The General pointed to one section several districts behind the arrowhead. "What is here?"
A scout officer answered, "Coalition formations holding the corridor. Two reserve groups were observed earlier, though one may have rotated."
"Haotian?"
"No."
"His wives?"
"Not according to the last report."
"Tianlan?"
"No."
The General studied the surrounding roads. Three approaches existed from his side of the corridor, while another road on the opposite side connected to demonic forces already cut off from him. An underground branch had once crossed beneath the district, though the most recent report did not confirm whether it remained intact. The terrain was broad enough for more than one company to gather without forcing everyone through the same narrow street.
He moved his hand away from the map. "Then that is where we look."
One officer frowned. "You want to attack the corridor?"
"I want a road through it."
The distinction changed the mood around the table.
The General had no intention of chasing Haotian south simply because the other Demon Generals had done so. Killing Haotian would obviously change the war, but reaching him required advancing directly into the portion of the coalition where its strongest cultivators had deliberately remained concentrated. Every previous battle had shown what that meant. His current problem was more immediate and far more practical.
Several large formations under his command were trapped on the opposite side of the coalition's path.
If he restored one crossing, those forces could rejoin him.
If he did not, the clockwise sweep would continue extending, and the detours required to reconnect them would become longer with every district Haotian crossed.
An officer pointed toward the separated eastern groups. "If we punch through here, these companies can move west."
"And the supply groups with them."
"Yes."
"Then we do not need to hold the road forever." The General traced the corridor section again. "We open it long enough to move what we need across."
Another officer asked, "And if the coalition closes behind us?"
"Then the formations already moved are on the correct side."
The objective was limited enough to be achievable without defeating the entire coalition. The General needed to break the corridor at one point, preserve the opening long enough for forces from both sides to pass, and withdraw before the coalition could shift enough strength backward to trap him. If successful, the attack would restore communication and reinforcement movement across at least one portion of the stronghold. Even a temporary crossing could reconnect enough troops to matter later.
He began asking for details about the failed crossing attempt.
The surviving reports were more useful than he expected. Three companies had attacked a corridor section without a Demon General, using a surface assault, a secondary flank, and an underground approach. The coalition had held through depth, rotated exhausted Blue Sphere formations, committed reserves at the correct time, used Umbrel teams against officers, and collapsed the underground route before the flanking force could emerge. The attackers had withdrawn because the corridor continued replacing tired defenders faster than they could create a useful breach.
The General listened carefully.
"They attacked one side at a time?" he asked.
"The surface companies were coordinated."
"I asked about the corridor."
The officer understood. "Yes. All of the attacking forces came from the western side. The underground group was intended to emerge behind the defenders, but it never reached the surface."
The General looked toward the separated formations east of the coalition route. "Then they used only half the forces available."
One officer followed his gaze. "You want the eastern groups to attack outward while we attack inward."
"If they can reach the same section."
That would force the coalition defenders to divide attention across both sides of the corridor rather than simply reinforcing one surface line while reserves waited safely behind it. The eastern formations did not need to destroy the coalition either. They needed only to apply enough pressure at the same time that the corridor could not concentrate all of its reserves against the General's main assault.
The idea created new problems. Communication across the corridor was already unreliable, and coordinating two attacks from opposite sides would require messages to travel through the same detours the General hoped to eliminate. The timing could not depend on constant communication once the forces began moving. He therefore needed a plan simple enough that both sides could act with only one confirmed schedule and clear fallback conditions.
"Find a route to the eastern groups that does not cross the coalition."
A communication officer answered, "The northern detour is still open."
"How long?"
"Several times the direct distance."
"Use it."
The General did not complain about the delay. The coalition had created that problem, and pretending it did not exist would not solve it. He would rather wait long enough for one reliable message to reach the eastern formations than begin another attack with units arriving at different times.
Scouts were sent toward the proposed crossing site before any troops moved. They were instructed to study the coalition's formation rather than simply count visible cultivators. The General wanted to know where reserves waited, how quickly they rotated toward threatened sections, which roads supplied the corridor from inside the curve, and whether strong coalition elites were permanently assigned nearby or merely passing through.
Other scouts examined the terrain around the western approaches. One road was wide enough for heavy formations but too exposed to hide movement for long. Another passed through military compounds and would allow several companies to gather closer before becoming visible. The southern approach was narrower but connected directly to a formation station that might still contain usable Abyss infrastructure.
