In Jinling, "eating smoke" is called "consuming smoke."
Lin Jiaojiao was right; those who had "consumed" my Da Qian Men cigarettes felt indebted and agreed with my argument.
"Village Chief, you make the decision. We'll all listen to you!" a man who seemed to be the deputy spoke on behalf of the villagers.
It turned out the middle-aged man was the village chief. He took a deep drag of Da Qian Men, thought for a moment, then suddenly stood up, "Agreed! Then we'll listen to Lord Wu!"
I figured they had been stranded in this desolate place long enough. Just complaining wouldn't solve anything, but no one had given them an easy way out.
As a "living infernal servant," I wasn't particularly special. The only special thing about me might have been providing them with that way out.
"Look, a once-in-a-millennium living infernal servant has come to mediate. Let's agree to it"—that was my only role.
"Alright, Lord Wu, we'll go with you to the City God Temple," the village chief said heartily.
As he spoke, I noticed an undisguised sense of relief wash over his face.
But, not so fast.
"Brother Village Chief, I have one more request," I quickly stopped him. If they all went to the underworld, my trip would have been in vain!
"What is it? Lord, please speak freely."
"It's not a big deal, but... I've encountered some trouble in the mortal realm. My opponent is quite strong. Could I trouble you to help me resolve this crisis?" I asked tentatively.
"No problem with that," the village chief continued heartily. "We are already ghosts, so participating in any mortal affairs won't change our status, as long as the infernal servants don't punish us—Commander Ma of the Infernal Servant's Office told us this."
So, Ma Jiaojiao had already paved the way for me.
"Okay, then..." I looked at the surrounding ghost villagers. "Can those who can manifest physically come with me?"
They might not understand "complexion," but they would certainly understand this.
The village chief climbed onto a grave mound and told the ghosts who couldn't manifest to return to the mass grave to rest, while those who could would stay.
I noticed that all the returning villagers were ghosts with red energy. Not a single ghost with orange, yellow, or green energy remained.
This meant that as long as a ghost cultivated from the most common red energy to orange energy, they gained the ability to manifest physically. In other words, the reason humans can sometimes "see" ghosts isn't because humans have special eyes, but because ghosts have cultivated their energy to a visible level, thus making themselves apparent.
My art of perceiving energy is indeed useful!
The village chief then had the remaining villagers line up. Perhaps they had seen General Zhang's troops and understood basic formations.
They formed eight columns and twenty-eight rows. I calculated by multiplication: including the village chief, there were a total of two hundred and twenty-five people.
"Lord, we've assembled. Where are we going?" the village chief asked.
"Hold on, I'll make a call." I called Yaoyao to ask where they had evacuated to.
Yaoyao gave me an address—a factory belonging to Chen Lu's family, about fifteen kilometers away.
"How's your marching speed?" I asked the village chief. With so many ghosts, even if they manifested, I couldn't transport them all.
"Not slow, faster than artillery carts," the village chief chuckled, and then had Zhang Xiaomiao demonstrate for me.
Ghosts in their spectral state walk by floating. When fully engaged, their speed was estimated to be around 50 kilometers per hour, faster than Bolt.
"That's enough. How about this, Village Chief, follow me first. When we reach the road, I'll drive ahead to guide you, and you follow behind me. But pay attention, we have to pass through the bustling city, so you absolutely cannot manifest yourselves and scare the common folk."
"We'll follow your arrangements completely!"
Zheng Bingbing and I led over two hundred ghosts back to the road and slowly drove towards Chen Lu's family factory, following the navigation.
After driving for a while, I activated my energy-perceiving art and looked back to confirm they were keeping up. In the suburbs, I cruised at 50 mph, and they struggled to keep pace, the group becoming somewhat scattered because not every ghost had Zhang Xiaomiao's speed. The five ghosts with green energy, however, kept up with ease, even surpassing us, darting back and forth in front of the car, moving like sports cars.
It seems a ghost's speed is directly proportional to their energy level. No wonder Ma Jiaojiao was as swift as the wind, and Wu Zhao could instantly become a tiny white dot. They both had purple energy, so their speed should be close to the speed of sound, shouldn't it?