The Second Mixed Legion continued pressing the shielded line, forcing the demons to keep their attention on the most visible battle. He entered behind the Blue Sphere anchors only when the front compressed enough that the central support revealed its strongest relationship.
A heavy demonic cultivator stepped toward him.
Haotian met the first attack with his forearm, shifted the descending weapon off line, and drove Seraph Shatter Palm into the center of the defender's chest. The strike did not launch the demon across the junction. It broke the stability of his stance and forced him backward into the soldiers immediately behind him.
Haotian stepped into the space.
Two more defenders closed.
He turned beneath the first weapon, struck the second cultivator's elbow, and drove Fist of Ruin into the first demon's side before either could establish a combined attack. The mixed teams behind him expanded into the opening and prevented the defenders from collapsing around him.
Haotian reached the central relationship.
He did not attack the paving randomly.
The Dao of the Universe showed the exact line beneath the stone where the formation network transferred pressure toward the towers and the defensive barriers farther north. Haotian planted one foot, drew power through his body, and struck downward.
Dragon Vein Collapse entered the road.
The technique did not explode outward across the entire intersection.
Force penetrated beneath the paving and followed the structure Haotian had identified, traveling through the buried formation relationship instead of wasting itself on surrounding stone. The road shook once.
Then the central network fractured.
The demons felt the change immediately.
The overlapping pressure across the junction weakened, and several defensive barriers flickered as they attempted to draw more energy from the western and eastern supports.
That was when Lianhua reached the elevated walkway.
Demons had already moved to meet her.
The western defenders understood that anyone approaching the structure beneath the walkway was probably targeting something more important than the walkway itself. Several heavy cultivators positioned themselves across the narrow approach while ranged fighters attacked from above.
Lianhua did not force herself through the center.
Cloud-Sundering Steps carried her across the side of the structure, changing angle between attacks rather than contesting every defender directly. A blade descended toward her shoulder, and she shifted past it with barely enough movement to clear the edge before the Voidpierce Sword Sutra cut through the defender's exposed relationship with the formation support behind him.
Yinxue followed the opening.
Her sword struck the western support.
The formation attempted to reinforce it from the center.
There was almost nothing left there to give.
The support broke.
At the eastern structure, Yueru and Ziyue were encountering stronger resistance.
The ranged position had been fortified specifically because it controlled much of the junction. Demonic cultivators occupied windows, upper walkways, and reinforced entrances, while the eastern support itself ran through the foundation beneath them. Simply destroying the building would take too long and risk burying the relationship beneath enough debris to make the next attack harder.
Yueru used the enemy's own formation activity against them.
Lightning traveled through her sword as she attacked the visible defensive inscriptions along the building's exterior. The demons redirected energy to stabilize the damaged section, exposing which pathways still connected directly into the eastern support. Ziyue followed those pathways rather than the defenders.
The first Severing Arc cut through one.
The second forced another to compensate.
Yueru struck the third.
The eastern support destabilized.
Inside the central battle, Haotian felt the network lose another portion of its balance.
"Push."
The Second Mixed Legion surged forward.
This time the shielded line could not rely upon the same formation pressure. Blue Sphere cultivators struck directly into the front while Pyrelith fighters released concentrated attacks through the weakened barriers. Marephoros cultivation spread along the road edges and disrupted the defenders attempting to reinforce from the sides.
The first demonic layer broke.
The reserve behind it moved immediately.
The nine-o'clock commander had kept those soldiers back for exactly this moment. Heavy cultivators entered the center before the coalition could fully exploit the breach, while ranged formations above redirected fire toward the advancing Second Legion. The western reserve also began moving toward Lianhua and Yinxue, trying to prevent the loss of the remaining support relationships from becoming irreversible.
The demons were still fighting as a coherent army.
That made the next movement harder.
Haotian could sense the central formation failing, but not quickly enough.
Xuanyin's voice reached him through the communication channel.
"Xiangyin has left the first delaying position. Six is advancing toward the damaged bridge."
