The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

"Ye Wang's mother?" Anna frowned slightly. "How do you know this? There's no record of Ye Wang's parents' names, not even in the Asakura family's genealogy."

"Alas, that was a thousand years ago."

Su Qi gazed at the starry sky at a 45-degree angle, his face full of vicissitudes as he reminisced, "Do you know why I possessed such powerful sorcery at such a young age? It's because I was also a reincarnated person like Ye Wang. Back then, my name was Abe no Seimei, one of the most powerful Onmyoji at the time, and also Ye Wang's lifelong nemesis. As the saying goes, the person who knows you best is your enemy, so of course I know everything about Ye Wang."

"Pshaw, that's utter nonsense. There was never any famous Onmyoji named Abe no Akiharu in Japanese history."

Having said that, Anna, too lazy to listen to his nonsense any longer, walked away in a few steps, stood on the open ground, casually unfolded her prayer beads, and loudly chanted: "Accumulating one is for Father; accumulating two is for Mother... O ghost of Asakura Yoh's mother, named Asakura Yoh, if you hear this voice in that world, please answer my call and descend upon this world again!"

As the sound echoed in the air, streaks of will-o'-the-wisp gathered and appeared behind her. However, when the last syllable faded and she closed her prayer beads, preparing to summon the soul to the mortal realm, she found that there was no response from the other side.

"what happened?"

Seeing Anna frown, stop moving, and the will-o'-the-wisp behind her disappear, Su Qi asked a question.

"That soul didn't respond to my call. Are you sure her name is Asanoha?"

"It shouldn't be wrong."

He had read the Shaman King spin-off, "Hemp Leaf Boy," which mentioned the name of Ye Wang's mother, Hemp Leaf.

"There are three possibilities."

Which three?

"First, her soul has completely disappeared from this world, meaning she died once and then died again; second, her soul is already in this world, not in the other world, so my voice cannot reach her; third, her soul is sealed or bound, unable to respond to the outside world."

"Is that so? If her soul is in the mortal world, I should be able to divine his location."

Su Qi looked up at the starry sky and immediately performed a divination based on the constellations, converting the constellations into hexagrams and instantly interpreting the result.

"what?"

"what happened?"

"I'll do another divination."

This time, he cast a divination based on the time of day, but the object of the divination was not Asahi, but another problem. He quickly came to a conclusion and sighed, "Well, we probably don't need to bother anymore, because the plot has changed."

What is the plot?

He did not answer, but said, "According to my divination, Ma Zhiye's soul should be with Ye Wang now."

……

The next day, in the front yard of the Asakura family's house, Su Qi once again sat alone, waiting for Ye Wang's arrival.

The latter did not break its promise; at the same time as before, the giant, robot-like, crimson super-spirit descended from the sky once again.

boom!!

The ground cracked, dust billowed, and Huo Ling knelt on one knee, extending his right palm. Ye Wang stood upon it, his cloak billowing, looking down. "The one who defeated my shikigami, was it you?"

Su Qi didn't answer. He put on the Armored Super Spirit Body and leaped into the air, level with him, carefully examining the other party.

I see... beneath Ye Wang's sorcery, there's another, even weaker, soul fluctuation...

He hadn't paid special attention last time, but this time, with focused observation, he used his pseudo-heavenly eye to discover a jade pendant hanging under the cloak covering Ye Wang's chest. The circular jade pendant was engraved with Ye Wang's pentagram seal, and a relatively weak soul was enveloped within it by his witchcraft.

"A super-spirit body bound by armor, and such excellent magical power..." Ye Wang's eyes flickered slightly after observing Su Qi's powerful magical power, and he chuckled, "Very good, I like you very much, become my retainer."

But Su Qi answered irrelevantly, suddenly saying, "Asakura Yo, your mother's name is Asakura Yo, right?"

Instantly, Ye Wang's face turned cold. "Asking someone's mother's name as soon as you meet them is very impolite."

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Let them be completely consumed by the pitch-black flames!

"That jade pendant contains Asahi's soul, right? Imprisoning your mother's soul within yourself, should I say you, Ye Wang, are a complete mother-obsessed person?"

Su Qi was deliberately provoking Ye Wang, because only when he was emotionally agitated would he reveal more information—nowadays, rewinding more than ten times would lower his rating, so as long as he still cared about his rating, he would use every life to get as much as possible.

"Humans are always like this, judging others by their own filthy thoughts and assuming that others are just as filthy as themselves..." Ye Wang's expression turned completely cold, and his tone was full of murderous intent as he said, "Filthy humans, burn to ashes before my eyes."

As soon as he finished speaking, a circle of flames appeared out of thin air, surrounding Su Qi in the center, and then suddenly contracted, exploding with a loud bang.

"Is that so? But my divination was correct; isn't that soul imprisoned within you?"