The General ordered the station inspected rather than assuming it remained functional.
Hours earlier, many Demon Generals would have relied on whatever systems already existed in the district. The coalition's destruction of stronghold infrastructure had made that dangerous. Some arrays were damaged beyond use, others had lost supporting nodes elsewhere, and several apparently intact systems no longer connected to the structures they were designed to reinforce. Anything incorporated into the crossing attack would have to be checked locally.
The inspection confirmed that part of the formation station still functioned. Its long-range links had been severed, but several local defensive arrays remained intact and could support cultivators gathering nearby. The General ordered the station used only to protect the assembly rather than attempting to rebuild the old network. Repairing everything would consume time and advertise the location long before the attack began.
The next issue was force selection.
He did not summon every soldier available.
Moving the entire sector toward one crossing would repeat the eastern General's mistake by creating a large concentration that had to travel through roads faster than they could support it. Instead, he selected companies according to specific roles. Heavy defensive formations would absorb the first coalition response and preserve the approach. Formation-breaking cultivators would attack the structures and techniques holding the corridor together. Mobile elites would exploit any opening before reserves could close it.
The General kept his strongest personal escorts with him.
He also requested several groups experienced in fighting mixed enemy formations rather than only other demonic armies. The coalition's twelve-member teams had repeatedly shown that they could combine different planetary strengths inside the same local engagement. A force assembled entirely around one style of attack would become predictable once Blue Sphere fixed it in place and the other worlds began attacking the supporting weaknesses. The General wanted enough variation that the first failed method would not define the entire assault.
One officer suggested bringing more long-range attackers.
The General shook his head. "Enough to pressure the reserves. Not enough to crowd the roads."
"What about siege formations?"
"Only mobile ones."
The officer recorded the decision.
The General expected the coalition to recognize the gathering before the attack began. Hiding thousands of cultivators inside the stronghold was unrealistic, especially with Umbrel scouts watching the roads. Secrecy mattered less than denying the coalition certainty about exactly when and where the attack would fall. His scouts therefore continued examining more than one possible crossing while the main forces gathered farther back from the corridor.
False movement was kept simple. Small groups approached alternative roads and withdrew after brief observation, imitating the behavior of ordinary formations searching for detours. Supply movements were redirected through the same districts so that some of the activity appeared logistical rather than offensive. The General did not expect the deception to hide his intentions indefinitely, but even a short delay in identifying the true crossing point could reduce the amount of reserve strength waiting there.
The message intended for the separated eastern formations required more care.
The General wrote the instructions himself and kept them direct. The eastern groups were not ordered to defeat the coalition or pursue the spearhead. They were to gather on their side of the selected corridor section, remain beyond easy detection as long as possible, and attack only after the agreed signal or time window. Their objective was to force the coalition defenders inward while the General attacked from the opposite side.
If the western attack failed to reach the corridor, the eastern formations were to withdraw rather than remain engaged alone. If the eastern attack failed, the General would not continue indefinitely from his side. The purpose was reconnection, not sacrifice.
The messenger departed north with escorts and enough replacement mounts and movement resources to complete the long detour without unnecessary stops. Another message followed by a different route carrying the same orders in case the first group was intercepted. The General did not rely on constant exchanges afterward. Once confirmation returned, both sides would have enough information to act independently.
While those preparations continued, additional reports arrived about Haotian's progress farther south. The coalition had crossed another road network and allowed local defenders to retreat east rather than pursuing them. Specialists had destroyed more connections while leaving entire military compounds untouched. Haotian was continuing the same pattern instead of turning inward to clear the separated sectors.
One officer read the report and looked toward the General. "They are still moving."
"That is why we have time here."
"If Haotian continues south, he gets farther from the crossing."
"Yes."
The officer understood why the General had not hurried.
Every district the spearhead advanced placed more distance between Haotian and the corridor section under study. The coalition could still send reserves backward, and Xuanyin's command had already demonstrated that it could do so effectively, but distance imposed limits even on an organized army. Haotian could not remain at the spearhead and personally stand at every road the sweep had created.
The General was not waiting for the coalition to become weak. He was waiting for the correct portion of its strength to be somewhere else.
