This is a wondrous world. With the widespread practice of cultivation, love between different species is not uncommon—thanks, above all, to humanity’s overwhelming dominance.
No matter how much the demons resent the Heavenly Court, they cannot deny Heaven’s rule over the Three Realms, nor can they resist the ongoing invasion of human culture.
For demons, the language and script they use all originate from humans. Even the occasional, seemingly profound sayings they come up with are borrowed from humanity. Their clothing styles and the forms they take increasingly resemble humans, and in the end, even their aesthetics—body and soul—become indistinguishable from human standards.
As for the so-called issue of demons eating humans: even demons themselves consider it an evil act. The reason some powerful demon kings indulge in it with relish is precisely because of this.
Aside from cultivating such a twisted hobby, how else could they express their dissatisfaction with the Heavenly Court? No one knows when it started, but eating humans somehow became a symbol of demon bravery. Of course, sometimes it’s simply a solution to the shortage of meat.
Demons of every race wholeheartedly strive to emulate humans. This strange phenomenon makes cross-species romance possible. Yet such love rarely guarantees offspring.
Whether it’s because cross-species unions lower fertility rates, or because mixed-blood demons are so innately gifted that they’re hard to nurture, Blossom Mountain has seen countless demons fall in love—but in all these years, fewer than twenty mixed-blood demon children have truly been born, and many of those didn’t survive.
For this reason, Monkey and the other core leaders place special importance on this soon-to-be-born 'godson.' The birth of a new generation on Blossom Mountain means they have truly taken root here.
As for the rumor that Monkey values the superior aptitude of mixed-blood demon children... that’s pure gossip. While their talent may be slightly above average, it’s not by much. In terms of difficulty, raising them is a hundred times harder than raising ordinary demon children.
Ultimately, this special attention is just a matter of sentiment.
After hastily reaching some consensus about the coming war, the three Blossom Mountain leaders hurried to Rhino’s home.
It was a courtyard made up of six houses of varying sizes, simple and unadorned—reminiscent of the place they used to live in Stillwater Valley.
Compared to the courtyard’s simplicity, the furnishings inside were much better than elsewhere.
Though Rhino hadn’t achieved much in military or administrative matters at Blossom Mountain, and his mind often wandered, he was still one of the founding heroes and among the few demons at the Spirit-Transformation stage. Whenever things were divided up, no one dared leave him out.
Sometimes, if his name was missing from the list, Monkey would personally add it. After a while, it just became routine.
As for daily rations, those were always given at the highest standard—basically, if it was in the warehouse, he could have it.
Sometimes Shortbeak would privately sigh that, among them, Rhino was actually the wisest—he thought the least and lived the most comfortably.
When Monkey entered, he saw a huge, sweaty lump squatting in the hall, with Yisu and Shadow already standing nearby, and Belle sitting primly on a chair not far away.
Having spent nearly a year at Blossom Mountain, Belle—now half a deputy to Monkey—had long blended in with the demons. She especially got along well with the wives of the other leaders. In this respect, Belle was much more approachable than the proud Anna Yang.
It was Belle who first told Monkey that Rhino’s rabbit-spirit wife was pregnant.
Birdie, Belle, Anna Yang... At this moment, why Belle and Anna are on the list isn't important—the point is, looking around, it seems the chance of having a normal daughter is close to zero.
This really is a serious problem—one that looks even trickier than how to deal with General Lee.
It has to be a son, it has to be a son... he muttered expressionlessly.
It doesn’t matter if my son is ugly, as long as he’s strong—just like me. Isn’t a monkey face good enough for making friends everywhere?
"Son?" Shortbeak hooked his arm around Monkey’s shoulder and asked.
No, no!
Hey, your intuition is unreliable," Shortbeak said with a grin. "Really regret not betting with you earlier."
It’s too late to regret now." Monkey looked at his goddaughter, surrounded by several women, and said seriously, "Boys and girls—it doesn’t matter, they’re both great! Just like this!
At that moment, Anna Yang solemnly announced that she’d already picked a name for the baby...
Lindsay—“heart-to-heart understanding!”
That night, everyone was immersed in joy.
For these demons who still live under the shadow of death, the joy brought by the birth of a child is indescribable. She means hope—a ray of sunlight in winter, warming the heart even as the cold wind stings the cheeks.
Because of news that war with the South Heaven Gate might break out sooner than expected, all planned celebrations were canceled. Except for Rhino, who was granted leave to stay with his wife, everyone else quickly returned to urgent war preparations.
Early next morning, under Monkey’s watch, the new generation of firearms proved a great success. Unfortunately, the prototype reflected Jade Cauldron Immortal’s personal craftsmanship, not Blossom Mountain’s manufacturing. If he had to arm the whole mountain at his pace, it would take forever.
In the end, the finalized version was much weaker than the prototype, and even so, production was extremely limited.
So, the focus shifted to training new troops, improving coordination with veterans, and learning to use the seven captured warships.
Half a month passed like this.
In a dark cave in an obscure corner of the Southern Lands, firelight from a brazier cast the fierce shadows of three demons onto the rough stone walls, making them look like dancing fiends.
"You mean King Broadgaze was defeated at Blossom Mountain?" King Bullhorn frowned, looking at King Roc in disbelief.
King Roc took a deep breath and said, "The news is almost certainly true. There were rumors before, but they sounded so strange we dismissed them. Turns out, it’s real."
"Who’s the leader of Blossom Mountain?"
"He’s called the Handsome Monkey King."
"Handsome Monkey King... Handsome Monkey King..." King Bullhorn repeated, his doubts growing. "Never heard of this demon—could he be a new rising star?"
"There have been many new demons lately, but to defeat King Broadgaze and swallow ten thousand Heavenly soldiers in one go—that’s hard to believe," said Lord Jiao, cutting in. "Maybe he just beat a warship, and the story got exaggerated."
King Roc glanced at Lord Jiao with disdain. "I went to Blossom Mountain myself—not too close, but from the outside, their strength is real. I also circled near the South Heaven Gate fleet and didn’t see King Broadgaze’s banner. So, this news is highly credible."
"Extraordinary?" King Bullhorn snorted, staring at the brazier. "How extraordinary? Is the leader strong? Could it be the same tricks as ours?"
“The same tricks” naturally referred to Lord Jiao’s previous schemes.
Doesn’t look like it. But as for the leader’s strength, or how many Spirit-Transformation demons they have, I’m not sure. Their territory is huge—even has farms, a demon city, sources of elixirs and magical tools, and tight defenses. But they seem willing to accept wandering demons. Since I don’t know their full strength, I didn’t approach.
"Sources of elixirs and magical tools?"
Hearing that, King Bullhorn fell into deep thought.
If that’s true, it’s possible to arm a powerful demon force to stand against Heaven. If their supply line from Zhenyuan hadn’t been cut, the Heavenly Fleet wouldn’t have been able to defeat them. Things wouldn’t be so desperate now.
Lord Jiao’s eyes narrowed. "Why don’t we just invade Blossom Mountain ourselves?"