The coalition continued south without altering the shape of its advance. The strongest cultivators remained concentrated near the front, while the mixed formations behind them followed the same curved route established during the previous sweep. The eastern concentration had already been broken into separated groups, and the roads immediately ahead contained fewer defenders than those Haotian had fought through earlier, but no one treated the lighter resistance as a reason to spread out. Officers maintained the spacing between formations, rotated fatigued cultivators deeper into the column, and kept the protected corridor clear for healers, reserves, and wounded movement.
Haotian remained near the front with Lianhua, Yinxue, Yueru, Ziyue, Xiangyin, Yanfei, and Tianlan distributed through the arrowhead rather than clustered together. Shuyue continued moving among the mixed formations farther inside, where her Dao Palace of Virtues helped steady exhausted cultivators whenever the pressure of nearby fighting began affecting their discipline. Tianlan kept to the outer side of the curve, his spear carried ready but lowered whenever the road ahead remained clear. The two Frost Rainbow Falcons circled above him in broader arcs than before, conserving strength after the repeated fighting that had followed the turn.
The streets changed gradually as the coalition moved deeper into the southern portion of the stronghold. The military compounds became larger and were connected by roads wide enough to carry entire companies between districts, while smaller lanes branched toward storehouses, barracks, defensive towers, and formation stations. Raised walkways crossed between some structures above the main roads, and several fortified entrances descended beneath the ground. None of those features looked unusual by themselves, but the number of connections increased as the coalition approached the next district.
Haotian extended the Dao of the Universe through the surrounding structures and began tracing the routes beneath and above them. Several of the roads crossing ahead continued far beyond the immediate district, linking eastern military zones to central sections of the stronghold. The underground passages connected to similar networks farther north and south, while some of the elevated walkways had been reinforced enough for organized groups of cultivators to move across them rather than serving only as access between neighboring buildings. The district had not been designed merely for local movement.
He slowed only enough to examine the relationships more carefully.
Lianhua noticed the change and looked toward the broad intersection several streets ahead. "Something important?"
"These roads connect more than this district."
She followed his attention toward the structures rising around the junction. "Reinforcement routes?"
"And supplies. Underground movement too."
Haotian continued forward while extending his perception farther beneath the road. Several passages converged under the same group of buildings, and formation inscriptions connected portions of the underground structure to defenses above. Other inscriptions ran through the elevated bridges and into nearby towers. None appeared necessary for the coalition's passage, but several could be used to move demonic forces across the route after the arrowhead had passed.
The same pattern was becoming visible to Xuanyin through reports arriving at the command position. Umbrel scouts had already identified companies using several of the eastern and western roads, while Celestara observers reported movement along elevated routes farther beyond the immediate district. Veridian teams had found multiple underground branches entering the area from both sides. When those reports were placed against the coalition's current route, the reason for the concentration of connections became clear.
A command officer indicated the junction on the map. "This section links the eastern districts to the center."
"Not just the surface roads," Xuanyin said.
Another officer marked the underground routes. "At least three major passages cross under the same area."
"And these." A Celestara report was added above them. "Two elevated connections."
Xuanyin studied the pattern before shifting her attention to the coalition line already approaching the district. The arrowhead was about to cross several of the stronghold's most useful internal routes at the same time. The coalition did not need to occupy every road connected to the junction, but leaving the supporting systems intact would allow demons on opposite sides of the sweep to keep moving through it after the main body passed.
She sent the order forward.
Haotian received it while the first Blue Sphere formations entered the edge of the district. He had already reached the same conclusion through the Dao of the Universe. "Secure what crosses our route. Destroy anything they can use to move through it after us."
The order spread through the arrowhead and immediately changed how the specialists deployed. Blue Sphere formations continued occupying only the roads required for the coalition's passage, keeping the center dense instead of pushing into every adjoining street. Marephoros cultivators widened along the nearest sides of the junction only enough to prevent local defenders from interfering while the main body crossed. The other specialist groups began peeling away in small numbers toward the routes Haotian and Xuanyin had identified.
Pyrelith cultivators reached the first formation station near the western edge of the junction. The structure contained several fixed arrays connected to reinforced pillars buried beneath the road, and its guards attempted to activate them when the coalition approached. Fire and Metal techniques struck the exposed sections before the arrays completed their first full cycle. Once the guards were forced away, the specialists did not attempt to claim or operate the station.
