The third wave gave the eastern formation enough depth to begin moving again without committing to the center of the defensive field. Blue Sphere widened only where the road allowed it. Marephoros kept the advancing groups from compressing against the restricted side, while Veridian continued marking sections where the formation pressure changed beneath the paving.
Xuanyin received the updated eastern report at the command position.
"So leaving the formation intact does not prevent us from using the road?" she asked.
"No. It limits one side, but the outer route remains open."
"Then leave it alone for now. If it starts interfering with the movement we actually need, we can deal with it then."
Another report arrived from the north before the officer finished marking the structure.
The demonic force beyond the junction had mostly withdrawn toward deeper positions. The coalition now controlled another short section of the north-east road but had stopped before the next major intersection because Umbrel had not yet checked the adjoining routes.
Xuanyin turned toward the deployment officer.
"How much of the third wave is through?"
"A little more than half."
"Are the incoming formations still clearing the assembly district without crowding?"
"Yes. The northern and eastern roads are taking them as they arrive."
"Then keep the current pace. Do not speed it up."
The officer nodded.
"Do you want the fourth wave organized?"
"Yes. Have them ready inside Creation, but do not bring them toward the passage yet."
The third wave continued without requiring Haotian to change the opening.
Celestara spread into several secured elevated positions after the northern observation proved safe enough, though none remained high enough to turn the stronghold towers into their immediate problem. Umbrel widened its scouting radius by only one road beyond the coalition fronts. Veridian teams inspected underground routes reached by each new advance and marked which ones might eventually be useful before anyone discussed sealing them.
The western assembly district continued emptying almost as quickly as formations arrived because each incoming group already had somewhere useful to go.
A Blue Sphere officer carrying the next staging list approached Haotian once the third wave neared completion.
"Xuanyin has the fourth wave organizing inside Creation. She has not released them yet."
Haotian looked through the passage toward the distant staging areas.
"They are keeping away from the opening?"
"Yes. They are waiting in their assigned areas until we call them forward."
"Good."
The officer hesitated before leaving.
Haotian noticed. "Something else?"
"It still feels strange to have this many formations ready and deliberately leave them inside."
Haotian looked toward the northern road and then toward the eastern route. "Do either of those fronts need another full wave right now?"
"No."
"Then leaving them inside gives us rested people without using more ground."
The officer nodded slowly. "I will explain it that way to the commanders who keep asking."
A few minutes later, the final mixed formations assigned to the third wave emerged from Creation and followed their commanders away from the assembly district. The passage remained at the same width while Blue Sphere checked the staging list against the people who had actually crossed.
One team had been delayed because a healer inside Creation removed one cultivator from combat duty before deployment. The team commander chose to remain at eleven rather than accept an unfamiliar replacement immediately before entering the stronghold.
The Blue Sphere officer responsible for the list looked toward Haotian.
"They are going through at eleven. The commander does not want a replacement they have never fought beside."
"That is reasonable."
The eleven-member team crossed with the remaining third-wave formations and continued north.
Once they cleared the receiving ground, the incoming side of the passage became quiet again. Two wounded cultivators returned through the southern lane, followed by an Umbrel scout carrying a message for one of the specialists still inside Creation. Blue Sphere left enough space between them that neither movement interfered with the other.
The fourth wave remained inside while the western assembly district settled after the third.
Haotian kept the passage at the same width and watched Blue Sphere finish comparing the staging records with the formations that had actually crossed. The receiving ground no longer needed constant correction, but enough people were still moving through the district that releasing another large wave immediately would have given the newly arrived cultivators nowhere useful to go except behind formations already occupying the northern and eastern roads.
A report arrived from the northern road first.
The messenger had come from Tianlan rather than from the frontline commander. He waited until the deployment officer finished checking one returning wounded group before giving the message.
"The reserve reached the northern junction without trouble. The demons farther north are not attacking. They moved several groups into the military buildings beyond the junction, but Umbrel is checking the roads around them before the reserve commits."
The deployment officer glanced at Haotian. "So they do not need more people yet."
"No."
The messenger continued. "Celestara has also reached the junction. Tianlan allowed a small observation group above the rooftops, but they have not moved high enough to engage the wall towers."