Haotian looked through the junction.
The defenders still possessed enough depth to hold for some time if the coalition continued attacking layer by layer.
Time was what they did not have.
He changed the pressure.
Instead of remaining in the center and helping the Second Legion grind through the next heavy formation, Haotian shifted toward the western side where the enemy reserve was trying to reinforce the damaged support. Lianhua and Yinxue had already forced that section into disorder, but several powerful demons were beginning to restore enough structure to stabilize it.
Haotian reached them before they completed the change.
The first cultivator turned toward him.
Haotian's fist struck before the demon's weapon reached full extension.
Fist of Ruin entered the torso at close range, breaking the defender's balance and throwing him sideways into the soldiers attempting to form behind him. Haotian continued through the opening and struck the next cultivator with Seraph Shatter Palm, forcing that demon backward across the weakened support line.
Lianhua understood what he was creating.
Voidpierce Sword Sutra passed through the disordered defenders.
Yinxue attacked the support again.
The western relationship collapsed completely.
The formation tower above it dimmed.
The central defenses lost another layer of protection.
The Second Mixed Legion felt the difference and increased pressure without waiting for a new command. Blue Sphere cultivators drove the shielded defenders backward while Pyrelith fighters struck the exposed sections behind them. Sixth Legion teams rotated forward through the gaps left by exhausted formations, giving the attack fresh weight before the demons could stabilize.
The junction began yielding.
South of them, Xiangyin reached the damaged bridge.
The withdrawal remained intact.
The first coalition teams crossed beneath the weakened structure and continued north toward the next prepared intersection. Veridian cultivators waited around the support they had altered earlier, while Marephoros fighters positioned themselves around the eastern alternate road.
The six-o'clock advance companies appeared before the last coalition formations cleared the bridge.
They did not charge immediately.
The demons had already seen what Yanfei did to the previous road and suspected another prepared obstacle. Their officers slowed the formation and began sending smaller groups toward the side approaches.
Xiangyin had expected that.
She kept enough teams visible on the main road to make the bridge appear worth contesting while Umbrel observers tracked the bypass groups. When the eastern group committed toward the alternative route, Marephoros cultivators released the pressure they had prepared through the damaged drainage channel beneath the road.
Water burst through the fractured paving.
The road did not collapse, but the sudden flow loosened stone and mud across the narrow approach, forcing the demons to reduce speed and spread their footing. Celestara cultivators struck from above during the disruption, making the route even slower without trying to annihilate the entire group.
The western bypass encountered Xiangyin personally.
She did not wait at the center of the street.
Her spear reached the leading demon before the formation finished turning through the narrow approach, forcing him backward into the soldiers behind him. A second thrust targeted the road beside another cultivator's foot rather than the body, breaking the stone and making the group widen around the damage.
That was enough.
They were not trying to win the street.
They were trying to delay it.
The final coalition teams cleared the damaged bridge.
Yanfei looked toward the Veridian officer.
"Now."
Wood cultivation tore through the weakened support.
The western side of the bridge dropped first.
Stone cracked through the remaining span and collapsed across the road beneath it, filling the approach with large slabs, broken supports, and fragments of the elevated structure. The six-o'clock advance companies pulled back quickly enough to avoid being buried, but the route in front of them disappeared beneath debris.
The demons had two choices.
Clear it.
Or go around.
Either required time.
Xiangyin did not remain to see which they chose.
Her detachment withdrew again.
The main six-o'clock force was already visible farther south.
At nine, the coalition finally broke the junction.
The central demonic barrier failed first.
The shielded cultivators attempted another controlled withdrawal, but the collapse of the western support and instability in the east made the route behind them far less organized than the previous retreats. The Second Mixed Legion drove through the center before the defenders could establish another clean line, while Sixth Legion teams widened the breach enough that the demons could no longer close it with one reserve formation.
Haotian moved with the advance.
The nine-o'clock commander recognized the danger.
