Amidst the raging wind, the fleet slowly unfurled into a crane-wing formation. Countless Skyward Legionnaires soared into the air, weapons in hand, forming either shield walls or drawing their bows.
Steel gears rumbled as the heavy crossbows on the warships were cranked back, the sound rising with the shouts of the Skyward Legionnaires.
Banners snapped in the wind as every soldier gazed silently ahead at the surging clouds, waiting for the enemy to arrive.
After a long moment, three li ahead of the fleet, a demon with a pair of wings, clutching an iron sphere the size of a water bucket, shot up from the clouds like a flying fish leaping from the sea, soaring straight into the sky.
Then came a second, a third, a fourth... a whole swarm!
This swarm of demons wore uniform black armor—some with wings, some without—but every one of them clutched an identical iron sphere, and they all ignored the fleet entirely, charging straight upward.
"What are they trying to do?" General Trent squinted up at the sky.
Behind him, countless Skyward Legionnaires tracked the demons' movements with their arrows.
But soon, they stopped paying attention to the swarm of demons flying into the sky.
A jet-black wooden warship, pirate-like in appearance, leapt from the clouds like a dolphin.
Next, the Skyward Legionnaires saw, in grand procession, countless identical warships bursting from the clouds. In an instant, the endless cloudscape split into two camps: silver and black.
"So it's six hundred of these warships?" General Skyler, sweating profusely, couldn't help but laugh.
Can these ramshackle warships really stand against the Celestial Army?
But General Trent couldn't laugh: "If they have six hundred of these warships, it at least proves they have shipbuilding capability. Otherwise, no one could possibly build so many for them all at once."
Under the watchful eyes of the Celestial Army, Blossom Mountain's fleet slowly arranged itself into a spearhead formation for a direct assault.
"What are they thinking? Just charging straight at us? We don't even need to act—our warships alone could smash them to pieces!" General Skyler burst out laughing.
The heavy atmosphere on the flagship vanished instantly.
On the black warships, hordes of demons began to take to the air.
Most bore black fleshy wings, eerily similar to the feathered wings issued to the Skyward Legionnaires. The mass of demons swarmed around the fleet, circling like bees around a hive.
To General Trent's surprise, every soldier in this force of at least thirty thousand wore identical uniforms.
Does this mean they also have the ability to forge all kinds of weapons?
Suddenly, General Trent's eyes widened slightly, a look of doubt crossing his face.
"What's wrong?" General Skyler asked.
"They have no shield troops."
At those words, General Skyler noticed it too.
Unlike the Celestial River Navy, where silver shields were everywhere, not a single shield troop could be seen among Blossom Mountain's forces—not even on the decks.
"An assault formation paired with assault troops—are they planning not to defend at all?" General Skyler snorted. "They won't even reach us before we've shot them into porcupines!"
Behind him, the Skyward Legionnaires were itching to act, their bowstrings drawn ever tighter.
At the front of Blossom Mountain's fleet, the flagship bearing the "Handsome Monkey King" standard slowly separated from the formation, gliding a dozen or so zhang ahead. The demon officers gathered on deck quickly cleared a path.
At the end of that path stood a monkey clad in black armor.
With Shortbeak and the Nine-Headed Wyrm beside him, he strode to the bow, planted a foot on the low rail, and stood staff in hand against the wind, his gaze sweeping coldly over the Celestial River Navy's fleet.
At this moment, though Blossom Mountain's forces were far fewer than the Celestial River Navy, their small warships spread out so evenly that the two sides almost looked evenly matched.
But that was just an illusion. Against steel warships, these little boats stood no chance in quality or quantity; General Trent was confident he could defeat the demon monkey.
But was it really that simple? According to previous battle reports, this monkey was said to be extremely cunning—not the type to underestimate his enemy or charge in recklessly.
Doubts swirled. Gripping the rail, surrounded by the triumphant laughter of the Heavenly generals, General Trent remained silent.
"General, order a change in formation! With an assault formation, we can defeat them in one stroke!" urged one of the Heavenly generals beside him.
General Trent stroked his short beard, jaw clenched, eyes locked on the seemingly fragile demon army. After a long, long moment, he sighed softly: "No. Let's wait and see what tricks they have up their sleeves."
Flags whipped in the biting wind as the two armies faced off.
After a long standoff, the shield walls floating before the Celestial River Navy began to shift, sealing the fleet even tighter.
"Hmph, do you think this is Frost-Rain Mountain?" The monkey standing at the black flagship's prow took a deep breath, waved his hand, and said softly, "All troops—charge."
"Charge!" The officers on the flagship brandished their weapons and roared at the top of their lungs.
Their cries swept through the entire fleet; every demon bared their fangs and howled with wild abandon, as if the heavens and earth themselves were shouting.
In the sunlight, the Heavenly generals could even see the bulging veins rippling across the demons' snarling faces and muscles.
With such soaring morale, it seemed as if they faced not an army of demons, but a pack of wild beasts.
