of Xuanzhen Dao deserve to die! Those who betrayed the Daoist family also deserve to die!"

As he uttered the second sentence about who should be killed, his gaze suddenly fell on Dao He, and a huge hand slammed down.

The next moment, a white arc of light flashed, and a hand descended at the wrist. Su Qi, holding his super-spiritual body Tiger Devourer, frowned slightly and said, "Lord Dao Yuan, what are you doing?"

"I've said it before, anyone who betrays Taoism must die!"

Dao Yuan stood up, and his severed hand instantly disintegrated, turning into clusters of spiritual energy that returned to the broken wrist and coalesced into a new hand.

Su Qi held his long sword at an angle, blocking Dao He's path. "But he didn't do anything to harm the Daoist school. On the contrary, he saved me and reported Dao Shuo. Even so, you still want to kill him?"

"So what?" Dao Yuan's mountain-like body cast a shadow as he looked down at Su Qi and the other man. Without hesitation, he said, "No matter what their reasons are, whether they were forced or not, whether they redeemed themselves after betraying the Daoist school, anyone who has ever betrayed the Daoist school must die. This is the rule I set, and there will be no exceptions."

"This rule is too extreme. This way, even if someone wants to rebel, they will give up the idea."

"But in this way, no one will dare to betray Taoism with a fluke mentality. Because once someone does it, they will have to pay with their life."

"But Daohe is innocent."

"Perhaps, but... there is one rule that I absolutely cannot tolerate anyone twisting!"

"What if I insist on saving him?"

"Then use your power to make me change the rules! In Taoism, the strong are respected!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Daoyuan threw a punch at him.

Su Qi did not take the hit head-on, but instead pulled on the path behind him to dodge.

The next moment, a loud bang was heard, the floor shattered, dust and smoke exploded, the entire hall trembled, and a crater with a diameter of more than ten feet was punched into the ground.

"I knew it would turn out like this..." Looking at Dao Yuan, who stood up straight, his footsteps shaking the ground, approaching like a mountain of flesh, Dao He said with a solemn expression, "Dao Cheng, there is no chance of winning, so let's stop here. Don't cause conflict with the entire Dao family because of me. If you want to help me, take care of my family when you have time in the future. If this continues, we will only be killed together."

"Don't give up so soon, I was just about to persuade him."

"Are you an idiot? How can I convince you now?"

"Of course, persuade them using physical means!"

"You really are an idiot, aren't you? Enough, stop!"

"Shut up! I'm taking charge of this. If you're a brother, help me persuade him!"

"madness!"

Dao Yuan suddenly shattered the ground and charged forward like a human bomb tank. "You actually want to fight me, the head of the Daoist school, in Dao Yuan Palace? Dao Cheng, you have disappointed me greatly."

This time, Su Qi didn't dodge. Instead, he met the attack head-on. Before Su Qi could reach his peak momentum, Su Qi charged forward, stomped on the ground, twisted his waist, and swung his sword. The sharp, narrow blade instantly cleaved through the air, drawing a huge fan shape as he slashed horizontally.

boom!!

The shockwave exploded between the two, and the blade cut deeply into Dao Yuan's super spirit body right fist, but it was ultimately blocked.

The next moment, a tremendous thrust erupted, and Dao Yuan's massive body only paused slightly before continuing forward, charging forward against Su Qi.

At the same time, the corpse guards stationed inside the hall also launched their attack, rushing towards Su Qi from all directions.

But at that moment, an arc of light pierced through, swirling and sweeping across, instantly sending several nearby corpse guards flying with a series of thuds. It was a spear, a spear about ten feet long, with a fierce black wolf's head at the joint between the blade and the shaft, and a super-spiritual spear with a sharp blade spewing from the wolf's mouth.

laugh! !

A flash of cold light appeared first, followed by the spear thrusting out like a dragon.

Daohe forced Daoyuan back with a single shot, his face full of helplessness at having been misled by his friend. "I shouldn't have believed your nonsense before. Now let's see how you get out of this mess."

"It's better than you being single-mindedly focused on suicide!" Su Qi seized the opportunity to charge forward, wielding his sword fiercely, forcing Dao Yuan into a perilous situation. "Don't think too much now! If you beat him, this will be over. If you lose, you can always try again!"

"How can we try again?"

"If you die, then it will happen next time."

There will be no next time!

