Tianlan moved along the left side of the central collision, using the length of his spear to pressure demons trying to reach the outer ranks. His wrapped forearm forced him to avoid prolonged clashes against heavier weapons, so he kept the spear moving through shorter thrusts and controlled rotations. When one demon attempted to push past the shaft and close distance, Tianlan shortened his grip, struck with the rear of the spear, and opened enough space to recover the point.
One of the Frost Rainbow Falcons descended only when a demon on an elevated ledge prepared an attack toward Tianlan's exposed side.
The bird struck the cultivator from above before the attack could be released, forcing him away from the ledge. It did not remain on the structure afterward. The Falcon climbed back into the air and resumed circling while Tianlan continued fighting below.
Haotian saw the central defense beginning to compress.
The demons had preserved discipline, but the line had already yielded enough ground that the coalition was approaching the gate-support structures directly. He extended his perception beneath the road again and found one of the primary channels feeding the western locking structure.
The channel ran under the edge of the heavy company's formation.
Haotian shifted toward it.
Three elite defenders moved to intercept.
The first struck with a broad blade from the right while the second came in low from the opposite side. Haotian stepped between the angles rather than retreating, caught the first weapon near the guard, and turned his body enough to let the second pass behind his legs. His shoulder drove into the first cultivator before the man could recover his blade.
The third demon attacked from directly ahead.
Haotian released Fist of Ruin.
The strike landed against the cultivator's defense before the demon could complete his own attack. The impact broke through the layered protection and threw him backward into the heavy ranks, opening a direct path toward the section of road Haotian had identified.
He reached the formation channel beneath the surface.
The road itself had been reinforced with enough material that an ordinary strike would have wasted power breaking through the upper layers. Haotian lowered one hand and drove force through the surface at the exact point where the protective structure was thinnest.
Stone fractured downward.
The hidden channel became visible through the broken road.
Dark energy surged beneath the opening.
Haotian struck again.
This time the force entered the channel itself.
The connection ruptured.
The effect traveled farther than the visible damage.
One section of the gate-defense network flickered as the western locking structure lost part of its support. Formation masters farther ahead reacted immediately, drawing power from secondary channels to compensate. The gates remained sealed, but the replacement flow created new strain in the remaining network.
Haotian followed that strain through the Dao of the Universe.
The structure was beginning to reveal itself.
The demon commander recognized what Haotian was doing.
"Protect the channels!"
Several heavy defenders abandoned the central line and moved toward the damaged road.
That weakened the center further.
Blue Sphere cultivators pressed into the space they left.
The demon commander corrected quickly and ordered the second rank to shorten rather than trying to preserve the damaged section. The heavy company retreated another several meters while mobile elites covered the movement. The coalition gained ground without breaking formation.
Behind the gate defenders, formation masters continued rerouting power.
The western seal recovered partially.
Haotian did not try to destroy it again immediately.
One damaged channel had already forced the network to expose another dependency.
He shifted his attention toward the eastern side.
Pyrelith cultivators were already fighting near the secondary support structures there. They had not reached the main channel, but repeated impacts against the supporting pillars had weakened the protective shell around one of the formation stations. The demons had concentrated enough guards around it to prevent a direct collapse.
Yanfei moved toward that side.
Frostfire gathered around her without spreading across the coalition.
She waited until the Pyrelith cultivators forced the nearest defenders away from the structure, then released the attack into the already damaged support rather than across the troops themselves. Cold and heat struck through the weakened material in rapid succession, stressing the structure along the fractures the Pyrelith attacks had created.
The support split.
Part of the formation platform above it dropped several inches.
The demons shut down the attached channel before the collapse could tear through the wider network.
Another portion of the gate defenses went dark.
The coalition kept advancing.
The front defenders were now fighting with fewer fixed systems than they had possessed at the beginning of the battle. Their mobile formations remained intact, and the strongest cultivators were still capable of slowing the arrowhead, but every abandoned array reduced the advantage the district had been built to provide.
Haotian did not allow the battle to become a contest of attrition.
Whenever the demons formed a position strong enough to require unnecessary expenditure, he examined the surrounding structures and attacked what allowed that position to function. If a company withdrew from his path, he let it go. If a formation could no longer influence the direction of advance, the coalition moved past it rather than wasting time destroying it completely.