Haotian asked, "Did they see where the demonic groups are going?"
"Not when I left. They were still checking."
"That is enough."
The messenger returned north with no additional instruction.
Nothing about the report required the fourth wave.
The northern formations had ground, the reserve had room to move, and the demons beyond them had not forced another engagement. Haotian therefore left the passage unchanged while several smaller support groups crossed according to earlier assignments.
The eastern report took longer to arrive.
During that time, wounded cultivators continued returning through the southern lane in small numbers. Most had already received stabilization from embedded healers before reaching the assembly district, which allowed Shuyue and Liora to spend more time deciding who actually needed to return inside Creation than treating every injury as an emergency.
One Blue Sphere cultivator came back with a cut through the muscles of his upper arm. He could still move the limb, but the healer supporting him had wrapped it tightly enough that his sleeve no longer moved freely around the bandage.
Shuyue removed the outer wrap and examined the wound without immediately adding more Life cultivation.
"Who closed this?"
"The healer with the northern formation."
"She did a good job."
The cultivator looked toward the road behind him. "Then I can go back."
Shuyue looked at him. "The bleeding stopping does not mean the muscle is ready for another fight."
"I can use the other arm."
"You also use this one to protect yourself. Let Liora check it before you decide."
Liora examined the circulation around the injured muscle and asked him to flex his fingers. He did so without difficulty, but the movement pulled against the deeper wound.
"You should go back inside Creation for now," Liora said. "This will heal much faster if you stop reopening it every time you fight."
The cultivator looked unhappy with the answer but did not argue further.
A support formation inside Creation waited until he was completely through before beginning to cross.
The fourth wave remained farther back.
The eastern messenger finally arrived while another Veridian group was crossing.
He went first to Xuanyin's command position farther south rather than reporting directly to Haotian. Several minutes passed before one of Xuanyin's Blue Sphere officers came back toward the passage with the information that mattered for deployment.
"The eastern formation is still moving. The defensive structure ahead shifted its pressure farther down the road, but Veridian says the section already under our control remains safe. They asked Yanfei's technical group to inspect the central support before anyone decides whether to break it."
Haotian looked toward the eastern route.
"Do they need another formation from Creation?"
"No. They asked for specialists, not more fighters."
The deployment officer beside Haotian unfolded the fourth-wave roster, then folded it again.
Yanfei left the assembly district soon afterward with two blacksmiths and a formation specialist. She carried only the compact technical case she had chosen the previous day, and nobody brought the heavier equipment out of Creation with her.
As she passed Haotian, she slowed.
"The eastern formation is supported through a building foundation."
"That is what the report said."
"I am going to see whether they can break it safely."
Haotian looked at the small case in her hand. "Do you need anything else?"
"Not until I see what they built."
"Then you have what you need."
Yanfei nodded and continued down the eastern road.
Another northern report arrived before Yanfei returned.
The Celestara observers had seen enough beyond the military buildings to determine that most of the demonic troops gathering there were continuing farther north rather than preparing to attack the junction. Tianlan had therefore kept the reserve together instead of sending teams forward to engage the smaller force remaining behind.
The messenger gave the report to the deployment officer, who looked toward the fourth-wave roster again.
"The north definitely does not need them."
"Not yet."
"What about east?"
"We wait for Yanfei's report."
The officer nodded.
Neither of them treated waiting as a failure to act.
The army inside Creation was rested, organized, and protected. Bringing another wave through simply because it was ready would have converted useful reserve strength into people standing on roads already occupied by earlier formations.
The western assembly district had become quiet enough that Haotian could hear more of the fighting beyond it.
The northern exchanges came intermittently now rather than continuously. The eastern side carried more regular impacts, but none approached the district itself. Ordinary coalition cultivators moved toward those sounds while wounded and messengers came back through the same roads.
Xuanyin sent one of her communication officers to Haotian after receiving the newest northern report.
"She wants to know whether the passage is still stable at this width."
"It is."
"Any reason it cannot remain open like this for several more waves?"
"No."
The officer nodded. "Good. She does not want to increase deployment speed unless the fronts actually ask for it."
"They have not."
"No."
The officer returned south.
Haotian continued maintaining the connection.
