The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

With that thought in mind, Su Qi shook his head in a pretentious manner, looked up at the moon with a weary expression, and said lightly, "Demons and evil spirits run rampant, and the people are suffering... I'm sorry, there's really nothing worth talking about on the journey."

Lu Hua paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement, "You're right. In such a chaotic world, even living an ordinary life is a luxury, so where would there be anything interesting?"

Yes, compared to my previous life, this world is absolutely terrible. I knew that as soon as I arrived...

Thinking of this, Su Qi suddenly frowned.

This is bad. Even being a couch potato in this world would be difficult. Even if I don't provoke others, they'll provoke me. And can I, with my different values, adapt to this world? Will the storyline continue as before after my involvement? What if Naraku wins and goes berserk, wanting to destroy the world? If my early laziness leads to him having too much of an advantage later and I'm powerless to stop him, won't it be game over?

"Lord Kenshin? Lord Kenshin?"

The sound of reeds startled him from his deep thoughts.

What's wrong?

"No, it's nothing. Sorry, I just suddenly thought of something and got distracted."

"Perhaps you are too tired. In that case, I will take my leave now so as not to disturb your rest."

After she finished speaking, she bowed, got up, and left.

As Su Chen watched her departing figure, he suddenly felt something was off. After a moment of thought, he finally understood where this unease came from—she was too calm. Lu Hua's expression and demeanor were too calm. Although he could vaguely sense sorrow in her expression, she was too reserved, which made her seem unlike a woman who had just lost her family and husband that night.

But after thinking about it carefully, it's not incomprehensible.

People living in this era should be accustomed to birth, aging, sickness, and death, and Roka, being a brave woman who dared to face the Red Demon, is not surprised by her actions. The reason for this sense of incongruity ultimately lies in the difference between her values ​​and those of the people in this world.

Indeed, becoming a happy, laid-back person isn't so simple after all...

……

The next morning, Su Qi woke up in the corridor.

Because he had taken a nap in that pure white space before, he was still full of energy even though he had only slept for a few hours.

"Luckily it's still summer, otherwise I'd probably catch a cold lying outside."

Su Qi rubbed his stomach, stood up, and suddenly realized something, "Ouch, so many bites, I've been defiled by the mosquito ladies!"

Clearly, to the mosquitoes, he was a piece of easy prey delivered to their mouths yesterday, so it was only natural that he was picked up while unconscious and subjected to all sorts of things.

"Brother Su Qi, are you awake?"

Just then, the sleepy little chick wobbled over.

Su Qi raised his hand and lightly tapped her head. "You should ask yourself if you're awake yet."

"Waaah! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts..." Little Chu hugged her head, tears welling up in her eyes, and said, "Brother Su Qi is a bad guy!"

"Okay, stop pretending. I didn't use any force at all. By the way, what brings you here?"

"Hmph..." Her expression returned to normal in the blink of an eye, and Xiaochu said, "Mom told me to call you to have dinner. Also... after dinner we're going to collect Father's and Grandpa's remains. Can you come with me?"

After saying that, she tilted her little face up, her big eyes blinking as she looked at Su Qi, her eyes full of hope.

"Oh, you really want me to go?"

"No...no, that's not it! I just..."

"Then I won't go!"

"Hey! Aren't you going!?"

"Just kidding."

"Su Qi is a complete idiot!!"

Watching the little girl storm off in a huff, a pleased smile appeared on Su Qi's lips, and the weariness in his heart inexplicably lessened. Forget it, I won't think about it too much for now. At least... those few save points were worthwhile.

……

After breakfast, Su Qi, Lu Hua, Xiao Chu, and the other women in the village, carrying large and small bags, left the house and headed towards the village entrance. That was the place where the bandits had committed the most massacres, and also the graveyard where they burned the villagers' corpses.

On the way, the little girl looked gloomy and didn't say a word. She just held Su Qi's big hand tightly with her small hand, as if she wanted to draw strength from him to support herself.

Su Qi didn't say anything, but silently held her hand and followed the others.

The people who died were all unrelated to him, so he couldn't empathize with them, but at least he wouldn't do anything inappropriate in such a situation.

"monster!"

"Everyone, run!!"

Suddenly, a terrified scream came from ahead.

Chapter Fourteen: Ox Bone Workshop

monster?

Su Qi looked up and saw a group of women running back from the front, their faces filled with terror.

"You all leave here first, I'll go take a look ahead."

Relying on his ability to rewind time, he greeted Xiaochu and Luhua beside him, and without waiting for a reply, he ran straight out.

The village was small, and soon Su Qi spotted the monster.

It was nearly five meters tall, with a bull's head and a human body. Half of its face was flesh and blood, and the other half was bone. It was dressed in black monk's robes, with a string of skull prayer beads around its neck. In front of it was a large bamboo basket filled with human bones, and beside it was a crescent-shaped shovel nearly two zhang long. It sat cross-legged in front of a cluster of burnt-down residential ruins.

As Su Qi approached, a nauseating stench of corpses wafted over from the other side.

He forced himself to endure the discomfort and continued forward, where he saw half-charred corpses intertwined in the ruins, piled up into a small mountain. Some of the corpses had their limbs broken, revealing blackish-red charred flesh and pale white bones, with large amounts of fat melted and dripping into the ground as corpse oil.

This is where the bandits disposed of the villagers' corpses last night, but clearly, in their eagerness to drink and have fun, they didn't clean it properly. Most of the corpses, which should have been burned to ashes, remained, which is why this monster was attracted.