Every soldier and general of Heaven was momentarily stunned.
The massive horns mounted on both sides of the warships blared, the sound deafening.
On the raised platform at the stern, hulking demons—each nearly a zhang tall, bare-chested and painted with strange totems—began pounding the war drums with all their might.
With each thunderous beat, it seemed even the endless clouds danced to the rhythm of the drums.
The black fleet began its advance.
"They're really charging?" General Trent's eyes widened in disbelief.
What was this? Was there any point to such tactics?
Or had something happened at Blossom Mountain that they didn't know about?
General Trent had no answer.
Regardless, he still gave the order to prepare for battle.
[Irrelevant passage skipped]
The shield walls shifted forward slightly.
Behind those shields, the halberd-wielding Skyward Legionnaires beat their wings and gathered, ready to act as the front-line bulwark once the shield wall absorbed the first impact.
Further back, the sword-and-blade troops gripped their weapons and spread out, ready to surge forward and fill the gaps for direct melee once the halberds struck.
At the very rear, the archers of the Skyward Legion had their bowstrings taut, waiting for the demon army to enter range.
Before the two sides clashed head-on, there should be at least five volleys of arrows.
If used well, those five volleys could wipe out many demons—and more importantly, they would greatly sap the morale of the enemy vanguard.
Such preparations were unprecedented. Not just for the Celestial River Navy, but for the entire Celestial Army—never in five hundred years had they faced demons requiring this kind of response.
Time ticked by. Every Skyward Legionnaire held their breath, eyes wide.
The demon army's speed gradually increased, their snarling faces growing clearer by the moment.
On the warship's raised platform, the officer in charge of measuring distance squinted through his spyglass, calculating constantly.
"Ninety zhang, eighty, seventy, sixty, fifty... twenty!"
His hand slowly lifted, while the signal flag-bearer beside him readied himself.
As soon as that hand dropped, the flag-bearer would swing the signal flag with all his strength—and then, a storm of arrows would rain down!
Just then, a black iron sphere the size of a barrel came whistling down from the sky, aiming for the open space at the fleet's center.
"What's that?" General Skyler asked.
Before he finished speaking, a flash of white light burst from the center of the iron sphere!
"Boom!"
The iron sphere instantly erupted into a ball of fire.
A violent blast swept out, flinging six or seven Skyward Legionnaires aside. Two nearby heavy warships rocked wildly in the raging air currents.
"What in the world is that thing!"
The entire army erupted in chaos, the formation thrown into disarray.
Before the Celestial River Navy could figure out what was happening, countless identical iron spheres rained down from the sky.
Instantly, chaos reigned.
When those iron spheres hit the deck, fire swept across the planks, devouring unprepared Skyward Legionnaires. When they landed among the ranks, formations were shattered; when they struck the side of a warship, the massive force sent the vessel careening into its neighbor.
Everything was in chaos. In the scorching currents, ordinary Skyward Legionnaires couldn't even control their own bodies.
Thick smoke billowed upward, making it impossible to see even the faces of comrades at one's side.
General Trent and General Skyler were utterly stunned.
From afar, the demon army had already broken through the attack line. The signal to fire had been given, but only a handful of arrows flew, and none hit their mark.
The entire army was clearly out of control.
At that moment, the charging demon army began to re-form their ranks.
The demons who had been leading the charge slowed their wingbeats, while dozens of warships behind them surged forward to the front.
At the moment of contact, the demon army smashed through the Celestial River Navy's shield wall, still in chaos at the front line. Several wooden warships, unable to stop in time, crashed into the steel warships behind the shield wall and splintered apart.
But what did it matter? It was only a few warships.
By now, the Celestial River Navy was already in total disarray.
This kind of battle, Blossom Mountain's troops had secretly practiced countless times. The Celestial River Navy had never faced it before.
Preparedness versus unpreparedness, tight coordination versus utter chaos, a force of pure Pilgrim Daoists against a majority of Enlightened Daoists...
So what if they only had one-third the numbers? So what if their equipment was inferior? So what if little boats faced steel warships?
The Celestial River Navy's defensive formation had already been breached by Blossom Mountain's charge. The surging demons swept through every corner like a flood bursting through a dam.
Faced with those hate-filled, snarling faces and bloodshot eyes, the brave Celestial River Navy's morale crumbled bit by bit.
It all happened so fast, so suddenly that General Skyler and General Trent were left utterly blank.
Just then, two figures landed on the flagship's deck.
"It's the Handsome Monkey King and the Nine-Headed Wyrm!" a Skyward Legionnaire shouted.
In an instant, countless halberds surrounded them.
Separated by layers of defenses, the monkey fixed General Skyler with a cold stare: "Leave the big-bearded one to me. I've got a personal grudge with him."
"I've got a grudge with him too," the Nine-Headed Wyrm shot Monkey a glare. "Did you forget last time, when he set up that ridiculous battle formation and left me in a mess?"
General Skyler's mouth twitched violently.