He could have followed the northern and eastern fronts directly with the Dao Palace of the Universe, but doing so would have duplicated the work of the commanders already there. He kept his perception close enough to understand the western assembly district, the passage, and the surrounding formation relationships instead.
The first indication that the eastern situation had changed was Yanfei returning.
She walked back with the same three specialists and stopped near the deployment officers before finding Haotian.
"We are leaving the structure alone."
"Breaking it would damage the road?"
"Possibly more than the road." Yanfei set the compact case down beside her foot. "The formation pressure runs through metal reinforcement plates inside the foundation. If Pyrelith breaks the support while it is carrying the current load, part of the building could collapse across the route we already control."
"Can the eastern formations keep moving without breaking it?"
"Yes. Veridian already found the weaker side. The demons are shifting pressure farther ahead, but they are not closing the section behind us."
The Blue Sphere deployment officer had been listening.
"So east can still take more people."
Yanfei looked at him. "It can take more people, but I would not send a full wave just because the road is technically open. The formations already there still need room to work around the restricted side."
The officer glanced at the fourth-wave roster.
"I understand."
Yanfei continued, "If they eventually need the full width of that road, call us again. I can work out where to isolate the reinforcement plates first. Right now there is no reason to damage something just because it belongs to the enemy."
Haotian nodded.
Yanfei picked up the case again and returned toward the technical staging area.
The deployment officer remained beside Haotian.
"We have room north and east, but neither front is asking for another full wave."
"Then we keep waiting."
He looked through the passage toward Creation. "Some of those commanders have been ready since before the third wave started."
"They are still ready."
The officer nodded. "I will tell them that."
A few more minutes passed before Xuanyin herself came from the southern command position.
She stopped near the passage only after checking that the southern return lane was clear and looked through the opening toward the formations waiting inside Creation.
"How many of the fourth-wave groups are already prepared?"
The deployment officer answered, "All of them. They are still in their assigned staging areas."
"And how many can the northern road absorb without putting people behind Tianlan's reserve?"
"Three mixed formations immediately. More after they clear the junction."
"What about east?"
"Two formations can move through the storage road now. The rest would have to wait behind the current front."
Xuanyin looked toward Haotian. "The passage is still comfortable at this width?"
"Yes."
"Then we do not need the whole fourth wave at once."
The officer opened the roster.
Xuanyin moved beside him and examined the assignments rather than issuing another broad release order.
"Send the three northern formations first. Hold the rest."
The officer marked them.
"Two east?" he asked.
Xuanyin considered the road conditions. "One for now. I want to see how the eastern formation uses the people already there after Yanfei's report."
The officer changed the mark.
"That leaves most of the fourth wave inside."
"Yes. They are safer and more useful there than standing behind a road that does not need them yet."
The officer moved toward the passage and signaled inside Creation.
The first northern formation approached from the staging area.
Haotian did not widen the opening.
They crossed at the same measured pace used by the earlier waves and turned north as soon as Blue Sphere directed them away from the receiving ground. The next formation followed only after enough distance opened between them that neither group had to slow inside the square.
The single eastern formation crossed third.
Its commander received the updated route from one of the Veridian officers near the passage before continuing toward the storage district.
The remainder of the fourth wave stayed inside Creation.
Xuanyin watched the three groups clear the assembly district before returning south.
Haotian remained with the passage.
The quieter deployment changed the traffic around him less than a full wave would have. Wounded cultivators still had room to return through the southern side, specialists could cross when requested, and the formations waiting inside Creation remained rested rather than standing in the stronghold with no immediate assignment.
A Blue Sphere commander from the newly arrived northern group passed close enough to Haotian to speak before following his people.
"I thought the whole wave was coming."
"Not yet."
"Do you know when the rest will cross?"
"When the roads can use them."
The commander looked back through the passage at the formations remaining inside Creation.
"That is probably better than having them wait out here."
He adjusted the weapon at his side and continued north.
The receiving district settled again after his formation left.
The three formations released from the fourth wave had enough room to clear the western assembly district without changing the traffic around the passage. Two went north through the route Blue Sphere had already established toward the junction, while the eastern group followed the marked side of the storage road and disappeared between the buildings a short time later. The remaining fourth-wave formations stayed inside Creation, and the deployment officers left their markers where they were rather than moving everyone closer simply because part of the wave had already crossed.
