Socially anxious people transmigrate to another world; living in seclusion is too difficult.

Fang Rongxue acted immediately, disregarding Abner and Baron's suggestions. He got up, walked out of the tent, and ordered the troops to be mustered. Soon, 50,000 troops were assembled. The three of them mounted their warhorses and led 90,000 troops into battle again, heading straight for the Demon City.

The 12th Army, which had just taken over the task of defending the city, had not even finished repairing half of the city gates when the soldiers on the city wall saw dust rising in the distance and immediately shouted, "The enemy is coming!"

Helpless, the soldiers at the city gate had no choice but to abandon repairs and instead pushed an iron caltrop cart to the gate, temporarily using it as a barrier against the enemy. Soon, Fang Rongxue and his two companions arrived at the city gate first. They saw the city gate lying dilapidated on the ground, and an iron caltrop cart in front of them. Fang Rongxue did not recognize the object, but he did not bother to study what it was. He raised his hand and unleashed several wind blades, but they had no effect on the rollers of the iron caltrop cart.

Baron explained, "The roller at the front of this object is coated with Drowning Stone Powder, which greatly reduces the power of elemental attacks."

Fang Rongxue understood and said, "Since a direct approach won't work, we can try an underground one." With that, he raised his hand again, and a stone pillar shot out from the ground, smashing the iron cart to pieces. The iron rollers also rolled to the side. Fang Rongxue shouted, "Charge into the city!"

At a command, the demon soldiers swarmed forward, braving the dense rain of arrows shot from the city walls to rush into the city gate. Upon seeing this, Li Man immediately ordered the city gate to be defended to the death. However, even though both sides had a large number of people, the narrowness of the city gate and the streets could not accommodate so many people. Fang Rongxue led 50,000 soldiers in good condition to charge ahead, pushing forward with brute force. Soon, nearly 10,000 soldiers poured into the city.

They immediately dispersed and rushed into the streets. The remaining demon soldiers filed in, and in less than twenty minutes, all 90,000 demon soldiers had entered the city, occupied the streets, and surrounded the Twelfth Army.

The enemy outnumbered them, and Li Man could only protect Lü Yi and the unconscious Zhang Huangning as they retreated. The adventurers and elementals who came to help were also unable to exert much power and were all killed. The group retreated from the west of the city until they were less than 500 meters from the east gate. Seeing the critical situation, Li Man realized that if they did not retreat, they would suffer even greater losses, so he immediately ordered the rear guard to withdraw from the east gate.

Before long, the Twelfth Army withdrew from the city after losing nearly 10,000 men. Li Man immediately led the remaining 20,000 men to retreat towards the nearby town of Jin'an. This also marked the successful occupation of Yumo City by the Demon Clan. As the first battle of the Demon Kingdom, the Battle of Yumo City resulted in the loss of 40,000 soldiers and countless civilians for the Tianyun Empire, while the Demon Clan lost 60,000 soldiers and successfully captured the city.

Soon, the battle report arrived in the capital, Huaijing. The court officials remained silent, listening intently as Qin Meng read the report aloud:

"A scout reports that at dawn today, the Demon Kingdom's vanguard, Abner and Baron, led 100,000 troops to attack the Demon City. The Third Army's commander, Zhang Huangning, and the Demon City's military commander, Lü Yi, led their troops to resist and repelled the enemy once. Subsequently, the enemy surrounded them from all sides. Staff officer Li Yu and a group of deputy generals fought against the enemy general Baron at the North Gate, wounding the enemy general, but they all died in battle twenty minutes later, and then the North Gate was breached."

"Zhang Huangning, the commander of the Third Army, fought against the enemy general Abner at the South Gate and repelled the enemy general several times. Then, the enemy commanders Abner and Baron joined forces to attack the East Gate, which was quickly breached. Li Man, the commander of the Twelfth Army, arrived within the stipulated time and followed the enemy army into the East Gate. He pursued them to the West Gate, where the enemy general destroyed the West Gate and led his army to escape. He then retreated."