They broke the structure apart, severing metal supports near their bases and shattering the formation channels where they entered the road. The central core was destroyed before the trailing formations passed, leaving nothing useful for demonic troops approaching from either direction. A nearby officer confirmed that the station could no longer restore itself before the Pyrelith cultivators returned toward the main formation.
Veridian teams moved beneath the district at the same time. They entered through a fortified access point only after scouts confirmed that the nearest tunnels were not occupied by a large force. The passages below were wider than the narrow maintenance routes encountered earlier in the stronghold, with enough room for several ranks of cultivators to move at once. Reinforced supports and formation lines along the walls showed that the tunnels had been intended to carry troops and supplies between districts even during surface fighting.
The Veridian cultivators did not attempt to clear the entire underground network. They followed only the branches crossing beneath the coalition corridor and identified where those passages could allow demons to emerge on opposite sides of the moving army. Supports were weakened at selected points while formation inscriptions were damaged enough that the passages could no longer be stabilized easily. Once the last Veridian team returned to the access route, the prepared sections were collapsed.
The ground above trembled beneath several nearby buildings. Dust rose through cracks along the road, though the main surface remained stable enough for the coalition to continue crossing. Haotian felt the underground routes disappear from his perception as usable paths and shifted his attention upward. Celestara cultivators had already begun dealing with the elevated connections.
Several demonic defenders attempted to hold one of the reinforced bridges between two military structures. The bridge was broad enough for groups to move across in formation, and the defenders had established barriers along both entrances in the hope of preserving it for reinforcements farther east. Celestara fighters engaged only long enough to force them away from the supporting points. Once the defenders withdrew toward the eastern building, concentrated attacks struck the joints securing the bridge to both structures.
The connection collapsed into the street below after the coalition had cleared the area. Broken stone and metal filled the route beneath it, while the remaining sections hanging from each building were damaged too badly to support organized movement. Another elevated passage farther south was dealt with in the same manner. The coalition did not send anyone into the buildings afterward.
The local demonic formations reacted before every connection could be destroyed. A company approaching from the west had been ordered toward the eastern districts after reports of the previous fighting reached its commander. The direct route led toward the same junction the coalition was now crossing, and scouts moving ahead of the company returned much sooner than expected. The commander stopped his formation before entering the final street.
"The coalition controls the junction."
One of his officers looked toward the road ahead. "How many?"
"Enough that we cannot cross without a full engagement."
The commander moved to the front far enough to examine the cultivation fluctuations beyond the buildings. The coalition formations were not scattered patrols or a small rear guard. Mixed teams continued passing through the intersection in depth, and stronger cultivators moved close enough to the front that a direct attack would immediately bring additional resistance. He had been ordered to reinforce the east, but forcing a crossing through the coalition would cost far more time and strength than finding another route.
"What about the underground passage?"
"Collapsed."
"The elevated bridge?"
"Destroyed."
The commander looked south. "Then we go around."
The company withdrew several streets and turned toward a longer road leading away from the junction. The detour would carry it south before another route could bring it back east. That movement preserved the company and avoided a fight it had little reason to take, but it also removed those troops from the eastern reinforcement path for far longer than their original orders allowed.
Umbrel scouts watched them leave without following closely enough to provoke another engagement. The company's direction was marked and reported to Xuanyin, then the scouts returned toward the coalition corridor. There was no reason to chase a force already moving away from the route.
A second demonic group encountered the same problem from the opposite side. This formation had been moving west from the eastern military districts under orders to reinforce defenders nearer the center. Its scouts found Blue Sphere formations already crossing the junction and reported that the underground routes were no longer usable. The commander considered waiting for the coalition to pass, but the number of trailing formations made it impossible to predict how long the road would remain blocked.
He sent two scouts north and another pair south in search of alternate connections. Both routes required substantial detours. The southern road remained open, but it would carry the company several districts away from its intended destination before turning west again. The northern path was shorter but already contained retreating groups from the broken eastern concentration.
The commander chose the south, and his company reversed direction without ever seeing Haotian directly.
The two demonic formations had started only several streets apart, each moving toward positions on the opposite side of the coalition's path. Before the sweep reached the junction, they could have used the direct roads and underground connections to cross the district quickly. Now both were traveling away from their objectives because the shortest routes ran through the coalition corridor. Neither had been defeated in battle, but neither could reach the forces it had been assigned to support.
