Chapter 1226: 654: Supreme Sect Leader! The Avatar Descends!

Jiang Shu deliberately avoided the direction of Split Stone City. He knew very well that once he approached Split Stone City, although he might attract reinforcements, he would also bring disaster to that human clan city that had just undergone a bloody battle and whose foundations were unstable, as well as the soldiers inside.

The rage of Heaven-Burning Ancestor at the Demon Venerable Late Stage was not something the few Human Race Venerables guarding the city could easily withstand.

His target was the base established by the Human Race Alliance Army further back.

There, not only were there massive defensive arrays, but also top existences such as the Supreme Sect Leader of the True Martial Sect and the Sect Leader of the Talisman Sect who could truly contend with Heaven-Burning Ancestor.

It was unknown how far it was to the human base camp, but Jiang Shu’s aura had weakened to the extreme.

The wound on his back continued to deteriorate due to excessive power extraction and Heaven-Burning Ancestor’s pervasive burning pressure, with the Geng Metal Annihilation Power piercing through his marrow like a cold snake, devouring his strength.

The Primordial Power within him was like a riverbed about to dry up, and the light of the World Tree Seedling was like a candle flickering in the wind. Hundreds of consecutive extreme short-distance teleportations imposed a burden on his divine soul like a dull knife slicing flesh.

Once again escaping from the shadowed side of a mountain peak whose top had been flattened, Jiang Shu even experienced brief double vision.

A turbulent black river flowed at the bottom of the crack beneath his feet, its aura filthy and mixed—a perfect natural place to block divine sense investigation.

Without hesitation, he dropped down towards the black water like a bird with broken wings, instantly enveloped by the corrosive, icy river water, his back wound making contact with the murky black water, sending a heart-piercing, bone-eroding pain.

But at this moment, he couldn’t care about such things.

He dove deep beneath the muddy waterbed, using Water Element Power and the silt below to forcefully conceal his aura.

This was the only method he could currently think of to buy time.

"Buzz!"

Almost the moment Jiang Shu entered the water, the crimson figure of Heaven-Burning Ancestor fell like a burning meteor above the crack. The intense heat instantly evaporated the large area of river water above the crack into thick white fog.

"Do you think you can avoid my eyes like this?!"

Heaven-Burning Ancestor’s tyrannical voice echoed through the canyon like thunder.

His massive divine thought swept across the entire murky black river like crimson tides.

The river water churned violently, countless weak creatures lurking below the riverbed instantly crushed and cooked by the divine thought.

Jiang Shu curled up in the deepest silt beneath the riverbed, his Mixed Cave Space contracted to the limit, the Desolate Dao Rhyme transformed into a thin gray membrane covering his body like a dead object.

The faint cleansing light of the World Tree Seedling protected his core, mimicking an aura completely consistent with the surrounding filthy silt.

"Swoosh—"

The strong divine thought swept over Jiang Shu’s hiding place, over the dead gray shadow encased in murky black water and mud.

The violent heat seemed determined to evaporate the river dry.

Jiang Shu’s divine soul felt roasted as if placed upon a furnace, yet he remained motionless, his heartbeat almost stagnant, Desolate Dao rules suppressing his life’s wave motion to a deathly still state.

The divine thought passed with a trace of doubt and agitation but did not linger.

He made it!

Relief flooded Jiang Shu’s heart, but he dared not relax for a moment.

This camouflage could only deceive a passing divine thought, not endure for long.

Heaven-Burning Ancestor only needed a little more patience to detect the anomalous Life Origin hidden beneath the dead silt.

Sure enough, within two breaths.

"So, here you are!"

Heaven-Burning Ancestor’s roar rang out once more.

"Get out here!"

Bang bang bang!

Several crimson beams as thick as water barrels pierced into the murky black river like spears of judgment, targeting the segment of riverbed where Jiang Shu hid.

Blazing flames fiercely clashed with the icy murky river water, erupting with earth-shattering explosions.

Large swathes of river water vaporized into columns of steam, the riverbed violently trembled, the murky water instantly boiled like soup beneath the high temperature.

A furious shockwave swept underwater, the strong sense of life and death crisis clamping tight Jiang Shu’s heart like iron shackles.

No time to think, his body’s instinctive reactions were pushed to the limit.

He sprang from the mud like a fish, darting through the cracks of the split riverbed like an arrow shot from a bow, desperately diving toward the canyon’s upper stream, deeper, narrower, the area full of hidden reefs.

The large swath of riverbed behind him was directly melted by Heaven-Burning Ancestor’s attack, forming a massive charred pit, rocks within it turned to flowing magma.

Scalding lava quickly cooled and solidified in the icy river water, releasing dense steam, providing Jiang Shu a brief smoke screen for concealment once more.

But this cover was hardly sufficient before Heaven-Burning Ancestor’s eyes, which could pierce through the nether.

"Let’s see how long you can escape."

Heaven-Burning Ancestor hovered above the steam-filled canyon, eyes like searchlights scanning the upstream river.

Jiang Shu’s intermittent, battered aura was once again firmly locked on by him.

His wings flared, turning into rays of light, tightly chasing.

This time, he no longer bombarded in a fury like before but hunted Jiang Shu with the patience of the most skilled hunter, utilizing height and speed advantages, continuously swooping down, using the scorching Flame of Burning World to block all potential escape routes ahead, inch by inch driving him toward desperation.

The canyon cliffs on both banks were repeatedly plowed, the earth groaned and trembled under the terrifying flames.

Jiang Shu was forced to repeatedly burst from the water, like a beast driven to the brink, awkwardly darting and weaving among the chaotic rocks.