Chapter 3067

When Miao Zhantian invaded the Upside-Down Sea back then, he unleashed his ultimate move, raining down meteors that directly flattened the inner world of the Upside-Down Sea. Everyone was shocked by the power of that earth-shattering strike, but today the methods of the Holy Venerable Lingxu surpassed even that, yet the Crimson Dawn Golden Hall and Ju City held firm, not reduced to rubble.

Du Shan said with emotion: "This is the victory of all the people of Ju City."

Without such abundant elemental power, Ducheng tonight would surely suffer heavy losses, with countless lives ravaged.

The Red General withdrew the core of the Crimson Dawn Golden Hall from the sand table: "Holy Venerable Lingxu expended great effort to unleash heavenly fire to burn the city—not only to destroy Ju City in one fell swoop, but also to divert our attention, aiding the celestial demons' escape from the Crimson Dawn Golden Hall."

Liang Dao Yuan immediately said: "The barrier of the Crimson Dawn Golden Hall flickered only briefly just now; some celestial demons are still locked in fierce combat with our forces in the palace, and may not have had time to flee."

Everyone exclaimed in unison: "We must not let them escape either!"

The Red General then said to Du Shan: "Disaster relief is still needed within the city."

The heavenly fire that burned the city just now was too fierce; Ju City's barrier blocked only most of it, and some meteors still pierced through the breaches, destroying streets and buildings within the city. Now many houses in Ju City are still burning, the lanes are clogged, and disaster victims await rescue.

Ju City merely survived the celestial demons' large-scale assault—it is far from unscathed.

At this moment, the commanders of the Nine Gates reported: "The East Second Gate is severely damaged."

Ju City's city gates and walls were also struck.

Du Shan immediately said: "I will handle the arrangements; you focus on pursuing the celestial demons."

Since Ju City's apocalyptic crisis has been temporarily resolved, the Red General has redirected his attention back to the pursuit and eradication of the remaining celestial demons.

Only at the break of dawn in the east did the movements within the palace gradually cease.

The last two red dots on the sand table in the Lan Yue Pavilion disappeared, and then this unit returned through the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror, reporting to the Red General: "We have successfully slain the last two celestial demons in the Xilin Garden!"

Everyone looked at the sand table—indeed, not a single red dot remained.

Does this mean all celestial demons who invaded the Cangyan Palace have been exterminated or captured?

One officer said: "The Crimson Dawn Golden Hall is now completely sealed; one can only enter or exit through the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror, so celestial demons cannot possibly escape."

For now, we are still in the mopping-up phase; the Crimson Dawn Golden Hall remains at the highest alert level, and anyone—including the Red General—must enter and exit via the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror. Besides that, even a fly could not slip through.

Celestial demons do not have passage rights through the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror.

Du Shan had been busy with post-war livelihood in Ju City; upon hearing this, he had a sudden insight and slammed the table: "Only living beings can pass through the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror!"

The Red General immediately turned his head, his eyes flashing, and the generals also asked: "What does Minister Du mean by this?"

Du Shan pointed to the sand table: "While we track the celestial demons via the sand table, we are also clearing the battlefield and transporting the remains of fallen soldiers outwards."

The battlefield is the Cangyan Palace, not some wilderness. After troops eliminate celestial demons based on the red dots on the sand table, logistics will conduct post-battle cleanup by region—treating the wounded, collecting remains, tallying losses—and must act swiftly, as the entire palace must resume normal operations as soon as possible.

Everyone suddenly understood: "You're worried that logistics personnel or palace attendants, under coercion, might secretly smuggle out celestial demons?"

"No!" Du Shan said bluntly: "I fear they have placed storage spaces on the corpses, allowing them to be openly carried out."

The Hao Yuan Golden Mirror only blocks the passage of living beings; it does not restrict inanimate objects. To it, the corpses of friend and foe are no different from bricks, tiles, earth, stones, benches, or stretchers—of course, they are allowed through.

Du Shan continued: "Even the fallen soldiers' bodies may carry spiritual fluctuations—such as magical artifacts or storage spaces—and the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror does not discriminate. So one—"

"Minister Du's insight is profound!" everyone exclaimed: "So while we were occupied with the chaos of the heavenly fire burning the city, some celestial demons hid in mustard-seed spaces, concealed within the bodies of fallen soldiers, and slipped through under the guise of heaven!"

Upon saying this, everyone gritted their teeth. The celestial demons are truly vicious and cunning!

The Red General directly ordered: "First, register the belongings of the fallen soldiers, then remove them from the palace."

First, inspect the bodies thoroughly, then send them out of the palace.

This method proved effective: within the next hour, troops searching corpses in different locations discovered two mustard-seed spaces capable of storing living beings, containing seven and eleven celestial demons respectively. This is not the limit of such spaces' capacity for persons—it merely happened that these two celestial demon squads had exactly that many members.

Earlier, when the meteors shattered the barrier of the Crimson Dawn Golden Hall, they had no time to escape and could only devise a plan afterward.

Seeing their escape plan fail once again, the celestial demons had no choice but to reveal themselves and fight desperately, ultimately dying in battle or surrendering.

The troops also urgently sought the corpses previously sent out of the palace.

Only when the sun rose in the east were no new mustard-seed spaces found, and then the battle in the Crimson Dawn Golden Hall was truly over.

The Red General had the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror tally the initial number of celestial demons at the battle's outset—three hundred forty-one in total, counting Ying Tian and Yang Tian as two.

The number of celestial demons now slain or captured has also been tallied—one hundred twenty-one.

Comparing the two figures, that leaves over two hundred twenty celestial demons who slipped away.

"Had it not been for the Holy Venerable Lingxu's forcible intervention, I originally had confidence in retaining at least seventy percent of them." Speaking of this with He Lingchuan, the Red General sighed with regret.

"You've already done remarkably well." He Lingchuan gave her a thumbs-up: "Without you, my palace would have been taken by others! This shows how wise my initial decision was!"

After subduing the Bo Lang Kingdom, he had worried that the Holy Venerable Lingxu would ransack Ju City's lair, for if it were him, he would likely do the same. So the Red General secretly returned to Cangyan, took over supreme command of the Crimson Dawn Golden Hall, secretly directed the overall situation—this known only to Du Shan and a few others.

He and the celestial demons were both setting traps for each other.

The Holy Venerable Lingxu's intentions are also not without malice; if he could destroy Cangyan's palace or capital on the eve of the divine descent, he would surely throw the Cangyan army into chaos and deal a devastating blow to the prestige of Jiuyou within the war alliance. Moreover, while commanding battles on the Between Between Between Beijia front, he could no longer focus wholeheartedly.

Fortunately, Ju City has the Red General holding the fort, turning the tide.

Only she can block the invasion of the two great celestial deities, Ying Tian and Yang Tian.

To conceal her secret return, the Earth Mother and Pan Long City remained on the Between Between Between Beijia front, and He Lingchuan even arranged a body double for her on the battlefield. Under the gaze of tens of thousands of eyes, achieving this is no easy feat.

Fortunately, the double she found was also a veteran actor, who managed to hold the role for several days without being exposed.

Until today's battle, Ju City turned the plot against itself, annihilating two great celestial demons and a hundred celestial demons in one go—this can be called a bountiful harvest, another heavy blow to the celestial demons' schemes.

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