novelraw Chapter 434: Overcoming the Self
Chapter 434: Overcoming the Self
“Come on, round two begins!”
A low growl forced its way out from a blood-soaked throat.
Jie Ming, half-kneeling amid pools of blood and shattered stone, braced his remaining right arm against the ground. Ignoring the horrifying cavity in his left chest and the agony that threatened to tear him apart, he struggled back to his feet.
His steps were unsteady, yet he never paused. Dragging his broken body forward, he charged straight toward the Time Remnant Image trapped within the elemental vacuum domain!
With every step, he left behind a footprint mingled with blood and dust.
But as his footsteps pulsed, his body was changing in perfect synchrony.
At the edges of his wounds, charred and blackened tissue rapidly sloughed away. Vibrant pink granulation tissue, like the most ferocious vines, grew and spread at a speed visible to the naked eye!
His bones emitted faint yet dense crackling sounds. Fractured sections were swiftly filled with new bone material shimmering with pale golden light.
Muscle fibers wove themselves together as though possessing independent life, covering the bone. Blood vessels, nerves, and skin regenerated at astonishing speed, concealing the writhing flesh beneath.
Under the extreme pressure of life and death, driven by an absolutely clear will, the Body Forging Technique operated with unprecedented efficiency. The new tissue was born already possessing greater resistance to energy. The pathways of energy circulation automatically adjusted to better withstand similar attacks.
By the time he rushed before the Time Remnant Image, his originally staggering steps had returned to normal. The horrific wound that would have incapacitated most fourth-ring wizards for a significant time had already fully regenerated!
The newly formed skin on his left chest and arm was still faintly tender and pink, but the structure was complete. It even emanated a subtly tougher quality than before.
Surging power once again coursed through his limbs. Though his spiritual power was greatly depleted and his internal organs still ached dully, his ability to fight had returned!
Across from him, a trace of extremely faint fluctuation finally appeared in the cold eyes of the Time Remnant Image.
Without the slightest hesitation, it abandoned the ruined remains of the Great Radiance Formation behind it—still smoking faintly—and clenched both fists, assuming the most fundamental close-combat stance.
In the next instant, the two figures collided like comets smashing into the earth!
BANG! BANG! BANG! THUD!
The muffled sounds of fists and feet clashing rang out like heavy war drums, exploding through the deathly silence of the temple ruins.
This was the most direct outpouring of violence.
Jie Ming threw a straight punch carrying the full power of his body toward the opponent’s face. The remnant image tilted its head to evade, then lashed out with its left elbow like a scorpion’s tail, smashing viciously toward Jie Ming’s newly regenerated left ribs.
Jie Ming twisted his waist and dropped his shoulder, blocking with his new left arm while sweeping his right leg in a low, blurring arc toward the opponent’s lower stance.
The remnant image raised its knee with perfect timing, intercepting precisely. Their shinbones collided with a grating, teeth-aching thud.
Both retreated half a step, then immediately rushed forward again like magnets drawn together!
Combat techniques were perfectly identical!
Power exertion patterns were exactly the same!
Dodging and prediction occurred in complete synchronization!
The two were like the same person reflected inside and outside a mirror, engaged in a wordless, brutal dialogue about “self.”
Every punch carried intimate knowledge of the other’s weaknesses. Every kick targeted the most painful leverage points.
Sweat and droplets of blood sprayed with every violent movement.
At first, Jie Ming was clearly at a disadvantage.
The coordination of his newly regenerated left side was still lacking, and the earlier expenditure of energy affected both his power output and endurance.
The remnant image’s assault came like a sudden storm, seizing upon every tiny lag and flaw with merciless precision.
A heavy fist grazed his cheekbone, sending stars exploding across his vision. A cunning knee strike slammed into his side, nearly knocking the wind out of him. A hand-blade nearly severed his vulnerable new neck, only a hair’s breadth dodge saved him, leaving behind searing pain.
Jie Ming was steadily forced back. New bruises and wounds appeared across his body. His breathing grew heavier and heavier.
But as time passed, the tide of battle began to shift, subtly at first, then with unshakable certainty.
The “adaptive evolution” of the Body Forging Technique was catalyzed to its absolute limit in this life-or-death struggle against “himself”!
Every successful strike the remnant image landed, every wound it inflicted, was faithfully recorded by the Body Forging Technique—the force, the angle, the energy characteristics. The body was then driven to make targeted adjustments.
The cheekbone struck by the heavy fist developed a denser, more elastic microscopic structure during regeneration.
The flank battered by the knee strike saw its muscle fiber arrangement quietly rearrange into a more effective cushioning and dispersing pattern.
The neck threatened by the hand-blade gained reinforced skin toughness and fascial strength.
More importantly, the adaptive evolution influenced Jie Ming’s control over his own body, forcing him to reach a new height in this synchronized struggle against his mirror.
Under immense pressure, his thought speed gradually surpassed the opponent’s. His techniques became more perfect. Even his ability to read the flow of battle grew sharper.
His movements began to show subtle deviations.
No longer perfectly mirroring the remnant image’s techniques or rigidly following established patterns, the combat knowledge he had absorbed from the Great Dao Book Pavilion was rapidly integrated.
When blocking, his wrist would produce an extremely faint tremor at the moment of contact, an unorthodox shift in force direction that cleverly diverted part of the impact.