"Twenty minutes later, enemy generals Fang Rongxue, Abner, and Balen led 90,000 troops in another attack. Due to the previous breach of the West Gate and the sheer number of enemy soldiers, the Twelfth Army was unable to withstand the onslaught. After suffering 10,000 casualties, the Twelfth Army retreated with Commandant Lü Yi and the unconscious Third Army commander Zhang Huangning. They are currently stationed in Jin'an City, awaiting reinforcements. The remaining reinforcements arrived at noon. Seeing that the Demon City had changed its flag and that the Demon Kingdom's reinforcements had arrived, they set up camp on the spot and awaited orders. The Demon City fell completely. Our army suffered 40,000 casualties, while the enemy suffered 60,000."

After the battle report was read, the court fell into a deathly silence. Chu Jingwu's face was even more gloomy as he said, "Since the war between humans and demons, the empire has poured its heart and soul into building the Demon-Defying City, which is known as an iron wall. Now, in less than half a day, it has fallen into the hands of the demon kingdom!"

Under the emperor's imposing presence, all the officials trembled in fear. Then Chu Jingwu asked, "How many troops does the Demon Kingdom have in total?"

Wei Bin stepped forward and replied, "Your Majesty, it has now been ascertained that the Demon Kingdom's western front has a total force of 600,000, divided into six armies, each commanded by a general. According to the Holy Beast Kingdom's military report, the Demon Kingdom's southern front has a total force of 800,000, divided into eight armies, each commanded by a general."

"The fall of the Demon City is now a fact. Zhang Huangning, Lü Yi, and Li Man have given their all, exchanging 40,000 for 60,000. Though defeated, they are still honorable. Now, the most important thing is to figure out the Demon Kingdom's next attack direction and countermeasures." After summarizing, Chu Jingwu immediately raised the most pressing question.

"Your Majesty, after discussion, the military believes that we cannot allow the Demon Kingdom to continue its attack. We should mobilize the entire nation to retake the Demon City and annihilate all 600,000 Demon Kingdom troops there," Wei Bin said.

"The west is indefensible. If the Demon Kingdom were to divide its forces today to attack and seize territory, what would happen then?" Chu Jingwu countered. "Nearly fifty armies and a million soldiers across the country, with supplies still not in place, how can we launch a counterattack?"

“Your Majesty, Lord Wei is not good with words, so let me explain Lord Wei’s intentions,” Yang Chaoxiu said. “It would be better to send a small force from the north to harass the Demon Kingdom, disperse their forces, and station troops in several major towns around the Demon City to prevent the Demon Kingdom from expanding its battle lines. At the same time, we can try to recapture the border towns that have been captured, cut off the Demon Kingdom’s supplies, and besiege the Demon Kingdom’s army in the Demon City. We can then advance slowly until we recapture the Demon City.”

Chu Jingwu nodded after hearing this and said, "That's very good. Distribute the Shence Army among the various armies. In case of emergency, each army can make its own decisions and take action."

"Your Majesty, there is another matter that I find puzzling," Yang Chaoxiu added.

"What's the matter?"

"I've heard that the Demon Kingdom's generals are not united and prefer to fight their own battles. However, in this battle of the Demon City, three Demon Kingdom generals were leading the army together. Moreover, it was the first time that they used a vanguard force to launch a tiered attack, which led to the fall of the city. Perhaps there is one person in the Demon Kingdom's army who is in unified command."

"What you said makes sense, but how should we deal with it?"

Upon hearing Chu Jingwu's question, the ministers, who had no good solutions, were at a loss for words. Seeing that no one could answer, Chu Jingwu had no choice but to say to Qin Meng, "Qin Meng, the Shence Army has always been managed by you and your daughter, so let the Shence Army solve this problem."

News of the defeat in the Battle of Demon City spread quickly, causing widespread panic throughout the Heavenly Fortune Empire. Other nations were also shocked. They had all witnessed the formidable strength of Demon City and firmly believed that the Demon Kingdom would have to suffer at least 200,000 casualties to conquer it. Unexpectedly, the Demon Kingdom captured Demon City in just half a day at the cost of 60,000 lives. The entire western part of the Heavenly Fortune Empire was now in grave danger. This made other nations realize that supporting the Heavenly Fortune Empire was no longer just a matter of discussion.