Scouts returned through the evening with increasingly detailed information. The selected district contained a broad road crossing the coalition corridor at a shallow angle, several adjoining military compounds, and two secondary streets capable of carrying supporting formations. Coalition forces rotated through the area rather than maintaining one permanent unit at the exact intersection. Reserves remained inside the curve, but their nearest concentration was several streets away.
One scout reported seeing a high-level coalition cultivator with the corridor formations.
"Who?"
"Not one of Haotian's family. I could not identify the faction."
"How many at that level?"
"Three confirmed in the area. Possibly more deeper inside."
The General accepted the report without reducing his assessment of the difficulty. He had never expected ordinary soldiers to hold the corridor alone. The absence of Haotian and his family made the position comparatively weaker, not weak in absolute terms. A crossing force still needed enough strength to survive contact with several coalition legions and whatever reserves Xuanyin redirected afterward.
The General adjusted the attack accordingly. One heavy company would lead the central pressure, with formation-breakers protected behind it until they reached useful range. A second company would attack slightly north and force the corridor to widen its response. His elites would remain uncommitted during the opening exchange rather than spending themselves against the first Blue Sphere line.
He intended to enter only after the coalition revealed where its stronger defenders and reserves were concentrated.
An officer asked whether he planned to hold himself back even after the attack started.
"For the first exchanges."
"They may think you are not there."
"That would be useful."
The General had no need to announce his presence early. The previous Generals had become the center of their battles because their strength was required immediately to stop Haotian. Here, the coalition might commit reserves according to what it believed was another large crossing attempt. If the General entered after those reserves had already moved, his personal strength and elites could strike the section least able to answer quickly.
The plan depended upon patience that earlier circumstances had not allowed other commanders. He was willing to use it.
Elsewhere, Xuanyin began receiving the first signs that something larger than ordinary rerouting was occurring.
Umbrel scouts reported repeated movements through three western districts near the coalition corridor. None was individually unusual. Companies had been searching for crossings since the sweep began, supply groups were constantly being redirected, and local commanders were consolidating forces according to whatever roads remained usable.
The repetition changed the assessment.
Several groups entered the same region and did not emerge along the expected detour routes. Scouts approaching closer found defensive positions forming around military compounds rather than troops continuing their journeys. Another report placed strong cultivators moving into the same area while ordinary patrol activity around neighboring roads decreased.
A command officer began grouping the reports on Xuanyin's map.
"That's more than another company looking for a crossing."
Xuanyin examined the distances from the arrowhead and the reserves stationed along the corridor.
"How long have they been gathering?"
"The first unusual movement was reported earlier. We did not have enough to distinguish it from the rerouting traffic."
"Any attack?"
"None."
Xuanyin looked toward the roads leading from the gathering area to the coalition corridor. More than one could support a substantial force, and the demons appeared to be assembling far enough back that the coalition could not simply strike them without leaving the corridor. The absence of an immediate attack concerned her more than another rushed crossing would have.
"Keep watching."
The officer nodded. "Move reserves closer?"
"Not yet. Shift one group where it can reach either of these intersections."
She indicated two possible crossing points rather than the one she considered most likely. Committing everything too soon would tell the demons exactly where the coalition expected them and might weaken another section for no reason. The reserves moved only enough to shorten their response time while remaining inside the protected corridor.
Umbrel scouts were ordered to find the command structure behind the gathering.
Xuanyin did not contact Haotian yet.
Nothing in the reports required the spearhead to stop, and recalling him simply because demons gathered somewhere behind the front would undermine the very structure they had built. She needed to know what the enemy intended before changing the coalition's movement.
Another report arrived from farther east.
Several demonic formations on the opposite side of the corridor had begun shifting as well.
Xuanyin looked from the western gathering to the eastern movements and spent several moments comparing their positions. The two groups were not directly opposite each other yet, but both were moving toward regions connected to the same stretch of coalition corridor. That possibility changed the problem.
A communication officer noticed the same thing. "They may be trying another crossing from both sides."
"Maybe."
"Should I warn the corridor commanders?"
"Yes. Tell them to expect pressure from either direction. Do not tell them to redeploy until we confirm where."
The warning passed through the relevant legions.
Farther south, Haotian's arrowhead continued moving while the activity developed behind it. No order called him back, and no large demonic concentration occupied the road immediately ahead. The coalition kept following the curve, increasing the distance between the spearhead and the area where the next major resistance was gathering.