Holding the junction any longer would allow the coalition to attack the retreat routes themselves. He ordered the southern companies to withdraw north while the ranged units and remaining reserves covered them from the next set of structures.
The order preserved much of the force.
It also surrendered the junction.
Haotian did not chase the retreating companies beyond it.
"Secure the roads."
The mixed legions obeyed immediately.
Blue Sphere cultivators stabilized the northern approaches while Umbrel observers moved only far enough into the adjoining streets to see where the demons were regrouping. Celestara fighters took the elevated positions overlooking the junction, and Veridian specialists examined the underground routes before any command or healing formation moved forward.
The southern edge of nine o'clock was now in coalition hands.
Xuanyin shifted the command map as the new reports arrived.
"Xiangyin destroyed the damaged bridge and withdrew from the second delaying position," she said. "Six is being forced onto the side routes."
Haotian looked south.
"How much distance remains between her detachment and us?"
"Less than before. She is already falling back toward eight and then north."
"Tell her not to make another long stand. She has given us enough."
Xuanyin transmitted the order.
The detachment received it while moving between the next intersections.
Xiangyin read the message and immediately changed the plan. The remaining prepared positions in seven would no longer be defended for prolonged periods. The detachment would use them only long enough to force the pursuers to deploy, then continue north.
Yanfei understood what that meant.
"The junction is taken?"
"Yes."
Yanfei looked toward the road behind them where the first six-o'clock forces were beginning to emerge from alternate routes around the collapsed bridge. "Then they are already late."
Xiangyin turned north.
"Now we make sure they stay late."
The final stages of the withdrawal became faster.
The detachment no longer needed to hold enough ground to protect Haotian's attack against nine. They needed only to prevent six from turning the retreat into a pursuit capable of reaching the main army before Xiangyin and Yanfei rejoined it.
Yanfei used Frostfire sparingly across selected narrow roads after the last coalition teams passed. She froze one section of cracked paving deeply enough that pursuing demons had to reduce speed rather than risk breaking through it under their own weight. At another intersection, heat weakened an already damaged wall until Veridian cultivators could bring it down behind the retreat without expending enough power to collapse the entire surrounding block.
Marephoros fighters used flowing pressure to spoil clean charges whenever the demons closed the distance.
Umbrel observers kept warning of side movements.
The detachment continued north.
The six-o'clock force kept coming.
But it was no longer moving toward Haotian at eight.
The battle had shifted.
Haotian's main coalition now occupied the lower nine-o'clock junction, forcing the six-o'clock reinforcement to travel farther north if it wanted to join the fight. Every delay Xiangyin and Yanfei had created therefore became more valuable after the junction fell.
The surviving Demon Generals realized the problem at roughly the same time.
The six-o'clock commander sent an updated report stating that seven had been cleared, several approaches had been damaged, and the coalition detachment was withdrawing north rather than attempting to hold the sector. Another report from nine confirmed that the southern junction had fallen before the two forces could connect.
The intended pincer had failed.
The nine-o'clock army remained intact farther north.
The six-o'clock reinforcement remained intact farther south.
What they no longer possessed was a battlefield where both could strike the coalition at the same time.
Haotian had moved the main force out of the closing space before the two sides reached it.
Xiangyin and Yanfei returned to the coalition through the lower roads of the captured junction after the last of their mixed companies cleared the approaches behind them. Their arrival was orderly rather than dramatic. Wounded cultivators went directly toward Liora and the healers, exhausted teams moved into the rear of the formation, and the Umbrel observers remained on the southern roads long enough to report the continuing movement from six.
Haotian met Xiangyin and Yanfei only after their detachment had fully rejoined.
"Six?" he asked.
"Still moving north," Xiangyin answered. "They lost time at the bridge and two later intersections, but they did not stop."
Yanfei looked back toward the southern road. "They will reach this area if we stay here long enough."
Haotian nodded.
He had never expected otherwise.
Xuanyin joined them with the updated map.
