The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

Upon hearing his call, Gu Zong leaped up without hesitation, transforming into a ball of ghost fire and throwing it into his palm.

"Super Spiritual Being!!"

He already knew the technique of manifesting a super spirit, but it was difficult to accomplish before. However, at this moment, Asakura Yoh's unwavering determination allowed him to forcefully break through the bottleneck and fuse Mune's spirit with the medium in his hand.

The next moment, a colossal katana, nearly ten meters long and enlarged to scale, appeared in his right hand. This was the super-spirit body he had used more than two years ago, but last time it was entirely controlled by Gu Zong himself, consuming the witch power left on it by Ye Wang. And now…

so tired!

The first time he manifested his super spirit form, he was controlling a powerful ghost that had been dead for over a thousand years and was even stronger than an elf. However, after only a short while, Yoh Asakura felt exhausted.

Even if some sects actively cooperated, they couldn't last more than ten minutes... How did they maintain their super spirit bodies for so long?

Despite the dire situation, he showed no sign of it on his face, stubbornly refusing to fall behind Su Qi and the others.

"Enough, Ye! What you should be doing now is not fighting, but leaving!"

"That's right, Ye. Abandon us and leave first!"

Seeing this, Mu Nai and Ye Ming both spoke up to dissuade them, while Yu Xu... huddled behind them, trembling with fear, along with her spirit.

"I'm sorry..." Asakura Yo stared at Su Qi and the other two opposite him, and said firmly, "I know that doing this may be very foolish, but I really can't leave alone. And... even if there is only a sliver of hope of victory, I don't want to give up."

"I'm sorry, you have no chance of winning."

Su Qi also manifested his super spirit body in the Tiger Devouring state, and declared with an unquestionable tone: "The basic conditions are right here. Unless a meteorite falls from the sky or a machine descends to earth, your chances of defeating me are zero."

Yoh Asakura didn't respond, but simply said softly, "Master Stock, we're going in."

"Understood. No matter what, I will fight alongside Mr. Ye."

The next moment, his eyes narrowed, and without hesitation, he swung his sword at Su Qi in front of him, and then...

Clang!

With a flash of cold light, the nearly ten-meter-long broadsword was cleaved in two by Su Qi's four-foot-long sword, and the super spirit body he had painstakingly manifested instantly collapsed.

"Well……"

The backlash from the massive depletion of his magical power surged like a tidal wave. Asakura Yoh's vision went black, his mind went blank, and he nearly collapsed. Fortunately, he had a strong constitution and a resilient will, and he managed to withstand it, though his head was still spinning and felt like it was about to split open, as painful as a hangover.

Su Qi said, "Ye, don't you always say things will work themselves out? Now, have you thought of any way to turn the tide?"

Yoh Asakura clutched his head, enduring the pain with all his might. After a long while, he managed to say with difficulty, "I... lost... please... let them go."

"Ask the enemy for forgiveness, is that the solution you've come up with? Unfortunately, that won't work for me."

"I...I'll go with you! Your main target...is me...right?"

"No! Ye, you absolutely cannot walk into a trap!"

"That's right, we still have the strength to fight back. We'll hold them off for a while, and you can take the opportunity to escape!"

Mu Nai and Ye Ming immediately objected, but Su Qi frowned and suddenly swung his sword twice, knocking them both to the ground.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he said, "But I could easily take you away by force, so why should I accept your conditions?"

"Grandpa! Granny Konno!" Upon seeing this, Yoh Asakura finally couldn't help but show anger on her face, staring intently at Su Qi and saying, "I am the other half of Yoh, I must be very important to him, right? If you don't want me to commit suicide, then don't do anything more!"

"You're threatening us with your own life?" However, the latter showed no sign of difficulty, simply saying, "Indeed, logically speaking, we should be concerned about your life, because Lord Ye needs you to become stronger to become his stepping stone; but you don't know, do you? In the 'Super Divination Secrets,' there is a spell called 'Curse Restriction and Contemplation,' which can resurrect the dead as long as the body is intact. So even if you commit suicide, I can bring you back to life once again."

"Resurrection? Then Anna..."

"Impossible, Anna's body has probably already been burned to ashes in the fire."

"You...you're despicable! Then I'll keep killing myself!"

"I can keep saving them."

“Then… I can continue to commit suicide in hell.” Yoh Asakura’s eyes were burning with determination as he said, “I know that if a ghost dies in hell, it is a complete and utter death. Even you can’t bring me back to life, right?”

Would you do that?

"I will. Since it's a last resort, I will do it no matter what."

