The other Falcon remained farther above the road. Tianlan possessed no sensory bond with either bird and could not direct them through thought, but years of training allowed him to understand the openings created by their familiar habits. He kept his attacks clear of the Falcon's path and adjusted when it climbed again. Their cooperation remained the product of familiarity and training rather than any shared perception.
Ziyue stayed closer to the ordinary coalition formations because the elite assigned to her had begun gathering an attack too broad to ignore. Abyssal cultivation accumulated through several connected layers rather than one obvious concentration, and simply striking the cultivator's body would not necessarily stop everything already being formed. She watched the structure until the supporting relationships became clear enough to attack without endangering the formations behind her. Her sword rose only when the technique approached the point where rebuilding it would become difficult.
"Dao of the Sword — Tenfold Elements, Severing Arc."
Metal strengthened the initial edge through the first defensive layer, while Lightning entered the supporting flow and disrupted the stability of the forming technique. Wind carried the severing pressure farther across its structure before the elite could withdraw enough power to preserve what remained. The abyssal attack collapsed unevenly and forced its user to turn his cultivation toward controlling the recoil rather than continuing toward the coalition line. Ziyue remained in position instead of rushing away the moment the threat disappeared.
Shuyue also stayed with the mixed formations. The Demon General's arrival had increased the cultivation pressure across the local battlefield, and several teams closest to Haotian's exchange had begun compressing their spacing because instinct made them want more people between themselves and the stronger enemy. That reaction would eventually interfere with movement and leave them less able to answer attacks from the side. Shuyue extended the stabilizing influence of the Dao Palace of Virtues through the nearby cultivators while remaining aware of the demons directly in front of them.
"Keep the road open," she told the nearest officers. "The stronger fighters have their own opponents."
The mixed teams corrected their spacing and continued advancing. Shuyue did not erase their fear or fatigue, because neither response prevented disciplined cultivators from functioning. Her influence kept those emotions from controlling their decisions while the officers directed the formation through the changing battle. The coalition advance therefore continued even while its strongest fighters were occupied.
At the center, the Demon General used the temporary separation effectively. His spear never remained extended after a missed thrust long enough for Haotian to seize it easily, and changing hand positions allowed him to fight at several distances without withdrawing from the exchange. He alternated direct attacks against Haotian's torso with shorter movements of the shaft and rear end whenever Haotian entered too closely. Most of his cultivation remained near the body and weapon, making the duel less destructive to the surrounding district but more efficient at close range.
Haotian answered with the techniques appropriate to each distance rather than entering the complete Demon God Killing Martial Arts. Cloud-Sundering Steps changed his approach around the spear's strongest line, Thousand Mirage Steps interrupted the General's attempts to predict those changes, and Heaven-Piercer Step closed distance whenever the demon created too much separation. He used fists and palms once inside because there was no advantage in committing to a larger sequence while the General's escorts still occupied the surrounding high-level cultivators. The battle had not reached the point where deeper expenditure was necessary.
The General thrust toward Haotian's chest and changed the spearhead toward his shoulder when Haotian moved outside. Haotian caught the shaft near the middle, allowing only a brief moment of contact before sending destructive force through it.
"Dragon Vein Collapse."
The General reacted as though he had been warned about the technique beforehand. He released one hand from the spear immediately and disrupted the continuous cultivation path through both arms before Haotian could drive the collapse deeper. The force still damaged part of the circulation supporting his forward grip, but he redirected cultivation through another route and pulled the weapon free before the disruption spread farther. The response was too specific to be accidental.
Haotian interpreted that knowledge only as battlefield information. Enough demons had survived previous engagements to report that prolonged contact with Dragon Vein Collapse threatened internal circulation through weapons and armor. The General did not need to know where Haotian learned the technique or anything about Alter to prepare a basic response to something already witnessed during the war. Haotian simply noted that the same approach would be less effective unless he created cleaner contact.
The General used the recovery to increase the width of the next spear sweep. Haotian shifted away from the strongest portion, but the demon shortened the movement before its momentum carried him too far and thrust toward the shoulder wounded during the western General's battle. Haotian turned enough that the spearhead missed anything deep, yet the edge still tore through his clothing and reopened part of the shallow injury. A thin line of blood spread along the shoulder.
The General recognized the old wound and targeted the same side again. Haotian stepped inward before the spear regained enough distance for another clean thrust and struck the shaft with his palm.
"Seraph Shatter Palm."
The weapon was driven across the General's body. Haotian's other hand followed before the demon could rotate the shaft back into position.
"Fist of Ruin."
The General crossed one forearm over his ribs and turned with the impact rather than receiving it squarely. The defense reduced the damage enough to keep the armor from collapsing, but he was still driven several steps backward and blood appeared briefly at the corner of his mouth. He restored his stance quickly and raised the spear again before Haotian could treat the successful strike as the end of the exchange.
For several more exchanges, the separation created by the escorts continued serving its purpose. The General could focus almost entirely on Haotian without Lianhua cutting into his defense whenever the spear changed direction or Tianlan forcing him to account for another weapon from the side. Nearby demonic formations also benefited from their commander remaining active and visibly holding the center. Officers used that stability to rebuild several local lines even though the broader eastern concentration remained divided farther north.