The coalition now occupied the major junction at the southern edge of nine. Eight remained behind them as the secured entry region, while seven had been stripped of meaningful resistance and damaged enough that six could no longer move through it at full speed. North of the coalition, the main nine-o'clock defenders were reorganizing around deeper positions.
To the south, six continued chasing the battle.
Xuanyin traced the new geometry. "The nine-o'clock force is rebuilding farther north. Six is still coming behind us. If we continue north, six will eventually reach our rear formations unless we deal with the timing again."
Haotian studied the map.
This was no longer the same problem they had faced at eight.
The coalition now controlled a major interior junction with multiple roads leading north and inward. The demons at nine had been forced out of their southern anchor, and the force from six had spent its advantage in distance trying to reach a battle that had already moved.
"They wanted to trap us between six and nine," Haotian said.
Xuanyin looked toward the marked enemy formations. "Now they are separated by us."
Haotian nodded.
That separation would not last forever.
The surviving Demon Generals could still commit additional forces, the nine-o'clock army remained substantial, and six was still advancing rather than retreating. The next battle would be heavier because both groups now understood that slowing Haotian was no longer enough.
But the coalition had taken the ground it needed before they could combine.
Around the junction, mixed teams replaced exhausted fighters, Celestara cultivators secured the upper structures, and Veridian specialists checked the underground routes connecting toward the interior. Xiangyin and Yanfei returned to the family's formation rather than remaining separated with their detachment. Tianlan and the two Frost Rainbow Falcons held near the northern side where the next attack would begin.
Haotian looked north.
The road into nine continued beyond the captured junction toward the deeper western interior.
Behind him, the first six-o'clock scouts were beginning to approach the outer range of the coalition's southern observers.
The pincer had broken.
The battle had not.
The coalition did not remain idle simply because the southern junction had fallen. Mixed teams rotated through the captured roads while the wounded from Xiangyin and Yanfei's detachment were moved toward Liora's treatment area, and the cultivators who had spent the most strength breaking the junction were replaced before exhaustion could become a weakness. The work happened around the continuing sound of distant combat rather than in the silence of a secured rear. Nine o'clock was already reorganizing farther north, and the forces from six were still closing from the south.
Xuanyin kept the command position near the center of the junction while reports accumulated from both directions. Umbrel observers to the north tracked the retreating nine-o'clock formations as they moved toward stronger defensive positions, while those left on the southern roads measured the approach of the first six-o'clock scouts. Neither enemy force was close enough to attack the coalition immediately, but the interval between them was shrinking.
Haotian stood over the updated map while the movements were marked.
The road north divided after the next district. One branch continued toward the western military sectors around nine, while another turned inward toward the deeper central portions of the stronghold. The demons retreating from the captured junction were concentrating around the western route rather than giving Haotian a clean path into the interior.
"They are protecting nine first," Xuanyin said. "The inward road is still covered, but not with the same manpower."
Haotian studied the markers. "They cannot afford to let us keep moving north along their western side."
"If you keep taking ground there, the force from six has to chase farther every time."
"That is why we continue north."
Xuanyin glanced toward the southern reports. "Six will eventually reach the junction."
"Yes."
Haotian did not intend to turn the entire coalition around and fight south merely because the enemy reinforcement had finally followed them far enough. Doing so would surrender the initiative they had gained by breaking the pincer. The six-o'clock force was dangerous because it could attack the coalition from behind while nine held from the front, not because its mere presence required the entire army to face it.
The answer was to preserve enough strength at the rear while continuing the main attack.
Haotian moved several formation markers behind the forward legions. "Strengthen the southern security layers, but do not turn them into another independent army. They only need to keep six from reaching the command and healer formations while we continue north."
Xuanyin nodded. "I'll rotate fresh mixed companies into the rear. Xiangyin and Yanfei stay with the family."
That distinction mattered.