The demons gradually understood the pattern.
Several commanders began abandoning smaller support positions before the coalition reached them. Their troops withdrew toward the gate-control center, preserving manpower instead of dying for structures Haotian would bypass or cripple. This made the resistance around the central gate network denser but shortened the amount of ground the coalition had to fight through.
The outer wall defenses weakened further.
Celestara observers reported that multiple towers had stopped firing entirely.
Some had lost formation support.
Others still possessed power but could not redirect enough of their attacks inward without damaging nearby structures or their own troops.
Xuanyin followed the reports while maintaining the deeper formations.
"Three exterior sectors have gone quiet."
Haotian remained focused on the gate network. "Keep watching the side approaches."
"They're moving more troops toward us."
"Let them."
The demons had little choice.
Every cultivator pulled away from the walls increased the force protecting the gate district, but also reduced the strength of the front line facing outside. Haotian did not need to attack both at once. Destroying the command and gate-support network from behind would leave the remaining exterior defenses isolated regardless of how many troops survived.
The next defensive position was built around a broad command platform directly behind the main gates, and unlike the earlier intersections, there was no useful road around it. The platform stood over one of the major formation connections supporting the gate seals, while reinforced structures on both sides protected the remaining channels leading toward the eastern foundation and the western tower. Several of the strongest cultivators still present in the district had gathered there with heavy companies and formation masters, forming a defense that was narrower than those farther back but much denser. Haotian slowed enough to examine the entire arrangement before committing the coalition to it.
The Dao of the Universe traced three major dependencies still holding the gate network together. One passed beneath the command platform, another entered the eastern side of the gate foundation, and the third connected the seal network with a formation tower farther west. The earlier damage had already reduced the number of secondary paths available to the demons, which meant those three remaining connections were carrying more responsibility than they had been designed to carry alone. Destroying them would not necessarily destroy the enormous gates, but it would leave the sealing system without the relationships needed to keep every locking structure synchronized.
Haotian shared the targets through the front of the formation rather than sending everyone toward the platform at once. Yinxue and Ziyue moved toward the western tower connection, while Lianhua and Yueru shifted east toward the reinforced foundation. Xiangyin remained near Haotian at the center, where the heavy companies were thickest, and Yanfei stayed far enough behind the two flanks to support whichever side encountered the stronger formation resistance. Tianlan positioned himself between the central and western movements, giving him enough room to use his spear without forcing his injured forearm into a prolonged contest against the heaviest cultivators.
The demons reacted before the family reached either support. Strong officers moved outward from the second defensive line and placed themselves between the women and the structures they were approaching, while the heavy formation in the center advanced several paces to prevent Haotian from simply waiting for the side attacks to develop. The response reduced the space available around the command platform and created several close battles at once, but it also forced the defenders to divide their stronger cultivators between three points they could not afford to lose.
Xiangyin met the first central advance with the point of her spear already in motion. She did not try to overpower the two heavy cultivators in front of her, instead striking into the gap between their weapons and forcing one of them to turn his body to protect the other. Haotian entered that small change immediately, driving his palm into the exposed defensive layer before the second cultivator could close the space again. The demon was knocked backward several steps, though the ranks behind him absorbed enough of the impact to prevent the center from breaking.
The defenders compressed around the opening, and for several exchanges the central road became too crowded for large movements. Haotian stayed close to Xiangyin, using short strikes against wrists, elbows, shoulders, and the edges of defensive layers while she controlled the distance around him with the spear. The demons fought with the same discipline they had shown throughout the district, replacing anyone forced backward and refusing to chase Haotian when doing so would open the command platform behind them. Their purpose was no longer to win ground; they only needed to keep the coalition away from the structures supporting the gates.
The western fighting developed differently. Yinxue and Ziyue encountered three stronger officers before they reached the tower connection, with two moving forward while the third remained closer to the formation support. Yinxue accepted the first engagement and kept the demon occupied through measured sword exchanges, while Ziyue moved far enough around the side that the second officer was forced to follow rather than allow her a clear route toward the support. The third officer stayed where he was, refusing to be drawn away by either woman.