A messenger returned from the northern front less than ten minutes later.
He reported first to Xuanyin and returned with one of her communication officers so the same information could be passed to deployment without another chain of messengers.
"The northern junction is still secure," the officer explained. "The formations we sent have already reached it. Tianlan kept one with his reserve and allowed the other two to move farther north after Umbrel confirmed the side routes around the road."
The deployment commander asked whether the northern front wanted the rest of the fourth wave.
"Not yet. Their commander says the road is still handling the people already there without congestion. Tianlan also wants to keep room around the junction in case the reserve has to move east."
Haotian looked toward the northern road. "What happened to the larger demonic group beyond the military buildings?"
"Most of them kept withdrawing. A smaller group remained behind, but the northern formation has not followed the rest deeper."
"Good. There is no reason to stretch the road while they are still learning what lies beyond it."
The communication officer returned toward Xuanyin's position.
The eastern report arrived shortly afterward. The additional formation sent there had reached the defensive road split without trouble, and the coalition continued using the outer route around the structure Yanfei had advised them to leave intact. More demonic soldiers had appeared farther ahead, but the road still had enough room for the formations already present to hold without requesting another large deployment.
That kept the remainder of the fourth wave inside Creation.
The pause lasted long enough that several commanders waiting inside began asking whether their assignments had changed. Those questions reached the Blue Sphere staging officers first, and the answer remained simple: their assignments were unchanged, but the roads outside did not yet need them. Xuanyin preferred rested cultivators waiting safely inside Creation over the same people standing several streets behind a front with nothing useful to do.
One of the Blue Sphere elders eventually crossed to examine the receiving district himself. He had helped supervise the rehearsals and spent several minutes watching formations move through the real square before speaking with the deployment commander beside Haotian.
"The traffic is much cleaner than it was during the first rehearsal," he said. "I expected the fourth wave to make this area crowded again."
"It probably would have if we had sent the whole wave together," the commander replied. "The people crossing now already know where they are going."
The elder looked toward the passage. "We spent a great deal of time arguing about how wide this opening needed to be."
Haotian glanced at him.
The elder gave a small nod. "I know. The passage was never the real problem. We needed enough ground beyond it."
Haotian agreed.
The elder remained long enough to watch a wounded group return while a Veridian support team crossed in the opposite direction. The two groups used separate portions of the opening and never blocked one another. After seeing the movement for himself, the elder returned inside Creation to explain the situation to the commanders still waiting there.
Shuyue and Liora remained occupied with the treatment position while the deployment discussion continued.
A Marephoros cultivator approached with a damaged knee and insisted on walking under his own strength until the leg gave way several steps from the healers. Shuyue caught him by the arm and helped lower him onto one of the benches before he could fall against the stone.
"I thought the leg would carry me a little farther," he said.
Shuyue looked at the swelling already forming around the joint. "You should have stopped before it decided for you."
Liora knelt beside the injured knee and began removing the damaged armor. "Tell me exactly what struck you."
"A hammer. I turned enough that most of the blow hit the outside of the knee instead of the front. The healer with my formation checked it and said the bone did not feel broken."
Liora moved the joint carefully, watching his reaction rather than forcing the range. "The bone may be intact. The tissue around it is not. You cannot put your full weight on this leg without making the injury worse."
The cultivator looked toward the northern road. "Can you stabilize it enough for me to return?"
"I can reduce the swelling and keep the damage from worsening," Liora said. "I cannot make the joint ready for another fight immediately. You should go back into Creation and let it recover properly."
"My team is already short one person."
Shuyue adjusted the support beneath his leg. "They are already fighting without you because you cannot reach them on this knee. Going back inside only gives you a better chance of returning later instead of turning this into something worse."
The Marephoros cultivator remained unhappy with the decision, but he stopped arguing.
Two Blue Sphere cultivators helped him toward the passage once Liora finished stabilizing the joint. Haotian shifted the incoming flow slightly so the returning group had more room while a small supply team waited inside Creation. The supply team crossed only after the wounded cultivator was through and then continued south toward Xuanyin's command position.
A report from the western side of the district reached command during the quieter period.