Su Qi burst out of the burning fireball, his blade flashing through the sky as he slashed at Ye Wang.

clang!!

Armor-bound super spirit body possessed him, the latter blocking his blade with a claw, coldly saying, "Hmph, did you hear that from Otoha Chiyo or Munemaku? But what do you know?"

Otoha Chiyo is a demon, and also Ye Wang's only friend during his childhood a thousand years ago. Because it is an innocent demon, it only approaches those with pure souls, so when Ye Wang killed someone and his heart was tainted by hatred, it left him.

As for the matter of Asahi, only Ye Wang, Kuzumi, and Otoha Chiyo know about it now. Since Su Qi just said it, he mistakenly thought that he learned the information from the other two.

“I know more than you think…” Su Qi twisted his wrist, drawing the blade from his claws, and lunged forward. In the instant he passed Ye Wang, he swung the blade at her head. “What you’re doing will never make her happy.”

In the blink of an eye, the blade sliced ​​through the air and arrived in front of the latter.

Ye Wang's pupils contracted slightly, and a ring of flames exploded around him.

boom!!

A blast of air sent Su Qi flying, but he immediately whirled back, shooting towards him like an arrow.

It's too dangerous. Even with the Super Witchcraft Escape Technique, we can't let that person get close easily...

Ye Wang controlled the Black Chick, which broke through the air and soared into the sky.

Su Qi took off and gave chase, propelled by the airflow behind him, reaching full speed and instantly closing in on him. "King Ye, are you planning to run away?"

"ridiculous!"

Ye Wang suddenly turned around, and a ball of flame exploded between the two of them, blocking Su Qi once again.

"I'm fed up with your arrogant voice. Now I'll turn you to ashes!"

As he spoke, the super-spirit transformed, its tail fins detaching and transforming into two cannons mounted on its shoulders. However, just as it was about to launch an attack, a tremendous alarm suddenly arose in its mind.

"Before that, you'll be completely consumed by the dark flames!!"

Amidst the shouts, Su Qi on the other side raised his right hand and pointed it at him.

The next moment, a black beam of light, as thick as a palace pillar, shot out and hit Ye Wang squarely.

boom!!!

A deafening roar shook the heavens, and a vast shockwave spread outwards. The super spirit body, manifested from 400,000 points of witch power, withstood the attack for a few seconds before breaking open with numerous cracks.

The Five Elements transform, with Fire generating Earth!

With his crossed claws blocking the beam of light, Ye Wang stared intently at the point of impact. In a flash, the Fire Spirit's color changed from red to yellow, and its attribute shifted from the most aggressive flame to the most defensive earth. But even so, it only delayed the collapse of the super spirit.

boom!!

A moment later, the black chick exploded in mid-air, and Ye Wang fell with it. Above him, the pillar of light, now unobstructed, pierced through the air, tore apart the clouds on the horizon, and then quickly shrank and disappeared into Su Qi's palm.

The Black Flame Dragon's roar was quite powerful, managing to break through Ye Wang's super spirit body head-on. It's a pity it still managed to hold off Ye Wang for a few seconds; otherwise, it would have been an instant kill...

Su Qi felt both delighted and regretful.

He had clearly seen that Ye Wang had deliberately detonated his super spirit body to avoid the direct trajectory of the beam of light, so he was only subjected to some shock and was not hit head-on. If that beam of light had instantly pierced through him and his super spirit body, he would have been able to complete the level now.

But no matter what, I'll still give it a try if I have the chance...

boom! !

The shockwave exploded, and Su Qi's figure flashed as he swooped down, chasing after Ye Wang, who had lost his super spirit body and was falling to the ground.

Midway through, he dispersed the long sword materialized from the super spirit in his hand, opened his personal space, and took out the Reverse Scale—as long as he consumed spiritual power, the blade of the Reverse Scale could tear through space and ignore defenses, so as long as he could unexpectedly strike Ye Wang in a vital spot, the game would be over.

However, as mentioned before, it was almost impossible to use underhanded tactics against Ye Wang. He didn't have high hopes at the moment; he was just giving it a try.

boom!

Suddenly, just as Su Qi was about to approach Ye Wang, another ring of flames exploded around the latter, forcibly repelling him.

It wasn't that simple after all...

Watching Ye Wang reconstruct his super spirit body, rise into the air, and stand level with him, Su Qi sighed inwardly, but his face remained expressionless. He deliberately revealed a confident smile of a victor and said, "Ye Wang, how did it feel to almost get shot to pieces?"

Ye Wang's eyes were cold and his tone was full of murderous intent, "The knife in your hand is dangerous, and that attack just now was clearly not the power of a super spirit. Just who are you?"

"I, Daocheng, am the future king!"

"Are you talking in your sleep? The only one who can become the Shaman King is me."

