The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

Su Qi turned around, looked up at the starry sky, stood with his hands behind his back, and although he was only the size of a minor, his back view appeared as majestic as Mount Tai at this moment.

"As the saying goes, 'If it benefits the world, I will risk my life; how can I avoid it because of fortune or misfortune...' He recited two lines of poetry on the spot and said with righteous indignation, 'Ye Wang is not only an obstacle on my path to becoming the Shaman King, but also a great calamity that could overthrow all living beings. Fighting such a powerful enemy, sacrifice is inevitable, but for myself and for all living beings, why should I hesitate to give my life?'"

Righteous men...

Upon seeing this, Asakura Yomei couldn't help but feel a deep sense of respect. Although the other party still had some personal interests involved, how could one ask too much of a person for someone who could face life and death so calmly and confront Yomei?

After that, the actions of both sides were decided.

The Asakura family will leave overnight to avoid Ye Wang temporarily, and will return after some time; as for the Dao family, Dao Lian and Dao He will continue their cultivation in Hell, and their bodies will be temporarily placed in a nearby residence, leaving Su Qi alone to face Ye Wang. However, before that, there is one more thing to take care of.

"So you came to find me?"

In a basement of the Asakura family home, Anna, who had just been untied, sat in a chair, rubbing her wrists as she spoke in a cold voice.

Once a psychic loses their possessing spirit, their physical abilities become no different from an ordinary person. Previously, to ensure the smooth running of the grand scheme, Asakura Yomei had kept the unconscious Anna locked up here, tied to a chair, and assigned a ghost loyal to the Asakura family to guard her throughout, only now has she been released.

“That’s right.” A candle was lit on the dusty square table. Su Qi sat opposite him, his face flickering in and out of the candlelight. “I need someone who can use the spell-binding meditation to replace me and assist Dao Lian and the other two in their cultivation when I’m not around.”

"I refuse." Without the slightest hesitation, Anna gave her answer decisively.

"Won't you reconsider?"

She stood up from her chair, her face cold as she looked down at Su Qi. "After doing that to me, do you think I'd still help you?"

“I can apologize.”

"I don't need an apology."

"Don't rush to refuse. I'm very sincere and can offer you something you can't refuse."

"Is that so?" Anna crossed her arms and gave a slight sneer. "Tell me, I'd like to know how you're going to make it impossible for me to refuse."

"Lick your feet." Su Qi sat up straight and said seriously, "I can kneel down and lick your feet. With such a sincere apology, how can you bear to refuse? And I'm not bragging, but as the strongest king of oral skills who has won the International Foot Licking Championship three times in a row, give me three minutes and I can lick you until your bones break. Such a novel and interesting experience, don't you really want to try it?"

Suddenly, the air in the basement fell deathly still. Anna's gaze was filled with disgust and contempt, as if she were looking at a pile of non-combustible garbage reeking of an overwhelming stench, and then...

boom!

She stood on the chair, one foot on the table, and looked down at Su Qi with a queen-like, domineering gaze, coldly commanding, "Then start right now, lick me until I break my bones."

Silence, a silence that commands attention.

Su Qi lowered his head slightly and examined the foot placed in front of him.

To be fair, Anna's left foot was flawless, as smooth as cream, with long, slender toes, rounded petals, and crystal-clear toenails that shone with a faint pink hue like cherry blossoms. The arch of her foot was curved like a crescent moon, with a beautiful curve. The instep was jade-white and rosy, with faintly visible pale blue veins. It was truly a beautiful foot that appeared only once in four thousand years, the kind that would make any foot fetishist exclaim, "I could play with this foot for ten years!" But... to lick it or not to lick it, that is the question.

Licking satisfies desire, not licking preserves dignity—which should one choose, dignity or desire? Faced with this dilemma, as an adult, Su Qi naturally wanted to say, "I want both," but unfortunately, it's an either-or choice, so he could only…

“I’m sorry, I was just joking. I have another option that you can’t refuse. Please listen, Miss Anna.”

Su Qi immediately chickened out. After all, he had remained chaste for decades; how could he possibly give his first kiss to a foot? Even if that foot was very beautiful, it was absolutely unacceptable!

"laugh!"

Anna scoffed, her tone full of disdain and mockery.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Sorry, having power means you can do whatever you want.

He was looked down upon, but it didn't matter. After hundreds and thousands of reincarnations in the previous world, Su Qi would no longer be swayed by such trivial matters.

