DD Black White [317-318] (Patreon)

Chapter 317: Withering Domain

The authority to decompose all things and return them to nothingness manifested in full at this moment—even an intangible domain force, so long as its structure still relies on energy and laws, can be forcibly decomposed and annihilated by this tyrannical authority!

Of course, this is not absolute invincibility.

If he were to encounter someone like Jingliu, whose control over her own power has reached perfection and whose domain is refined to the utmost purity, then even if the opponent merely unfolded a simple ice field, with Lu Jingming's current level of strength he would absolutely not be able to so easily suppress and dissolve it entirely with the Withering Domain.

But clearly, the Titan Giant Ape before him was not such an opponent.

Though its gravity field was fierce and domineering, backed by bloodline talent and vast soul power, it was, in the end, wielded by a ninety-eighth rank Titled Douluo—far from the true apex.

Before the Withering Domain's power of decomposition—a force that signifies death—its gravity field was as fragile as paper.

And the true terror of the Withering Domain was only just beginning to reveal itself—

That ever-expanding grey halo spread like a tide of death, unstoppable, until it completely encompassed and devoured the Titan Giant Ape's hundred-meter frame, towering like a mountain.

Almost the instant the grey domain shrouded it, the ape's tough, dark fur lost all luster and vitality at a speed visible to the naked eye, quickly drying and turning ashen, blending into the dead stillness around it in a bleak grey-white.

It was still alive—its heart thudding heavily, terrifying power still coursing through its muscles—but it could clearly feel its vast vitality, its boundless spiritual power, and even the soul power it relied on to live all draining away at a horrifying speed.

It was as if an invisible black hole had opened within its body, greedily and efficiently devouring all its energy and life.

Within this Withering Domain, everything foreign to Lu Jingming, no matter its form—matter or energy, living or dead—would be eroded and decomposed indiscriminately by the authority of "Withering."

If one could not, in the briefest instant, erupt with a power that exceeds the domain's tolerance—defeat or even slay Lu Jingming in one fell swoop to shatter the domain's shackles—then one could only weaken without end, irreversibly, watching one's power being drawn out bit by bit, one's life being consumed little by little, until all resistance was lost and one became a lamb to the slaughter—until even that faded into nothingness.

To be Lu Jingming's enemy at this moment—unless you could absolutely crush him—dragging out the battle was undoubtedly the most foolish choice. Only by going all out and ending it swiftly was there the slightest chance of victory.

Though Tai Tan was hot-tempered and headstrong, he was no brainless fool. As a hundred-thousand-year soul beast that had clawed its way out of the Star Dou Forest's core, his combat wisdom and instinct were equally astonishing.

Almost the instant the Withering Domain fell upon him and he felt his life force plummeting, he fully grasped the peril he had fallen into.

"Rooaaar!"

A roar, raging and earth-shaking.

The Titan Giant Ape's colossal body lunged forward with unprecedented ferocity. His twin fists, like volcanoes storing ten thousand years of force, clenched and erupted with power that warped space, a violence sufficient to flatten a hill in an instant, smashing down toward Lu Jingming in the center of the pit.

His swinging fists became a dizzying blur of heavy afterimages. The gale they whipped up turned into countless invisible blades, madly rending the air around them.

Countless massive, near-solid fist shadows stacked upon each other, blotting out the sky, seamless, as if to smash Lu Jingming and the earth beneath his feet into primordial powder.

In terms of pure, savage physical strength, the Titan Giant Ape's mountain-sized body undoubtedly held an absolute advantage.

Among soul beasts who revered strength, the Titan Giant Ape clan stood at the summit. Coupled with the terrifying physical boost of his hundred-meter true form, every punch carried force enough to effortlessly demolish a bustling commercial street, grinding steel and concrete to dust.

Now, with a desperate, all-out outburst, even the Withering Domain rippled slightly like water—such that even this power that decomposed all things and returned them to nothingness seemed shaken and torn by the most primitive, brutish might.

However, Lu Jingming would never be foolish enough to pit raw strength against an enraged Titan Giant Ape.

Though his body and power had been tempered many times and long surpassed those of peers—comparable even to top-tier soul beasts—meeting a hundred-meter behemoth that had "strength" etched into its blood and soul head-on would be courting disaster—using his weakness to strike at the opponent's strength.

