Chapter 501: Chapter 432: Confrontation With Oneself
Above the ruins of the temple, the space seemed to be sliced in half, simultaneously enacting two mirror-like destructions.
The light of the Great Light Appearance illuminated the dust, and two almost identical massive ring arrays, composed of tens of thousands of Talisman Witchcraft, spun wildly above the two ends of the temple, pouring down a torrential barrage of Energy Bullets.
The dark golden Fire Extinction Divine Light pierced and crossed within the limited space, and each clash triggered small-scale elemental annihilation and space wailing.
Silver space cracks and twisted force fields occasionally flashed, canceling each other out, emitting a teeth-aching tearing sound.
On the ground battlefield, two almost identical, bone-chilling Black Giant Legions collided like black metal torrents, tearing at each other in the most primitive and violent way.
Claws clashed with physical forms, and the Time Acceleration fields interfered with each other, turning the battle into a war of attrition with powers of devouring and self-healing.
Jeming hovered mid-air, his Wizard Robe torn in several places, breathing slightly labored, with a trace of blood lingering on his lips.
He controlled the Great Light Appearance for suppressive fire while also commanding the Black Giants, his gaze sharp as an eagle, locking onto the "self" opposite him.
At a slight disadvantage.
This was an undeniable fact.
The initial surprise attack with the Fire Extinction Divine Light, though narrowly resolved by Light Transformation, consumed a large amount of Spiritual Power and Spirit Power, further disrupting his rhythm.
Meanwhile, the opponent—the duplicate—entered fully intact, with each attack precise and ruthless, imbued with a killing intent akin to his own.
He must find a way to break the stalemate.
Jeming’s mind raced intensely under the pressure.
If his side was affected, it signified that the Wizard Artarius might have already broken free, perhaps attempting to dismantle the trap from outside.
But the time dilation of the timeframe strands was a problem difficult to solve; outside, only a second might pass, while inside, the battle could have raged for days.
Relying entirely on rescue was foolish.
The optimal solution was always to maintain the initiative, in other words, to take down the mirror image before him.
But the stark question was: how to defeat an opponent with identical strength, skills, combat instinct, and even thought processes from a disadvantageous position?
Rely on conventional tactics? The opponent would predict simultaneously.
Rely on sudden bursts? The opponent had identical trump cards.
Rely on attrition? His condition was worse.
He must find a variable that the opponent could not replicate, one he could quickly utilize in battle.
Knowledge.
The word struck like a match igniting in the darkness.
From the knowledge he crammed about time-related laws recently, he recognized the essence of this duplicate—a Time Residue.
A high-level application of the Time Law, functioning similarly to creating an independent time-pocket world.
However, the effect is targeted at individuals, forcibly "imprinted" at the space-time node the target occupies or is related to, a "mirror image" containing most of their current state.
This mirror image possesses all the powers, skills, equipment, and even combat awareness and most knowledge of the original.
But it has limits.
Time Residue is ultimately an "application product" under the Time Law.
It can replicate those things that can be clearly defined, recorded, and reproduced by conventional laws: energy levels, material forms, conventional law knowledge, fixed skill models.
But those beyond the realm of conventional laws, involving higher-dimensional cognition or unique knowledge systems... it cannot replicate.
For instance, the advanced knowledge held by all Sixth Level and higher High Tier Wizards.
Also, the Cultivation Immortality knowledge system inherited from another world’s rules by the Great Dao Book Pavilion!
So Jeming knew he needed a method to quickly produce differences in battle.
Among the Cultivation Immortality Methods, what could be quickly utilized in battle and immediately create differences?
Body Refining Technique!
The essence of the Body Refining Technique is directing the body to undergo "Adaptive Evolution" through specific energy operation and physical tempering.
The Time Residue might replicate the physical strength the Body Refining Technique brings at present, but it could never replicate the kind of "Adaptive Evolution" generated only during the Dharma Gate’s operation!
This means that in the upcoming battle, his Body Refining Technique can continue to "evolve," while the mirror image’s physical strength would be locked in its current state!
This is the breakthrough point!
With a flash of determination in his eyes, Jeming immediately altered his tactics.
His mind shifted, giving orders to the portion of his Black Giants engaged with the mirror image on the front lines: Self-destruct!
The remaining thousands of Black Giants unhesitatingly ceased biting, their black liquid metal exteriors instantly boiling, their internal Energy Cores frantically overloading.
Jeming focused intensely on the opposing side while gathering power.
In his plan, faced with such an abrupt area-wide suicide attack, the opponent’s most reasonable response should be: either order the Black Giants to retreat temporarily or employ strong Protective Magic to withstand the shock.
Whichever choice, it would provide him the opportunity to charge another Fire Extinction Divine Light, striving to establish an advantage.
However, the mirror image’s response sent his heart sinking.
