Only the final warning echoed through the spatial rift.
"Jiang Shu, the Mechanical Divine Kingdom has marked your soul's wavelength..."
"You won't get away."
Zhan Yun let out a long breath, and the broken axe slipped from her hand and fell.
Only then did she realize her back was soaked with cold sweat. In the brief clash just moments ago, every second had been enough to shatter the Dao Heart of an ordinary Tenth Realm cultivator.
"She escaped?"
Zhan Feng stared in disbelief at the place where the Mechanical Mother had vanished.
"That was the Mechanical Race's mother, who knows how many years she's ruled over the far corners of the universe. She can run away too?!"
Jiang Shu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and planted the Desolate Star Halberd on the ground to steady himself.
"She was already injured when she fought you earlier. Just now, she was only an arrow at the end of its flight."
As he spoke, he suddenly began to cough. Blood streaked with a gray sheen seeped between his fingers.
"Brother Jiang!"
Zhan Feng hurried to support him, but recoiled as if shocked by an electric current.
The energy flowing through Jiang Shu's body wasn't true essence, but some more primordial force. Just touching it made the skin on Zhan Feng's fingertips begin to crystallize.
"I'm fine."
Jiang Shu waved a hand, and the Primordial Dao Rhyme drew back the alien energy that had begun to erode Zhan Feng.
"Let's get out of this godforsaken place first."
The Mechanical Mother had been an arrow at the end of its flight, but Jiang Shu was no less gravely injured. On top of that, he had expended an immense amount of blood and energy breaking through to a new realm. His condition