His left hand gripped the White Flower lance, flowing with a gentle silver-white luster symbolizing "life," and his right held the Black Abyss lance, wreathed in deep inky currents representing "death."

In his hands the twin spears seemed alive and spirited. Every light swing, parry, and draw traced a subtle, exquisite trajectory.

Facing the Titan's meteoric, crushing punches, he either used the White Flower's shaft to guide and divert with a soft strength, or slipped aside with nimble steps, borrowing the momentum of the onrushing fist-wind. Always, within mere hairs' breadth, he deftly bled off and redirected that mountain-crushing, storm-stirring power, letting it crash into empty air and pound only more craters in the ground.

Mingdu's sky remained shrouded by heavy clouds; the newly risen sun's light could not pierce the oppressive layer, only limning its edge with a dim halo.

On the battlefield, the raging airflow tossed Lu Jingming's white short hair from his brow, revealing eyes of steady crimson, calm as a deep pool, reflecting the giant ape's frenzied assault.

Jingliu had taught him far more than exquisite swordsmanship—there was body movement's twists and turns, the interplay of real and feint in footwork, the long, restrained flow of breath, perception's minute insight, and even precise control over the tempo of battle.

Anything related to combat—the former Luofu Swordmaster who once stood atop the Xianzhou's martial path—had taught him with nothing held back, pouring her heart and soul into the harshest instruction.

"Follow the opponent's force, merge into the natural currents of the surrounding air, make yourself the most agile part of the storm, not the stubborn stone that opposes it and is crushed in the end."

Jingliu's cool, wise voice seemed to echo clearly in his ears.

Lu Jingming's movement at this moment perfectly embodied that teaching.

His figure drifted like willow fluff on the wind, light as snow falling upon a cold pool. Seemingly perilous every time, it was in fact full of hidden craft—always dodging the deadliest blows at the final millimeter with minimal cost, turning the Titan's world-ending ferocity time and again into nothing.

And what kind of person was Jingliu?
She had personally fought in the cataclysmic war between the Xianzhou and the Denizens of Abundance, a war that could overturn galaxies and bury civilizations; she had battled the mighty Emanators of Abundance to the death.

Her combat experience and skill had long surpassed the ordinary, reaching a realm close to the Dao—insight into the essence of combat itself.

Let alone the soul masters of Douluo, even those lofty God Kings of the God Realm—if one set aside divine ranks and authorities and judged pure technique, killing skill, and timing—might not reach one ten-thousandth of hers.

Under the tutelage of such a war-god-like master, Lu Jingming's combat technique had long since been honed to perfection.

In pure control of tempo and the ultimate use of his own and the enemy's power, he could steadily suppress many long-famous, battle-hardened Titled Douluo.

Seeing Lu Jingming still effortless and untouched under his storm-like, all-out barrage, the Titan Giant Ape's massive bestial eyes could no longer hide their mounting impatience and fury.

He could feel his state plummeting within the all-pervasive Withering Domain.

Soul power surged out of him like a breached dam, and his limbs, once seemingly inexhaustible, began to feel bouts of weakness—his strength was being drained away.

If this dragged on, he might die from this bizarre and tyrannical domain's attrition without his opponent needing to lay a hand on him.

This was a suffocating dead end he had rarely faced in his long life.

After condensing a soul core, a Titled Douluo's soul power recovery is far superior to ordinary folk—nearly inexhaustible—so "dying of exhaustion" in the conventional sense is rare.

Yet in this strange Withering Domain, even when he drove his life's cultivation condensed in that soul core to the limit, frantically drawing the thinned heaven and earth essence the domain had starved, the rate of conversion to soul power still couldn't keep up with the rate at which the domain decomposed and devoured it.

He could even "see" the brilliance within his soul core growing dim by the moment.

He could not have known that to barely balance the soul power books under this tyrannically overbearing Withering Domain, one needed to drive at least two soul cores—reach the human limit of level 99 Ultimate Douluo—to barely offset the constant energy decomposition.

And though he held ninety-eighth rank, seemingly one step from the peak, that step was a world apart—the most critical step he still lacked.

More despairing still, the damned domain decomposed more than soul power.