Umbrel scouts had followed one of the narrow routes beyond the assembly square and confirmed that it connected to an internal stairway leading upward toward the wall. The stairway itself was only lightly occupied, apparently because many of the cultivators assigned to the surrounding fortification had been redirected elsewhere as the interior fighting expanded.
Xuanyin came to the western side of the assembly district after receiving the report. One Blue Sphere officer accompanied her, along with the Umbrel scout who had checked the route.
The western commander met them near the passage between two military buildings.
"The stairway reaches the wall passage," he said. "Umbrel confirmed that much. There are guards above, but the route is not heavily occupied. If we want access to the wall, we can probably take it without committing many people."
Xuanyin looked toward the narrow route. "How much of the wall passage have you actually seen?"
"Only the section around the stairway. It continues north and south from there."
"Do we know where either direction leads?"
"Not yet. We believe one of them should eventually reach a gate-control section, but we have not confirmed which one."
Xuanyin studied the route for several moments. "Then keep watching it. Do not send a formation up there yet."
The commander looked surprised. "You do not want the wall access while it is lightly defended?"
"I want it when we know what the people taking it are supposed to do after they reach the top. If we send a formation there now and the passage branches into areas we have not checked, they become isolated from the roads we already control. The stairway is not going anywhere. We can take it when the wall route becomes useful."
The commander considered that and nodded. "Then Umbrel will keep the lower approach under observation and stop anyone from using it to enter the district."
"That is enough for now."
Haotian remembered the same problem appearing during the rehearsals inside Creation. Capturing a wall route too early had looked useful on the map until the formation holding it became separated from the rest of the coalition. The real stronghold had given them no reason to abandon that lesson.
Xuanyin stopped beside Haotian before returning to the southern command position.
"The northern and eastern fronts are still asking for smaller groups rather than another full wave."
Haotian looked toward the two roads. "Then the slower deployment is working."
"It feels slow when you look only at the passage. The fronts themselves are still moving."
"That is what matters."
Xuanyin nodded. "I am going to keep releasing the fourth wave in smaller groups. North can take two more formations, and east can take another one after the current road clears. The rest will stay inside until those groups have somewhere to go."
"That should keep the square open."
"That is the idea."
She returned south.
The next release followed the same measured pattern.
Two northern formations crossed first and left the assembly district through the established road without stopping. The eastern formation waited until those groups had cleared the square and then emerged, receiving its updated route from Veridian before continuing toward the storage district.
The remaining fourth-wave formations stayed inside Creation.
One of those formations included Yinxue.
She approached the passage only after her commander received word that their group would be part of the next northern release. Rather than crossing early, she waited on the Creation side where she could see Haotian through the opening without standing in the way of other movement.
"How far has the northern front moved?" she asked.
"Several streets beyond the assembly district. They still hold the junction, and Tianlan's reserve is nearby."
"Is Lianhua still with the northern formations?"
"Yes."
"Have they encountered anyone at our level?"
"Nothing they cannot handle with the strength already there."
Yinxue nodded. "Then there is no reason for me to move ahead of my formation."
She stepped farther from the passage and waited with the others.
Haotian did not use his perception to keep track of every member of the family. Lianhua remained north, Ziyue and Yueru were farther east, Xiangyin had moved with another support formation, and the rest were distributed according to the work they had been given. Their commanders could report any situation that actually required Haotian's attention.
The next northern release began only after the earlier formations reached their assigned road.
Yinxue crossed with her group.
She gave Haotian a brief nod while moving through the passage and continued north with the rest of the formation. Haotian watched only until Blue Sphere directed them onto the correct route before returning his attention to maintaining the opening.
Inside Creation, the fifth wave had begun organizing farther back, but nobody moved it toward the passage. The cultivators remained in their assigned staging areas, where they could sit, check weapons, drink, or speak quietly while they waited. The stronghold outside gave them no reason to spend the next hour standing in full formation if their road had not yet opened.
The western assembly district continued changing while the fourth wave moved out.
Several buildings along the northern side had been searched well enough for Blue Sphere to use their lower floors for temporary storage. Umbrel marked two side routes for coalition traffic and another for observation only. Veridian Prime also completed its examination of the underground maintenance chamber connected to the weaker paving along the eastern side.
