The outlines of the Imperial Capital's middle-ring ruins gradually emerged in the night.
The once-towering buildings were now nothing but twisted skeletons, their surfaces covered in dark red tendrils of flesh, like some growing network of veins.
Xiao Tiance rode up alongside him. "The second defensive line is more densely structured than the first, and the individual Demons are stronger, too."
Qi Wu gave a quiet grunt. "I know."
He neither stopped nor changed direction.
The group advanced for roughly another hour before scattered Demon sentries began appearing ahead.
These Demons were not large, but their movements were deeply uncanny. Some slid along the ground; others emerged from gaps in the ruins and vanished again, like predators probing around their prey.
Qi Wu raised his hand slightly. An exceedingly thin arc of blue-gold light flicked from his fingertip, crossed several hundred meters, and swept precisely through the positions of three Demon sentries.
There was no explosion, no sound. All three Demons' movements stopped at once, like severed threads.
Jiang Qingyue said quietly, "They seem to be guiding us."
Qi Wu nodded. "Yes. Di Tian is adjusting the layout of his defensive lines. He knows we're advancing along the shortest route, so he's set up guiding points along the way to draw us into a predetermined battle zone."
He paused and turned toward Gale. "Can we go around it?"
Gale replied, "We can, but it'll add six hours."
"Then we won't." Qi Wu continued forward.
Before long, the view ahead abruptly opened up.
An enormous clearing appeared amid the ruins. The ground was too level to have formed naturally, its edges neat, as though some force had deliberately flattened it.
At the center of the clearing stood a Demon that was not especially large.
It was only a little over four