Their temporary mission at seven was finished. Sending the two women back south immediately after they had spent the entire withdrawal delaying six would only recreate the split Haotian had deliberately ended. The rear formations could slow the first contact using the roads and junction they already controlled, while Xiangyin and Yanfei returned to the stronger concentration of the family for the coming fight against nine.
The coalition began reorganizing around that decision.
The Second Mixed Legion remained at the front after receiving fresh teams from the Sixth, while the Sixth shifted enough of its depth forward that both legions could continue attacking without one carrying the entire burden. Several later formations moved into the captured junction behind them, taking responsibility for the southern roads, the eastern approaches, and the protected routes leading back toward eight. The resulting structure kept the army concentrated along one main axis rather than dividing it into separate fronts.
Xiangyin returned to Haotian with Yanfei after checking the last wounded from their detachment. Neither showed serious injury, although their robes and armor carried enough damage to mark the fighting through seven. Xiangyin's spear remained intact, and Yanfei's cultivation had not been drained enough by the selective Frostfire obstacles to require her removal from the frontline.
"The mixed companies from seven are being reorganized," Xiangyin said. "Most can continue after a short rotation."
"Keep them out of the first layer for now," Haotian replied. "They already did what we needed."
Yanfei looked toward the southern road. "Do you want Frostfire prepared behind the junction if six attacks?"
"Only if the rear formations need it. You are coming north."
Neither woman objected.
The decision brought the family back together around the main advance without forcing them into one physical cluster. Xiangyin moved toward the side of the forward formation where the road widened enough for her spear, while Yanfei took a position closer to Yueru and Ziyue where Frostfire could answer heavier defensive concentrations without obstructing the mixed teams. Lianhua and Yinxue remained farther left, and Shuyue continued deeper with the formations most likely to require support.
Tianlan stayed near the forward-middle rather than joining the very first contact line. His forearm had tolerated the fighting, but the accumulated strain was becoming noticeable whenever he changed his spear angle too quickly. He adjusted his grip without complaint, reducing the range of his movements while the two Frost Rainbow Falcons continued operating above the coalition's northern side.
Haotian noticed.
He moved beside his son briefly while the front formations prepared.
"How is the arm?"
Tianlan flexed his fingers around the spear shaft. "Still usable. The larger rotations pull at it more than the thrusts."
"Then stop using the larger rotations."
"I already have."
Haotian nodded once. "Good."
There was no need to turn the exchange into anything more.
The next Umbrel report arrived from the north.
The retreating nine-o'clock force had reached another major defensive area and stopped moving. More troops were joining it from deeper inside the sector, including formations that had not participated in the southern battle. The defenders were no longer trying to delay the coalition with whatever happened to be nearby. They were constructing a new front deliberately.
Xuanyin marked the position.
"They are committing more of nine."
Haotian looked at the distance. "How much?"
"Enough that the next line will be stronger than the junction we just took."
The report did not surprise him.
The first pincer had failed because the demons tried to coordinate two separated forces against a coalition that kept moving before they could meet. The surviving commanders would not repeat the same mistake by relying only upon six to solve the problem. If Haotian continued north, nine itself would have to bear more of the battle.
That was exactly what he wanted.
The more troops nine committed southward, the less depth remained behind them.
The coalition began moving again.
The Second Mixed Legion crossed the northern edge of the captured junction and entered the roads beyond it, with the Sixth close enough that both formations effectively became one continuous battle march. Umbrel scouts remained ahead only within supporting distance, checking side streets and occupied structures before the main body reached them. Celestara cultivators moved across the rooftops where the surviving terrain allowed it, while Veridian specialists kept pace with the roads rather than disappearing into underground systems unless those systems presented an immediate threat.
The demons did not contest the first several streets heavily.
Small groups remained behind to fire ranged attacks and force the coalition to maintain caution, but none tried to establish another full line before the stronger position farther north. Haotian allowed those groups to withdraw whenever pursuing them would pull fighters away from the main route. The army gained ground because it refused to spend time turning every retreating enemy into a separate objective.
That restraint accelerated the advance more effectively than reckless speed.
