The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

"The incantations and meditations, the techniques for bringing the dead back to life recorded in the 'Brief Guide to Divination,' they are merely undergoing special training to experience death. If necessary, I will awaken them."

"I see……"

Knowing that the Taoist group hadn't suddenly fallen out, Asakura Yeming felt relieved. After discussing the details of the plan with Su Qi, he used his super spirit form to take the unconscious Anna Kyoyama away.

……

That evening, shortly after nightfall, Yoh Asakura, who had been ordered to reflect on his actions, walked out of his room and was about to go to dinner when a loud bang suddenly came from not far away.

What's going on here?

The floor beneath my feet trembled, dust fell from the ceiling above my head, and I could hear the creaking and groaning of the house collapsing in the distance.

An earthquake? No, that's not right, it doesn't seem like an earthquake. What's going on?

Filled with doubt, he hurried along the corridor toward the direction from which the commotion was coming. Soon, he saw dust billowing in the distance, and in front of the collapsed house, the unique flames of supernatural beings flickered, along with the sounds of collisions, as if someone was engaged in a fierce battle.

"Lord Ye!!"

Suddenly, Tamao rushed out from around the corner ahead. As soon as she saw him, she shouted anxiously, "Run! The Taoists are going to destroy the Asakura family!!"

The Taoists...want to destroy the Asakura family?

Yoh Asakura stood there, stunned, unable to comprehend why things had suddenly turned out this way.

Chapter Thirty-One: Sudden Turncoat

"Lord Ye, what are you still doing? Run!"

Seeing that Asakura Yo was still in a daze, Tamao became even more anxious and rushed over, grabbing his hand and pulling him out.

"Wait, Yuxu, what exactly happened?"

"There's no time!" Her face flushed, she shouted to Yoh Asakura for the first time, "Let's escape first!"

"That's right, that's right, let's run! We don't want to die here!"

"Run! Those guys will be here soon, and Ye Ming and the others won't be able to hold them off for long!"

The two ghosts following Yuxu quickly chimed in. They were her guardian spirits, named Pochi and Kunchi, a fox spirit and a raccoon spirit who had been dead for over four hundred years, and were extremely timid and lustful.

Despite Yuxu pulling him along, Asakura Yoh frowned slightly, about to speak, when a loud explosion rang out near the corridor. The blast wave hit their faces, and a figure was sent flying, landing with a thud beside the two of them.

"Lord Kino!"

"Grandma Mum!?"

The two turned around and saw that the person lying on the ground, with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and looking disheveled, was none other than Kino Asakura.

"Grandma, how are you?! Why are you injured? Did Dao and the others really do this?"

Yoh Asakura rushed forward and helped Kino Asakura, whose face was pale, to her feet.

"Cough cough... Ye, you two... hurry up and leave..." The latter gasped for breath a few times, and after catching his breath, immediately took out a book from his sleeve and handed it to Asakura Ye, his face grim. "We miscalculated. We didn't expect the Daoist school to be Ye Wang's people. Now they're going to wipe out the entire Asakura family. You must escape!"

"Dōwa and the others are Yoh's men?" Yoh Asakura looked incredulous. "How could such a thing be?"

"Don't hesitate any longer, Ye! Take the 'Super Divination Strategies' and leave immediately!"

As he spoke, Konomi Asakura shoved the "Super Divination Manual" into his arms, then shook the prayer beads in her hand and chanted in a deep voice: "Accumulate one for my father, accumulate two for my mother, accumulate three, my brothers from my hometown, please dedicate them to me!"

The prayer beads spun in her hand, and will-o'-the-wisps appeared behind her.

"If you hear this voice at the ends of the world, stand up! If you hear the sound of prayer beads, turn around! Come down, come down, ghost of the Stock Sect, please reappear in this world!!"

As the last word fell, Kino Asakura abruptly slammed the prayer beads together, and the will-o'-the-wisps behind her simultaneously coalesced into a small figure.

With a human body, cat's head, two tails, and tiger stripes, and less than Asakura Yoh's waist in height, he wore a black haori hakama without family crests, white tabi socks, and oversized wooden clogs. He had a long pipe in his mouth, and his temperament was calm and elegant, yet also revealed a dashing and decisive air like a swordsman. This was the cat ghost, Mutsumi, who had served Asakura Yoh and had been dead for over a thousand years.

