Inside the cave-palace, a deathly silence reigned.
Irrefutable.
At this moment, it seemed that all problems had been resolved.
No one can guarantee that even fifty percent would satisfy those six, let alone what twenty percent would mean. If that’s not making enemies, what is?
It’s not just making enemies—it’s also boosting their strength, while we gain almost nothing.
Even if they grudgingly accept, they’ll surely hold a grudge. Worse, they’ll covet Blossom Mountain’s resources even more.
Now the Azurewave Dragon King was completely silent. In his heart, he even felt the deal was better left undone.
Monkey looked down at the assembled demons, spread his hands, and said, “This time, I’m not going to decide as usual. You tell me—how should we handle this? I’ll listen to you.”
No one spoke. The silence persisted.
Each demon kept their head bowed, looking like children caught misbehaving.
Only one remained unapologetic—the Nine-Headed Wyrm, who hadn’t spoken a word from start to finish.
He swaggered forward, sweeping his gaze over the crowd with a teasing grin. "If you ask me, just ignore them. No alliance, no trading materials for elixirs—forget all of it. If they want elixirs, let them rob the Celestial Army themselves. If they don’t even dare to do that, what’s the point of talking?"
It was clearly hindsight talking, and the demons all shot him a glare.
......
Outside the cave, the Little White Dragon, who had already left, quietly slipped back.
He lurked in a small grove near the cave, peering around nervously. Eventually, he spotted Belle Whitebone sitting alone on a rock, gazing at the moon, and crept toward her.
"Hey~"
"Who’s there?" Belle jumped, glancing around warily.
"It’s me." The Little White Dragon poked his head out from the grass beneath the rock.
Belle blinked a few times, pursed her lips, and frowned, asking irritably, "What do you want?"
That attitude...
The corners of Prince Adrian's eyes twitched slightly.
This little girl is really pushing her luck, huh? Too bad this isn’t the Western Sea.
Suppressing his anger, he asked quietly, "Did you cry just now because Monkey refused your alliance proposal?"
Belle Whitebone still didn’t speak, just stared at him with a blank expression.
That probably counts as silent agreement.
"I heard you’re all after elixirs, right?"
Belle still said nothing.
Time was running out, and Prince Adrian couldn’t afford to hesitate. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Jade Tablet. "Catch!"
Belle caught the Jade Tablet he tossed, even more confused than before.
"I’m the Third Prince of the Western Sea. I have elixirs. No time to explain. I’m off. Once you leave Blossom Mountain, use this to contact me."
With that, Prince Adrian hurriedly turned away, sneaking off toward the outer edge of Blossom Mountain, leaving Belle standing there, staring at the Jade Tablet in her hand, stunned.
......
After days of intense preparation, the grand council ended with a pack of demons bickering all night, faces flushed and necks bulging, only for Monkey to resolve everything with a few words.
After all that fuss, everything returned to square one—trade rejected.
Monkey instructed the Azurewave Dragon King to deliver the message to Belle Whitebone, then declared the council adjourned.
As soon as Monkey announced the end of the meeting, the demons didn’t hesitate—they all bid farewell and left. Perhaps they too realized how foolish their actions had been tonight.
With the last demon gone, the vast cave-palace was left with only Monkey, Anna Yang, and Yisu.
"Let’s go. We should head back too," Monkey said quietly. "Let’s walk together."
His expression looked somewhat helpless.
"Mm." Anna Yang nodded quietly.
The three of them walked in silence. Monkey said nothing, lost deep in thought.
Anna asked softly, "What’s wrong? After tonight’s big victory, why do you still look so troubled?"
"Victory?" Monkey took a deep breath and sighed. "Do you really think this counts as a victory?"
"Why not? The Azurewave Dragon King put in so much effort just to get Blossom Mountain to ally with King Bullhorn. Honestly, I didn’t even want to come tonight, but with so many people involved, I worried you might take a hard line, so I came to see for myself. In the end... you didn’t need my help at all."
Monkey’s lips twitched slightly. He smiled and said, "Thank you."
Anna Yang smiled back.
After another silent stretch, Monkey spoke: "Actually, tonight I didn’t win—I lost."
"Hm?" Anna turned her face slightly, asking, "Why do you say that?"
"Didn’t you notice the real problem tonight?"
"Hm?"
"My opinion doesn’t really matter. Who wins or loses isn’t important. What matters is that Blossom Mountain must make the best possible decision, every single time." Monkey pursed his lips, gazing down the winding mountain path. "If any of them had offered a reason strong enough to convince me, to make me change my mind, I’d have been glad."
Anna Yang looked puzzled. "If you already made the right decision, isn’t that enough? I still don’t understand."
