The Heavenly Fleet's attention to the situation meant that the South Heaven Gate Fleet, having received the invitation, was already well aware of the developments.
Monkey, however, remained completely in the dark. As for King Virūḍhaka, King Northmore, and Nathan Young—the three who had been forced to temporarily align themselves with him—they certainly would not be so quick to inform him of these events.
At this moment, Monkey was still absorbed in his dilemma over how to initiate the 'war.'
There was no doubt that the standoff between the South Heaven Gate Fleet and Blossom Mountain was highly advantageous to Blossom Mountain’s basic principle of buying time. As long as the South Heaven Gate Fleet did not declare defeat, the odds of Heaven sending additional forces or redeploying other commanders into the Blossom Mountain theater remained extremely low.
Thus, this period of outwardly tense confrontation would become another rare opportunity for Blossom Mountain to develop.
If this were the mortal realm, the idea of the South Heaven Gate Fleet besieging Blossom Mountain for years would be unimaginable—absurd, even.
But time in the mortal realm and Heaven is not the same; one year below is only a day above. By this logic, Heaven could easily accept the fact that the South Heaven Gate Fleet might besiege Blossom Mountain for 'several days' without a breakthrough. In other words, Heaven is likely to miss this window entirely.
Looking back afterward, it might seem utterly ridiculous, but that would be a matter for days later. By then, when General Lee is sent back, the veteran politician will naturally know how to clear himself and his subordinates of blame.
For now, as long as the South Heaven Gate Fleet is willing to cooperate with Blossom Mountain in staging this drama, leveraging the massive bureaucracy of Heaven for a few days’ reaction time is hardly a challenge.
In Monkey’s view, the hardest part of all this would undoubtedly be deceiving the eyes of the Heavenly Marshal Corps.
This bureau is Heaven’s dedicated inspection agency, and only it is charged with overseeing the entire mortal realm. Because of this, there could never be just a standoff between Blossom Mountain and the South Heaven Gate Fleet without actual combat.
But how, exactly, should this combat be carried out?
Monkey’s initial plan was to use General Lee as leverage, so his demons could engage in continuous small-scale battles under certain guarantees.
On one hand, this would give his all-Traveler’s Path demons a chance to vent their killing aura; on the other, it would allow him to effectively control casualties. In short, it was a strategy that promised multiple benefits.
Once he settled on this model, Monkey immediately relayed his decision to Nathan Young.
At first, Nathan Young agreed without hesitation via Jade Tablet, worried that Monkey might mistreat General Lee. Yet about an hour later, when contacted again, his attitude had completely changed.
According to Nathan, after consulting with King Virūḍhaka, they believed combat was feasible, but it could not be carried out as Monkey demanded.
The reason: everyone in the South Heaven Gate Fleet already knew that General Lee had been captured. Only by uniting the opinions of the core officers and strictly limiting all external communications had they barely managed to suppress the news.
This approach meant staking their personal futures entirely on the line.
Under such circumstances, the only reason the core officers could be unified was, on one hand, out of gratitude for General Lee’s past kindness, and on the other, because refusing to support him now would brand them as traitors and invite ostracism from their peers.
If real fighting was to begin while also guaranteeing demon safety, that would require informing all the main commanders. This, in turn, would inevitably give the impression that the entire South Heaven Gate Fleet had been taken hostage by Blossom Mountain, trading soldiers’ lives for their commander’s.
At that point, opposition would naturally arise, and the situation could spiral out of control.
In short, the South Heaven Gate Fleet agreed to maintain continuous combat to hide the truth, but refused to control casualties. If real fighting broke out, it would be with real swords and spears—life and death left to fate.
All these reasons made sense, but Monkey still felt the problem had simply been tossed back to him.
At present, it was clear that the true controller of the South Heaven Gate Fleet was King Virūḍhaka. If Monkey were dealing directly with him, he could be as forceful as he was when extorting Peaches of Immortality—let the other side solve its own problems.
But now, he was dealing directly with Nathan Young...
If the other side refused to yield, and things reached this point, Monkey worried they might simply throw caution to the wind. If he pressed too hard and the arrangement collapsed, out of regard for Nathan Young, he truly had no reason to harm General Lee.
Although King Virūḍhaka was a Traveler’s Path cultivator, after so many years under General Lee, he seemed to have picked up some political acumen.
But that might be for the best; if the South Heaven Gate Fleet were truly led by a stubborn Nathan Young, this game would probably fall apart in no time.
Besides, in a real fight, Monkey’s demons—hardened by life-and-death struggles—should have a clear advantage over the pampered soldiers of the South Heaven Gate Fleet.
With that, the matter was preliminarily settled.
And so, Blossom Mountain spent its first quiet day under 'siege.'
That night, Monkey gathered the main leaders of Blossom Mountain—including Shortbeak, Louis Quickpaw, Anna Yang, Horace Coil, and Shadow—for a small meeting.
The meeting’s main purpose was to brief them on the current situation with the South Heaven Gate Fleet, to make clear that Blossom Mountain would remain in a wartime state for the foreseeable future, and to announce certain redeployments.
The most critical point was to establish outposts on the periphery to continue receiving demons who came to defect and funnel them into Blossom Mountain.
Although only half of Blossom Mountain was under blockade and access remained technically open, Monkey still worried that new arrivals might turn back at the sight of the warships before ever reaching Demon City.
After all, Blossom Mountain’s rapid growth depended on a steady influx of fresh blood—there was no room for error.
By the time the meeting ended, it was already the 'ox hour.'
The leaders dispersed, leaving Monkey alone on the balcony, staring into the chilly wind and gazing out.
Late at night, the streets of Demon City on Blossom Mountain were even more deserted. But it was only the streets that were quiet—the army was another matter: watch-fires blazed atop the walls, painting half the sky red, and patrol squads marched back and forth. Vigilance, naturally, did not distinguish between day and night.
For the nocturnal demons within the city, and even those in the underground districts who did not belong to the army, their work and daily routines were only just beginning.
Back when they lived in the underground city, there was no sunlight, so Blossom Mountain’s forces had no concept of day and night. Now that they have moved to the surface, they divided their work according to their habits. Upon closer inspection, nearly half the population turned out to be night-walking demons.
It seemed that demons were truly better suited to this kind of wartime system than humans.
After standing there for a while, Monkey finally blinked a few times, preparing to return to his room for a brief rest.
Looking down, he happened to see that the door and windows to Belle’s room behind the Alchemy House were tightly shut, but the lights were still burning.
“That little girl, still not asleep so late? What is she doing?” he mused. Just as he was about to leap from the balcony to see what she was up to, a demon soldier quietly approached from behind.
“Your Majesty, the Nine-Headed Wyrm requests an audience outside the city.”