The Heavenly Fleet's sneak attack on Blossom Mountain was nothing short of a declaration of war. If it had been any ordinary demon, they'd have suffered the loss and moved on—who would dare provoke the Celestial Army?
Unfortunately for them, this time they ran into a most peculiar monkey.
In Monkey's dictionary, once war is declared, there are no limits—neither of territory nor of method. It’s a fight to the death, no holds barred. Even if he can’t break your bones, he’ll make sure to disgust you to the core.
While Marshal Silver and General Ward were still pondering their response in the study at Cloudrealm Sky Harbor, the third raid was already underway.
High above the border between the Southern Lands and the Western Ox Continent, a supply station built atop a massive floating stone was billowing thick smoke as the sounds of slaughter rang out.
On the central parade ground, corpses lay everywhere. The Heavenly General guarding the post, covered in blood and clutching his sword, retreated step by step in terror until his back pressed against the wall—there was nowhere left to run.
Before him sprawled the bodies of Heavenly Fleet soldiers, their flesh and blood splattered like mud across the ground.
Blood dripped from his forehead, seeping into his eyes and dyeing the world before him crimson.
"Who are you?" he shouted, his voice trembling.
"Isn’t it obvious? We’re not people—we’re demons." The Nine-Headed Wyrm, his right arm morphing into a massive beastly claw, laughed as he strode over the corpses toward the terrified general.
A Heavenly General at only the Spirit-Refinement Stage wasn’t even worth the trouble.
A few yards behind the Nine-Headed Wyrm, a snake demon who had only recently joined Blossom Mountain’s ranks was flicking his tongue, happily rummaging through corpses in hopes of finding something worth bringing back. He was a Spirit-Transformation cultivator.
"Demons? Aren’t you afraid of Heaven’s wanted list?" the Heavenly General shouted, waving his sword in futile defiance.
A trickle of blood coughed from his throat.
"Does it make any difference?" the Nine-Headed Wyrm retorted.
For a moment, the Heavenly General was left speechless.
Demons and gods are fundamentally opposed. Whether Heaven puts you on a wanted list or not, in the end, isn’t it all the same?
Getting listed just means the Heavenly General who chops off your head gets a bigger reward.
Even if they did nothing, the Celestial Army would still hunt them down. Demons are never accepted, so what difference does it make if they break a few more rules?
Back when he was first assigned to this posting, the Heavenly General had nothing but complaints.
In the Heavenly Fleet, if you wanted military merit, you had to go to the front lines and fight demons. Only the front line offered the fastest path to promotion.
Sitting idle in a place like this—sure, if the fleet departing from here won a victory, you might get a share of the credit, but hoping to climb the ranks on that alone would take forever.
He spent his days sighing over his colleagues’ battle reports, dreaming of demon-hunting glory. He never imagined that when demons finally appeared before him, it would look like this.
So demons could take the initiative against the Celestial Army, too.
For thousands of years, Heaven had always held the absolute initiative, to the point that people forgot such a possibility even existed.
But why target a tiny supply station like this?
The Heavenly General simply couldn’t understand.
The sounds of fighting outside gradually died away.
A blood-soaked pangolin demon staggered in through the main gate, shouldering a spiked club. "Brother Wyrm, it’s done on my end."
On the main building’s eaves, a giant eagle demon poked out his head, glanced at the Heavenly General, then at the Nine-Headed Wyrm, and urged, "Hurry it up. Stay too long and we’ll have trouble."
Hearing this, the Heavenly General took a deep breath, wiped the blood from his forehead, glared fiercely at the Nine-Headed Wyrm, and spat, "This is a sneak attack! You’re just bullying the weak!"
The snake demon rummaging through corpses burst out laughing and raised his head. "Isn’t this exactly what you’ve always done? Not long ago, three Spirit-Transformation Heavenly Generals and a bunch of soldiers chased me all over the place. If I hadn’t been lucky, I’d have ended up as snake stew. You’ve got some nerve saying that! Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Glancing back at the snake demon, the Nine-Headed Wyrm asked emotionlessly, "Ready?"
The Heavenly General shrank his neck slightly, swallowed hard, and gripped his sword even tighter.
In the next instant, the Nine-Headed Wyrm, who had been more than ten feet away, suddenly flashed to the general’s side. With a muffled thud, that massive claw had already pierced straight through his abdomen.
Agonizing pain shot through him; the Heavenly General’s body convulsed and he spat out a mouthful of blood, but still tried to raise his sword to strike the Nine-Headed Wyrm.
Just then, the Nine-Headed Wyrm jerked his hand back, ripping out all the general’s internal organs in one motion.
In an instant, blood gushed like a fountain.
Only then did the Heavenly General’s body slump and crash to the ground, blood slowly pooling beneath him.
"Let’s go." The Nine-Headed Wyrm gazed at the general’s lifeless eyes. "We’ve been at this long enough. Everyone’s tired. Let’s find somewhere to rest."
"Not tired at all—this is actually pretty comfortable," said the snake demon, waving his hand.
He casually stuffed a few Gold Essence coins he’d found into his pocket. "Damn, I’ve made nearly two thousand Gold Essence since we started. If we could stick around longer, I’d get even more. Hardly any elixirs, though. Considering the numbers, the Heavenly Fleet is really dirt poor."
"What do you even do with all that Gold Essence?" the giant eagle demon asked, frowning.
"Uh, I used to secretly trade Gold Essence with some earth immortals for elixirs and stuff."
"Are their elixirs better than Blossom Mountain’s?"
"Not really—actually, they’re a bit worse. But I’ve gotten used to it. If I don’t grab some to take with me, I feel uneasy. Waste is a sin!"
The Nine-Headed Wyrm’s monstrous claw slowly returned to normal. He sniffed his blood- and organ-smeared hand and said, "I stink of blood and guts. Even if you all don’t need a break, I at least need a good bath."
"Just shapeshift, Brother Wyrm. With your cultivation, why bother with bathing?"
"That’s what you don’t get about living," sighed the Nine-Headed Wyrm. "Bathing is a pleasure!"
"By the way, Brother Wyrm, how long are we going to keep this up?"
"Uh, Monkey didn’t say. Whatever, just keep at it. We’ll stop when all the big shots at Blossom Mountain have had their fun."
The entire supply station was soon set ablaze. Amid the roaring flames, yet another Heavenly Fleet banner was consumed.
Three days later, in Marshal Silver’s study, a pile of battle reports was spread across his desk.
"It’s only been a few days, and we’ve already been attacked seven times—seven! Five times total annihilation, two times the enemy withdrew when reinforcements arrived. In all, over 4,800 soldiers dead. And they even took the souls." General Ward paused, his face grave. "Supply fleets, supply stations, troop transports—they hit everything, always picking the weakest targets, striking and vanishing without a trace. Now our morale is shattered. Every unit is demanding we cancel routine patrols. If this keeps up, our fleet will be forced to hole up in Sky Harbor, never daring to venture out. How can we..."
His words trailed off. General Ward didn’t continue, just stared silently at Marshal Silver, whose face was dark as iron.
Behind him, the other officers were silent as well.
This was a war fought everywhere, on every front. But what was the point? Was it just to vent their anger?
Did they really think this could defeat Heaven?
Right now, it didn’t matter what the enemy was thinking. What mattered was that the Heavenly Fleet’s control was facing an unprecedented challenge.
After a long silence, Marshal Silver said coldly, "Report the situation to Heaven. Request urgent permission to launch a campaign against Blossom Mountain. And summon all Heavenly Generals at Spirit-Transformation level and above!"