Help! strats using T'ien Chi's Celestial Mages ...

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

KB: Division of labor: Celestials summon Heavenly Demons, M5Es take them places. The standard build-out of an M5E I noted earlier can lead anywhere from 70 to 100 magic beings (70 if ?=D, 100 if ?=S because Starshine Skullcap is too obvious, anything else 75 barring further one-path boost items). Note that I didn't say one or the other was outright "better." And which "stupid Lady" are you referring to? (Just checked: the Lady of Fortune is the guess...)
BTW: Whoever is in charge of the Tome needs their eyes checked. In it, the Oracle is referred to as a large blue... spider? It's a fountain forpretender'ssake!
Personally, I do a happy-dance when Li T'ieh-Kuai shows up. Nether-Darts-o-rama. Just make sure there's something in front of him so the enemy archers don't key on him...
Another use of CMs once you have the research: Gateway (THAU 5, same level as Soul Slay). Picture this: M5E gets into major battle and loses most of his force. Solution: Load the current crop of demons on a CM item-ed to S4, Gate to the nearest lab, pass the force over, and Teleport back. (Yes it's expensive gem-wise, about 12 S all told, but look at all that time saved.) No other really good ways to shift forces from one front to the other, short of the Flying Ship (unique, but you should win the race to it).