A massive hollow remained where he had stood, its edges flowing with black radiance, bottomless and exuding a cold dead stillness that seemed capable of devouring everything.
It was as if that patch of space itself had been completely erased.
The slightest difference meant the difference between life and death.
Forcing out his power tugged at the lingering pain deep within his Dao foundation. Jiang Shu's internal organs felt as though they had been viciously clenched.
Yet he did not dare pause for even an instant. As he landed, he rolled with the momentum to disperse the impact. The Desolate Star Halberd swept out, cleaving two low-level Shadow Soldiers charging at him in confusion from the explosion's shockwave cleanly in half at the waist. Black blood and organs splashed across the ground.
Jiang Shu's movements flowed like drifting clouds and running water. Every tiny evasion was a dance on the blade's edge, all to seize that fleeting moment.
The Ancient Demon Image's enormous foot stomped savagely onto the spot where Jiang Shu had rolled, before he could regain his footing.
The inky-black muddy ground caved in with a thunderous crash, like rotten mud smashed by a colossal hammer, sinking several yards deep.
A terrifying shockwave swept outward like a tsunami, carrying filthy energy and poisonous dark-red crystal dust.
The hard rocky ground cracked inch by inch, fractures spreading like a spiderweb.
Jiang Shu did not dare take that pure shockwave of brute force head-on.
The instant the foot came down, he slapped the ground hard with one palm. His body shot diagonally across the surface like a fish, while he held the Desolate Star Halberd horizontally behind him as a shield.
The visible aftershock slammed viciously into the halberd shaft.
An ear-piercing boom of twisting metal erupted, sharp enough to