That arrangement held until Yinxue deliberately shifted her pressure toward the formation structure instead of continuing to contest the cultivator in front of her. The officer reacted by stepping across her line, which brought him farther from the second defender and forced the third man near the tower to move forward as well. Ziyue immediately turned back toward the support they had exposed behind them. Her sword struck one of the smaller stabilizing connections feeding the main formation layer, and although the blow did not destroy it, the resulting fluctuation forced the guarding officer to turn back.
Yinxue followed him before he could recover his original position. Her sword reached the defensive layer around the connection at almost the same moment Ziyue struck from the opposite angle, placing pressure on two sections that had previously reinforced each other. The demon guarding the structure managed to hold the first exchange, but his attention divided between the two women just as another cultivator moved in to support him.
Tianlan saw the reinforcement approaching from the side. Rather than committing his injured arm to a wide spear technique, he shortened his grip and thrust through the narrow opening between the incoming cultivator and the officer already guarding the support. The attack forced both demons apart long enough for Yinxue and Ziyue to strike the formation surface again. Cracks spread through the stabilizing layer beneath their swords, and the western connection failed before the guards could rebuild their overlap.
The tower did not explode or collapse. Its formation patterns simply flickered several times before the energy moving through them thinned and disappeared, leaving the structure standing above a network that no longer answered it. Across the district, the seal pattern covering the gates weakened for an instant as the remaining channels absorbed the burden the western connection had been carrying. Haotian felt the change through the Dao of the Universe and shifted more of his attention eastward.
Lianhua and Yueru were meeting heavier formation resistance there. The eastern foundation had been reinforced after the earlier supports began failing, and the barrier protecting it drew directly from the gate network rather than from an isolated formation station. Yueru tested the outer layer once and immediately recognized that striking it repeatedly would only force them into a contest against energy being supplied from the very structure they were trying to disable. Lianhua studied the lower edge instead, where the visible barrier joined the older foundation beneath it.
Yueru kept the defenders focused on the stronger section while Lianhua changed her angle. Lightning gathered tightly along Yueru's sword as she pressed against the visible surface, forcing the formation masters behind it to reinforce the same area rather than risk a breach. Lianhua used that redistribution to move lower along the foundation and drive the Voidpierce Sword Sutra through a thinner section beneath the primary barrier. Her sword entered the relationship supporting the protection rather than competing against its full surface strength.
The outer barrier remained intact for a moment, but the flow beneath it changed. Yueru felt the weakness before the formation masters could correct it and struck along the same fault, sending lightning through a layer that no longer distributed pressure evenly. The barrier split along one side, opening enough space for the structure beneath it to become exposed.
Several guarding demons rushed toward the opening, but Yanfei had already moved close enough to support the eastern group. She released Frostfire into the damaged foundation rather than across the defenders themselves, forcing rapid changes through material already under formation strain. Cracks spread through the support around the hidden channel, and the formation masters attempted to shut down the eastern flow before the damage reached farther into the gate network.
The connection failed during that withdrawal.
The remaining energy withdrew unevenly from the eastern foundation, and another section of the gate seal dimmed as the central channel beneath the command platform inherited even more of the load. The demons around the platform immediately shortened their positions. Strong officers who had been guarding the side approaches returned toward the center, and the heavy companies abandoned the outer edges of the road in order to concentrate around the only major dependency still functioning.
Haotian did not rush after them while the family was still returning from the two flanks. He allowed the coalition's front to contract gradually so the wives could rejoin the central formation without leaving mixed cultivators isolated behind them. The demons used those moments to build a denser defense around the command platform, but they were no longer protecting three separate systems. Everything that still mattered was now concentrated beneath one position.
The resulting fighting became slower and more physical. There was less room for either side to maneuver, and the demons had enough strong cultivators packed into the center that every opening created by the coalition was closed by someone nearby. Mixed formations continued pressing from behind Haotian, replacing wounded cultivators and maintaining enough width that the defenders could not simply surround the family in front. The coalition gained ground, but only a few steps at a time.
A senior officer armed with a long saber met Haotian near the edge of the command platform. The demon kept his weapon close to his body and refused to extend far enough for Haotian to use the same redirections that had broken many of the earlier defenders. Haotian tested the guard twice with short entries, each time finding the officer balanced well enough to recover before a second strike could reach the body.