Several buildings along the road still contained active formation nodes. One attempted to project pressure across the front of the Second Mixed Legion as the first teams entered its range, but the relationship was narrow enough that Haotian saw the system before it fully activated. He directed a nearby Veridian team toward the physical anchor while the leading formations simply shifted several steps around the threatened section.
The node failed before it became a serious obstacle.
No one stopped to destroy the rest of the building.
Farther south, the first six-o'clock scouts finally reached the captured junction.
The rear coalition formations saw them before they entered effective range.
The demons slowed when they recognized the change in the battlefield. They had expected to find the main coalition still clustered around the lower nine-o'clock approaches or at least engaged closely enough that a southern attack could create immediate pressure. Instead, the junction was held by fresh mixed formations while Haotian's main body had already begun moving farther north.
The scouts did not charge.
They withdrew far enough to report the position of the coalition rear.
The six-o'clock commander received the information while his main force was still working through the damaged approaches farther south. He understood immediately that continuing north meant attacking prepared rear formations while Haotian kept driving toward nine. If he committed everything into that attack, he might eventually force his way into the coalition's rear, but doing so would not restore the original pincer unless the nine-o'clock defenders could hold the main army in place.
He therefore sent only the leading formations toward the junction while keeping the rest of his force concentrated behind them.
Their purpose changed.
They no longer needed to catch Haotian at eight.
They needed to hold enough pressure on the coalition's rear that Haotian could not commit every reserve north.
The first southern attack began while the main coalition was still moving.
Shielded demons advanced along the broadest road into the junction while ranged cultivators occupied several structures Xiangyin and Yanfei's withdrawal had left intact. The coalition rear did not rush forward to meet them. Blue Sphere cultivators anchored the center of the captured position, with Pyrelith and Marephoros teams arranged behind and along the sides where they could answer whichever point received the greatest pressure.
The collision remained far from Xuanyin's command depth.
That was enough.
Reports of the attack reached her, but she did not immediately call Haotian back.
"The rear is engaged," an officer said.
Xuanyin looked toward the southern section of the map. "Are they holding?"
"Yes. Six has committed only its forward formations."
"Then the main advance continues."
The order moved north without urgency.
Haotian received it as the first structures belonging to nine's new defensive region came into view.
The stronghold widened there around a series of military roads intersecting near several larger compounds. Defensive towers occupied the deeper sides, while heavy formations filled the open approaches between them. The number of soldiers visible from the front represented only part of the force Haotian could sense behind the structures.
Nine had decided to make its stand.
The defenders were not arranged in one continuous wall.
Several large formations occupied mutually supporting positions separated by streets and fortified structures, allowing one group to withdraw or rotate without exposing every other group at the same time. Ranged cultivators were distributed instead of concentrated, and the larger formation nodes remained farther behind the visible frontline where they could not be destroyed through one quick strike.
Haotian studied the structure.
The demons had changed their answer again.
Rather than allowing him to break the relationships between one enormous formation, they had created several smaller defensive bodies capable of supporting one another while retaining independence. Destroying one would create a gap, but the others could turn toward it rather than collapse automatically.
Lianhua reached his side and followed his attention.
"They separated the formations."
"Yes."
"That makes the connections harder to break."
"It also means each group has less support once we isolate it."
Lianhua looked across the nearest roads. "Which one first?"
Haotian indicated the westernmost defensive body. "That formation controls the road linking their southern line to the deeper part of nine. Break it and the formations beside it have to turn west or let us pass."
Yinxue, Yueru, Ziyue, Xiangyin, and Yanfei gathered close enough to hear without abandoning their positions. Haotian did not assign each of them an isolated battlefield objective. The mixed legions would still carry the main attack, while the family concentrated wherever the defensive structure actually resisted.
"The Second attacks west," Haotian said. "The Sixth keeps pressure on the center so they cannot rotate everything toward us. We break one defensive body completely before moving to the next."
Xuanyin received the plan through the command formation.