The arrangement began failing because the escorts could not maintain their positions indefinitely. Lianhua broke the damaged narrow blade on her next use of Voidpierce Sword Sutra, forcing her opponent to abandon half the fighting style he had used to control her movement. He continued with the remaining weapon but no longer possessed enough coverage to remain directly between her and the central road. Lianhua began driving him sideways rather than backward, gradually clearing the route toward Haotian.
Yinxue's opponent lost control of his broad defensive structure shortly afterward. Repeated corrections had forced his stance narrower until one sword cut entered beneath the returning guard and opened his side. He retreated before Yinxue could deepen the wound, but moving away also surrendered the position he had been ordered to hold. She did not chase him farther than necessary once the road toward the center opened.
Tianlan's opponent lasted longer, though the pressure of the spear and Falcons gradually drew him away from the central battle. When the first Frost Rainbow Falcon descended again, the demon raised his curved blade and widened his stance to keep enough balance for Tianlan's follow-up. Tianlan redirected the spear through Rotating Spears, displaced the weapon before the elite could lower it, and thrust into the opening near the abdomen. The point passed through armor and entered flesh before the demon twisted away.
The wound did not kill him immediately, but he could no longer maintain the same pressure. Tianlan withdrew the spear and shifted toward the center instead of pursuing the injured elite through the road. One Falcon remained over the wounded demon while the other curved back toward Tianlan's new route. The elite had succeeded in delaying him, but that delay had reached its limit.
The General felt the change before seeing every individual position. Haotian's family had begun appearing again within the range he needed to consider when choosing his next attack, while several of his elites were either wounded or being pushed away. Yueru had also finished dismantling the supporting technique of another escort near the main road and was beginning to move closer from another angle. The short engagement he had created against Haotian alone was ending.
He drove one more thrust toward Haotian and used the resulting movement to increase the distance between them. The retreat remained controlled rather than desperate, and he restored the spear across his body while looking briefly through the nearby fighting. Lianhua was already approaching from the left, Yinxue had cleared enough space to follow, and Tianlan was returning from the right with both Falcons still active above the road. The General's attempt to occupy them had worked exactly as long as the strength of his elites allowed.
It had bought several minutes of resistance around the center and prevented Haotian's family from overwhelming him immediately. It had not stopped the coalition formations behind them from continuing to press through the divided column, and it had not allowed the eastern concentration to reform into one army. The General could no longer treat Haotian as the only opponent whose position mattered. Haotian stepped forward while the rest of the family returned toward the central fight.
The Demon General had only a short interval before Lianhua reached the edge of his fighting range. He shifted the black spear across his body and adjusted his footing so the weapon could still threaten Haotian while covering the approach from his left, but the change reduced how freely he could turn against either opponent. Haotian did not rush into the altered guard and give the demon one clear direction to defend. He remained close enough to prevent an easy withdrawal while Lianhua advanced through the space her wounded opponent had surrendered.
The General attacked Haotian first because the spear was already aligned toward him. A direct thrust crossed the distance, shortened midway through its extension, and turned into a strike from the rear section of the shaft when Haotian moved outside the spearhead. Cloud-Sundering Steps changed Haotian's angle without carrying him away from the center, and his forearm redirected the shaft before the second movement gained full strength. The General recovered quickly, but Lianhua was already close enough that his next adjustment had to account for her sword.
"Voidpierce Sword Sutra."
Lianhua's blade reached the spear near the forward grip. The General reinforced the shaft with abyssal cultivation and changed the contact angle before the spatial edge could bite through the weapon directly, but doing so forced both hands farther across his body and exposed the opposite side. Haotian stepped into that opening and drove his palm toward the General's chest. The demon released one hand from the spear and met the strike before it landed cleanly.
"Seraph Shatter Palm."
The collision forced the General several steps sideways and disturbed the stance he had been rebuilding. Lianhua withdrew her sword before the shifted spear could trap the blade, then moved with him so the distance she had gained did not disappear during his recovery. Neither attack had caused serious damage, but the General was already being required to answer Haotian and Lianhua from different directions within the same exchange. His weapon remained useful, though each correction created another side that needed protection.
Yinxue reached the center before he regained the full reach of the spear. Instead of striking directly at his body, she cut toward the section of the weapon he was using to restore his guard, forcing him to withdraw the shaft and turn the spearhead toward her. The movement prevented her sword from entering farther but drew his attention away from Haotian long enough for the distance between them to narrow. The General recognized the problem and drove the butt of his spear into the paving before anyone could close further.
Abyssal cultivation entered the ground through the shaft and spread beneath the nearby fighters in several controlled channels. Stone cracked under Haotian, Lianhua, and Yinxue at different angles, forcing them to move before the eruptions reached the surface. The General used the resulting separation to move east toward the portion of the road where his remaining elites were still fighting. The retreat was not long, but it gave the spear enough room to become useful at full length again.
Tianlan approached from that direction and did not attempt to stop the General through a direct contest of strength. He lowered his spear and watched the black weapon shift as the demon adjusted toward him, then attacked only when Haotian's pursuit shortened the General's stride. "Ninefold Thrust." The first thrust went toward the rear hand controlling the spear, and when the General changed his grip to block it, Tianlan redirected the second toward the shoulder and the third toward the forward leg.
The General turned the spear vertically and covered more than one line at once. Tianlan adjusted the fourth thrust toward the weapon shaft rather than repeatedly attacking the same defensive position, forcing the demon to use both hands to keep the black spear stable. When the General countered with a direct thrust, Tianlan moved his own point outside the attack and rotated the shaft through Rotating Spears, changing the recovery angle before the demon could settle the weapon back into position. The exchange did not disarm him, but it kept his attention occupied long enough for one Frost Rainbow Falcon to descend.
