Gene Elk left.
He left feeling both happy and anxious.
He was happy because the Monkey King had readily taken on the mess, but anxious about whether the Monkey King could handle it.
In a way, he was in a deeply conflicted state.
If the Monkey King failed, he was afraid, because as he’d said, he was the real commander. The Serpent Lord might punish the Monkey King, but given the Serpent Lord’s temper, he would definitely punish him too.
If the Monkey King succeeded, he was also afraid. Because if the Monkey King accomplished what he couldn’t, it would surely threaten his position.
But even so, he didn’t have the guts to sabotage things. After all, the Serpent Lord was not someone to mess with.
Right now, the best outcome for him would be if the Monkey King came up with a half-baked plan—just enough to solve the immediate crisis, but not done too well.
After Gene Elk left, the Monkey King, led by the civil officials, entered the camp.
Though it was also a camp, this place was much more comfortable than the Monkey King’s old one.
Rows of yurts stood in neat order, their flags fluttering in the wind.
Right in the center was a large tent with a radius of ten zhang. Since Gene Elk didn’t live here, it naturally belonged to the Monkey King.
Once inside the main tent, the Monkey King sat down and asked, "When General Gene is not around, who’s in charge here?"
The civil official bowed respectfully and replied with a fawning smile, "Are you asking about the official in charge of administration or the one in charge of the military?"
"Tell me about both," the Monkey King said.
"That would be me," the civil official replied, bowing again. "My name is Eugene Parrot, though my colleagues usually call me Old Eugene."
Only now did the Monkey King lift his head to take a closer look at the demon before him.
He was a parrot demon, covered in green feathers and dressed in a black official robe. His eyes were small, his beak large, and he looked rather stiff.
Fortunately, the constant smile on his face kept him from looking too dull.
"Eugene Parrot, is that right?"
"Yes. Eugene Parrot pays his respects to the Cavalry Marshal."
"You handle the administrative affairs. Who’s in charge of the military?"
"The military is overseen by Hugo Hound."
"Where is he? Call him over."
"I’ll see to it right away," Eugene Parrot replied with a cheerful bow before turning and leaving the tent.
About the time it takes to burn two sticks of incense later, a hound demon lifted the tent flap and peered inside.
This hound demon wore standard-issue armor, stood about eight feet tall, with long limbs—he was noticeably taller than the Monkey King.
The moment he lifted the curtain and saw the Monkey King, his expression froze. He stood there, stunned, until Eugene Parrot gave him a push from behind, prompting him to enter the tent.
"Hugo Hound, is that right?"
"Y-yes!" The hound demon immediately struck his chest armor with a fist, dropped to one knee, and gave the Monkey King a perfect military salute. "Hugo Hound, reporting to the Cavalry Marshal!"
His expression looked somewhat unnatural.
"Called Hugo Hound—I almost thought you were a distant relative of mine." The Monkey King smiled slightly. "Who gave you that name?"
The hound demon said nothing.
Eugene Parrot, standing to the side, quickly interjected, "General Gene gave him that name."
"Oh—!" The Monkey King laughed as if suddenly enlightened.
Gene Elk’s personal troops, huh.
That laugh only made Hugo Hound feel even more uncomfortable.
The Monkey King slowly stood up, walked around Hugo Hound, and asked in a low voice, "How’s the reorganization going?"
Eugene Parrot quickly pulled a notebook from his sleeve and recited, "So far, one thousand two hundred and fifty have been reorganized and enlisted."
"Oh? That’s a bit low."
"Marshal, you may not know, but rumors are flying everywhere. The demons outside the city are all watching and waiting."
"Do you have any ideas?"
"Well..." Eugene Parrot lowered his head and murmured, "Forgive me, Marshal, I’m not up to the task..."
"What about you?" The Monkey King looked down at the still-kneeling hound demon.
The hound demon didn’t answer, but Eugene Parrot quickly cut in again.
"Marshal, Hugo Hound is only responsible for camp security, weapon distribution, and training the new recruits. Recruitment isn’t part of his duties."
"From now on, it is." With that, the Monkey King bent down, grabbed the hound demon by the back of his armor, and hoisted him up.
Startled, the hound demon quickly stood upright, but still said nothing.
Returning to the table and sitting down, the Monkey King looked up and asked, "The thousand elite soldiers stationed in camp now are all under your command, right?"
"Yes, Marshal."
"Alright, take your thousand elite soldiers and go out to recruit more."
At these words, both demons were utterly stunned.
The Monkey King looked up, smiling faintly at the two demons. "What, you don’t know what conscription means?"
"C-conscription..."
Eugene Parrot quickly stepped forward and bowed. "Marshal, if we do this, there will surely be complaints later!"
"Then give me a plan that won’t cause complaints."
"Uh..."
"There’s no time. That’s how it’ll be. If anyone brings up those rumors again, cut them down on the spot. From now on, anyone spreading rumors will be treated as a traitor!"
With that, he slammed his palm on the table.
About two hours later, the thousand troops Gene Elk had promised arrived. Combined with those already in the camp, four hundred were left to guard the camp, while the remaining sixteen squads—one thousand six hundred strong—were sent to sweep through the camps of each faction leader.
For a moment, wails and howls erupted outside the city.
The Monkey King didn’t join the operation, but stood by the camp’s fence, watching from afar.
Eugene Parrot respectfully stood behind him and asked, "Marshal... isn’t this a bit too much? After all, we’ve never done it this way before."
