I have a ghost diary

As for Xu Jinglun and the others, they have been taken back to the research institute for investigation, so Chu Jiang is not too concerned about that side.

Anyway, once the dust settles, he can directly obtain the investigation results of this incident.

In the reception room, the host and guest sat facing each other. Chu Jiang poured tea and said, "I haven't had time to sit down and have a proper chat these past few days. Now that we have some free time, I hope Miss Jing will be generous with her advice."

Jing Ruoxue nodded slightly, "You're too kind."

"Could you tell me about the specific origins of the Chu lineage?"

Jing Ruoxue picked up her teacup, but didn't drink the tea; she just held it in her hands. "As for its origins, that's a very long time ago. I'll just give a brief account from the perspective of a ghost master."

"The resurgence of the supernatural has existed since ancient times, as has the existence of ghosts. In our Chu region, the two oldest ghost master families are the Chu Zang lineage and the Chu Mei lineage."

"These two also represent the Grand Master of Fate and the Lesser Master of Fate in the Nine Songs of the Chu Ci."

"Legend has it that in ancient times, there were nine gods in the Chu region, but later, for some reason, only your Chu family and our Jing family remained."

The ancient state of Chu had three major surnames: Qu, Jing, and Zhao, while the surname of its rulers was Xiong. After Chu was destroyed by Qin, the descendants of the Xiong family, in commemoration of their former state, adopted the name of their former state as their surname, thus becoming the Chu surname.

“Our two families have lived in the land of Chu for generations, not concerned with the power struggles of the world. We simply live in peace in a corner of the land, acting as the protectors of the people of Chu, and receiving their offerings and worship.”

Hearing this, Chu Jiang became even more puzzled, "Why are they gods? Aren't they two ghosts?"

Jing Ruoxue seemed to have anticipated Chu Jiang's question, "What do you think God is?"

"Or rather, what is the definition of God? Is God born God? Or did the concept of God only come into being after human worship began?"

Chu Jiang seemed to be deep in thought, while Jing Ruoxue further explained, "The earliest ghosts should also have been chaotic, disorderly, and wantonly slaughtering living beings, but with the emergence of the first batch of ghost masters, the power of ghosts was gradually utilized by humans."

"Later on, at the peak of a certain period when ghost masters were at their most powerful, there were even nine ghost master families in the Chu region, each controlling nine different powerful ghosts."

"Because it is humans who control the power of ghosts, and human reason suppresses the ferocity of ghosts, the people of Chu worship these nine as gods."

"So what they worship is actually a combination of human and ghost; a very small number of ghost masters who possess both rationality and extremely powerful strength."

"I've noticed you seem to be dwelling on this. Actually, you don't need to think about it too much. Just stay in control of yourself and don't let your humanity get the better of you."

Chu Jiang nodded slightly. "Do human faith work on ghosts?"

"Yes, this is our long-standing experience. It seems that human thought can make the worshipped ghosts even stronger. So, the ghosts passed down from our two families are essentially stronger the longer they are passed down."

Jing Ruoxue's answer reminded Chu Jiang of his grandfather's words, who had also mentioned the concept of "recitation".

Now, combining the two accounts, Chu Jiang has gained some understanding of the false gods abroad and the gods of the Holy Word Cult. They are probably a very small minority, existing as ghosts themselves, yet consciously cultivating human believers.

As for the Black Sun, it should be considered their prototype. Although the Black Sun possesses the ability to infect with memes and can make people worship it madly, it does not seem to have been able to further or better utilize this power.

"We seem to have strayed a bit from the topic. Let's get back to the Chu Jiang lineage itself." Jing Ruoxue seemed to only be so talkative when she was with Chu Jiang. She hadn't said as much in front of outsiders in the past few days as she had when chatting with Chu Jiang.

"The Chu family and the Jing family have been allies since ancient times, and have often intermarried. Whenever the supernatural resurges and makes a comeback, they always advance and retreat together."

"But more than a hundred years ago, during the middle and late stages of the last supernatural resurgence, the Chu family, for some unknown reason, chose to completely withdraw from the world and even stopped accepting the worship of the people of Chu."

"The Chu family has never been large, and this time the entire clan has disappeared, and we don't know where they went."