Xuanyin remained over the command map as additional Umbrel reports arrived. Stronger demonic presences had appeared among the western forces, though the scouts could not yet determine how many elites were present. Then one report identified a cultivation pressure substantially above the officers previously observed in that district.
The command officer beside her read the assessment twice.
"A General."
Xuanyin looked toward the marker.
The Demon General was not moving south toward Haotian. He remained several districts behind the spearhead, gathering forces near the coalition corridor.
The coalition continued south while Xuanyin watched those forces gather. Nothing in the western movement suggested another impulsive attempt to rush across the corridor. The demons were assembling in depth, preserving space between companies, and keeping their strongest cultivators farther from the roads where Umbrel scouts could easily identify them. On the opposite side of the coalition route, several separated formations had also begun shifting toward the same general section without approaching close enough to provoke the defenders there.
Xuanyin sent updated warnings to the corridor commanders but did not change the direction of the army. The reserve group she had moved earlier remained positioned where it could reach either of the likely crossing points, while another formation farther south shortened its distance to the threatened stretch without leaving its own responsibilities uncovered. She wanted enough strength available to answer the attack once it began, but concentrating everything too early would weaken other sections of the sweep and give the Demon General time to choose a different crossing. The corridor continued functioning normally while the reinforcements moved inside it.
At the front, Haotian received a brief report about the confirmed Demon General and the gathering forces behind them. He extended the Dao of the Universe along the coalition route but did not attempt to examine the distant concentration in detail from several districts away. The amount of demonic cultivation was clearly increasing, though it remained separated from the arrowhead by the length of the moving army. Xuanyin had not ordered him back.
Lianhua walked near him as they approached another broad junction. "A General?"
"Yes."
"Coming here?"
"No."
She looked briefly over her shoulder toward the distant pressure behind them. "Then he learned something."
Haotian turned his attention back to the roads ahead. "Enough not to come straight at us."
The junction before them connected several southern military districts with roads curving farther west toward the inner sections of the stronghold. Two large avenues crossed there, while smaller routes branched between fortified compounds and supply structures. Haotian's perception also found another underground network beneath the district and several formation channels running below the main paving. The route itself was not dramatically different from the junctions already crossed, but its position along the clockwise curve made it more important.
Xuanyin saw the same significance through the command map. The coalition corridor had already cut several eastern connections, and taking this junction would extend that separation much farther around the stronghold. Forces north of the coalition route would still be able to travel around it, and southern sectors could continue supporting themselves locally, but several of the remaining direct roads between those areas crossed the district ahead. Once those routes were broken or controlled, the separated regions would depend even more heavily upon long detours.
A command officer traced the roads. "If we keep this junction long enough for the column to pass, these sections will have only two practical routes around the corridor."
"Both long," another officer said.
Xuanyin nodded. "Then we keep moving."
"Do we leave forces here afterward?"
"No."
The officer looked toward the number of roads meeting at the junction.
"We destroy what can help them cross and move on," Xuanyin said. "The corridor itself is enough."
The instruction reached Haotian while the Blue Sphere formations at the arrowhead entered the first approach. Unlike several earlier districts, the demons had not abandoned the junction completely. Local defenders occupied layered positions along the western and southern roads, and formation pillars stood near several intersections where their lines could overlap. The force was not large enough to compare with the eastern concentration, but its officers had clearly understood that the junction mattered and had prepared to delay the coalition there.
Haotian examined the deployment before engaging. The defenders had concentrated enough strength to make a direct rush wasteful, but they lacked the reserves required to sustain a long battle once the coalition began attacking several supporting points at once. Their strongest formations protected the main road, while smaller groups guarded the underground entrances and formation stations around the district. Several routes farther west remained open, providing the defenders with an escape if the position became untenable.
The Blue Sphere front advanced first and forced the demons to commit to the central barrier. Their formations absorbed the opening collision without attempting to break through immediately, allowing the defenders to reveal where additional cultivation flowed into the structure. Pyrelith specialists watched those supporting lines while Marephoros cultivators pressed the nearby side roads and prevented the demonic formations from widening into a broader defensive front. The coalition continued feeding strength into the approach in controlled layers rather than crowding every strong cultivator toward the same barrier.
When the defenders reinforced the central formation, Pyrelith attacks struck two of the supporting pillars farther back. Fire damaged the inscriptions along their exposed surfaces while Metal techniques broke the reinforced connections anchoring them beneath the road. The defenders redirected more cultivation toward those structures, weakening the outer portions of the main barrier. Yinxue and Lianhua moved into the changing pressure before the demons could restore the original balance.