Dao Yuan's body... no, it should be said that his super spirit body suddenly exploded, revealing a Daoist robe figure the size of a normal person. While forcing back Su Qi and the other two, countless soul orbs swirled around him, instantly condensing into a strange creature with a human head and a dragon's body.

"Super Spiritual Body - Great Dao Dragon! Five Thunderbolts Strike!!"

The next moment, the roof of the palace exploded, and dazzling lightning descended from the sky, illuminating the entire palace.

……

Soon after, in the pure white space, Su Qi sat up from the ground with a blank expression.

Just now, the battle with Dao Yuan ended. This time he used all his strength, but the result was neither a win nor a loss; it was a draw. However, the previous patriarch, Dao Zhen, also joined the battle, and the rest of the Dao family quickly arrived. Under the onslaught of the group, he chose to rewind the game.

"It's still not enough. To persuade the Taoists, we need an even more overwhelming force."

After a moment's thought, Su Qi quickly came up with a way to enhance his power—by possessing the Spirit and the Daoist Canon.

"In retrospect, I acted too quickly. If I had waited until tomorrow to change the spirit holder and read the Daoist Canon, the chances of winning would have increased significantly. However, I didn't plan to involve the Daoists so quickly. After that, I alerted them and couldn't stop, so I could only keep moving forward."

He sighed softly, stood up, thought for a moment, and decided to stay in the pure white space for a few months. He used visualization training to imitate the effects of magic power and the spirits in the Shaman King world, practiced the fusion and combat of super spirits, and learned advanced techniques such as dual-mode and magic power nullification, which he knew from the original work but had not yet fully mastered.

During his month in the Shaman King world, Su Qi made a point of memorizing the properties of witch power and spiritual power. Now, he used hypnotic visualization to simulate them. Although it was impossible to achieve 100% similarity, it was enough to familiarize himself with them beforehand and lay the foundation for future learning.

Several months later, after mastering all the combat skills he already knew and the ones he imagined, he reloaded his save file and entered the Shaman King world.

……

Shaman King world, second playthrough. The time is noon after discovering Dowager's unusual behavior, and the location is on the bed in the residence.

"A battle should refer to a battle in which at least one side has a strong desire to kill, and a stable point should refer to a place where one has been in a state of peace for more than an hour after the war. So the time I am in now should be after I discovered Daohe's abnormal behavior, and the place is the small courtyard where he lives."

After several rollbacks, Su Qi had roughly figured out the basic settings of the system's rollback and could roughly estimate his own rollback time.

"This time, we won't alert them. We'll persuade the Daoists to cooperate and buy them time. Once we have enough strength, we'll subdue the Daoists all at once."

As he pondered his plan, he got up and looked for time references. He quickly realized that the current time was basically correct to his estimation.

"Next, we just wait for tomorrow to arrive, but we can't waste this half-day."

Afterwards, Su Qi went straight out and found a spacious and secluded spot in Dao City to begin practicing the various techniques he had practiced in the pure white space.

Early the next morning, Dao Run, on Dao Yuan's orders, delivered to him a divine-level spirit—the White Tiger, the Guardian God of War, one of the four great guardian deities of Taoism.

Chapter Nineteen: The Protagonist is Leveling Up

A square wooden box made of old rosewood sat on the table, with purple runes painted on its four sides, each bearing a mysterious inscription and a carving of a majestic white tiger soaring through the clouds.

Upon opening the box, a beautiful tiger tooth, resembling an artwork of animal fangs, rested on a yellow satin cushion, immediately caught Su Qi's eye. It was as thick as a short dagger, shaped like a crescent moon, with a gold handle engraved with concentric circles of mysterious runes the size of flies' heads. The fangs below were delicate and smooth, white as jade, as if meticulously crafted by a master artisan, every curve flowing perfectly.

"The Guardian God is one of the powerful deities in our Taoist tradition. He is both a Western sacred beast representing the metal element and the embodiment of the Seven Mansions of the West, and is in charge of war and slaughter."

Dao Run stood behind Su Qi and explained, "As a powerful spirit at the god level, and belonging to the same tiger category as your original spirit, plus the fact that your manifested super spirit is a sword, the Guardian God Lord should be one of the most suitable spirits for you. However, the more powerful the spirit, the more powerful the witch power it needs to control... Although a god-level spirit was brought to you as you requested, do you really have the ability to control it?"