"How many rounds of supernatural resurgence have there been?" Upon hearing this, Chu Jiang asked a different question.

Jing Ruoxue paused for a moment before answering, "According to existing records, there must have been at least three or four rounds, right? The last round was during the Republic of China era, which was during World War II, so it was considered a small-scale event."

“The scale of this round is unprecedented, which is why our Jing family is so eager to come to you this time.”

"If the situation continues to deteriorate, the whole world may become a ghost town, and we humans will only be able to struggle to survive under the threat of vengeful ghosts."

Chu Jiang paused for a moment, then crossed his arms and continued, "Back then, our Chu family didn't leave a single word before severing all contact with you?"

"It can't be said that not a single word was left behind. At that time, our patriarch asked your patriarch. Your answer was: Chu Zhan should not exist, or perhaps, it would be a better choice to completely annihilate this lineage."

"To be honest, we don't understand, and we still can't figure it out, why Chu Qing shouldn't exist? Could it be that something went wrong during the inheritance process, and that ghost has begun to revive?"

"Because your lineage's method of inheritance is different from ours, we can only speculate and cannot confirm it."

Chu Jiang was somewhat surprised upon hearing this, "Aren't your ancestral ghosts inherited through bloodlines?"

"Yes and no. After each generation of Shao Siming dies, the ghost inside her body will separate and be sealed away by our family in a special way."

Chapter 288 The Sacrifice of the Ancestors

Jing Ruoxue did not hide her family's secret, "After the new generation of Shao Siming is selected, we will hold a [Summoning the Gods] ceremony."

"To put it bluntly, it's about letting Chu Mei invade Shao Siming's body."

"This process is risky. Although Chu Mei, this ghost, has lived in the same bloodline for generations, she has a natural affinity for our Jing family."

"But when it comes to dangerous things like vengeful ghosts, there's never any guarantee of success. If the fusion fails, it's death."

"So even though I was chosen as the young master of destiny in this generation from a young age, I had never even seen the ghost Chu Mei before the resurgence of the supernatural."

“My family never intended for me to become a ghost master. Even after the paranormal revival began, they were afraid that I would die due to a failed fusion, so they kept postponing the invocation ceremony until recently.”

When she mentioned this, Jing Ruoxue's face darkened. "It's also related to myself. Although I've never told my family about it, I do have some fear in my heart."

"So when I saw you show the world the power of Chu Zombie, I even felt ashamed. I am not as good as you."

"Even in the last few days, after learning that you awakened your bloodline power on your own without the guidance of your family, I feel even more that you are far superior to me."

Chu Jiang waved his hand, "There's nothing to be ashamed of. Who isn't afraid of death? Do you really think I'm that brave?"

"I've come to this point entirely out of necessity. Xu Jinglun may not be a very good person, but he was right about one thing: once you become a Ghost Master, you can only move forward, not backward."

After saying that, Chu Jiang looked at his right hand and muttered to himself, "Is it possible for Chu Zhan to be revived? But I haven't noticed any similar signs. At least for now, I'm still in control of this power."

"It's just a guess," Jing Ruoxue said, her expression also becoming serious. "By the way, didn't your biological parents leave you any clues?"

“Yes,” Chu Jiang said, taking out a black iron plate from his left hand. “This is the only thing they left me.”

As he spoke, he handed the iron plaque engraved with the words "Chu Zang" to Jing Ruoxue.

Jing Ruoxue took it and examined it, a thoughtful look on her face. "This could be a pass token. Our Jing family has something similar."

Chu Jiang's expression brightened. "What kind of pass?"

"Family cemetery".

When Jing Ruoxue said those four words, she emphasized them, showing that she had great respect for them.

“For a ghost master, death is a major event, and since we know that people have the possibility of turning into ghosts, they naturally pay more attention to their own affairs after death.”

"Leaving aside other families, our Jing family's ghost masters have been buried in the same cemetery for generations. The location is top secret, and a special pass is required to enter."

"It should be much the same for your Chu family. But we have no way of knowing where your family cemetery is; perhaps some of your ancestors who were married into the family know, but they would never reveal such a secret back to their maternal home."

"A family cemetery?" Chu Jiang frowned slightly and began to think seriously.

The result, of course, was... no result. When Chu Jiang was still a newborn, he was abandoned at the hospital entrance by his biological parents. How could he possibly know where his family cemetery was?