At the command position, more reports began showing the same pattern.
A communication officer marked the western company's new route. "They're moving south instead of trying to cross."
Xuanyin nodded.
Another report arrived from Umbrel scouts watching the eastern formation. "This group is doing the same. They've turned away from the junction."
"Good," Xuanyin said. "Let them go around."
The officer studied the distances on the map. "Should we send anyone after them?"
"No. Every detour keeps them away from somewhere else."
The reply ended the matter. Xuanyin shifted her attention back toward the corridor itself, where the trailing formations were still passing through the junction. Her concern was not how many individual demonic companies could be hunted down after they turned away. The important question was whether the coalition could continue moving before the stronghold redirected enough troops toward another useful interception point.
Several local commanders reported empty roads opening on either side of the corridor. One western military block had been abandoned completely after its defenders withdrew north, while another eastern compound contained only wounded demons and a handful of guards. Occupying those positions would have been easy. Xuanyin denied the requests.
"Keep the formations on the corridor."
The commanders complied.
The coalition therefore passed through the district without expanding to fill it. Blue Sphere held the roads only while formations crossed, and Marephoros pressure prevented local defenders from approaching closely enough to interfere. Once specialists completed the destruction of threatening systems and the rear formations reached the intersection, the units guarding the outer approaches prepared to withdraw with them. Nothing was left behind except scouts at sufficient distance to report renewed movement.
Haotian continued examining the effect as the arrowhead advanced beyond the junction. Through the Dao of the Universe, he could sense demonic cultivators moving on both sides of the route, but fewer were crossing between those areas directly. Some traveled north or south in search of other roads. Others stopped entirely while their commanders waited for new instructions after discovering that the paths they had been ordered to use no longer existed.
The coalition had not built walls between them. The protected corridor itself occupied enough of the direct routes that crossing required fighting through dense formations, while the destroyed underground and elevated connections removed the easiest alternatives. Demonic units could still travel around the sweep, but doing so meant abandoning the roads that had originally allowed the stronghold to respond quickly to threats. Every additional distance they traveled delayed whatever reinforcement, resupply, or command movement they had been attempting.
Lianhua watched another group withdraw along an eastern side street after scouts discovered the coalition ahead. "They're giving up the direct roads."
"They have better choices than fighting us here," Haotian said.
"For now."
Haotian nodded. "They'll look for another way around."
He did not treat that as a failure of the strategy. The objective had never been to make movement impossible everywhere inside the fortress. If every detour required the demons to travel farther from the positions they intended to support, then the stronghold's own size began working against them.
Ahead, the main road continued south for several more streets before branching toward another group of military compounds. Haotian extended the Dao of the Universe farther along the route and found no concentration large enough to stop the arrowhead immediately. Smaller defensive groups were already withdrawing east after observing what had happened at the junction. He allowed them to leave.
Behind him, the last coalition formations approached the major intersection. Pyrelith specialists confirmed the remaining Abyss systems capable of influencing the corridor had been destroyed, while Veridian scouts reported that the collapsed underground passages remained stable and unusable. Celestara observers found no intact elevated connection capable of carrying organized reinforcements across the route. Umbrel teams completed one final sweep of the adjacent roads before withdrawing toward the moving formation.
The rear guard followed them south. Within minutes, the coalition had left the junction behind while still holding the curved route through it. Demonic forces remained on both sides, and some had already begun traveling toward longer paths that would eventually reconnect with other parts of the stronghold. Those movements would take time, and every new report reaching their commanders would be older by the time they arrived at their destinations.
Haotian kept the arrowhead moving toward the next district.
The first serious crossing attempt began several streets behind him after the front had already moved beyond the major junction. Haotian and most of the family remained near the southern front, where smaller defensive formations were either withdrawing before contact or trying to slow the advance from narrower roads. The long body of the coalition curved behind them through districts already crossed, with mixed legions, reserves, healers, specialists, and supply elements maintaining the corridor created by the sweep. The formations occupying those roads were not as heavily concentrated as Haotian's spearhead, but they remained connected to the same army and continued receiving reports through Xuanyin's command structure.