She adjusted the rear reserves accordingly.
If Haotian concentrated northwestern pressure, some of the southern and central reserves could remain available to reinforce the junction against six rather than following the main body. The coalition did not need every cultivator physically beside Haotian for the advance to remain concentrated.
The first attack against nine began.
The Second Mixed Legion turned slightly west along the selected road and met the outer defenders before they could adjust fully to the change. Blue Sphere cultivators absorbed the first response while Marephoros pressure controlled the road edges and prevented the demons from widening their formation around the coalition. Pyrelith attacks struck only after the defenders compressed enough for their power to matter.
The Sixth attacked the central approaches simultaneously.
Its purpose was not to break through first. It forced the neighboring demonic formations to remain facing forward instead of turning their full strength toward the Second Legion. Ranged attacks crossed between both battles, filling the military roads with enough pressure that Celestara cultivators had to divide their attention between protecting the army and contesting the elevated defenders above.
Haotian entered the western battle.
The first demonic formation held better than those farther south. Its shielded cultivators gave ground without losing spacing, allowing heavier fighters from the second rank to attack through prepared openings before withdrawing again. Every attempt to push into the formation encountered another layer rather than an exposed rear.
Xiangyin moved into that rhythm with her spear.
She did not try to shatter the entire shield line. Her thrusts targeted the openings through which the heavy demons were attacking, forcing them to shorten their own strikes or risk being hit before reaching the Blue Sphere cultivators. Whenever one defender changed position to avoid her spear, mixed teams pressed the altered spacing.
Yanfei remained behind the first contact.
Frostfire entered the road only when a group of demons attempted to rotate from the western structure into the shield line. Ice formed across the route between them, forcing the reinforcement to slow or break formation. Concentrated heat struck the same surface a moment later and damaged the paving enough that their movement ceased being orderly.
Yueru and Ziyue attacked the exposed side.
Yinxue remained nearer Haotian, waiting for the formation relationships to reveal themselves under pressure.
Lianhua moved farther left.
The western defense had been built to operate independently, but it still needed physical routes between its front, reserves, ranged positions, and formation support. The Voidpierce Sword Sutra allowed her to attack those relationships without wasting time against every soldier standing between them. She crossed one side road, forced two defenders away from an active node, and cut through the spatial relationship linking it to the formation behind.
The node failed.
The western demons adjusted immediately.
Their reserve moved forward to replace the weakened section while another group shifted toward Lianhua.
That was the reaction Haotian wanted.
The formation remained coherent, but more of its strength was being drawn toward one side.
He attacked the other.
Haotian moved through the space created between the shielded front and the rotating reserve, striking the nearest heavy cultivator before the demon completed his turn. A palm struck the weapon arm aside, followed by Fist of Ruin through the center of the torso. The cultivator stumbled backward into the group moving behind him, obstructing the rotation for several breaths.
Yinxue attacked those breaths.
Her sword cut across the formation relationship exposed between the groups.
Blue Sphere cultivators pushed.
The western line bent.
The demons did not break yet.
A stronger officer stepped into the opening and stabilized the retreating section, ordering the front to give ground toward the compound rather than contest the road itself. The movement preserved most of the formation but surrendered enough space for the coalition to widen its advance.
Haotian followed only as far as the mixed legions could support him.
The battle moved north another section of road.
At the captured junction behind them, the six-o'clock attack intensified.
More demons entered the southern battle, but the main body still did not commit everything. The rear coalition formations yielded several paces from the outer approach and then stabilized again around the prepared intersections, forcing the demons to spend time fighting for ground that no longer affected Haotian's immediate position.
Xuanyin watched both battles develop.
The north was gaining ground.
The south was holding.
For the first time since the eight-o'clock infiltration began, the surviving Demon Generals were being forced to react to two problems created by the same coalition concentration. Sending more troops from six against the rear would not stop Haotian quickly enough unless nine held. Sending more of nine south into Haotian's main attack weakened the defenses farther north.
