I have a ghost diary

So Chu Jiang could only shake his head helplessly. He carried the little woman to the toilet to vomit, like picking up a cat.

After Chen Ke'er had vomited most of it, Chu Jiang took a towel to wipe her mouth and made her rinse her mouth. Finally, he carried her back to bed to sleep.

Before Chu Jiang covered Chen Ke'er with the blanket, she groggily grabbed Chu Jiang's hand and asked, "Boss, do you like bear underwear? Or Pikachu underwear?"

"Whatever you like is fine."

"You can choose either one, it's fine with either of you!"

"Then let's go with the teddy bear." Chu Jiang remained calm, engaging in a question-and-answer session with the woman who was having a drunken tantrum.

"Hehe," Chen Ke'er chuckled, "I'm wearing bear-themed underwear right now~"

After saying that, she closed her eyes in a daze, her sleeping posture was very bad, she was hugging the quilt and curled up in a ball, and she was still muttering something.

Seeing that his attempts to correct her were ineffective, Chu Jiang let her be.

Next, Chu Jiang naturally wouldn't do anything beastly to Chen Ke'er. He returned to the living room alone, facing the night, drinking and eating snacks.

He wondered if he would ever be able to return to a normal life...

......

The next morning, after confirming that Chen Ke'er was still fast asleep and everything was alright, Chu Jiang left home and drove to Tianfeng Building to pick up Jing Ruoxue.

He had already arranged with Jing Ruoxue to go to Nan Yi Town of Sanshen Mountain today to explore the source of the Luo River; this matter had been delayed for far too long.

Nanyi Town is located at the foot of Sanshen Mountain. It has a small permanent population of only a few thousand people. However, in recent years, the town has been developed into a tourist town and has become more popular.

However, this is not entirely a good thing, because some tourists who traveled to the area even started to believe in the "river god" and published travel diaries online.

It was precisely because this belief began to show signs of spreading that headquarters asked Chu Jiang to go and investigate as soon as possible.

After listening to Chu Jiang's general description, Jing Ruoxue was also very interested. She said that this was not necessarily harmful. Just like the Da Siming and Shao Siming in Chu, the origins of these two beliefs were also protecting the local people, weren't they?

Chu Jiang, however, had reservations about this. He was more interested in knowing whether there was actually a statue of Wang Lei in the Luo River...

P.S.: Happy New Year!

Chapter 293 The Mystery of the River God

Nanyi Town is not particularly far from Luohe City, and Chu Jiang and his group drove there.

Our first stop was the Nangao Guesthouse in Nangao Village, next to which is a scenic spot called "Shenguang Yinghu" (Divine Light Reflecting the Lake). Legend has it that hundreds of years ago, a plague swept through the Nangao area, causing years of disaster and making life unbearable for the people.

One day, golden light and auspicious colors shone brightly over the River God Lake. When this golden light brought sweet rain to the local people, they miraculously found that their illnesses disappeared, the plague receded, and even the withered crops in the fields came back to life.

For the next three years, the southern region enjoyed favorable weather, abundant harvests, and a peaceful and prosperous life for its people.

The local people were grateful for the river god's kindness, so they built a temple for him by the river god lake, which is also the first river god temple within a hundred miles of the Three Gods Mountain.

As for the source of the Luohe River, the source of the river is not what people usually imagine; there is always a clear spring.

The source of most rivers is hard to find; some are marshes, while others are formed by the gradual convergence of many small mountain springs.

Generally, the source of a river is the one at the highest altitude and furthest from the end of the river.

The source of the Luo River is also difficult to find. People only know that it originates from the main peak of the Three Divine Mountains, but the exact point is hard to say.

At the foot of this mountain lies Heshen Lake, formed by the convergence of natural spring water and groundwater. It is a clearly defined large water source, so people built a temple on the shore of this lake.

When Chu Jiang and his companion arrived, it was a sunny day with pleasant weather, and since it was a holiday, many tourists had come to the guesthouses in the area.

Chu Jiang and his companions strolled along the lake, watching tourists chat, take photos, and post on social media; they also watched locals set up stalls selling local specialties such as honey, sweet rice cakes, dragon beard vegetables, and free-range eggs.

To be honest, there wasn't a single sign of it being haunted; in fact, the atmosphere was more peaceful than in other cities.

Seeing this, Jing Ruoxue became even more certain of her guess. She said to Chu Jiang, "If it really is an evil spirit that has become a god, this place will surely be plagued by many disasters. It is impossible for it to be more peaceful than other places in the context of the global resurgence of the supernatural."

Chu Jiang thought for a moment, "Let's go check out that river god temple first."

The River God Temple is on the left bank, and it is obvious that the temple has recently been renovated, or rather, extensively renovated, making it magnificent and bright. Compared to the small, dilapidated temple that Chu Jiang had seen in the materials, it is as if it has been completely transformed.

An elderly man was tending the temple at the entrance. The temple has three courtyards and is quite popular with worshippers. Besides local believers, tourists also like to buy incense and offer prayers for good fortune.

Chu Jiang didn't rush into the temple. He went up and chatted with the old man for a while, but the old man rubbed his fingers together.