The Monkey King just snorted and said, "Times have changed. The reason we never did this before was because we never had to."
"But... if we do this, those who are brought in will have a lot of resentment. There may be deserters in the future."
"If there are deserters, catch them. If you catch them, execute them—let everyone else see. Do I really need to teach you this?"
"Y-yes, Marshal, you’re right." Eugene Parrot could only bow his head and remain silent.
That night, these troops swept through the camps of twelve faction leaders, throwing the entire area outside the city into chaos. Three of the camps saw actual fighting. Hugo Hound publicly read out the order banning the spread of rumors.
Ironically, this only made the rumors spread even more fiercely.
This chapter isn’t over yet~.~ Click next page to continue reading the exciting content!
But this was the Serpent Lord’s domain, and the other faction leaders had long heard of people mysteriously disappearing when they tried to escape. Plus, Gene Elk’s demon soldiers were no joke. Though unwilling, the leaders were ultimately forced into the ranks one by one.
Watching from afar as the demons were escorted into the camp, the Monkey King noticed that every one of them looked a little purple-faced, and their eyes toward the demon soldiers were filled with hatred, as if facing their father’s killer.
A strange smile appeared on his face.
After a night of turmoil, by dawn, the tally showed that three thousand soldiers had been conscripted in a single night.
News quickly reached the Serpent Lord and Gene Elk.
The Serpent Lord was fairly satisfied; after all, he didn’t care about complaints. These demons would soon be sold off to the Heavenly Court anyway—by then, even if they wanted to complain, there’d be nowhere to do so.
As for Gene Elk, he was also satisfied, because the Monkey King’s methods were anything but clever—bordering on the foolish. So, satisfied as he was, he still filed a formal complaint against the Monkey King.
Of course, that complaint wasn’t particularly well-crafted. When the Serpent Lord asked him in the grand hall if he had a better idea, Gene Elk couldn’t answer. In the end, the Serpent Lord berated him thoroughly, and the matter was dropped.
Before noon, the impatient Serpent Lord issued a new order, transferring another thousand of Gene Elk’s remaining two thousand troops to the Monkey King. He also ordered the Monkey King to complete the reorganization as soon as possible.
This left Gene Elk feeling unbalanced; seeing himself about to become a commander without any troops, he could only rush back to his camp outside the city.
"Reorganization is of utmost importance. I must personally supervise it," he said to the Monkey King.
He had been assisting before, but now he changed his tune to supervising. The Monkey King simply smiled and accepted this obvious attempt to claim credit.
With this, the soldiers began reporting directly to him, leaving the Monkey King sidelined.
With nothing to do, by dusk the Monkey King returned to his residence to cultivate. Aside from Eugene Parrot’s brief protest, no one questioned this.
Soon, Gene Elk himself was personally leading teams to attack the camps of each faction leader. The whole area outside the city was thrown into chaos, with countless demons trying to escape—keeping the Skyward Rangers stationed on the outskirts extremely busy.
After three days of this back-and-forth, nearly all of the more than twenty thousand demons outside the city who were still able-bodied had been conscripted. Even the seriously injured Old Ox and Shortmouth, as well as the powerless little fox demon, were brought into the camp.
Three days later, the conscription was complete—but what could be expected from an army cobbled together like this?
Almost every night, there were deserters, with wails and howls filling the dark. By morning, a dozen heads would be hanging at the camp gate.
Panic spread even further.
In the end, Gene Elk had to transfer another five hundred of his city guards, leaving only five hundred to defend the city, but he was still overwhelmed.
The whole reorganization had become a complete mess.
But what did it matter? These troops were never expected to have any real combat power—in fact, the weaker, the better.
Strong, weak, injured—it made no difference. Once sold, they all fetched the same price.
Three days later, just as Gene Elk was suffering and enjoying himself, the Monkey King had reached the critical point for breaking through to the Spirit-Refinement Stage.
......
Meanwhile, a massive fleet was slowly sailing through the Milky Way.
At the prow of the flagship, a tall figure stood, sword in hand.
Clad in silver armor that glowed softly, his majestic helmet bore the emblem of drifting clouds and a moon. White fox fur, taken from a nine-tailed fox demon, hung down to his waist, and a white cloak billowed behind him.
His face, half-hidden by the helmet, was cold and unreadable.
"You mean King Virūḍhaka has attacked again?" Marshal Silver gazed at the vast sea of stars ahead and asked slowly.
"Yes, sir." The Heavenly General kneeling behind him replied, "I just received the news—the destination is still Bluewave Lake."
"Heh." Marshal Silver’s face showed a half-smile. "King Virūḍhaka just can’t get enough, can he? Bluewave Lake—again and again. He’s been racking up victories and rewards lately. But do they really think we’re blind?"
The Heavenly General behind him bowed his head in silence.
Gently stroking the hilt of his sword, made from the horn of a rhino demon, Marshal Silver sighed, "Lee Jing, Lee Jing... your tricks just keep multiplying. Prepare a few fast ships for me."
"Marshal, are you planning to...?"
"Go to Bluewave Lake and watch the show!"
——————————————— Divider ———————————————
Thanks to Mr. Confucian, Sugar from Little A’s Family, Gale Beyond the Pass, Today’s Little Rain, Autumn Rain and Wind, ll Silly Fish yy, and Lord Junmo from the Academy’s Second Floor for their support. Thank you.