One of the terrain readers brought the result to the deployment commander.
"The weak section is stable as long as we keep heavy traffic toward the outer side of the road. We can reinforce the supports if you want the whole width available."
The commander looked at the traffic already using the safer portion. "Would reinforcing it give us anything we need right now?"
"Not really. We are already moving enough people through."
"Then leave it alone. Save the strength."
The terrain reader agreed and returned east.
The northern route became active again before the final fourth-wave formations could cross.
A demonic group entered from a side road farther beyond the junction and attempted to strike the coalition's movement route behind the main front. They were not close enough to threaten the assembly district, but the attack forced several formations to turn away from the forward road and temporarily reduced the space available for incoming groups.
The Blue Sphere deployment officer received the message and immediately stopped the next northern formation inside Creation.
Haotian saw him signal through the passage.
"The northern road is closed?"
"Not closed," the officer said. "They still control it, but they need a little time to clear the side attack. If I send another formation now, it will only collect behind the people already turning to fight."
"What about the eastern route?"
"They can still take one more group."
"Then send the formation assigned east first."
The officer checked the roster. "The next group in order was supposed to go north, but I have an eastern formation ready behind them."
"Use the ground that is available. The order on the roster does not matter more than the roads outside."
The officer nodded and changed the release.
The eastern formation crossed while the northern group remained inside.
Several minutes later another messenger arrived from Tianlan's reserve. One reserve team had already moved toward the side-road attack after Umbrel identified the route the demons were using, and the northern commander specifically asked that no additional formation be sent until they cleared the congestion.
The deployment officer listened and nodded.
"Tell him the incoming group is still inside Creation. We will wait until the road is clear."
The messenger returned north.
Haotian remained beside the passage while the held formation waited safely on the other side.
Celestara cultivators passed overhead during the pause, moving at moderate height between secured rooftops rather than climbing above the stronghold towers. One landed near a Blue Sphere officer to report movement from the north-west wall.
"We are seeing wall defenders moving inward," she said. "Not a full withdrawal. Smaller groups are leaving the fortifications and using the internal stairs."
The officer looked toward the western stairway Umbrel had already found.
"Are they using the same route we are watching?"
"I could not confirm that. Most of the groups I saw were moving north after they came down."
Haotian joined the conversation because the movement could eventually affect the receiving district.
"Are any of them turning toward the western assembly district?"
"Not yet."
"Then keep watching the direction they take. If they begin moving south toward us, report it. Do not follow them toward the wall."
The Celestara cultivator nodded and returned to the secured rooftop.
The side-road fighting north of the junction ended without requiring Haotian to leave the passage.
The report came back through Blue Sphere several minutes later. The demonic group had been larger than Umbrel first estimated but still too small to threaten the junction once Tianlan sent one reserve team to reinforce the road. Some demons died during the fighting, while others withdrew through routes the coalition had not yet closed.
The northern commander did not pursue them.
He reopened the movement route instead.
The held fourth-wave formation finally crossed.
Its commander received the updated road condition before leaving the assembly district and moved north without stopping. A second formation followed only after enough space opened ahead that the two groups would not interfere with one another.
The deployment officer checked the fourth-wave roster again.
"That completes the fourth wave. One support group was moved to the fifth-wave schedule because the eastern front no longer needs them immediately. Everyone else assigned to this wave is through."
Haotian looked into Creation.
The immediate staging area behind the passage had emptied again. Farther back, the fifth-wave formations remained in their assigned areas rather than beginning another premature approach.
"Keep them where they are until Xuanyin releases them."
The officer nodded. "They already know."
Another pair of wounded cultivators approached from the northern road while the deployment officer began checking the final count. One walked without assistance, while the other leaned heavily on an Umbrel scout who had apparently abandoned concealment once it became clear the injured man would not reach the treatment area alone.
Shuyue and Liora moved toward them.
Haotian stayed beside the passage while the healers took over and Blue Sphere finished confirming how many fourth-wave formations had actually reached the northern and eastern routes. The fifth wave remained inside Creation while Xuanyin waited for the frontline commanders to report how much of the newly arrived strength they could use before sending more cultivators through.