The General sensed the bird and shifted his shoulder before the claws reached the neck. Protective cultivation absorbed most of the strike across his armor, though the impact still forced his upper body forward and made him shorten the spear to keep control. The Falcon opened its wings immediately and climbed away from the weapon rather than remaining within reach. Tianlan used the moment created by its passage to thrust toward the ribs, where the spearhead struck armor and forced the General to turn farther toward Haotian.
Haotian had already closed the distance. "Fist of Ruin."
The General crossed the spear shaft and his free forearm over the threatened side before Haotian's fist landed. The weapon survived, but the strike drove it against the armor beneath and forced the demon backward on a stance already disturbed by Tianlan and the Falcon. Blood appeared again at the corner of his mouth as he recovered, though his cultivation remained stable enough for him to continue using the spear. He raised it before Haotian could exploit the same opening twice.
Yueru reached the central fight while the General began gathering power for a broader technique. Several flows of abyssal cultivation moved through the carvings along the black spear and converged toward the spearhead, creating a structure intended to clear enough space around him for a full repositioning. Yueru watched those relationships rather than attacking the General's body. Her sword crossed the first convergence before the structure completed.
The General redirected power through another path instead of abandoning the technique immediately. Yueru changed her attack with the correction and cut through the second connection before enough cultivation stabilized there. Maintaining the technique would have required the General to rebuild too much while Haotian and the others remained within striking distance, so he released the gathering power back into his circulation and returned the spear to a shorter guard. The decision conserved strength but denied him the space the technique had been intended to create.
Xiangyin used the shorter guard to pressure the hands controlling the spear. Her first thrust threatened the forward wrist, forcing the General to draw the weapon closer to his torso, while the next went toward the rear leg when his grip changed. The demon parried and attempted to use the greater weight of his weapon to knock Xiangyin's spear aside, but she released the contact before their weapons remained bound long enough for his leverage to matter. Her next thrust came along a lower line and forced him to step away from the point.
Yanfei had already placed Frostfire along that route. Cold gathered beneath the edge of the General's boot as he moved, and he immediately shifted again rather than allow the temperature change to spread through the leg. Yanfei did not waste cultivation trying to hold him inside the frost; heat struck the stone where he landed next, forcing him to reinforce the lower body against another change before completing his stance. Xiangyin thrust during the adjustment and scraped her spearhead across his thigh armor, opening a shallow line before he knocked the weapon away.
The General turned the black spear toward Yanfei, but Haotian had already stepped inside its effective reach. The rear of the shaft came toward Haotian's face as the demon shortened his grip, and Haotian moved his head outside the strike before catching the weapon near the middle with one hand. The General sent abyssal cultivation through the shaft immediately, prepared for another attempt to transmit Dragon Vein Collapse. Haotian did not use the technique and instead pulled the spear slightly away from the line the demon was trying to restore.
Lianhua's sword reached the exposed side. "Voidpierce Sword Sutra."
The General twisted quickly enough that the spatial edge did not enter his torso, but the attack cut through one layer of abyssal protection and opened the armor along his upper arm. Haotian released the spear before the demon could trap his hand against it, while Yinxue attacked the weakened guard from another angle. The General blocked her blade with the shaft, though the defense forced the weapon farther across his body than the position he had originally intended.
Cultivation gathered beneath the damaged guard as he tried reinforcing it. Yueru cut the supporting flow before it stabilized, leaving the General to defend the next exchange with less protection than expected. He gave ground rather than receive another combination while his stance remained compromised. The movement carried him away from his elites instead of toward them.
Several of those elites attempted to return, but the wider battle prevented them from doing so cleanly. The demon who had delayed Xiangyin and Yanfei had already taken multiple wounds and was intercepted by a coalition Lesser Immortal Lord when he disengaged from his original fight. Others remained tied to Sword formations or high-level coalition cultivators who had continued advancing after Haotian's family began moving toward the center. None could abandon those opponents and cross the intervening roads without creating another opening behind themselves.
Local demonic officers tried compensating by pushing ordinary formations toward their General. One group gathered along a side street and another moved through eastern buildings toward the same area, but Blue Sphere cultivators reached the first before it crossed into the central road. Pyrelith fighters struck the second while it was still compressed around an intersection, forcing those demons to protect themselves before they could reinforce the high-level battle. The General therefore remained surrounded primarily by the opponents who had already begun dismantling his movement.
The coalition advance did not stop while this occurred. Companies farther north still struggled to turn into the fighting, and formations south of the impact point had become increasingly separated from the center because the clockwise sweep continued passing between them. Every road opened by the coalition allowed additional mixed teams to move through the divided concentration and deepen the distance between its sections. The fight around the General occupied only one portion of that movement.
Shuyue remained with those mixed formations instead of joining the circle around the Demon General. His cultivation pressure still reached the nearby troops whenever he released stronger attacks, and tired soldiers moving through narrow roads were prone to compressing their spacing when those fluctuations passed over them. Her Dao Palace of Virtues steadied the fear and urgency enough for officers to keep their formations moving according to orders. When several Blue Sphere cultivators began turning after demons retreating through a northern side street, she stopped the movement before the line opened unnecessarily.
"Leave them. Keep the formation moving."