When dodging, his body’s tilt angle would exceed the opponent’s prediction by one or two degrees, just enough to let the attack pass by a hair’s breadth.
When counterattacking, the combination of muscle groups used for exertion would be slightly adjusted, producing a minute yet decisive advantage in speed or explosive power.
These changes were tiny, almost imperceptible in high-speed combat.
But accumulated over time, their effect became clear.
The distance Jie Ming retreated began to shrink. The trembling in his arms after blocking weakened. The frequency of his counterattacks increased. His hit rate slowly climbed.
For the first time, something resembling confusion appeared on the remnant image’s icy face.
Its attacks remained ferocious, but the absolute sense of “complete prediction” was slipping away.
It could “see” Jie Ming’s movements, yet the actual reactions of Jie Ming’s body sometimes deviated slightly from the “combat model” embedded within it.
And in a fight to the death, even the slightest deviation was fatal.
BANG!
For the first time, Jie Ming used his newly regenerated left arm to solidly block a powerful downward chop from the remnant image. His body merely swayed slightly.
Before, the same attack would have left his entire arm numb.
Whoosh!
A cunning toe kick from Jie Ming struck half a beat ahead of prediction, landing squarely in the hollow behind the remnant image’s knee as it tried to lift its leg.
Though most of the force was absorbed by tensed muscle, the strike successfully disrupted the opponent’s flowing combination.
The balance of advantage tilted visibly toward Jie Ming!
The more he fought, the smoother he became. The more he battled, the braver he grew.
His newly born body coordinated perfectly with the old, and because of “evolution,” it even felt more explosive.
His gaze sharpened like a blade, seizing upon every fleeting moment of hesitation born from the remnant image’s growing confusion.
Finally…
In the midst of a fierce close-quarters grapple, the remnant image’s ferocious hook swung wide. Its old force was spent, and new force had yet to be generated. Its center was momentarily exposed.
Jie Ming seized the fleeting opportunity he himself had created!
This time, he used no complicated technique.
He simply channeled every ounce of strength in his body, along with the long-held turbid breath in his chest, into his right fist.
Twist the waist. Drive the shoulder. The fist shot forth like a dragon!
The simplest, most direct, and most unstoppable straight punch!
THUD!!!
The punch landed solidly dead-center in the Time Remnant Image’s chest.
Accompanied by a dull, thunderous sound like a hammer striking solid rubber, Jie Ming’s fist smashed straight through the opponent’s torso.
The Time Remnant Image’s body stiffened violently. For the first time, those eyes, identical to Jie Ming’s, clearly reflected a complex mixture of astonishment and release.
It lowered its head to look at the caved-in cavity in its chest, then raised its gaze to meet Jie Ming’s—blood still leaking from the corner of his mouth, yet his eyes burning like fire.
With no intention of exchanging words, Jie Ming’s other hand suddenly struck, exploding the remnant image’s head as well.
In the next moment, its figure, along with the tattered gray robe it wore, began to blur and turn transparent.
Like a hologram with poor signal, it flickered violently twice.
Then, together with the surviving black giant copies in the distance, the wreckage of the Great Radiance Formation, and even the bloodstains belonging to the copy scattered across the ground…
Everything created or replicated by the Time Remnant Image quietly erased itself from existence, like pencil marks wiped away by an eraser.
No trace remained. As though it had never been.
Only Jie Ming remained, drenched in blood, breathing heavily, yet standing ramrod straight, alone in the center of the now completely vanished temple.
And just as he defeated the mirror, while his breathing had yet to steady—
The space before him was gently lifted open at one corner, as though by an invisible, elegant hand.
A pitch-black rift edged with tranquil starlight silently unfurled once more.
The plain, unadorned figure of Starforger Altreus stepped calmly out from within.
His gaze swept across the wounds on Jie Ming’s body that were rapidly healing, sensing the noticeably denser and more powerful physique within, and an undisguised look of approval appeared on his face.
“Congratulations,” he said with a gentle smile. “Overcoming another version of oneself has always been the most difficult leap of cognition and will. You did exceptionally well—better than I anticipated.”
Hearing this, Jie Ming tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing a smile mixed with exhaustion, pain, and understanding.
He immediately realized that Altreus had likely located this time branch long ago.
The reason he had not intervened earlier was surely to observe, to wait—to allow Jie Ming to complete this “mirror trial” himself and force out even deeper potential.
Still, feeling the clear advancement in his physique, the greatly increased adaptability and recovery of his Body Forging Technique, and the even more tempered mind and will after this life-and-death struggle, the smile carried genuine gratitude.
“Thank you, sir, for granting me this opportunity.” Jie Ming steadied his breathing and bowed respectfully.
He knew that without Altreus’s restraint from the outside and final permission, he would not have even qualified to enter this trial, let alone benefit from it.
Altreus waved his hand lightly, his gaze turning toward the surrounding world that was gradually becoming unstable, like a fading canvas:
“This temporary prison is about to collapse. It’s time we left.”
He gestured, then stepped into the rift first.
Jie Ming did not hesitate in the slightest. Feeling the lingering pain in his body, he decisively strode forward and crossed the starlight-flowing spatial rift.
Behind him, the “Mirror Corridor” time branch, constructed in the final madness of the sphere’s will, silently collapsed and was annihilated after fulfilling its last purpose, returning at last to nothingness.