On the fifth morning after Monkey's night raid on the Heavenly Fleet, the Heavenly Fleet finally appeared twenty li from Blossom Mountain. They deployed their formation—over a hundred mighty squares, stretching as far as the eye could see, blotting out the sky.
Unlike their previous formations, this time the Heavenly Fleet did not adopt dense patterns such as the Wild Goose or Spearhead arrays. Instead, they chose a dispersed, multi-layered fish-scale formation—far more scattered than before.
It seemed designed to counter Blossom Mountain’s Blaze Bombs. Warships were positioned above, below, left, right, front, and rear of each formation, serving as barriers. This scattered fish-scale array ensured Blossom Mountain could not unleash a sweeping bombardment, while maintaining gradient defenses—so even if one square was defeated, the others would not fall into chaos.
Of course, the price for such a formation was its extreme weakness in attack. Ultimately, it was just a stopgap for defense.
In direct response, Blossom Mountain also deployed its full force. Yet compared to the Heavenly Fleet, its scale was much smaller.
Firstly, Blossom Mountain still adopted a dense spearhead formation. Secondly...
Counting all demons under Blossom Mountain’s banner, Monkey now commanded roughly four hundred thousand. Of these, one hundred fifty thousand had been selected as the army, but only about one hundred thousand truly possessed combat qualifications and full equipment—even after the last haul of war spoils.
Of course, in war, a slight numerical disadvantage does not mean much.
As the slow pulse of the Heavenly Fleet’s war drums echoed, the three foremost squares advanced, gradually separating from the main force until they had moved about five li ahead, where they halted.
General Trent stood atop the warship at the front of the formation and shouted in a booming voice: “Heavenly Fleet, by order of the Jade Emperor, now campaigns against Blossom Mountain! Demon scum, come out and meet your death!”
That voice was clearly reinforced with spiritual power, deep and thunderous as a storm.
"Demon scum, come out and meet your death!" All the soldiers of the Heavenly Fleet raised their weapons and shouted in unison.
"Our heads are right here! Why don’t you come and chop them off!"
The words instantly set off an uproarious laugh among the demon army.
Shortbeak, standing shoulder to shoulder with Monkey at the prow, couldn’t help but laugh. Turning to Monkey, he said, "Where do they get their confidence? Have they already forgotten that Blossom Mountain crushed ninety thousand of their troops not long ago? Is there any point to all this shouting?"
"Maybe they just think it’s fun," Monkey replied, stroking his chin in quiet thought.
Through the layered formations, Monkey could see Marshal Silver and General Ward conversing atop the central flagship’s tower of the Heavenly Fleet.
Are these people just here to embarrass themselves? he wondered.
"Why don’t we just launch a direct attack?" Shortbeak suggested.
Monkey, watching the three forward squares of the Heavenly Fleet, said, "With a ten-li charge distance and a five-li buffer zone, they can support each other or fall back as needed. If we attack now, even if we win, they’ll still be able to withdraw in good order."
As he spoke, Monkey glanced up at the few warships deployed above the formation, shrouded in celestial troops. "Those up there are clearly to guard against our 'thunder bombs.' With defenses this tight, better to wait and see."
After a while, seeing that the demon army did nothing but mock them, the Heavenly Fleet repeated their earlier shouts once again.
This time, only the three forward squares kept shouting; the demon army couldn’t even be bothered to laugh.
Thus the standoff dragged on for an entire hour, with repeated, mechanical exchanges. Not only Blossom Mountain’s demons, but even the Heavenly Fleet and the distant South Heaven Gate Fleet grew impatient.
"When did the Heavenly Fleet get so funny in battle? I thought they’d charge as soon as they formed up—I got up early just to watch the show, but what a letdown." Nathan Young slouched against the rail, sighing listlessly.
"Maybe they have some deeper plan," said King Virūḍhaka.
Do they really? I’ve flown several circuits—no hidden reserves, all their forces are laid out. What could Silver possibly pull off?
"That I don’t know," King Virūḍhaka replied, taking a deep breath. "Prince Nathan, the Heavenly Fleet is here—shouldn’t you reopen talks with Blossom Mountain about releasing the Heavenly King? If we keep stalling, I fear complications will arise."
......
At that moment, in the room beneath Marshal Silver’s tower, several Heavenly Generals were bustling about.
Soon, a Heavenly General approached Marshal Silver.
"Marshal, we’ve completed a preliminary survey of the situation."
"Report."
"We’ve observed that the enemy still has some of those black iron sphere artifacts, but not many—at least not visibly. They may be hidden. There are also some new developments we hadn’t noticed before."
After a brief pause, the Heavenly General unfurled a bamboo scroll and said, "On the Celestial warships captured by the enemy, we saw some cylindrical black metal objects. These weren’t part of the original configuration, so they must have been installed after the ships were seized. They’re five feet long, can be moved, black, thick at the base, and likely some kind of magical device. There were also wooden crates nearby, probably related to these devices."
"And?" Marshal Silver asked.
"Among the six frontline enemy formations, we saw some demon soldiers carrying long, cloth-wrapped objects on their backs. We’re not sure what these are, but they’re likely some kind of artifact. Given that these soldiers are deployed in mixed formation with archers, and flanked by sword and spear units, it’s probable the cloth-wrapped items are long-range magical weapons."
"Anything else?"
"Also, the enemy’s main warships have been fitted with rams. Some wooden ships have rams, some don’t—perhaps they ran out of time, or maybe it’s a deliberate distinction. The unarmed wooden ships are concentrated at four points in the second-tier formation. Beyond that, no other anomalies for now."
Marshal Silver nodded slightly. "You may go. Keep observing, and report any new findings immediately."
Yes, sir!
After the Heavenly General left, General Ward sighed softly, "Looks like they’re not planning to attack today. That means we won’t be able to gather more intelligence. But why were they so aggressive last time against General Trent?"
That demon monkey is extremely cunning. I suspect he’s worried I might still have some tricks up my sleeve," Marshal Silver said. "In any case, we can at least confirm he’s holding back several contingencies."
...
Meanwhile, Monkey was doing much the same aboard his own warship.
"The three forward squares should all be of the Traveler class, their spiritual power higher than the others," Monkey said, manipulating Master Jade Cauldron’s spirit-probing disk. "The second-tier formations are all of the Sage class, with the rear ones mixed... Looks like they’ve put in real effort to counter us. But why aren’t there any shield-bearers this time? Defensive formation, but no shield-bearers—what’s going on?"