"Who is the strongest, you?" I asked again, because their auras looked the same as ordinary ghosts, with only a single breath. What was even stranger was that their individual breaths were all red. But I felt their strength couldn't be just red. After all, they had cultivated human forms, so in life they must have been great demons of at least green aura. That left only one explanation: my physiognomy technique still had flaws, and there were some things reflecting their strength that I couldn't see yet.
If Yao Yao were here, she could probably tell.
"I am unworthy, but I am the leader of the Twenty-Eight Spirits," the tiger spirit said, essentially admitting it was the strongest.
"You..." I decided to ask directly, "What color aura did you have in life?"
"Blue aura. What of it?"
See, I told you my physiognomy technique wouldn't work well in the underworld.
"When did you die?" I asked again.
"In the nineteenth year of the Min Dynasty, I died in the great battle of Zhongyuan."
I nodded. Dying in a civil war, not finding peace, a waste.
However, since it was a great demon with a blue aura, it should still possess considerable strength. It was a pity that I couldn't bring it to the mortal realm. Bingbing and I came to the underworld mainly to visit the Yin Official's Mansion, because only the yin officials there could freely move between the two realms and help me in the mortal world. There were probably many other great demons—no, great spirits—like this tiger spirit, as the proportion of demons who died in battles throughout history was not even less than that of humans.
If I could utilize them for assistance, perhaps the Shanhai Demon Clan could do the same. This would be equivalent to digging up the fallen from both sides and fighting again, which was neither possible nor necessary, and held no practical significance in changing the balance of power. Overall, the Shanhai Demon Clan had the upper hand in the millennia-long conflict, as the Baize Demon Clan always sided with humans, gaining a slight advantage. Therefore, if the "resurrection" skill were activated, it would actually be disadvantageous to our side.
"Alright, you continue to Wusi City and help them defend the city well," I said.
"Uh... yes." The tiger spirit cupped its hands again, and with its subordinates, it bypassed us and went around from both sides.
The crisis averted, we continued on our way. This small interlude had added a strange piece of knowledge, though not very useful.
There were no further obstructions ahead. It took us four hours to pass through this dark forest. After leaving the forest, a vast expanse of continuous mountains stretched before us, with extremely steep terrain. Fortunately, we didn't need to climb; there was a winding but still relatively wide passage in the mountain valley.
Entering the passage, I noticed auras flashing rapidly in the mountains on both sides from time to time, presumably spirits on the move. However, none of them approached, perhaps busy hunting or something else. I wondered what spirits in the underworld ate, as I hadn't seen any animals in the underworld yet.
After another two hours, just as we were about to exit the mountains, a troop suddenly appeared ahead. The vanguard cavalry ran back to report that they were soldiers from Wusan Gate ahead.
"Has Wusi City fallen?" I quickly asked. Usually, soldiers only retreated when their city was captured, right?
"No, but we suffered heavy losses. They are coming to Wusi City to request reinforcements."
This is ridiculous! If I had known, I would have brought those twenty-eight spirits over here!
We advanced rapidly and soon met up with this cavalry of only a few dozen people. Their armor was scorched black, clearly having encountered fire attacks. I revealed my identity and asked the leader about the situation at Wusan Gate.
"We are surrounded. We were ordered by the City Guard Captain to break through at all costs and request rescue from Wuer and Wusi Gates respectively."
"How many enemies?" I asked again.
"At least ten thousand."
"And inside your city?" I asked again.
"Eight hundred."