His vast vitality was being forcibly drawn out through every pore, leaving his tough skin mottled with ominous grey and wrinkles.

His boundless spiritual power was being abraded like by rough sandpaper; his sea of consciousness throbbed with needle-like pains; even thought grew sluggish.

And vitality and spirit are not like soul power—there is no quick replenishment through a core.

Once these two are exhausted, the lamp truly gutters out, the soul falls silent—no reprieve remains.

"Roooar!"

The Titan Giant Ape let out a roar laced with pain, agitation, and unwillingness; his punches actually sped up yet again, forcing his limit in desperation.

Chapter 318: Mecha

Countless heavy fist shadows wove into an almost airtight web of death. Tai Tan tried to crush skill with sheer attack density at any cost, completely sealing Lu Jingming's seemingly prescient evasive routes.

But the more impatient he grew, the more flaws there were in his power under an unbalanced mind.

Lu Jingming's figure seemed all the more agile and ethereal, and he would occasionally seize those fleeting openings.

A light tap of Black Abyss sent out a jet-black decomposition ray that landed with unerring precision upon an old or freshly opened wound, bringing pain that pierced to the marrow—injury upon injury, pain upon pain.

The grey halo of the Withering Domain pervaded everywhere, like maggots gnawing at bone. As the seconds ticked by, it inexorably eroded the last vestiges of life belonging to the Titan Giant Ape—king among those who revered strength.

Lu Jingming stood at the very center of this storm of force, his crimson eyes flickering with scarlet lightning, coolly reflecting all his opponent's struggles and helplessness.

The twin spears in his hands—one black, one white—crossed with elegance as he waited for the best, final moment.

This battle's result had been decided the instant Tai Tan was dragged into the Withering Domain.

Tai Tan was trapped in an unprecedented dead end; elsewhere, Niu Tian's situation was no better.

Though his cultivation surpassed Titan's—an Ultimate Douluo in truth—when facing Raiden Mei, who had once held the authority of thunder, he was suppressed from start to finish.

His Slowing Domain could just barely affect Raiden Mei's ghostlike movements, making that lightning-like figure seem a touch slower to the eye.

But the absolute speed she exhibited by borrowing thunder far exceeded the reaction limits of Niu Tian's massive dragon body, even under domain suppression.

By now the sky was utterly swallowed by endless rolling thunderheads.

Blinding white arcs ran rampant through the clouds like living things—countless slumbering thunder-serpents that would now and then gather into a colossal, heaven's-judgment bolt, striking Niu Tian's hundreds-meter azure dragon body with ruthless precision.

The hundred-meter Azure Celestial Dragon tumbled and twisted in the dense thunderstorm, its once resplendent, tough scales scorched black in swaths by raging current. Where the massive tail swept, there were no ravines of destruction—only shocking char and scorch.

Clearly, under this seemingly endless bombardment, he was badly wounded.

Niu Tian's huge dragon eyes looked anxiously toward Tang Wutong, locked in fierce combat with Wang Qiu'er, then glanced with the corner of his eye at his brother Tai Tan, who was growing weaker under the Withering Domain, struggling to hold on.

His heart burned with anxiety like a raging fire, yet he could not break through Raiden Mei's layered net of thunder, much less shake off an opponent who wielded absolute dominion over lightning.

"My, my… this really is… a full-blown crisis."

…

Elsewhere, Vita's figure skated backward weightlessly, her skirt flaring as she narrowly brushed past Durandal's downward thrusting, radiance-wreathed spearpoint.

Debris and dust briefly veiled her silhouette; a heartbeat later, she reappeared as if teleporting a hundred meters away to safety, her tone still carrying that signature, casual, almost detached teasing of hers.

"Should we consider a strategic redeployment… and make an early exit?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Durandal halted her stormlike offensive, heroic brows knitting slightly. Her holy spear slanted to the ground, she kept a wary lock on the enemy.

She knew Vita's true nature—an inheritor of the planet Venus's divine authority and power. Even as a memory construct, not the original, she was no easy foe; her methods were unpredictable.

Thus, from the start, Durandal had kept her guard fully raised, refusing to be lulled by the other's languid, careless demeanor.