The cultivators returned to their places rather than chasing soldiers moving away from the coalition's path. Shuyue did not need to suppress their desire to finish the retreating enemies; she only kept that impulse from interfering with the work already underway. The northern group disappeared into the side road, and the coalition continued forward without spending additional people on it.
The Demon General abandoned larger clearing techniques after Yueru disrupted another attempt before completion. He returned to compact thrusts and shorter sweeps that gave her less structure to interfere with, accepting smaller areas of effect in exchange for attacks he could release immediately. The adjustment made his defense more practical against several opponents, but it did not reduce how many directions required attention. Whenever he turned the spear to one side, someone else had room to advance from another.
He drove Lianhua back with a direct thrust and turned the shaft through the same movement to force Tianlan away from the opposite side. The brief opening between them gave him a possible route east, and he stepped toward it before either recovered. Haotian moved into that path instead of following behind the spear. The General thrust directly toward his chest.
Cloud-Sundering Steps carried Haotian beyond the point. He struck the shaft near the forward hand as it passed and prevented the demon from withdrawing the weapon cleanly. Tianlan's spear reached the rear portion during the same recovery and crossed against it, using Rotating Spears to change the angle enough that the General needed both hands to regain control. Xiangyin attacked the forward leg while those hands were occupied.
Her spear entered beneath the damaged armor along the thigh. The General pulled away before she could drive the point deeper, but blood followed the weapon when it came free. Yanfei sent Frostfire toward the wound, forcing him to expend cultivation immediately to prevent cold from reaching injured muscle. Heat arrived before that circulation fully adjusted and widened the damaged area through the armor.
The General moved again and landed more heavily on the opposite leg. He remained stable, but the altered weight distribution was visible in the shortened step that followed. Yinxue attacked before he could compensate, forcing the black spear high enough for Lianhua to enter beneath it. "Voidpierce Sword Sutra." The spatial edge struck reinforced protection over his ribs and broke the outer layer even though the General turned enough to keep the sword from penetrating deeply.
He tried moving more cultivation toward the damaged section. Yueru cut the supporting flow before the protection rebuilt, leaving the armor briefly exposed. Haotian entered at the same moment and placed his palm against the weakened area.
"Dragon Vein Collapse."
The General had prepared for the technique through much of the fight, but those preparations depended upon healthier pathways through which cultivation could be redirected before the disruption spread. Yueru had already severed part of the supporting flow, and the injured leg forced the demon to maintain more power through the opposite side of his body. Dragon Vein Collapse entered before he could move enough cultivation away from the contact point.
He sacrificed one damaged pathway and redirected the rest through another route. The choice prevented the collapse from reaching deeper structures, but the failed pathway stopped carrying cultivation altogether and sent a sharp tremor through his torso. Blood ran from the General's mouth as he struck backward with the black spear to force Haotian away. He remained upright, though his breathing had become heavier and his circulation no longer moved evenly across both sides of his body.
Haotian did not repeat the same technique immediately. The demon had already begun rerouting cultivation around the damaged area, and another attempt against the same point would meet a defense prepared specifically for it. Instead, Haotian kept the pressure close enough that the General had no time to test how well his altered circulation functioned under sustained movement. Lianhua and Tianlan continued attacking from different sides while the General adjusted.
The next thrust from the black spear was slower than the attacks that had opened the duel. Haotian moved outside it, and Lianhua forced the recovering weapon farther toward the injured side than the General's leg could comfortably support. Tianlan attacked the opposite hand before the spear returned, making the demon shorten his stance again. One Frost Rainbow Falcon descended from behind during the correction.
The General could not turn fully without exposing himself to Haotian, so he released cultivation backward rather than trying to strike the bird. The burst reached the Falcon before it made contact, and it opened its wings to climb rather than forcing through the defense. The second Falcon approached from farther right, giving Tianlan time to lower his own next attack. The General brought the black spear down to stop Tianlan's point while raising an abyssal barrier over the shoulders.
The Falcon's claws struck the barrier and weakened it before the bird pulled away. Tianlan did not pursue the same line once the General committed to defending it, instead drawing his spear back and allowing Ziyue room to enter. She had gained enough space to leave the mixed formations after the elite she had previously contained was pushed back by coalition support. With so many family members around the General, she narrowed her attack rather than releasing anything broad across the road.
"Dao of the Sword — Tenfold Elements, Severing Arc."
Metal and Wind carried the cutting edge toward the General's exposed side while Lightning disrupted the defense he raised to meet it. He blocked with the black spear and allowed the force to move him several steps instead of absorbing everything in place. Fire entered the damaged protection along his ribs, followed by Ice against the heated armor before he could restore the outer layer. The side protection fractured.
Xiangyin used the opening immediately. Her spear entered through the broken armor and reached flesh beneath the ribs before the General forced himself away. He caught the shaft with one hand in an attempt to pull Xiangyin forward and disrupt the pressure around him, but she rotated with the movement rather than fighting directly against his grip. Yanfei placed Frostfire over the hand holding the weapon, and the sudden cold forced him to release it before Xiangyin's spear could be trapped.
Xiangyin recovered the weapon and cleared Haotian's approach. The General saw him coming and drove the black spear forward before his stance had completely settled, shortening the weapon when Haotian moved past the point and bringing the shaft back toward the body. Haotian shifted inside the return instead of retreating. When the demon raised a knee to interrupt the approach, Haotian struck the injured thigh with his forearm rather than continuing toward the chest.