Well, to put it simply, this guy's shamelessness is practically limitless, and his level of embarrassment is unfathomable. He simply won't experience any negative emotions because of this kind of thing. It's not just his soul strength that's affected; through his training and cultivation, his personality and beliefs have also undergone a fundamental transformation that sets him apart from ordinary people—a spiritual sublimation.

So Su Qi treated Anna's sarcasm as a gentle breeze and said without a care, "My condition is that if you are willing to help, I will not restrict your freedom and will let you go to find Asakura Yoh."

Anna raised an eyebrow. "This is what you meant by a condition I can't refuse?"

Isn't that right?

"You're using what I rightfully possess as leverage to threaten me into helping you?" Her gaze was sharp as a sword, piercing straight into Su Qi's face.

"I was just taking advantage of my partner's request."

The latter remained unmoved, saying, "Our act is over. Yoh Asakura has left the Asakura family. Now he believes that you have all been killed by me, Yoh's subordinate. In order to defeat me and revive you, he will squeeze out all his potential and pursue the throne of Shaman King with unprecedented enthusiasm to enhance his strength."

“But if you go to him and tell him the truth, his newly accumulated momentum is likely to dissipate again, turning him back into the old Asakura Yoh, which is something the Asakura family head doesn’t want to see; so he asked me to restrict your actions before the Shaman War.”

Anna is an absolute genius, and no one in the Asakura family is confident that they can keep her in check for long, so Asakura Yeming has no choice but to entrust this matter to Su Qi.

"Hmph, if I refuse, you're going to lock me up for two years?"

“It’s just keeping you by my side. You know I can do that.”

"Is that so? You still have the strength to restrain me even while being hunted down by Ye Wang?"

"I can kill you first, freeze your body, and leave your soul in hell. I can unseal it for you when I have time."

"What if you were killed by Ye Wang?"

"I will pass on the 'Super Divination Secrets' to others. Even if I die, someone else will help you be resurrected, but there may be a slight difference in timing."

“I can tamper with their spiritual practice so that they never wake up.”

“Then I can also tamper with Yoh Asakura and make him disappear from this world forever.” Su Qi said, “Anna, your weakness is Yoh Asakura. For him, you will definitely agree to help me, right?”

"Despicable." Anna's eyes were full of disgust as she said coldly, "I really hate you, you who uses your power to manipulate others at will and do whatever you want."

Su Qi chuckled and said, "Sorry, but having power really does mean you can do whatever you want. If you don't want to be manipulated by me, then become stronger, strong enough to ignore everything and be completely free; strong enough to defeat me and force me in return. I won't have any objections then. Because the strong dominate the weak, that's the truth of this world."

“I will.” Anna stared at him, her expression resolute, her words heavy and firm, as if she had planned it all along: “One day, I will crush that hateful face of yours under my feet.”

So what's your answer?

"If you let me go, how will you explain it to Ye Ming?"

"It's very simple. Just promise me you will never reveal the truth to Ye. I believe your promise."

"Hmph, didn't you tell Ye that you had burned me to ashes?"

Su Qi chuckled, "I'm a bad guy, isn't it normal for me to lie and deceive people? You can say that you escaped by luck, and that I deliberately made that claim to shake their resolve."

"You do have a good sense of self-awareness."

"You flatter me. Before the psychic war begins, I will continue to play the villain, constantly improving my acting skills and abilities, striving to create an artistic image full of negative energy, excelling in both literary and martial arts, so that Miss Anna will always dislike me but be helpless against me."

"Enough with the pointless banter. Tell me, how long do you want me to stay?"

"One month, at most one month, and I'll set you free."

……

Meanwhile, in the main house of the Asakura family, while Asakura Kino and Tamao were tidying up, Asakura Yomei walked out of the house alone and came to an old tree in the courtyard.

"You've been working for a while, you can come down now."

Before he could finish speaking, a middle-aged man wearing a pointed-beak tengu mask and dressed as a cultivator leaped down from the tree and landed steadily in front of him.

This person is Asakura Yoh's father, Asakura Mikihisa, who married into the Asakura family and is currently the strongest psychic in the Asakura family. Asakura Yoh never fully trusted Su Qi, so when recalling Asakura Konno and Anna, he also called Su Qi back and kept him hidden as a mole.

Fortunately, this final arrangement did not work.

"I just received news that the stem has already taken on leaves."

“That’s great.” Mikihisa Asakura lowered his head, his deep voice coming from behind the mask. “It’s just that I’ve wronged Yoh, making him suffer such pain. It’s all because I, as his father, have been too incompetent.”