"Gu Zong!?"

Seeing that familiar figure, Yoh Asakura stood there stunned, the overwhelming joy in his heart almost overshadowing his worries about the current situation of the Asakura family.

He remembered clearly that two years ago, in order to protect himself and to save Anna from the demon's torment, Gu Zong had exhausted his magical power, lost his body, and disappeared. He thought it would be a long time before he could see him again, but unexpectedly, they met again now.

In fact, Gu Zong's disappearance at that time was not a complete dissipation of his soul, but rather the exhaustion of the witch power left by Ye Wang, which made it impossible for him to maintain his super spirit state. Therefore, he returned to the interior of the great soul, which is what the Japanese call "becoming a Buddha".

However, as Idogu, Kino Asakura and Anna Kyoyama's spirit summoning techniques can bring back spirits who have already become Buddhas to the mortal world, so bringing Mutsumi back is not difficult for them.

"Mr. Ye, we meet again."

Taking off his pipe and holding it in his hand, Gu Zong smiled slightly and greeted Asakura Yo. Then he glanced around and frowned slightly. "But it seems that now is not the time to talk."

"Ahem, Nekomata Mune, who has served the Asakura family for over a thousand years, now faces annihilation. We need you to help Yo escape from here and guide him to become a powerful and independent shaman."

After giving her instructions, Kino Asakura turned to Yoh Asakura and said, "Yoh, you don't even have a fixed guardian spirit right now, so I called Muneko back from that world. He will assist you from now on. Now, you must leave immediately!"

"What about Grandma, Grandpa, and Anna?"

“We must all stay here to hold them off. As for Anna…” She lowered her head slightly, a trace of sorrow flashing across her face, “Anna, my disciple, she… is dead.”

He's dead... He's dead... He's dead... He's dead...

Upon hearing this, Yoh Asakura froze on the spot. The news of Anna's death struck him like a thunderbolt, leaving his mind blank, with only the echoes of the news lingering in his ears.

At that moment, it felt as if a piece of his heart had suddenly been missing.

"No... how could this be... how could Anna be dead..."

His eyes gradually lost their luster, and he looked at Asakura Kino with a dazed expression. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, forcing out a stiff, mask-like, ugly smile. "Grandma Kino, you must be lying to me? You must be joking, right?"

Snapped! !

A sharp cracking sound rang out, and the latter suddenly stepped forward and slapped him mercilessly.

"You've disappointed me greatly, Ye! Is this the time to be thinking about such things? Get out of here!"

After saying that, he ignored the stunned Asakura Yoh and turned to walk out. "Tamao, leave with Yoh right now! We can't hold them off for long. Before the strongest one of them makes a move, let's get away from the Asakura family!"

Before the words were finished, a thunderous shout suddenly rang out in the courtyard outside the corridor, "Super Golden Chinese Slash Dance!!"

boom!!

The earth trembled, and a shockwave swept across the land. A colossal super-spiritual entity, radiating golden flames, dispelled the darkness and crashed down. Instantly, a violent storm arose, engulfing the courtyard. The raging force cracked the earth, its momentum undiminished, continuing to spread towards this direction.

"Super Spirit Body: Hundred Ghosts March!"

In an instant, a large number of will-o'-the-wisps appeared behind Kino Asakura, and the rosary beads in her hand exploded at the same time. Each rosary bead combined with the will-o'-the-wisps, manifesting hundreds of large and small evil spirits with blue faces and fangs.

"Stop them!"

As soon as she thought of it, the evil spirits immediately huddled together, forming a ghost wall that blocked everyone behind them.

The next moment, the blade energy struck the ghost wall, producing a deafening roar. The shockwave exploded, and the corridor disintegrated amidst the violent tremors. Instantly, the pillars snapped, wooden tiles fell, and the entire structure collapsed on the spot.

boom! !

The collapsing roof was forcibly supported by the strong demons, who then knocked it away. Relying on his super-spirit body, Asakura Ki walked out of the dust and smoke unharmed. Tamao pulled the still dazed Asakura Yoh along, and they followed closely behind to the outer courtyard.