The damaged leg buckled enough that the General had to lower the spear and use it to stabilize himself. Tianlan attacked the weapon rather than the body, catching it near the center with Rotating Spears and using the compromised footing to turn the shaft farther than the General could comfortably follow. The demon tried pulling the black spear back toward himself. Lianhua cut across the hand needed to complete the recovery.
The General released the rear grip before her sword took the fingers. Yinxue attacked from the opposite side and forced him to use the spearhead defensively with one hand. Abyssal cultivation surged toward the remaining grip as he attempted to reinforce the weapon against the combined pressure. Yueru watched the flow settle and cut through the connection before it reached full strength.
Tianlan struck the shaft again. Without the same reinforcement behind it, the weapon was driven out of the General's hand and crossed several meters of broken paving before striking the wall of a damaged military building. His first movement was toward it, but Xiangyin placed her spear between him and the fallen weapon while Yanfei spread Frostfire across the route leading back to it. Lianhua and Yinxue occupied the other approaches, making retrieval impractical without exposing himself to several attacks.
The General abandoned the spear and raised both hands. His cultivation changed with the loss of the weapon, gathering more heavily around the arms and torso because he could no longer use the shaft to control distance or redirect attacks before they reached him. Barehanded fighting did not leave him helpless, but it required him to move closer to anyone he wanted to threaten directly. He chose Haotian and drove forward on the healthier leg.
One palm came toward Haotian's chest while the other prepared to strike the wounded shoulder. Haotian caught the first wrist and turned the attack away from his center, but the second fist still reached his upper arm before he could completely leave the line. The impact forced him half a step sideways without reaching the reopened wound directly. The General tried using that movement to pass Haotian and recover space.
Lianhua closed the route with her sword. The demon raised an abyssal barrier over one forearm and caught enough of the attack to keep the edge from entering cleanly, but Yinxue struck the same defense while it remained committed against Lianhua. The barrier broke under the second attack. Yueru cut cultivation moving toward a replacement defense before the General could restore it.
Tianlan thrust toward the weakened leg. The General twisted away from the point and remained upright, but the movement turned his back partially toward Haotian. Haotian stepped in and struck between the shoulder and upper back.
"Fist of Ruin."
The blow drove the General forward. He caught himself with one hand against the paving and forced his body through the movement before his chest struck the ground, leaving blood on the stone as he pushed himself back upright. The damaged leg shook when he placed weight on it again, and the uneven cultivation flowing through his torso no longer fully hid how much strength he had spent.
While rising, he looked past Haotian toward the battle surrounding them. The coalition formations had continued moving throughout the exchange, widening the section cut through his army while Blue Sphere and Pyrelith pressure prevented central companies from reforming behind him. Marephoros still restricted the roads through which demonic formations tried spreading toward the coalition flank, and Umbrel and Celestara teams kept separated sections from reconnecting quickly through side and upper routes. Many demons from the eastern concentration remained alive, but fewer could now influence the same part of the battle.
The General returned his attention to Haotian and forced more abyssal cultivation through the damaged pathways inside his body. The increase in pressure came with visible cost. Blood spread beneath the broken armor along his ribs, and the circulation rerouted around Dragon Vein Collapse strained the remaining healthy channels. He remained capable of producing another dangerous attack, but preserving himself afterward had clearly become less important than creating enough space to affect the battle before his position disappeared entirely.
Haotian stepped closer before the demon could gather more power at range. The General drove both palms forward, one aimed at Haotian while the other released cultivation outward to force Lianhua, Yinxue, and Tianlan away from the center. Haotian turned inside the first strike and redirected the wrist with his forearm. The broader release spread past his side, but Yueru cut one of the convergences feeding it before the attack reached the strength the General intended.
Tianlan's spear struck the General's forearm while the weakened release was still leaving his hand. Lianhua moved into the injured side and used Voidpierce Sword Sutra against the protection covering the ribs, cutting through the layer already damaged by Ziyue and Xiangyin. Yanfei placed Frostfire into the exposed injury before the General could close it with cultivation. When he forced enough power outward to prevent the temperature change from penetrating farther, the remaining defense across his chest became thinner.
Xiangyin's spear threatened the forward foot and forced the General to widen his stance around the point. Yinxue cut through the defensive layer remaining over his torso while his weight was committed to that movement. The protection failed before another could form. Haotian entered through the opening created by all of them.
There was no reason to use the full Demon God Killing Martial Arts sequence or another large finisher. The General had already lost his weapon, his leg was damaged, one cultivation pathway had been sacrificed to contain Dragon Vein Collapse, and the defenses across his chest had been broken by repeated attacks from several directions. Haotian needed only a clean strike through the opening that already existed.
"Fist of Ruin."
The strike landed against the exposed chest. The remaining armor collapsed inward and the force passed through the broken protection before the General's damaged circulation could reinforce the point properly. His body was driven backward several steps while cultivation surged through weakened pathways in an attempt to stabilize the internal damage. The effort failed before he reached the wall behind him.
The General's injured leg stopped supporting his weight first, and he fell onto one knee while blood ran from his mouth and through the broken armor across his torso. He tried to rise by placing one hand against the paving, but the arm shook as the damaged circulation struggled to support another movement. Haotian stayed several paces away and watched the cultivation inside him rather than assuming the fight had ended merely because the demon had fallen.