Five meters away from the bull-headed demon, next to a residential building, Su Qi, who was peeking through the wall, smelled the strong stench of corpses in the air and looked at the bizarre scene that resembled a Junji Ito manga. His face turned ugly, his stomach churned, and he almost vomited.

Whether it was because it didn't notice or didn't care, the bull demon completely ignored Su Qi hiding behind it, and simply stretched out its big hand, grabbed a charred corpse from the pile of corpses, threw it into its blood-red maw, and chewed it up like chicken cartilage.

Between the opening and closing of its two rows of pale white teeth, bits of meat and grease dripped down the corners of its mouth. After chewing a few times, it puffed out its cheeks and spat out the few remaining bones into the bamboo basket.

What kind of monster is this?

After sizing up the other party's towering physique and glancing at the convenient shovel that weighed at least a hundred pounds, Su Qi wisely refrained from rushing forward and simply stood there quietly observing.

Soon, he noticed that as the other party swallowed and spat out bones, flesh and blood gradually grew back on the half-skeletal face. In addition, the amount of bones spat out was much less than what should have been on the corpse, and they looked more silvery and hard, with a steel-like luster, as if they had been refined.

So what should we do now? Fight? No… there’s no chance of winning against such an opponent. It seems we have no choice but to take a detour, and we’ll have to abandon the remains of the deceased…

After watching for a while, Su Qi felt the urge to leave and was about to turn around when he suddenly heard the sound of hooves. A man dressed as a warrior appeared on horseback on the path outside the village.

They should have already seen the monster from that spot. Aren't they going to run away?

A thought flickered in his mind, and he stopped what he was doing. He saw the man dismount at the village entrance, walk straight to the bull demon, raise his head slightly, and say coldly, "Demon, did you kill all these people?"

The minotaur stopped what it was doing, turned its massive bull head around, its blood-red eyes looking down, white breath billowing from its nostrils, and slowly grinned to reveal a set of white teeth stained with bloody flesh. "So what if you are? A mere human dares to challenge my Bull Bone Workshop?"

"Since that's the case, then I'll kill you."

The samurai's expression grew even colder. He took a half step back, drew his sword, and raised it, assuming an attack stance.

"Hehehe, that's hilarious."

Niu Gu Fang grabbed the shovel beside him, stood up, and the ground trembled, as if a small mountain had risen before him. A huge shadow fell, completely covering the samurai's body.

"Forget about mages and exorcists, he's just a samurai, yet he dares to speak so arrogantly!"

As it spoke, it suddenly swung the shovel and slammed it down heavily.

The samurai was on guard and leaped aside.

boom!!

The shovel fell, smashing the ground, raising dust and sending rocks flying everywhere.

Ignoring the stones hitting him, he lunged from the side as soon as he landed, raising his long sword high and striking down like thunder, slamming it heavily into Niu Gu Fang's arm.

Pfft!

Blood splattered as the sharp blade sliced ​​through muscle and struck the arm bone, then...

clang!!

Amidst the clanging of metal against metal, the blade was unexpectedly deflected, humming and vibrating in mid-air.

"Foolish! The bones of my Ox Bone Workshop are as hard as steel; your attack is useless."

Niu Gu Fang sneered, his arm gripping the shovel tightened, veins bulging, and he suddenly swept it horizontally.

The samurai's pupils contracted; instead of retreating, he lunged forward, advancing instead of retreating.

The next instant, a long shadow swept overhead, and the shockwave exploded in a fan shape, swirling up dust and smoke.

At this moment, the samurai had already passed under the ox bone shop and crawled behind it. He then turned around and slashed, cutting two deep, bloody gashes on the latter's calves.

"I told you, your knife can't cut through my steel body!"

But even though you can't cut it, it still hurts.

Enraged, Niu Gu Fang raised his leg and stomped down on the warrior.

"Is that so? If your bones are as hard as steel, then I only need to use a strike that can cut through steel."

The latter easily dodged again, then leaped up, jumped onto its knee, and then took several quick steps, stepping on its waist to run straight up, leaping high into the air and slashing down with its knife.

"cut!!"

Instantly, a thunderous shout rang out, and a blade flashed down, transforming into a silver line that cleaved from the top of Niu Gu Fang's head straight down to his crotch.

Pfft!

The next moment, blood exploded, and the tall body suddenly shattered, falling to both sides along the midline, with steaming intestines and internal organs spilling all over the ground.

"Ha...ha...ha...I...I really am still lacking in cultivation..."

Looking down at the two enormous corpses on the ground, the samurai caught his breath for a moment before sheathing his sword. He then turned to look at Su Qi's hiding place and said expressionlessly, "The humans and monsters over there have been slain by me. You can come out now."

They actually killed a monster...

Behind the wall, Su Qi, who had witnessed the entire battle between the two sides, was deeply shocked.

In fact, the fight just now only lasted a few breaths for him. The speed of both sides' attacks and defenses was as fast as lightning, so fast that he couldn't even see it clearly. But even so, he felt that it was much more realistic and intense than what was shown in movies and animations.

What surprised him even more was that the victor was a human samurai who looked to be only in his early thirties. It's worth noting that in the original *Inuyasha* manga, samurai were merely cannon fodder used to highlight the power of demons; even with sheer numbers, they were utterly powerless against slightly stronger demons.

However, upon closer examination, this is not simply a comic book. Samurai make up a larger proportion of human combatants than monks and mages, so it's not unreasonable that some samurai possess the power to contend with monsters.