Yinxue's sword struck the weakened central defense and forced it inward. Lianhua used Cloud-Sundering Steps to change position along the line without leaving the arrowhead and attacked a supporting section from another angle. "Voidpierce Sword Sutra." The spatial edge cut through one layered relationship between the barrier and the formation pillar behind it, leaving the defenders to maintain both structures separately.
Yueru watched the new flow of cultivation form between them. Her sword cut the convergence before enough power could establish a replacement connection. The barrier remained standing, but it lost the ability to draw strength from one of its strongest supports. Blue Sphere cultivators increased their pressure immediately.
The demonic commander saw the failure and ordered the front to shorten rather than spend more strength preserving the entire width. His troops abandoned one side of the junction and concentrated around the southern road, where fewer formation pillars were required to protect the withdrawal route. The decision gave up ground but kept the defenders from being trapped inside a failing network. It also allowed the coalition to enter the northern side of the junction before the battle had consumed too much time.
Haotian did not redirect everyone toward the retreating front. He sent specialists toward the formation stations and allowed Blue Sphere and Marephoros to maintain enough pressure that the demons could not return to the abandoned section. Veridian teams moved toward the underground access points while Celestara cultivators climbed through the surrounding structures and checked the elevated crossings. The main body continued entering the junction as those smaller groups peeled away.
One underground passage remained intact beneath the center of the district. It connected a southern barracks complex to roads farther north and west, making it one of the last convenient routes by which demonic forces on opposite sides of the coalition curve could still move without challenging the surface corridor. The Veridian cultivators descended far enough to identify the reinforced section crossing beneath the road and found that local defenders had already begun withdrawing through it.
The team leader waited rather than collapsing the passage immediately.
Several groups of wounded demons moved through first, followed by formation guards carrying portable equipment from the abandoned defensive stations. None turned toward the coalition side of the network. They were using the tunnel to evacuate the district rather than prepare a crossing attack.
The Veridian team allowed them to go.
Once scouts confirmed the final group had cleared the section beneath the coalition route, the specialists damaged the supporting inscriptions and weakened the structural points along the crossing branch. They withdrew to the surface before triggering the collapse. Stone and reinforced earth filled the passage beneath the road without damaging enough of the surface to stop coalition movement.
The underground route disappeared as a usable connection.
Celestara cultivators dealt with the elevated links in a similar manner. Two bridges crossed above the junction between defensive towers, and the retreating demons used one of them to move several small groups toward the west. The coalition fighters did not waste time intercepting those soldiers after confirming that they were leaving the area. Once the final group cleared the structure, attacks destroyed the central span and severed the reinforcement lines holding the remaining sections.
The second bridge still contained defenders. Celestara fighters forced them toward the western tower, where the demons chose retreat rather than remain on a connection that could be destroyed beneath them. The bridge was broken after they withdrew. No coalition force followed them into the tower.
The local commander recognized that the position could no longer serve its original purpose. The central barrier remained active, but the underground crossing had collapsed, the elevated connections were gone, and one side of the junction was already occupied by coalition formations. Continuing to hold would preserve only a road the coalition could eventually attack from several directions. He began pulling the defenders west in organized sections.
A Blue Sphere officer reported the movement to Haotian. "They're withdrawing."
"Let them."
"They still have enough strength to hold another line."
"Then they can hold it somewhere else."
The officer passed the instruction without ordering pursuit.
The demons disengaged gradually, keeping stronger cultivators near the rear while wounded and formation guards left first. Yinxue and Xiangyin maintained enough pressure that the withdrawal could not reverse into another attack, while Tianlan and the two Frost Rainbow Falcons watched the outer road for flanking movement. The defenders preserved most of their surviving force and abandoned the junction before Haotian's family had to expend more strength finishing them.
Once they moved west, the coalition stopped pressing.
The road opened.
Specialists inspected the remaining formation infrastructure while the mixed legions began passing through. Several defensive arrays still functioned locally, but the connections allowing them to draw power across the junction were destroyed. Pyrelith cultivators shattered the components capable of attacking the coalition corridor and ignored systems facing districts the army was no longer entering. The coalition needed the junction unusable as a rapid crossing point, not reduced to rubble for its own sake.