"Speaking of incompetence, I, as the grandfather, am no different, placing all my hopes on a child..."

Asakura Yeming's face was gloomy. "But things have come to this, and we can only try to look forward. In short, from now until the start of the Shaman War, for the next two years, Kono, Tamao, and I can only play dead. You and Keiko will have to take care of Yeming's side."

"Yes, we will definitely protect Ye."

"We also need to urge him to become stronger as soon as possible." He said, looking up at the night sky and letting out a long sigh, "Alas, I hope that this time, our Asakura family can also get through this smoothly."

……

The next morning, Su Qi, having made all the preparations, moved a chair and sat alone in the front yard of the Asakura family's house, waiting. Not far away, several houses had been burned to ruins, and Yu Hongjun hadn't had time to deal with them; the remaining wood and stones were covered with charred soot.

At this moment, the vast Asakura house was empty except for him. The sunlight shone brightly in the open space, which was surrounded by low walls. Occasionally, a gentle breeze would brush his face, and all around was quiet.

He waited quietly while repeatedly analyzing the contents of "Super Divination Strategies". After a long time, his eyes narrowed slightly and he looked up.

"It's finally here..."

At that moment, the sky was clear and cloudless, and a small black dot suddenly appeared in the azure sky. Soon, the black dot gradually enlarged, revealing a huge, crimson humanoid figure spread out in a star shape.

It was nearly three zhang tall, and its appearance resembled a crimson-painted mecha. It had white diamond-shaped patterns on its body, and two long horns like antennas on the left and right sides of its head. Its legs and waist appeared somewhat slender, and its two arms were like those of an ape, reaching from its shoulders to the ground. Its forearms were unusually thick, and its fingers were ten long claws that shimmered with sharp light. Overall, it looked like a mechanical creation, and its body had a hard, steel-like texture. However, Su Qi recognized it at a glance. This thing was Ye Wang's super spirit body.

boom!

A moment later, the enormous thing descended from the sky and knelt on the ground. The smooth ground in front of the courtyard was instantly smashed open with countless cracks, looking as terrible as a long-drought paddy field.

At the same time, a shockwave exploded, stirring up dust that rushed directly towards Su Qigai, who was nearby.

The latter remained seated steadily in his chair. As the dust storm approached, his eyes flickered slightly, and he instantly manifested his super spirit form. With a swipe of his longsword, a sudden gust of wind swept across the entire front courtyard, dispersing all the dust.

"The one who defeated my shikigami, is that you?" The crimson giant, kneeling on the ground, stretched out his right hand, holding Asakura Yoshimi in his palm, looking down at Su Qi from above.

The latter dispelled the super spirit in his hand, remained seated in the chair, and looked up at Asakura Hao, "Ya Wang, do you want me to get spinal disease?"

"Ah……"

With a soft laugh, Huo Ling placed her palm on the ground, and Asakura Hao stepped down, standing in front of Su Qi with a faint smile on her lips. "My name now is not Ye Wang, but Asakura Hao."

The latter also stood up from his chair, standing only three feet away from the other person, facing him. "So which one do you prefer? Asakura Hao, or Asakura?"

"The name doesn't matter to me, you can call me whatever you want, but the probing in your words makes me a little uncomfortable."

Before he could finish speaking, the Fire Spirit behind Ye Wang suddenly clenched his fist and slammed it down.

boom!!

The earth shook violently, and a shockwave exploded. The chair behind Su Qi instantly turned into fragments, but a sphere composed of countless armor plates suddenly appeared and blocked the Fire Spirit's fist.

A moment later, the dust settled, the fist moved away, and the protective shield around him dissipated on its own. Su Qi emerged from the pit unharmed and stood before the Sparrow King once more.

"They suddenly attacked me; I almost had a heart attack from the fright."

He said this without showing any sign of fear on his face.

"I'm sorry, he's a nature spirit representing the fire element, so he's a bit short-tempered." The King of Spit's smile remained unchanged, and even his tone didn't change in the slightest. "But you're very strong. An ordinary psychic would probably be turned into mincemeat by now."

“Great minds think alike.” Su Qi stroked his chin, looking smug. “To be honest, I also think I’m very outstanding, probably the best in the world.”

“An interesting person…” Ye Wang narrowed his eyes, looking him over with interest. “This is the first time I’ve met someone whose heart I can’t see through. Can you tell me your name?”

Great, I don't know if it's because my own magical power is strong enough to grant direct immunity, or if the newly developed Spirit Absolute 2.0 version is working, but anyway, it's effective...