The third exchange changed when the saber came forward at a lower angle. Haotian stepped inside before the blade reached full extension and caught the weapon arm against his forearm, then struck beneath the elbow with his opposite hand. The officer responded immediately with a knee toward Haotian's ribs, forcing him to turn rather than remain committed to the arm. Both men separated before either could secure the advantage.
Haotian did not repeat the exchange. When the demon reset his stance, Seraph Shatter Palm struck the defensive layer across his chest and drove him backward toward the second line. The officer remained conscious and managed to stop himself before falling into the formation behind him, but his displacement opened enough space for Xiangyin and the returning wives to pressure the section he had been holding.
The demons tightened around the command platform again. Lianhua and Yinxue attacked the relationships between defenders rather than trying to defeat every cultivator in front of them, while Yueru and Ziyue pressured the openings created whenever the heavy ranks turned to reinforce another position. Xiangyin kept her spear moving through the center, preventing the line from closing completely around Haotian. The family's progress remained measured because the defenders were fighting for a structure they understood they could not abandon.
The formation beneath the platform began drawing more heavily from the remaining gate network as the pressure increased. Haotian felt the accumulation building under his feet through the Dao of the Universe, while the outward-facing systems along the walls weakened further to feed what remained of the central defense. The demons had already accepted that much of the original front line could no longer be preserved. Their effort had narrowed to maintaining the gates long enough for the surviving troops and commanders elsewhere in the stronghold to reorganize.
The central array released before Haotian reached the platform itself.
Dark force surged inward through the road in a concentrated wave, stronger than the redirected attacks used earlier because the demons were no longer trying to preserve the surrounding systems. The leading coalition formations raised overlapping defenses, and Haotian remained at the front as the pressure struck. His feet slid several inches across the damaged stone before the mixed ranks behind him absorbed enough of the force to keep the entire front from being pushed backward.
The family reinforced the defense rather than scattering away from the attack. Haotian followed the energy backward through the Dao of the Universe and found that nearly all of the remaining gate power was now passing through the dependency beneath the platform. The demons had gained more force by concentrating the network, but in doing so they had made the last supporting relationship easier to identify.
He waited long enough to confirm it.
The formation masters began reducing the attack as soon as they realized the output was forcing too much energy through the central connection. Haotian moved with the pressure as it weakened, crossing through the edge of the release with Heaven-Piercer Step and reaching the forward side of the platform before the defenders could fully rebuild their line. Several senior officers turned toward him at once.
The first attacked with a spear from the left, while another drove forward from the opposite side with a heavy fist. Haotian redirected the spear point across his body and stepped inside the shaft, but the second cultivator reached him before he could finish the movement. The fist struck across his shoulder and side, sending fresh pain through injuries that had already been aggravated during the earlier fighting.
Haotian remained close instead of giving the officers enough space to reset together. His elbow struck the spear wielder beneath the ribs while Lianhua intercepted the third cultivator trying to enter from behind. Yinxue moved against the second officer, forcing him away from Haotian before he could follow the first strike. The other wives reached the platform around them, preventing the demons from concentrating all of their stronger cultivators against Haotian at once.
The command platform itself was still protected.
Haotian drove his palm into the surface and cracked the outer shell, but formation energy immediately gathered around the damaged section and rebuilt a defensive layer before he could reach the connection beneath it. Two formation masters behind the line were feeding power into that protection directly from the central gate network.
He examined the relationship before striking again.
The barrier existed because the same channel beneath the platform was supplying it.
Haotian struck a second time. The barrier absorbed the force, but the gate seal weakened at the same moment because energy had to be diverted away from the locking structure to maintain the protection over the channel. When he struck a third time, the formation masters tried to reduce the amount being drawn into the barrier while preserving enough to stop him from breaking through.
That balance could not hold for long.
Haotian drove Dragon Vein Collapse into the next strike.
The force entered the defensive relationship instead of dispersing entirely across the surface, spreading through the connection that joined the barrier to the formation beneath it. Cracks opened across the platform as the protection buckled inward. The formation masters attempted to disconnect the barrier from the primary network, but the damage had already reached the central dependency.
The platform split across one side.