The demons watching from outside the curve had begun to understand that difference. Several companies west of the coalition had spent the previous hour trying to find a usable route toward forces farther inward, only to discover that the most direct roads now crossed the coalition's path. The junction taken earlier had forced some formations into long detours, and the situation worsened as the arrow continued south. One commander eventually decided that traveling around the corridor would take longer than attempting to break through it.
He did not attack as soon as the idea occurred to him. Scouts were sent ahead to study several sections of the coalition line and determine where Haotian and the strongest cultivators were located. The reports confirmed that Haotian remained well ahead with most of his wives, Tianlan, and the two Frost Rainbow Falcons. The section nearest the commander contained mixed coalition formations and several high-level cultivators, but nothing resembling the concentration that had killed the previous Demon Generals.
Two neighboring companies were contacted through surviving communication routes. One had been ordered toward the interior and faced the same problem, while another needed to move east to reconnect with a supply formation that had become separated by the sweep. None of the commanders had authority over the entire district, but their immediate objectives aligned closely enough for temporary cooperation. They agreed to attack the same section of the corridor and force a passage before the coalition advanced farther south.
The chosen location lay several streets behind the arrowhead, where the coalition route crossed a wider training district between military compounds. The road offered enough space for several companies to deploy without entering one narrow choke point, and buildings on both sides created additional approaches that could be used to widen the pressure. The demons also identified an underground passage that passed beneath the western buildings and emerged close to the inside edge of the coalition corridor. If that route remained usable, one group could appear behind the surface defenders while the main force attacked from the west.
The commander responsible for the first assault waited until all three companies were close enough to support one another. He did not expect to defeat the coalition army. The objective was narrower. They needed to open the road, move the required formations across, and withdraw before reserves from deeper inside the corridor could concentrate against them.
Umbrel scouts noticed the gathering before the attack began.
The first report reached Xuanyin as several western companies disappeared from ordinary patrol routes and began moving toward the same district. A second report confirmed that their direction was not south, where a detour would have taken them around the coalition. They were approaching the corridor directly.
Xuanyin studied the positions on the command map and compared them with the location of the arrowhead. Haotian was already far enough ahead that calling him back would require the front to slow or reverse part of its movement. The corridor section under threat had two mixed legions nearby, one reserve group several streets inward, and enough specialists in the surrounding districts to reinforce without affecting the main advance.
"How many?" she asked.
The Umbrel officer answered, "Three companies confirmed. Possibly more behind them."
"Any General?"
"None detected."
Xuanyin looked toward the approaching markers. "Move the nearest reserves to the inner side of the corridor. Do not commit them until the first line is engaged."
The order traveled immediately. Blue Sphere formations occupying the threatened road adjusted their spacing and moved stronger defensive cultivators toward the western edge. Marephoros teams shifted along the adjacent streets to control the approaches where the demonic companies might try widening around the main line. Pyrelith cultivators moved into positions behind the first defenders, ready to strike any section where attackers compressed enough to create useful targets.
Umbrel teams stayed farther out. Their task was not to stand in the first collision but to determine how the three companies were coordinating and identify which officers carried the orders connecting them. Celestara cultivators moved upward through the nearby buildings and checked rooftops and suspended bridges for any signs of a second approach. Veridian specialists began searching for the underground passage reported by local scouts.
The demonic companies arrived in stages rather than as one mass. The first approached along the western road and deployed into a broad line before entering the range of the coalition defenses. Its commander placed heavier cultivators in the center and more mobile groups along both sides, leaving enough depth behind them for replacements to move forward if the first ranks stalled. The second company occupied a road farther north-west, preparing to attack the same section from an angle rather than piling directly behind the first.
The third company remained farther back for several minutes. Its commander had been assigned the underground approach and waited for scouts to confirm that the passage still existed before sending a significant portion of his force into it. The surface commanders understood that attacking too early would allow the coalition to defeat them one at a time. They held their positions until the underground group began moving.
The first clash occurred when the western company advanced across the training ground.
Blue Sphere cultivators received the attack without leaving the corridor. Shields, reinforced weapons, and defensive techniques settled across the first ranks while deeper formations remained spaced behind them rather than crowding toward the collision. The demons struck hard enough to force several Blue Sphere fighters back, but they did not break the line on the first impact. Both sides immediately began feeding stronger cultivators toward the sections where the pressure increased.