Behind the front, officers continued rotating tired formations. Cultivators who had remained near the arrowhead through several districts were moved deeper while fresher teams came forward, and healers treated injuries that did not require removal from the battle. Haotian reduced his own participation once the local demons began retreating, allowing the mixed formations to complete the work rather than spending more of his cultivation breaking defenses that were already failing.
His body had accumulated the strain of repeated fighting even though none of the injuries were immediately serious. The shoulder reopened by the third Demon General had stopped bleeding after treatment, but the tissue remained sore whenever he rotated the arm through a full strike. His three cores continued operating in synchronization through the Heaven Sundering Trinity Scripture, yet the rate at which cultivation returned did not match everything spent during continuous combat. He adjusted accordingly and allowed the army around him to carry more of the ordinary engagements.
Lianhua remained capable of fighting without difficulty, though repeated uses of Voidpierce Sword Sutra had begun consuming enough cultivation for her to reduce unnecessary releases. Yinxue and Yueru showed similar signs of sustained expenditure, while Ziyue had already begun rotating away from the very front whenever her particular techniques were not needed. Xiangyin continued maintaining spear pressure through ordinary attacks rather than relying upon stronger techniques against every enemy. Yanfei conserved Frostfire when terrain and formation support made it unnecessary.
Shuyue remained deeper in the arrow, where her role required a different kind of endurance. She continued stabilizing formations passing through areas affected by stronger cultivation pressure while moving between units whose officers requested support. The Dao Palace of Virtues did not replace rest or cultivation reserves, and she was careful not to extend its influence farther than necessary. The coalition had enough depth that she could hand one formation back to its officers and move on rather than carrying everyone around her continuously.
Tianlan checked both Frost Rainbow Falcons when the arrowhead reached the far side of the junction. The birds remained active but had reduced the frequency of their dives, and their breathing became heavier whenever they returned from longer movements above the buildings. Tianlan allowed them to circle without calling them into engagements that ordinary coalition cultivators could manage. His own forearm remained wrapped from the earlier wound, but the injury did not affect his grip.
Haotian looked toward him. "How are they?"
"Tired."
"And you?"
"I'm fine."
Haotian glanced at the wrapped arm.
Tianlan followed his gaze. "It isn't affecting the spear."
"Then don't make it worse."
Tianlan nodded.
The exchange ended there. Haotian did not order him away from the front while he remained capable of fighting, and Tianlan did not pretend the wound did not exist simply because it was minor. He moved closer to the deeper portion of the arrowhead while the Falcons continued conserving strength overhead.
As the last major formations passed through the junction, Xuanyin received confirmation from every specialist group. The main underground crossing had been collapsed, the elevated bridges were destroyed, and the surface roads remained occupied by the coalition long enough that no demonic formations could use them directly. The local defenders had withdrawn west and were already beginning to reorganize inside the sector on that side of the corridor.
She updated the map.
The effect extended beyond the district itself. Several demonic regions north and east of the junction still possessed their own troops, officers, supplies, and defensive systems, but their most convenient routes toward the southern and western sectors now crossed portions of the coalition corridor. Another group farther inward remained connected by a long outer road, though traveling it required enough distance that rapid reinforcement was no longer practical. The stronghold had not been divided by walls, yet the movement available to its defenders increasingly resembled separate local theaters.
A command officer studied the new boundaries. "There are three major groups here now."
"Four if this southern formation stops moving," another said.
The first officer pointed toward one isolated eastern region. "We could hit this one from the corridor and finish it before the others can help."
Xuanyin looked at the marker. The isolated force was substantial, but it was not approaching the coalition or threatening the protected route. Turning inward would require several mixed legions to leave the moving body and fight through streets that did nothing to extend the sweep.
"Do not chase the separated forces," she said. "Maintain the curve."
The officer nodded.
Another commander asked, "Even if they stay behind us?"
"Yes."
Xuanyin moved the coalition front farther along the map. "They can stay behind us."
The orders prevented several local formations from peeling away toward apparently vulnerable demonic sectors. Scouts continued watching those regions, but the main legions stayed attached to the corridor. The coalition had succeeded in separating the defenders precisely because it remained concentrated while moving. Splitting itself now to destroy every isolated region would begin undoing the same advantage.
The practical effect became visible to the demons almost immediately.