But after dozens of exchanges, she'd sensed something off—Vita had no intention of fighting seriously.

She dodged more than she attacked; even her guards were measured and just enough.

Even with her Master Tang Wutong embroiled in a perilous battle, this Servant—who should by rights be all-in protecting her—remained composed, even… watching idly from the shore.

As if Tang Wutong's life and death had nothing to do with her.

"The Holy Grail War is interesting, sure~"

Vita lifted a slender finger to her red lips, smiling bewitchingly, a disquieting danger lurking deep in her eyes.

Those unnaturally beautiful eyes shimmered with a strange light, as if peering through the veil of reality into deeper rules and truths beyond mortal reach.

"But in the end, it's a stage carefully prepared by others. And I doesn't like acting out a minor, disposable side character in someone else's script—"

She paused, her smile deepening.

"My 'little sister' who always hides away to watch everything… I imagine she feels the same way, doesn't she?"

Durandal gazed into Vita's all-seeing eyes and was struck by a powerful déjà vu, as if she'd seen those piercing eyes on someone else before.

She was straightforward and forthright, but far from dull. More importantly, her instincts—tempered by countless battles—were terrifyingly sharp.

And they were blaring—Vita indeed lacked the desire to fight in earnest, but that did not mean she was harmless or without designs.

Beneath that careless, even "slacker" attitude, she was very likely plotting something extremely unfavorable to them… whether favorable or not to others—who could say.

"I don't fully understand what you're scheming,"

Durandal tightened her grip on Black Abyss White Flower. Her blue eyes turned keen as a drawn blade, energy surging around her.

"But my instincts are warning me—right here, right now—I must end you!"

If a plot could not be unraveled, it needn't be considered further.

Crush all schemes with absolute force—that was her way.

She raised her holy spear high. The void behind her trembled, and a gigantic, awe-inspiring armored warrior holding sword and shield manifested as a phantom.

At the same time, the propulsion wings on her ornate armor flared to the limit, spraying a gorgeous torrent of blue light-particles. The powerful thrust drove her forward like a blazing comet tearing the sky, her phantom in sync, launching an unreserved killing strike at Vita.

Its overwhelming might seemed as if it would pierce space itself.

"Goodness… how impatient."

Watching Durandal's annihilating charge, Vita sighed, sounding more annoyed than alarmed.

She hadn't expected Durandal—usually easy to coax—to ignore her patter and act, going full "charge" with no room for maneuver.

"I don't know which damned scoundrel taught the once-so-easy-to-trick—ah no, so pure—Durandal to be this way. Not cute at all anymore."

…

Elsewhere, maintaining the Withering Domain over the Titan Giant Ape, Lu Jingming suddenly sneezed without warning. Rubbing his nose, puzzled, he then refocused entirely on the battle.

Though he held the absolute advantage, he still had to beware a final counterattack—after all, his foe had lived countless years and was the second sect master of the Clear Sky Sect under God King Tang San. Who knew if Tang San had left him some spiteful mutual-destruction trick.

Facing such an opponent who refused communication and had only "take her off the board" left in her head—even Vita had to admit this was vexing.

"In that case—"

Since words didn't work, Vita finally shed her languid facade.

Her expression sharpened with confidence; an indescribable aura rose from her alluring form.

Suspended in midair, she slowly raised her pale right hand.

Her peacock-feather-like ornate skirts billowed in silence behind her, sheer black stockings tracing her long, straight legs—an overall poise of deadly allure tempered by an unassailable divinity.

"Lone Planetfarer—walk with me!"

At her clear call, the space ahead peeled and shattered in layers like broken glass.

Within the twisted rift, a colossal mecha, nearly a hundred meters tall and suffocating in presence, stepped forth.

Its jade-green, metal-lustrous frame radiated streamlined power. The twin, emerald-like compound eyes on its head flared to life, sweeping the battlefield.

Blue high-energy arcs leapt and coiled over its body with a sizzling hum—the sign of its internal reactor overclocking.

Most striking of all was its back—twelve slender, razor-like floating blades hovered as if wing-feathers, forming a pair of vast, resplendent emerald light-wings.

Those wings shone with star-like brilliance, gently fanning as though a phoenix from myth unfurled them—perfectly fusing technology with the arcane.