Monkey glanced at Anna and said slowly, "Let me pose a hypothetical: suppose I wasn’t here. How do you think things would have turned out?"
Anna was suddenly at a loss.
"The simplest way to make decisions is to choose a wise leader who listens to all sides and then decides. The ideal system is one where a group of sages supports a central figure. My original plan was to mold Shortbeak or Louis Quickpaw into that role. They have the seniority and prestige. Unfortunately, tonight they let me down. Not only could they not see far or deep enough, they got dragged into pointless arguments. This proves they’re not fit to be sages, or even wise men."
"In this situation, there’s a second option: voting. Voting is a last resort, the laziest solution. It rarely guarantees the right choice, but it does maximize unity inside the group."
"But this method has a fatal flaw: it only works if all participants have enough discipline. Otherwise, you get ‘political thugs’—those who lose the vote but refuse to cooperate and instead sabotage everything. In the end, nothing gets done. Judging by tonight, most of them—including Shortbeak and Louis Quickpaw—don’t really have this quality. If it comes to executing orders, I trust Shortbeak and Louis Quickpaw to do well. But they’re caretakers, not builders. In our current situation, if we don’t expand, we won’t even keep what we have."
"Really, it’s my own oversight. All these years, I’ve focused on expansion and poured everything into military strength, neglecting what seemed like less important internal matters."
Step by step, Monkey spoke his worries aloud, while Anna Yang was left in a daze, her legs moving mechanically forward.
She had never imagined Monkey was thinking about such things.
These were matters she’d never considered before.
"Are you... making arrangements for after you’re gone?"
Monkey slowly shook his head and answered softly, "No. Of course, backup plans are important. Blossom Mountain can’t rely on me alone. Throughout history, every nation, even with a ruler in his prime, places succession above all else. I have to be prepared for the unexpected."
Speaking, Monkey gave a bitter smile. "If it were me who was captured instead of General Lee, I doubt anyone could keep order inside and organize a rescue. Maybe, if something happened to me, Blossom Mountain would just scatter."
It was a sorrowful thought.
Blossom Mountain and the Heavenly Court—what sets them apart...?
"You’ve already done so much." From halfway up the mountain, Anna Yang pointed at the scattered lights like stars. "Look—in just a few short years, you’ve built a demon power that’s never existed before. This is unprecedented."
Monkey slowly shook his head, gazing at those scattered lights. He gestured with both hands: "It looks big, but it’s not nearly as large as you think. Behind the hard shell, it’s hollow. All these years, I’ve strengthened the schools, but their real purpose was always to build a war machine. I’ve succeeded, and it truly has become a war machine. But without its driver, it might not even have the ability to grow on its own—or even survive."
Looking beyond Shortbeak and Louis Quickpaw, how did the others do tonight? It’s not just about who could take my place if I’m gone, but how to keep this whole tower from collapsing as our strength grows.
Maybe we won’t even need to lose the driver—maybe, someday, even if I’m here, it will spiral out of control. We’ve grown too fast. Ever since the Heavenly Court started its crackdown on mortal-realm demons, we’ve expanded so quickly that some old practices don’t fit anymore. I can still keep it all together now, but there’s no guarantee I always will.
Blossom Mountain still has no written laws. Before, that didn’t matter—there were few demons, and everything happened under my direct watch. But now it’s getting bigger, and it’ll keep growing, until it’s beyond what I can see...
I can’t possibly think through everything myself, though I’ve always tried. But it’s impossible. As I’ve needed more help, I’ve found the others are already falling behind...
Maybe I’ve been too hasty, moving too fast for anyone else to keep up.
Monkey paused, his breath forming mist that drifted away in the wind.
This road is so long that even its designer can’t see the end.
Suddenly he felt as if the empire he’d forged with his own hands was almost too heavy for him to bear.
In those eyes, starlight from heaven and earth mingled, but they were also bloodshot.
The whole world spun in his hands, but could he really control it?
Some might call this needless worry, but the truth is, most of Blossom Mountain’s officers aren’t really qualified for the posts they hold.
He’s not trying to build just another rabble like the Six Demon Kings. He needs an entirely new world—only then can he challenge the old order. Otherwise, no matter how strong he is, he’ll end up hiding like the Nine-Headed Wyrm once did.
Anna Yang and Yisu said nothing. They just quietly kept him company, watching the world of Blossom Mountain and the distant fleet hanging in the sky.
After a long while, Monkey suddenly laughed. "No wonder mortals who follow the Sage’s Path can suppress demon cultivators. There’s a reason for it, after all. Ha! We’ll just take it one step at a time."
The demon world is like a wasteland with no foundation. How hard is it to raise a tall building on such rotten ground? At this moment, perhaps only Monkey truly understands.