A messenger carrying orders from a central commander approached the junction from the west after the coalition had already taken it. His destination lay east of the corridor, only a few districts away by the original direct route. Scouts traveling ahead returned to report that the surface road was filled with coalition formations still passing south.
The messenger turned toward the underground entrance and found it buried beneath collapsed stone.
He tried the elevated connection next.
The bridge was gone.
A local officer pointed him toward a northern detour, but another report indicated fighting and congestion along that route from forces displaced during the earlier eastern collapse. The remaining practical path went south-west first, then curved around the coalition's sweep before eventually turning back toward the east.
The messenger stared at the route on the local map.
"How long?"
"Several times the direct journey."
"The order will be useless by then."
The officer did not argue.
The messenger left anyway because delivering an old order remained better than delivering none at all. By the time he turned south, the commander waiting for his message on the opposite side had already begun making independent decisions. The direct connection between the two positions had ceased to matter before either side formally lost control of its own district.
Similar delays appeared elsewhere. Supply formations remained intact but delivered to nearer depots because their intended roads were cut. Local commanders stopped waiting for reinforcements they could no longer predict accurately and began consolidating whatever troops were already within reach. Communication continued through detours and independent messengers, but the stronghold no longer moved information and soldiers with the speed required for every sector to function as part of one immediate response.
The coalition kept advancing while those adjustments occurred.
Another Umbrel report reached Xuanyin from the threatened corridor farther behind.
The Demon General's gathering had grown.
More importantly, scouts now confirmed movement on the opposite side of the corridor. Several separated demonic formations were converging toward the eastern approaches of the same district where the General's western force had been assembling. Their movement remained cautious, and they had not yet approached closely enough for the coalition defenders to engage them.
Xuanyin compared their positions.
One command officer leaned closer to the map. "They're lining up across from each other."
"Not exactly yet."
"But close."
"Yes."
Another report arrived from an Umbrel team monitoring the western approach. Heavy defensive companies had joined the gathering, along with mobile formation equipment and cultivators whose techniques appeared suited to attacking prepared defenses. Stronger demonic elites remained deeper inside the assembly.
The officer looked toward the Demon General's marker. "He isn't building a force to chase the front."
"No."
"He wants the corridor."
Xuanyin continued studying the eastern movement. The separated formations on that side were not simply drifting toward another detour. Their pace had slowed as they approached the district, suggesting that they were waiting rather than continuing past it. The General had found some method of communicating with them despite the coalition's interference.
Another officer asked, "Should we call Haotian back now?"
Xuanyin did not answer immediately.
The arrowhead had already passed the major junction and was continuing along the next section of the curve. Bringing Haotian and the family backward would strengthen the threatened corridor enormously, but it would also interrupt the offensive before the Demon General had committed anything. The coalition possessed reserves specifically so every threat did not require the spearhead to reverse.
"Move another reserve group closer," she said. "Keep it inside the corridor."
"And Haotian?"
"Keep him informed."
The officer waited.
Xuanyin looked toward the two demonic gatherings approaching the same stretch from opposite sides. "If this is what it looks like, we will know soon enough."
The message reached Haotian while he advanced beyond the junction. Xuanyin reported the confirmed General, the western assembly, and the separated forces gathering from the opposite side. Haotian listened while examining the next roads through the Dao of the Universe.
"They're going to hit both sides?" he asked.
"That is what they appear to be preparing."
"Do you need us back?"
"Not yet."
Haotian did not argue. "Then we keep moving."
The communication ended.
The arrowhead continued along the clockwise route while reserves farther behind shifted toward the threatened portion of the corridor. Blue Sphere formations there received instructions to inspect their defensive spacing from both directions rather than assuming the western side would take the first attack. Pyrelith teams checked the roads through which heavy demonic formations might approach, while Celestara and Veridian specialists searched again for elevated or underground routes that could complicate the defense.
Umbrel scouts remained outside the corridor and continued following the gathering forces.
The Demon General had not yet attacked. His restraint confirmed more about his intentions than another rushed assault would have.
The coalition's sweep had already separated substantial portions of the stronghold, and the General was gathering enough strength to try reconnecting them before the division became harder to reverse. Haotian remained at the front, several districts away, while Xuanyin prepared the corridor to absorb an attack aimed at the structure of the army rather than its spearhead.
The stronghold's sectors continued functioning on their own sides of the coalition route. Between them, the road the Demon General wanted was filled with coalition formations.