The General managed to lift himself partway before the injured leg failed again. His remaining abyssal cultivation weakened as the pathways supporting his organs and limbs lost stability, and the pressure that had temporarily helped organize the surrounding formations gradually disappeared with it. His hand slipped against the stone and his body settled onto the damaged road without another technique forming. Haotian waited until the cultivation inside him ceased moving in any organized pattern before turning away.
Lianhua had already shifted her attention toward the ordinary fighting ahead, and Tianlan checked both Frost Rainbow Falcons before returning his spear to a forward position. Xiangyin recovered her weapon, while Yanfei allowed the remaining Frostfire around the fallen General to dissipate instead of spending more strength on a dead opponent. Yinxue, Yueru, and Ziyue moved back toward the portions of the arrowhead where the coalition formations continued advancing.
The General's death removed the strongest point around which nearby demons had been rebuilding their resistance, but it did not end the fighting throughout the divided eastern concentration. Companies farther north still contained enough officers to maintain local discipline, and several groups south of the coalition penetration had not yet understood exactly what had happened at the center. Those formations continued responding according to the positions they could see and the orders they had received before the General fell. No single commander remained capable of reconnecting all of those responses into one plan.
Haotian returned to the front rather than remaining beside the body. Lianhua, Yinxue, Yueru, Ziyue, Xiangyin, Yanfei, and Tianlan redistributed themselves through the arrowhead as they had before the General arrived, while Shuyue remained among the mixed formations that had continued advancing throughout the high-level battle. The two Frost Rainbow Falcons widened their movement above Tianlan again, one watching the roads farther south while the other circled toward the outer side of the curve. Within a short time, the family was once more spread across the point of the advance rather than concentrated around one dead opponent.
The demonic formations immediately north of the penetration attempted to withdraw toward one another. Their officers had enough experience to understand that remaining in isolated streets would allow the coalition to defeat them separately, so several companies began moving east and north-east in search of routes that still connected with the rear of the original concentration. The movement was orderly at first, with stronger cultivators covering the withdrawal while wounded soldiers and formation guards moved behind them. Haotian did not redirect the arrowhead toward those troops.
"They're moving away from the sweep," a Blue Sphere officer reported after watching one company disappear behind northern buildings.
"Let them," Haotian answered. "Keep the front south."
The officer passed the instruction through the nearest formations. Umbrel cultivators continued observing the withdrawing demons long enough to make sure they were not preparing to circle back toward the coalition corridor, but the larger Blue Sphere and Pyrelith groups remained attached to the main body. The company escaping north preserved more soldiers because Haotian allowed it to leave. In exchange, none of those soldiers remained in position to affect the road the coalition was actually taking.
The formations south of the penetration faced a more difficult problem. They had already traveled too far along the relocation route to retreat toward the original eastern defenses without crossing roads controlled by the coalition, while continuing south placed them directly in front of the clockwise sweep. Some commanders tried withdrawing farther ahead in the hope of reaching another junction before Haotian's formations caught them. Others turned east into the military blocks and abandoned the route entirely.
The coalition did not pursue the groups leaving east. Veridian cultivators checked nearby underground connections, Umbrel scouts marked the routes the demons used, and both groups returned toward the arrowhead once the immediate rear had been secured. Formations that stayed south received no such opportunity because they remained on the coalition's path. Blue Sphere cultivators continued advancing into them while Marephoros pressure made organized retreat increasingly difficult along the narrowing roads.
One southern company attempted to hold a broad intersection long enough for two smaller groups behind it to pass east. Its commander placed defensive cultivators across the western approach and ordered the rest of the company to fight by sections rather than allowing the entire formation to become trapped in one place. The plan succeeded long enough for the first smaller group to clear the junction. The second was still crossing when the coalition reached the defensive line.
Yinxue and Lianhua moved with the Sword formations against the strongest portion of the defense. The demons had raised several overlapping barriers instead of one large structure, preventing a single broken point from collapsing everything behind it. Yinxue forced the nearest layer inward while Lianhua used the changing distance created by the first impact to attack a different section with Voidpierce Sword Sutra. The barriers remained functional, but the defenders had to draw strength away from the center to preserve both damaged points.
Yueru watched the redistribution and cut the supporting convergence before it stabilized. Ziyue followed once the weakened section had enough room around it for a narrower Tenfold Elements attack, driving the defenders away from the center without spreading the technique across the entire intersection. Blue Sphere teams entered behind them and forced the front company backward before the second retreating group completely cleared the road. The demons had to choose between continuing to hold and preserving the soldiers still trying to escape.
Their commander chose the soldiers. "Pull back by the eastern road."
The front ranks gave ground in sections while the final group disappeared through the side route. The retreat preserved a large portion of the company but surrendered the intersection without forcing the coalition into another long battle. Haotian allowed the demons to leave once their movement carried them away from the southward route. Specialists checked the position for active Abyss systems and destroyed what remained before the trailing coalition formations passed through.
The same process repeated across the next several roads without requiring the army to stop at each one. Demonic units that remained directly in front of the sweep were pressured until they moved or broke, while those withdrawing away from the coalition's route were watched rather than chased. The concentration that had once contained enough troops to create a serious defensive front therefore continued losing coherence even when large numbers survived. Every company that escaped in a different direction became one less company capable of fighting beside the others.
Xuanyin watched that separation develop through the command map. The eastern concentration no longer appeared as one cluster moving south toward the coalition, because reports now placed its surviving sections across disconnected routes. One group was withdrawing north-east, another had moved back east toward the abandoned defenses, and several smaller formations remained trapped south of the coalition penetration. The number of demonic cultivators had not fallen as quickly as the unity of their movement.
