After several days of circling around Blossom Mountain, the two wings of the Heavenly Fleet finally joined forces—but only after spreading a vast scout web some eight hundred li away from Blossom Mountain.
Judging by their actions, they were cautious to the extreme.
Monkey ground his teeth in frustration, but there was nothing he could do. A major army merger would have been the perfect chance for a surprise attack, but at eight hundred li away, it was far beyond Blossom Mountain’s current raiding range.
Originally, Monkey thought that once they combined forces, a decisive battle would follow. Unfortunately, Marshal Silver didn’t seem to have any such intention yet.
“That’s odd... Can their supplies really last that long? If there’s no fighting, their elixirs and weapons won’t be depleted, but what about food? For us, it’s not a problem—we’re on home ground, and food is never an issue. Does that guy really expect the Heavenly Fleet to forage for themselves? Is he trying to outlast me in a contest of patience?”
Clearly, there was no answer to this question. Even the demon generals were more baffled than Monkey.
Maybe they were waiting for something.
But what could they possibly be waiting for? Monkey truly couldn’t figure it out.
The Heavenly Court certainly wouldn’t send them any more reinforcements, and the earth immortals were out of the question. The Court was nearly ready to deny their legitimacy; who would risk helping them now?
According to Anna Yang, even the few immortals who still kept contact with Marshal Silver were now busy distancing themselves from him. In his current situation, what hope could he possibly have left?
Still, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for Blossom Mountain.
Although most of the demons had already been evacuated from Blossom Mountain in advance, the Underworld City’s sprawling tunnels still maintained a complete production system. The longer the stalemate dragged on, the more troops could be equipped—and the greater the advantage for Blossom Mountain.
Of course, a delay of just ten days or so wouldn’t mean much.
Two days after merging their forces, the Heavenly Fleet began a methodical sweep five hundred li due north of Blossom Mountain.
They deployed part of their troops on the ground, searching inch by inch, driving away even birds and beasts. In the sky, the massive fleet formed a three-dimensional surveillance net, and even set up an outward-facing heaven net to keep everything out.
With such measures in place, Blossom Mountain’s intelligence network was naturally cut off.
“What are they trying to do now? Are they planning to build a base here for a long-term standoff?” Monkey was increasingly puzzled.
Every move they made was so unlike the typical style of the Celestial Army.
Still, no matter how irrational their actions seemed, Monkey absolutely couldn’t afford to act rashly right now.
On one hand, time was already on his side. On the other, he held numerous past battle reports from the Heavenly Fleet. Marshal Silver might not be a skilled politician or socialite, but he was definitely a master of military strategy.
By comparison, Monkey’s experience in commanding battles was much shallower.
Against such an opponent, he might be able to steal a few victories when information was asymmetric, but once the enemy figured out his capabilities, it would be a different story. How could Monkey dare to be anything but cautious?
Soon, he received two unexpected pieces of news.
The first was relatively unimportant: the Six Demon Kings were approaching Blossom Mountain with their remaining forces, winding along the road like snakes. Monkey had no idea what those six old turtles were up to.
Monkey tossed that report aside without a second thought—he didn’t even bother asking Gavin Ao about it.
He’d long since given up on those six; with the Heavenly Fleet pressing for a direct clash, who had time to deal with them?
The second piece of intelligence left everyone stunned.
“You’re saying... Cloudrealm Sky Harbor of the Heavenly Fleet is moving this way?” Monkey suddenly felt his brain freeze.
Monkey had watched that thing from a distance before—it was a city, through and through...
Shortbeak took a deep breath and nodded emphatically. “Confirmed. It’s moving slowly—by our calculations, it’ll take at least five years to reach Blossom Mountain.”