Opposite "Jeming" almost in the instant of the explosion, also issued the exact same command to his frontline Black Giants!
Even more terrifying, the opponent did not attempt to take advantage of the situation to adjust or defend, but like Jeming, began to charge the Fire Extinction Divine Light at the moment the explosion flames rose!
Then...
Boom boom boom!!!
The chain explosions bloomed like flowers of death, and the violent energy shock and spatio-temporal chaotic force field swept across a large area instantly.
In the next moment, two destructive dark golden lights almost simultaneously condensed in front of the two retreating figures!
"Damn it... even the thought patterns and strategic choices are completely synchronized..." Jeming gritted his teeth and could only unleash the charged divine light with full force.
Two torrents of dark golden light collided amidst the aftermath of the explosion!
An even more intense energy annihilation occurred, with terrifying energy turbulence and fragments of laws spraying outwards, further ravaging the already broken structure of the temple.
Creating an extremely unstable zone of elemental chaotic violence between the two figures.
Now is the time!
Taking advantage of the moment when their attacks collided and energy perception was seriously disturbed, Jeming made a move that the mirror image could not anticipate!
The large light appearance ring array behind him suddenly emitted a discordant, piercing buzz!
The three metal discs at the core, serving as energy storage and regulation hubs, flashed frantically, and the energy flow direction was forcibly reversed by Jeming’s spiritual power!
The "power furnace" that originally continuously output attack energy turned into a full-power "pump"!
The strong suction field formed by the three discs suddenly expanded, wildly devouring all the free elemental energy in the surrounding space!
The energy chaos zone produced by the exchange of blows was the first to bear the brunt!
The violent chaotic energy was rudely pulled and drained by this powerful directional suction.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the concentration of free elements within a radius of ten thousand meters around Jeming plummeted to near zero.
An elemental vacuum zone, or rather, a temporary Forbidden Magic Domain, formed in an instant!
In this domain, all witchcraft and talisman witchcraft artifacts relying on external environmental elemental energy will be greatly reduced in effectiveness or even directly fail!
The opposite "Jeming" clearly did not expect this move.
However, although not anticipated, the mirror image "Jeming’s" reaction was also extremely swift.
Upon discovering the surrounding elemental environment had become chaotic, it did not attempt to salvage nor try to escape the forming Forbidden Magic Domain.
What it did was imbue all the reserved energy from the Elemental Pool into the remaining talisman witchcraft artifacts in the large light appearance.
Slash... bang! Bang!
Thousands of talisman witchcraft artifacts on the large light appearance ring behind the mirror image sparked explosively due to abrupt energy changes and internal overload, and some even directly detonated.
But it completely ignored the bearing limits of the talisman witchcraft artifacts, sacrificing most of them to collapse and self-destruct to unleash one last attack in the elemental chaotic zone before being enveloped by the Forbidden Magic Domain.
A round of light bullets launched, causing the entire ring array behind to rapidly dim, pause rotation, and temporarily fall into paralysis.
"What?!" Jeming’s pupils shrunk drastically.
Although the chaotic elemental environment outside reduced the number of these light bullets, they were already enough to kill him!
There was no time to dodge now, but if he chose Light Transformation, the three metal discs spiritually linked to him would also undergo Light Transformation, losing their ability to maintain the Forbidden Magic Domain.
Jeming gritted his teeth, barely twisting his body to gather all protective spirit light and the remaining defense magic in front, while urging the Body Forging Technique to its limit, attempting to withstand the impact.
Boom boom boom...
Continuous explosions penetrated layer upon layer of hastily gathered defenses, fiercely piercing Jeming’s left chest!
The terrifying force erupted, instantly vaporizing and obliterating the flesh and bone of Jeming’s left shoulder along with a portion of his chest!
The massive impact flung him out, crashing like a ragdoll through several broken stone pillars, finally landing heavily on the temple’s cold stone floor, dragging out a long trail of blood.
"Cough... heh..."
The damage to his chest prevented Jeming from even coughing, with blood gushing forth from the corner of his mouth and a huge hollow in his chest.
He struggled to lift his head, his blurred vision focusing on the distance.
The "Jeming" over there was in extremely bad shape after unleashing that strike as well.
Forcibly activating the large light appearance caused energy backlash, leaving it pale as paper, blood seeping from its mouth, and its body slightly shaking.
More crucially, this choice led it into the elemental vacuum Forbidden Magic Domain meticulously set up by Jeming.
At this moment, the domain had stabilized.
Its large light appearance had failed, and the Black Giant Legion suffered heavy losses in the previous explosive exchange, separated by the domain.
Jeming struggled to rise amidst the blood and rubble, and gazed at the distant figure trapped and struggling to breathe within the Forbidden Magic Domain, a cold smile slowly creeping across his bloodstained face.
Though the price was enormous... almost half his body was gone.
Yet... the trap is ultimately set.