"You won't, because once you become the Shaman King, you can resurrect all those who died in the past, even Anna whose body I burned to ashes. So there is hope only in living. If you die, at most it will only cause Lord Ye to lose some of the power he could have gained in the future. But Lord Ye's own power already surpasses that of all shamans, so he will still become the Shaman King and exterminate all humans except for shamans."

He was startled, and the firmness on his face wavered.

"Then choose, Ye. Will you bear the pain and live on, become the Shaman King, save everyone, and stop Lord Ye from destroying the world; or will you cowardly commit suicide, using your life and all possibilities to give us a not-so-heavy blow?"

Yoh Asakura fell silent. He knew he had lost this time, utterly and completely. Things would work themselves out; there would always be a way… But this time, he couldn't think of any way.

"Yo Asakura, do you want revenge? Do you want to revive your family and loved ones? Do you want to stop Lord Yo? Then go for it, become stronger! Become stronger before the Shaman King battle arrives! Because only by becoming the Shaman King can you take back everything you've lost, and I look forward to the day you stand before me again."

A dozen minutes later, Su Qi threw a sentence at Asakura Yo and kicked him out of the Asakura house.

The latter, with Gu Zong by his side, walked alone on the highway at night.

Walking like a zombie, Yoh Asakura hadn't gone far when he turned back and saw flames shooting into the sky from the Asakura family home, illuminating half the night sky. His home, where he had lived for over a decade, and his most cherished family members, had perished in the fire, vanished from this world.

His grandfather, Asakura Yomei, was dead; his grandmother, Asakura Kino, was dead; and Tamamura Tamao, who had lived in the house for a long time and whom he considered family, was also dead—all murdered before his very eyes. He couldn't remember what he felt at the time; he only knew that when he came to his senses, he was standing alone outside his house. But... the lingering heartache and sorrow were still deeply rooted in his body, making it almost impossible to breathe.

Standing blankly in the night wind, tears silently streaming down his face, Yoh Asakura gazed at the blinding firelight in the distance for a long time, his heart burning with sorrow and regret like a raging fire.

Gu Zong stood silently behind him, watching his back with deep pity and shame hidden in his eyes. As a child of only a little over ten years old, Ye was carrying too much, and all of this was because he was his original master, the reincarnation of Asakura Hao, but he could not give him more help, which made him very sad.

"Master Gu, if only I were a little stronger."

After an unknown amount of time, until his tears dried naturally, he finally spoke, his voice surprisingly hoarse.

"Mr. Ye, I thought you had already tried your best."

"No, I'm far from working hard enough. Dao Cheng is about the same age as me, yet he's far stronger than me. That's proof that I haven't worked hard enough. To become the Shaman King, to revive Anna, to revive everyone, and to stop Ye Wang, I must work even harder from now on! Please remind me of this constantly!"

Gu Zong was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Mr. Ye, do you hate those people?"

Yoh Asakura didn't respond immediately. Instead, he stared at the firelight that was finally starting to die down over the Asakura family's house. After a long silence, he whispered, "Kusumi, I've only just realized that it's much easier to get others to let go than to let go yourself. I used to tell Anna to let go of her hatred for others and to think about happier things, but now I can't do it myself... I was so arrogant and presumptuous back then."

"Mr. Ye, do you want to kill them for revenge?"

He remained silent for a long time, then shook his head. "I am angry at their actions, even feel an overwhelming hatred, but I will not kill, I will never kill. Because death is the end, and if you die as a bad person, you will always be a bad person. I don't want that. I believe everyone has the potential to become good... So I will not kill them! I will defeat them and make them apologize! And Anna and everyone else are not dead. As long as I become the Shaman King, I can bring them back to life. I will definitely become the Shaman King!"

Chapter Thirty-Three: I Can Lick You Until Your Bones Are Broken

"Great!"

Gu Zong's eyes were a little moist. "My former master was just like Mr. Ye, gentler and kinder than anyone else. But he had seen too much of the dark side of people's hearts, which made him sink into the mire and walk down a path of fanaticism... It's so good that Mr. Ye wasn't twisted by darkness like my master!"

"I just don't want to lose..."

Yoh Asakura shook his head slightly, a hint of bitterness on his face.

Suddenly, the roar of an engine filled the night and rapidly approached. Soon, a black sedan burst out of the darkness, speeding along the highway, its headlights illuminating its silhouette. It immediately emitted a screeching sound and abruptly stopped beside the shoulder of the road.

"leaf!!"

With a click, the car door opened, and a beautiful woman with long hair, dressed in a women's suit and exuding a neat and efficient aura, stepped out of the car and ran quickly towards Asakura Yoh.

"Mother?"