"Never mind, we'll talk about that later." Chu Jiang took back the iron plate and put it away again.

"I'd also like to ask, after you merged with Chu Mei, did you have any strange dreams? In your dreams, you could hear some sacrificial songs and even smell the incense of burning mugwort."

“Yes,” Jing Ruoxue nodded. “That’s normal. According to our family’s speculation, it’s possible that this is a dream of ghosts, and we just accidentally entered their dream.”

Chu Jiang was somewhat surprised, "Ghosts dream too?"

"Perhaps so. They have been dormant all along, which is why they are within our control."

"Moreover, what they dream about always seems to be scenes from sacrificial rites. That's why we focus on accepting the ritual, which helps us better control the power of the demons and can even make them stronger."

At this point, Jing Ruoxue looked somewhat worried. "The only problem is that fewer and fewer people believe in this now. The last ceremony our family held was more than ten years ago."

"Fortunately, the belief in the God of Fate has not completely disappeared. Perhaps you can take some time to go back to Chu with me and we can receive a sacrifice together."

Sacrifices...are people offering incense and worship as if they were gods? Old Chu Jiang felt something was off. "Let's talk about it next time. These things need to be done at the right time, otherwise the effect might not be significant."

Jing Ruoxue nodded slightly.

"Then I still don't quite understand why Chu Qing fell into a deep sleep?"

If Chu Zhi were still active, Chu Jiang would probably be half-dead by now, having to fight his ghostly nature with his humanity every day. He wouldn't be as relaxed as he is now, and he can even use Chu Zhi to suppress the other two ghosts inside him.

"Is this related to receiving sacrifices from the people of Chu? Or is it related to incense offerings?"

Jing Ruoxue shook her head. "We don't rely on this much, or rather, the earliest ancestors of the Chu family and the Jing family didn't maintain their humanity in this way."

"Furthermore, I cannot be sure that Chu Jian and Chu Mei both fell into a deep sleep based on the same principle."

"As for the principle behind this, I can only say it's a speculation: a person's humanity can be devoured by a ghost, but after the ghost has devoured the humanity of countless people, the humanity will in turn suppress the ghost's nature, causing it to fall into a semi-permanent state of dormancy."

Chu Jiang's face froze for a moment. "What do you mean? Human sacrifice?"

“No,” Jing Ruoxue said calmly, “you can think of it as a sacrifice. The earliest ghosts seemed to be quite unstable. Their ancestors were in great pain and struggle, and their lifespans were generally short.”

"But as it has been passed down from generation to generation, the ghosts within us seem to have gradually become more stable and have gradually fallen into a deep slumber."

"So to be precise, it is the ghosts that devoured the humanity of countless generations of Chu family ancestors and Jing family ancestors, which is why our generation has peace and stability."

"That's why we must make good use of this power and not let down the sacrifices of our ancestors."

Chu Jiang fell silent. He truly hadn't expected that Chu Zhan's silence could be achieved in such a way.

What about himself? After his death, will his humanity also be devoured by Chu Zhan?

Or perhaps, this is the price to pay for gaining immense power...

Oh, don't worry too much about that. Chu Jiang thinks that if he dies, even his corpse will be swallowed up by the Ghost Diary, so it doesn't seem like an unacceptable thing for his humanity to be divided up by Chu Zang.

It could even be argued that it's better to let Chu Zhan benefit than to let Ghost Diary benefit; letting Chu Zhan benefit would also be beneficial to future generations.

Chapter 289 The Problem of Having Children

Seeing that Chu Jiang didn't ask any more questions for a while, Jing Ruoxue casually started talking about other things, "There's a rumor outside that every generation of Chu Jiang is the same person."

"The same person?" Chu Jiang didn't quite understand.

"That is to say, the first ancestor of the Chu family used some method to achieve immortality."

"Of course, that's impossible. It can only be said that every generation of Chu Qi is the same ghost, not the same person."

"After all, we are very mysterious in the eyes of the world, which naturally arouses a lot of bizarre speculation."

"The Jing family is even more mysterious than the Chu family because in the early years, foreign affairs were usually handled by the Chu lineage. As a result, only a few people knew that there was a branch of us in the Chu region."