Not far away, Asakura Yomei, Dao Ren, and Dao He were locked in a fierce battle. The situation was one-sided and overwhelming; the former was struggling against the attacks of the latter two, constantly on the verge of collapse, relying only on his rich experience to dodge.

"I can't hold on much longer, I'm coming to help, you guys leave right now!"

Seeing that the situation was not good, Kino Asakura's face darkened. Just as she was about to send her super spirit body forward to help, she saw her husband being cleaved in two by Dao Lian's sword and crashing straight towards her.

"Oh no!" She quickly had the demon catch Ye Ming, then turned to Asakura Yoh and Tamao and shouted, "What are you two dawdling for?! Run!!"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes... I'm sorry!!" Tamao said, pulling Asakura Yoh towards the door, on the verge of tears, "I want to leave too, but I can't pull Yoh-sama away!!"

"It's too late."

At this moment, accompanied by cold words, Dao Lian, his face full of murderous intent, strode over carrying a Guan Dao.

"That's right, it's too late."

With a sigh, Daohe, holding the spear manifested by the super-spirit, also walked over.

"Disappointing, Ye..."

Finally, it was Su Qi, who had stood by and watched the three fight without expression, who said, "I specifically gave you time to escape, so why are you still here?"

He walked past Dao Ren and the other two, stopping just a step ahead of Asakura Yoh and the others. Looking at Asakura Yoh, who had his head down and face buried in the shadows, he thought, "And to leave looking so dejected, it's really disheartening."

After a moment of silence, Yoh Asakura slowly raised his head, his eyes... clear and bright.

"why?"

His tone was unexpectedly calm, but his face was colder than ever before, and something seemed to be suppressed deep in his eyes, like a volcano covered in ice and snow. If it were still the magnanimous and tolerant Asakura Yoh from before, he would never have shown such a cold expression; he was truly angry.

"why?"

Looking at Asakura Yoh like this, Su Qi raised the corners of his mouth, "Of course it's for Lord Yoh. Everything we do is to enable Lord Yoh to ascend to the throne of Shaman King and create a wonderful world where only shamans exist. And the Asakura family, a family of shamans who has repeatedly hindered Lord Yoh, should of course be eliminated."

"Is that the reason?"

“More importantly, the Asakura family’s educational methods are seriously flawed.” He continued, “How can we tolerate that they’ve raised you, who is half of Lord Ye, into a good-for-nothing with no ambition?”

"So that's why you killed Anna?"

“That’s not it.” Su Qi shook his head slightly and said in a light tone, “The reason Anna died was that she was too outstanding. She mastered the ‘Super Divination Technique’ in less than half a day. Such a genius joining the Asakura family’s camp could very well become an obstacle for Lord Ye in the future. So although it’s a bit of a pity, we had no choice but to kill Anna in advance.”

"Was everything before just an act?"

Yoh Asakura turned to look at Michiwa, and said in a tone that seemed to be suppressing something, "Michiwa, tell me, were you just lying to me before?"

Chapter Thirty-Two: Yoh Asakura's Transformation

"I'm sorry, Ye, but I have no choice but to do this for Lord Ye Wang."

Under Yoh Asakura's gaze, Michiwa hesitated for a moment before finally giving this answer.

"Was the trip we agreed on just a lie?"

The latter looked at Su Qi, and seeing that he had not given him any hints, thought for a moment, and shook his head and said, "That's true. I really want to travel with Ye, but I can't go against Lord Ye's will."

"Is that so..."

Yoh Asakura's icy expression thawed for a moment, but quickly returned to normal. He said coldly, "Even so, I cannot condone your actions."

"We don't need your approval either," Dao Lian interjected coldly. "Do we need to ask for the consent of chickens and ducks before slaughtering them? The law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, has always been the truth that power determines the fate of all living beings. Even if you don't agree, you can't change the fate of the Asakura family being destroyed tonight."

"Maybe so, but how will we know if we don't try?"

Yoh Asakura pulled off the cat paw necklace from her neck and softly called out, "Master Stock Manager!"