One of the Demon Generals saw the same dilemma.
His communication reached the commander at nine.
"Do not continue feeding southern positions one company at a time. Hold the deeper western routes. If Haotian breaks through nine completely, the force from six will be chasing an army that has already moved beyond its reach."
The commander at nine looked across the advancing coalition.
"What about the southern junction?"
"Pressure it. Do not sacrifice the six-o'clock reserve trying to retake it."
The order confirmed what the battlefield had already shown.
The failed pincer would not be restored simply by committing more soldiers to yesterday's geometry.
Nine was becoming the main front.
The demons began withdrawing one of their deeper groups from the southern portion of the sector and moving it toward the western defensive compounds ahead of Haotian. The change did not escape the Umbrel observers.
Xuanyin received the report and passed it forward.
"They are reinforcing the western route from inside nine."
Haotian looked beyond the formation currently retreating toward the compound.
"How much?"
"Enough to make the next position stronger. They are not sending everything."
Haotian nodded.
The demons were preserving depth.
So would he.
"Rotate the front teams after we take this compound. No pursuit beyond supporting distance."
The Second Legion commander acknowledged the order.
The western demonic formation reached the outer edge of the compound and attempted to establish itself around the walls and internal roads. Haotian did not give it enough time. The mixed legion continued pressing the retreat, not with a disorganized charge but with enough sustained movement that the demons had to keep fighting while trying to occupy their next positions.
The Sixth maintained pressure on the central defenses.
That prevented the neighboring formations from turning west to help.
Lianhua reached the compound's left approach first. Yinxue moved closer to the center. Yueru and Ziyue attacked the supporting defenders trying to enter from the neighboring road, while Xiangyin kept the retreating front from stopping long enough to restore its shield structure.
Yanfei waited until the defenders began compressing around the compound entrance.
Frostfire struck the road behind them.
The demons were not trapped.
They still possessed other routes deeper into the compound.
But the rear of their formation could no longer move freely through the same entrance while the front was being pushed backward.
The formation compressed.
Pyrelith cultivators saw the target.
Concentrated attacks struck the outer defense before the demons could spread again.
The barrier failed along one section.
Blue Sphere cultivators entered.
The western formation finally lost the independence its commander had worked to preserve. Soldiers inside the compound still fought in organized groups, but the relationships between front, reserve, ranged support, and formation operators had become too disrupted to function as one defensive body.
Haotian did not need to destroy every group.
He needed the road.
The Second Mixed Legion drove through the damaged formation and seized the central route running through the compound. Umbrel teams cleared only the structures directly threatening that road, while Celestara cultivators took the upper positions necessary to prevent ranged attacks from reaching the advancing formation.
The remaining demons withdrew north and west.
Haotian let them.
The coalition had broken the first of nine's new defensive bodies.
The neighboring formations were already beginning to adjust.
Behind them, the six-o'clock attack continued against the coalition rear without reaching the command or healing depth. The demons had succeeded in forcing additional reserves to remain south, but they had not stopped the main advance.
Xuanyin updated the map again.
The coalition now held the southern junction and the first western compound beyond it. The road between eight and the lower portion of nine was no longer merely a path of advance. It had become a secured chain of positions through which the army could move supplies, wounded, reinforcements, and reports without returning to the original entry point for every adjustment.
Nine still held the ground ahead.
Six still pressed from behind.
But the relationship between them had changed.
The coalition was no longer trying to escape the space between two approaching forces.
It was forcing both forces to follow the direction of battle Haotian had chosen.
He stood at the northern edge of the captured compound while the Second Legion rotated its most exhausted teams.
Farther ahead, the next nine-o'clock formations were moving into position.
To the south, six continued attacking a rear it had reached too late.
Haotian looked north.
The eight-o'clock infiltration had opened the stronghold.
The fight through seven had protected the coalition's lower flank.
The battle at nine would decide how deeply the second assault could penetrate before the surviving Demon Generals were forced to change their strategy again.
The coalition resumed its march.