A communication officer indicated the largest northern group. "They may be able to rebuild farther east."
"They may," Xuanyin replied.
"Do we send anyone after them?"
"No." Xuanyin followed the coalition's curved route with one finger. "If they rebuild somewhere we aren't going, they can stay there. If they come back toward us later, they'll have to move again."
The officer removed the request for pursuit from the outgoing messages. Xuanyin kept her attention on the arrowhead instead, ensuring the formations behind it continued following the same curve rather than widening into districts being abandoned by the demons. Several local commanders had already reported open streets that could be occupied with little resistance. She ordered them left alone unless those roads threatened the protected corridor.
The reasoning remained the same as during the initial eastward penetration. Empty streets did not strengthen the coalition merely because cultivators stood in them, and capturing every building would only spread the army across the stronghold until local demonic forces could begin choosing isolated targets. The coalition needed a usable route through the fortress, not occupation of every structure behind it. As long as the arrowhead stayed dense and the rear remained protected, the surviving demons would continue having difficulty placing enough strength in front of it.
The turn now carried the coalition farther south than the original eastern penetration had reached. Roads that had once been parallel to the invasion route began crossing the coalition corridor at different angles, and demonic formations stationed farther west started discovering that the main battle had passed beyond them without ever approaching their positions directly. Some remained where they were because their commanders lacked reliable information. Others began moving toward the new cultivation fluctuations farther south.
Those movements created additional delay. Units that had been facing the original western intrusion now had to travel through internal roads before they could reach the clockwise sweep, while the coalition was already moving along that same arc. Several companies changed direction more than once as reports updated the army's position. By the time they reached roads that might have allowed an interception, Haotian's spearhead had usually advanced beyond the point their orders described.
One such company approached from the west while the coalition moved south through a broad military district. Its commander had received a report placing the arrowhead several streets north of its actual location and accelerated in the hope of striking the rear portion of the turn. Instead, his scouts encountered coalition reserve formations already moving through the captured corridor behind the spearhead. The commander stopped before committing his entire company and withdrew when he realized the main fighting had already passed farther south.
The reserves did not chase him. They maintained the corridor and reported the contact to Xuanyin, who marked the western company's new direction without changing the main formation. The demons had found one section of the coalition without Haotian standing directly in front of it, but they had reached that section while it remained connected to the concentrated army and protected by fresh reserves. The opportunity was not useful enough to justify the losses required to exploit it.
Farther south, Haotian sensed another group attempting to assemble ahead of the arrowhead. The concentration was small compared with the army the third Demon General had brought from the east, consisting mostly of local defenders and scattered survivors who had reached the same district independently. Their officers were trying to establish a line across two connected roads before the coalition arrived. Haotian continued at the existing pace rather than accelerating the entire army simply because another defense had appeared.
The local demons had enough time to prepare more fully than the earlier companies. They established barriers across the main road and placed stronger cultivators along the buildings on either side, using the narrower terrain to reduce how many coalition fighters could engage the front simultaneously. The position was sensible for the numbers available. It still had to withstand the same concentrated formations that had broken the eastern force.
Marephoros cultivators controlled the edges of the approach while Blue Sphere formations engaged the central barriers. Pyrelith attacks struck reinforced structures rather than wasting power against the people already holding the front, and Celestara cultivators denied the defenders the elevated positions from which they had intended to attack the coalition flanks. Haotian's wives and the other high-level coalition cultivators moved toward whichever sections resisted longest instead of gathering around one point.
The defensive line lasted longer than the scattered companies encountered immediately after the turn, but it did not stop the coalition. Once Lianhua and Yinxue opened one portion of the layered defense, Blue Sphere cultivators entered the breach and forced the demons to shorten the rest of their line. Yueru disrupted the technique used to reinforce the new center, and Xiangyin's spear pressure kept one senior officer from restoring order while Yanfei restricted the ground around him with Frostfire. The defenders began withdrawing before the position became completely surrounded.
Haotian allowed the retreat to continue once the demons moved east. The coalition passed through the position and resumed the same southward curve.
Several Blue Sphere cultivators showed signs of fatigue after the repeated fighting, and officers began rotating them toward deeper ranks while fresher teams moved forward. Veridian healers treated minor wounds during movement and directed more serious injuries toward the protected interior instead of attempting complete restoration near the front. The rotation reduced the immediate strength of some individual teams but prevented exhaustion from accumulating entirely at the arrowhead.
Liora remained farther inside the moving formation where wounded cultivators passed toward the Dao Palace of Creation. She and the other healers continued separating injuries that could be stabilized quickly from those requiring removal from the battle. Cultivators with damaged meridians, deep burns, or serious blood loss were sent back regardless of whether they insisted they could still fight. Those needing only temporary stabilization returned to reserve positions rather than immediately to the front.
The steady movement of wounded inward and fresh cultivators forward made the coalition's strength difficult for the demons to judge. A unit that fought the arrowhead and withdrew might later encounter different mixed teams occupying the same positions, even though the overall formation had never stopped. The coalition was spending cultivation and taking injuries, but those costs were distributed through enough depth that the leading pressure did not collapse after several engagements. The demons attempting to assemble locally had no comparable reserve structure close enough to replace losses before the arrow moved on.