Recognizing that the person was his mother, Asakura Keiko, a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes. Her tense face immediately relaxed, and a mixture of sorrow and joy welled up in her heart again. She then rushed forward and hugged the person who had come.

……

On the other side, at the Asakura residence, the front courtyard under the night sky was illuminated by firelight. Su Qi, Dao Lian, Dao He, Yu Xu, Asakura Ye Ming, and Asakura Kino stood in the courtyard, watching helplessly as several outer houses collapsed little by little in the flames.

As for why the latter three are still there, it's because they were resurrected by Su Qi, with only bloodstains and tears remaining on their clothes.

How could this be... It was all just acting... Lord Ye Ming and Lord Mu Nai have gone too far! Lord Ye is so pitiful...

After being told what had happened, Tamao stood in the corner with her head down, clutching the hem of her skirt tightly with both hands. She felt both angry and sorry for Asakura Yoh, and also grateful for her own survival.

She secretly resolved to find an opportunity to protest to those two adults later, but for now, she still didn't have the courage to confront Ye Ming in front of outsiders, so she sulked at her own lack of courage.

The other five people, of course, didn't take the little girl's little thoughts to heart.

"It's a pity about these rooms."

Looking at the several houses that had been destroyed by the bomb, Su Qi calmly began to discuss the topic.

"As long as it allows Ye to grow, a few rooms are nothing." After saying this, Asakura Yeming bowed to him. "I'm very grateful to Lord Dojino for troubling you this time. Please allow me to express my gratitude."

"In exchange, could the Asakura family do me a small favor?"

"Please speak."

Su Qi looked at Dao Lian and Dao Cheng and said, "Could you please prepare a temporary residence for me nearby, and a large enough freezer to hold their bodies?"

"No problem, everything will be ready by tomorrow morning."

"Can we do it tonight?"

Are you in a hurry?

"It's not anything urgent. I just want to settle my companions first, and then focus on preparing to welcome Ye Wang, who may be coming."

"Ye Wang!?" Asakura Ye Ming was startled, his expression immediately turning serious. "He's coming to the Asakura family? Is this also intelligence gathered by the Daoist school?"

"No, it's just a result of speculation and divination. This afternoon, didn't we destroy Ye Wang's shikigami? Do you think Ye Wang might have sensed anything?"

He thought for a moment, then his expression turned grim. "It's very possible that I overlooked this matter."

"After that, I used the Plum Blossom Divination method to determine Ye Wang's location and learned that he had changed his position and moved from the United States to Japan after we destroyed the shikigami. This is likely not just a coincidence."

Su Qitong had read the Daoist Canon and naturally knew divination techniques. Although he didn't have time to study them in depth, his powerful magical abilities made his divination even more effective than Daozhen, the number one Daoist diviner.

In this world, the essence of divination is communicating with a great soul, deducing from existing conditions, interpreting the revelations given by the great soul, and arriving at relevant answers. Although it is impossible to truly predict the future, divination about current events is almost always accurate.

As for Plum Blossom Divination, it is the Plum Blossom Divination method. Its greatest feature is its convenience. It can be used to generate divinations anytime and anywhere by using sounds, directions, time, movement, geography, weather, people, colors, plants and animals, and other perceptible phenomena in nature or human society. It is perfect for a spiritual practitioner with profound spiritual power to use.

"Right now, we're probably no match for Ye Wang."

Upon learning that Ye Wang might be coming, Asakura Ye Ming was filled with worry.

"According to my calculations, if nothing unexpected happens along the way, he should arrive tomorrow. You can leave here and take shelter for the time being."

“Hiding is useless.” He sighed. “As the strongest Yin-Yang Master a thousand years ago, Ye Wang’s divination skills are by no means inferior to yours, so if he wants to find us, it doesn’t matter where we hide.”

“But he’s probably not looking for you, he’s looking for me.” Su Qi said, “As you said, if he wanted to find you, destroying the Asakura family would be a piece of cake. There must be a reason why he didn’t do that before. Maybe it was because of Ye, or maybe he didn’t see you as a threat at all and there was no need to take action. But the reason he suddenly changed his behavior pattern is because the ‘Super Divination Strategies’ was unsealed. So the most likely reason is that he’s coming for me.”

“Indeed…” Hearing this, Asakura Yeming felt relieved and then looked at Su Qi, “And what about you? What are you planning to do?”

“I want to give it a try.” The latter’s expression was unusually calm. “I want to see just how strong Ye Wang really is. Rather than waiting for the Shaman King battle two years from now to suddenly encounter him, it’s better to gather some information first and make preparations in advance.”

“But that could very well lead to death. Ye Wang may not care about us, but he would find it hard to let go of such a huge threat as you.”