"I don't want to repeat how narrow-minded you are anymore, but I'd like to know when you summoned your mother's soul? And have you considered how your mother will view you when she wakes up and learns about what you've done so far?"

While speaking, Su Qi carefully observed Ye Wang's expression, trying to find a weakness in his mind—the power of witchcraft originates from the power of the mind. If the mind of a psychic becomes weak, the power of witchcraft will also weaken. Therefore, a weakness in the mind can also become a weapon to attack the opponent.

As the other party asked the question, several fragments of memory involuntarily surfaced in Ye Wang's mind, and his mind seemed to travel through time and space, returning to a thousand years ago.

At that time, he distinguished himself through his own efforts and was bestowed the name "Ye Wang" by the Emperor, becoming a renowned Onmyoji (yin-yang master) throughout Heian-kyo. However, precisely because of this, he was drawn into a vortex of power, with countless eyes fixed on him. Countless people wanted to exploit his power, and countless peers wanted to step on him to rise to the top.

He wanted to remain untainted, but ultimately failed, struggling to survive in the mire of desire. As time went on, and his acquaintances grew and his fame increased, so did his enemies.

One day, a greedy and hostile Onmyoji summoned his mother's soul from the underworld, intending to use it to threaten him into submission. Of course, he wouldn't be controlled by that second-rate Onmyoji, and with a little trick, he cursed the other to death, but he also became more and more disappointed in humans.

Ugly desires, ugly humanity—under their rampant and reckless actions, even spirit mediums are corrupted, and the dead in the underworld cannot find peace. To protect his mother's soul from being summoned and harmed by hostile spirit mediums, he had no choice but to change his mind about not disturbing her peace and keep her soul with him at all times.

However, this was not a long-term solution. He couldn't bear to have his mother bound to him as an unfeeling ghost, so he began to study the Taishan Fujun ritual. With his exceptional talent, he successfully mastered this supreme secret technique of Yin and Yang. But resurrecting a dead person required sacrificing a living one. He knew his mother wouldn't agree, so he found a soul-controlling incense and, at the cost of a notorious death row inmate, forcibly brought her back to life.

In his view, exchanging the life of a filthy mortal for his mother's resurrection was a very worthwhile deal. But the first thing his mother did after her resurrection was not to give him a hug after more than ten years, but a slap.

He didn't care about that; on the contrary, he treated her even better. However, because he helped certain powerful people curse and kill, the differences between them grew wider. In his view, it didn't matter that those filthy and despicable humans killed each other; no matter how many people died, it wouldn't shake him in the slightest. In her view, her son had been corrupted by hatred, becoming an anomaly who disregarded life, and perhaps would sink deeper and deeper, eventually becoming a monster.

She feared that day would come, so she hoped he could leave Heian-kyo with her, and like before, live in seclusion in a remote village. But he knew too much and had made too many enemies; he was already mired in a quagmire, unable to leave. After all, he was not the same person he was now; even with the power of a psychic, he would still be in danger of being killed by a large number of mortals.

Thus, their differences gradually turned into a rift, and conflicts between them increased. However, because neither could let go of the other, they continued to rely on each other for survival in the treacherous Heian-kyo. But their happiness was short-lived. Not long after, his enemies discovered his mother's identity as a resurrected being, and news spread that the great Onmyoji Asakura Hao could perform the Taizan Fukun Festival to resurrect the dead.

Suddenly, a fierce storm ravaged the mother and son's home, and even the Emperor summoned him to the palace that very night to inquire about the Taishan Fujun Festival. He was thrust into the eye of the storm, and humans, driven by desire, lurked in the shadows like wild beasts, their bloodshot eyes fixed on him, wanting to devour him whole.

In such an environment, his mother, his greatest weakness, was naturally not spared either. Finally, one day, the enemy took advantage of her kindness, lured her out, and killed her in the ensuing conflict.

Once again, because of him, his mother was killed by those filthy and ugly humans, her soul even imprisoned and used as a bargaining chip to control him. So that time, he went on a killing spree; that time, he completely lost faith in these vile creatures; that time, he vowed to build a pure world where no innocent person would ever be killed again.

After that, he sealed his mother away, letting her sleep and wait for the arrival of the new world; after that, he finally became a monster, completely disregarding the lives of others, and never opening his heart to anyone except his mother; after that, he would stop at nothing to achieve his goal, even at the cost of sacrificing everything else except his mother, in order to ascend to the throne of Shaman King.

……

The brief memory ended in an instant, and consciousness returned to the present.

"It doesn't matter." Ye Wang remained expressionless, his eyes cold, but deep within them surged an unstoppable determination, his calm tone concealing an unfathomable resolve. "I will tell her everything myself, but that will be after the new world is established. Before that, everything that stands in my way will become nourishment for the fire of my soul, and you will be no exception."