The demonic commander did not insist on attacking the entire width equally. He concentrated more people toward one section of the Blue Sphere line and attempted to make the defenders reinforce that point before shifting the next attack farther south. The maneuver worked well enough to force several coalition teams to reposition. It did not create a gap before Marephoros cultivators began interfering with the movement.
Water pressure gathered along the outer portions of the battlefield and made lateral shifts increasingly difficult for the attackers. The demons could still move, but the effort required more cultivation and disrupted the timing between groups trying to change direction together. The company commander responded by reducing the width of the attack and concentrating more strength toward the center. That adjustment increased the density of the ranks moving into the same area.
Pyrelith cultivators struck the concentration from behind the Blue Sphere line. Fire spread through the open spaces between the first and second demonic ranks while Metal attacks targeted reinforced weapons and portable defensive structures moving forward with them. The demons raised barriers quickly enough to prevent the first strikes from tearing through the formation, but doing so slowed the advance and forced more cultivators into defensive roles. Blue Sphere used the delay to restore the section that had begun giving ground.
The second demonic company attacked from the north-west once the coalition's attention was committed to the center. Its front ranks moved through a narrower road and attempted to enter the corridor farther behind the main collision. The commander had chosen the approach carefully. If his company could reach the road and turn south, the coalition defenders facing the first attack would be pressured from the side.
Umbrel cultivators had already identified the movement. Rather than meeting the whole company in the side street, they targeted the officers directing the turn. One communication cultivator died before the company reached the intersection, and another was forced away from the formation after a dagger strike damaged the arm carrying his relay artifact. The company continued advancing under local officers, but the instructions guiding its transition from road movement into a flanking attack became less consistent. Several groups entered the intersection before the rest were ready.
Celestara cultivators attacked from above when those first groups emerged. Light techniques forced the leading demons away from the most direct route into the coalition line, while Shadow attacks interrupted cultivators attempting to cross the rooftops and bypass the intersection entirely. The demons fought through the pressure instead of retreating immediately, but enough of the company was delayed that the flank attack arrived in sections rather than as one coordinated movement.
Xuanyin watched both contacts develop on the command map. The main western company was pressing the Blue Sphere line without breaking it, while the northern company had been slowed before it could fully turn into the corridor. The reserve formations she had ordered forward were now close enough to enter either section. She kept them inside the corridor for several more moments.
A command officer asked, "Do we reinforce the Blue Sphere line now?"
"Not yet."
"They're taking pressure."
"They're holding."
Xuanyin looked toward the third demonic company, which still had not appeared on the surface. "Find the group we're missing."
The answer came from Veridian scouts beneath the district.
The underground passage had not been part of the network collapsed at the previous junction. It ran diagonally beneath the western buildings and passed under one edge of the coalition route before emerging inside a military compound farther east. The demons had already entered it in organized ranks and were moving toward the exit. If they reached the surface intact, they would appear behind the Blue Sphere defenders while the main attack continued from the opposite side.
The Veridian team leader did not attempt to meet them head-on underground. The passage was too narrow for the coalition to use its numerical depth, and fighting directly inside would give the approaching demons the same advantage of limited frontage. Instead, the team moved ahead through a maintenance branch and examined the supports surrounding the section nearest the exit.
Several pillars had been reinforced with formation inscriptions, but much of the surrounding stone carried the weight of the military compound above. Destroying the entire passage carelessly could damage the road used by the coalition. The Veridian cultivators therefore weakened only the branch beyond the point where the underground force would need to turn toward the surface.
They waited until scouts confirmed that the leading demonic ranks had entered that section, then broke the supports. Stone shifted through the tunnel before the demons understood what was happening. The first collapse blocked the route ahead, while a second section farther back fell before the entire company could retreat cleanly. The Veridian cultivators did not remain close enough to be trapped with them and withdrew through the maintenance branch while the damaged tunnel filled with dust and broken stone.
The underground force survived in large numbers, but it no longer possessed a usable route toward the coalition's interior. Some soldiers began clearing debris while officers searched for another branch, only to discover that the nearest alternatives returned them toward the western side from which they had entered. The planned attack from inside the corridor disappeared before the surface formations ever saw it.
The report reached Xuanyin moments later.
"Underground group stopped."
She looked toward the reserve markers. "Move them now."