Tianlan continued along the outer side of the sweep after receiving brief treatment for a shallow cut along his forearm. The wound did not interfere with his grip, so the healer wrapped it and sent him back without delaying him longer than necessary. The two Frost Rainbow Falcons remained active above the formation, showing fatigue through broader turns and less frequent dives but still capable of maintaining their trained role. Tianlan did not force either bird to attack simply because enemies remained ahead.
Haotian noticed their condition when the outer edge of the arrowhead crossed another open intersection. He could also feel the accumulating fatigue in his own body after fighting multiple Demon Generals and repeatedly using movement and combat arts during the continuous advance. The Heaven Sundering Trinity Scripture kept his three cores synchronized, but it did not make expenditure meaningless. He reduced the amount of cultivation used against ordinary defenders and left most of those engagements to formations already capable of handling them.
The coalition remained overwhelming because it concentrated more usable strength at the point of contact, not because its cultivators possessed endless reserves. Maintaining that advantage required refusing battles that contributed nothing to the route and rotating people before fatigue turned into unnecessary casualties. Haotian did not need to kill every officer personally or break every barrier with his own hands. The formations around him had enough strength to handle most of what remained directly ahead.
Xuanyin's next reports confirmed that the eastern concentration had ceased functioning as one army. The largest surviving portion had moved back toward the north-east and was no longer close enough to affect the current sweep without another major relocation. Smaller groups remained throughout districts behind and beside the coalition, but their positions were scattered and many had lost reliable contact with one another. The third Demon General's attempt to bring them south had ended with a large number of survivors and no useful concentration.
She updated the command map without treating that result as final. Several powerful demonic presences remained elsewhere in the stronghold, and enough troops still existed to create dangerous resistance if the coalition ever gave them enough time and a predictable destination. The clockwise sweep was working because the army kept moving while the Abyss reacted to information that became less useful with every change. Xuanyin therefore resisted the temptation to exploit each newly opened district with separate forces.
One officer asked whether the coalition should send a legion west to cut off several demonic companies now caught between the original entry corridor and the new southward sweep. Xuanyin studied the distances before answering. Those demons were poorly positioned, but reaching them would require one concentrated legion to leave the main body and fight through territory the arrow had no reason to enter.
"No. Mark them and keep scouts on the routes back toward us."
The officer accepted the decision.
"If they stay there, they're out of this fight," Xuanyin continued. "If they move toward us, we deal with them when they reach the corridor."
The order preserved the coalition's shape while the trapped formations remained uncertain about what to do. Some tried moving east toward the interior only to discover that the coalition's curved route now separated them from the roads they expected to use. Others moved back west and north in search of longer paths around the sweep. The stronghold's internal layout, which had once allowed the Abyss to transfer troops between sectors, became harder to use because the coalition corridor now crossed several of those connections.
Haotian began seeing the effect directly as the arrowhead moved deeper south. Demonic troops arriving from one side often carried orders based on positions located on the other side of the coalition route, forcing them either to cross the advancing army or abandon the assignment. Formation guards responsible for systems connected to distant command points found those relationships severed when supporting structures fell behind the coalition. Supply movement likewise became less reliable as routes that once ran through the stronghold's interior now crossed damaged or coalition-controlled roads.
The coalition did not attempt to operate any of those systems. Pyrelith and formation specialists continued destroying anything capable of threatening the corridor, while infrastructure irrelevant to the advance was left behind. The disruption came primarily from the route the coalition was carving through the fortress. A curved band of destroyed defenses and controlled intersections now separated portions of the stronghold that had previously functioned as one connected military environment.
Another report reached Haotian from the front scouts. Several demonic formations farther south were abandoning their positions before contact and moving east rather than waiting for the arrowhead to reach them. Their commanders had apparently received enough information about the eastern concentration to understand that standing directly in front of the coalition without substantial support was unlikely to accomplish anything useful. Haotian allowed them to withdraw.
Their movement opened the next section of the sweep without a major engagement. Mixed teams continued south through roads the Abyss had prepared to defend but no longer had enough people willing to hold in isolation. The coalition did not increase its speed recklessly simply because resistance had thinned. Officers maintained the same rotation, scouts continued checking side approaches, and specialists kept the protected corridor secure as the front advanced farther along the curve.
When Haotian reached the next major junction, he stopped only long enough to examine the roads ahead through the Dao of the Universe. The route continuing south remained open for several streets, while larger concentrations of demonic cultivation lay farther east and south-east. Some were moving toward the coalition, others away from it, and several remained uncertain enough that their direction changed as new messages arrived. None currently occupied the immediate road in sufficient strength to justify altering the plan.
Haotian gave the order to continue. The mixed formations moved past the junction and maintained the clockwise route while the protected corridor followed behind them. Several districts back, the third Demon General lay among troops who no longer shared one battlefield, and the eastern army he had gathered survived only in separated groups moving along different roads. Those soldiers might fight again later, but they would first have to travel, receive new orders, and gather again before enough of them could matter at one place.
Ahead, the coalition's curved route crossed more of the internal roads connecting the stronghold's sectors. Demonic formations on opposite sides increasingly had to travel around the advancing army instead of using the direct paths that had linked them before the assault. The coalition remained concentrated while those detours stretched the defenders farther apart, and each new intersection taken by the arrowhead complicated the movement of forces elsewhere inside the fortress.
Haotian continued south with the front formations, leaving the divided eastern concentration behind while the next portion of the stronghold opened ahead.