Ch. 61The Witches Won, but the Demons Hadn't Lost
Plot points and events
- Di Jun orders the Demon Race’s leaders and strongest fighters to withdraw from the battlefield, while demons without powerful clan protectors are left behind.
- When the Witches realize the demons are fleeing, Di Jun and Taiyi create an opening: Taiyi channels nearly all his power—and some of his vital essence—into the Chaos Bell, shattering the space blocking their route. The collapse kills several demon cultivators caught behind them.
- The spatial destruction also throws Dijiang, the Space Ancestral Witch, out of his passage through space and delays him briefly.
- Di Jun, Taiyi, Fuxi, Kunpeng, the Demon Saints, and the swiftest demon Great Luo reach a radiant gateway at Mount Buzhou and escape through it. They destroy the gateway from the other side.
- The Witches reach the summit too late. Though they search and attack the surrounding space for months, they cannot find the vanished entrance. They ultimately claim the central lands and kill most of the demons left behind.
Character developments and interactions
- Di Jun reveals that his retreat is deliberate and coordinated, prioritizing the survival of the Demon Race’s leadership and elite forces. He and Taiyi work together to escape.
- Taiyi makes a costly, decisive sacrifice: despite his serious injuries, he spends his remaining strength to unleash the Chaos Bell’s most powerful attack, then relies on the Bell to carry him to safety.
- Dijiang is shown to be formidable even in defeat. The spatial collapse disrupts his command of space, but he recovers quickly and pursues the demons.
- Houtu recognizes that the gateway led to another realm, giving the Witches their first explanation for the demons’ escape.
- The Witches, especially Dijiang, Gonggong, and Zhurong, shift from confidence in victory to anger and frustration when they realize the Demon leadership has escaped beyond their reach.
Significant themes
- Victory versus survival: The Witches win the battlefield, but the Demon Race preserves its leadership and strongest members, making the outcome far less decisive than it first appears.
- Sacrifice and strategic retreat: Taiyi’s expenditure of life-force enables a broader escape, while Di Jun’s plan trades the abandoned demons for the survival of the elite.
- The limits of power: Even the Witches’ strength cannot overcome a gateway that has vanished, and Dijiang’s mastery of space is briefly thwarted by Taiyi’s attack.
- Uncertainty and suspicion: The Witches wonder whether the war was partly a means for the demons to discover or reach the other world.