Chu Jiang remained silent, but still gave him one hundred.

With money, the old man became much easier to talk to. He answered Chu Jiang's questions readily and was very enthusiastic.

According to the old man, the River God Temple has a long history, but it has declined in recent years. The dilapidated temple is on the verge of collapse, and even the temple keeper ran away more than ten years ago.

If it weren't for the local custom of worshipping gods, where people spontaneously come to the temple to clean during festivals, the place would probably be covered in cobwebs and dust.

Everything changed a little over a year ago.

At the time, some villagers were possessed by ghosts and came to the temple to pray. As a result, they were cured when they went home. This story spread far and wide, and although people were still skeptical, the temple's incense offerings increased.

An even more unusual change occurred six months ago. One night, a violent commotion suddenly came from the River God Temple, and some people even heard roars, struggles, and shouts.

That night, the village dogs barked wildly, and the villagers' livestock, such as chickens, ducks, pigs, and cattle, also became restless.

No one dared approach the river god temple at the time. Only after daybreak did someone dare to investigate. They found the statue collapsed on the ground, broken into several pieces.

When the villagers of Nangao Village saw this, they thought the river god was angry, so they spontaneously raised money to have a new stone statue made and invited a Taoist priest to perform a ritual to appease the river god.

And surprisingly, it seems to actually work.

From that day on, the river god gradually began to manifest his power, and children who fell into the river were lifted up by some mysterious force.

Moreover, people often see schools of fish in this River God Lake worshipping a certain place.

Some even claimed that the river god appeared to them in a dream, telling them to go to the temple to burn incense and pray for the river god's blessing.

These bizarre rumors quickly spread throughout Nan Yi Town, and even residents of several nearby counties knew about it. Some people even traveled a long way to worship the gods.

As for this temple, it was renovated with funds from some wealthy families in the vicinity, and the names of these donors are even engraved inside.

"Does praying really work? Or is it just a placebo effect?" Chu Jiang asked.

The old man waved his hands repeatedly, "Don't talk nonsense, the River God is listening. Didn't you see how many people are worshipping? Some tourists like you even bought a small statue of the deity to take home and worship after worshipping."

Upon hearing this, Jing Ruoxue hesitated. Was it too hasty to ask the gods to return after the prayer?

Chu Jiang, however, remained calm and continued to ask, "Your river god doesn't practice human sacrifice or anything like that, does he?"

“When I was in school, I taught a lesson called ‘The River God Takes a Bride,’ which is about a shaman choosing a young girl to drown in the river.”

The old man slapped his thigh, clearly a little angry, "If you keep saying that, I won't take your money! We are the River God, not some random nonsense. Who would ask a living person to be thrown into the river?"

Chu Jiang simply smiled at this, and then he walked into the temple first.

Jing Ruoxue quickly followed.

......

Upon entering the innermost room of the temple, Chu Jiang paused, because the river god statue at the head of the room bore a striking resemblance to Wang Lei.

He pulled out a photo from his pocket and compared it. He wouldn't say it was 70-80%, but it was at least 50-60%. The man looked quite burly, and Chen Ke'er had once mistaken him for a gangster.

But what's going on here? The new statue, commissioned from a stonemason, should have been sculpted based on the old one, right? How could it bear such a striking resemblance to a modern person?

Combining this with the timeline mentioned by the old man at the entrance, the day the unusual activity occurred at the River God Temple should be the day Wang Lei suddenly died in Luohe City.

Jing Ruoxue also noticed this situation. She suggested to Chu Jiang that she try burning incense first to see if she would be affected by supernatural forces on a spiritual level.

However, Chu Jiang refused. After thinking for a moment, he took out an ordinary incense stick, lit it, and stood in front of the altar, bowing in a perfunctory manner.

This surprised the surrounding worshippers. How could someone be so insincere in worship? Lighting only one stick of incense was one thing, but standing there while worshipping was quite another.

Chapter 294 I'm Down Below

Chu Jiang didn't care about their gazes. After finishing his prayers, he casually stuck the soul-guiding incense sticks into the incense burner.

He stepped aside, observing both the changes in himself and the changes in the Soul-Guiding Incense.

This incense naturally attracts evil spirits, making it a good way to verify whether there are ghosts nearby.

Soon, something incredible happened: the incense stick that Chu Jiang had stuck in burned rapidly, and at a speed visible to the naked eye, it burned completely!

The worshippers who were offering incense could not see this scene, because for safety reasons, Chu Jiang put all the living people into the ghost realm after lighting the incense, but they themselves did not realize it.

In this way, if anything unexpected happens, Chu Jiang can immediately lead his men to evacuate from the River God Temple.

As the incense burned out, Chu Jiang frowned slightly. He still hadn't found any ghosts, but the incense was burning faster than ever before; this at least proved that there must be ghosts nearby, and perhaps more than one.

As for himself, Chu Jiang closed his eyes and sensed it, but he couldn't feel any signs of his mind being manipulated.

Perhaps it's because he's a ghost master, or perhaps it's because he's too powerful now; the river god can have some influence on ordinary people, but it might not be effective on him.

As for sincerity, that doesn't matter much. Chu Jiang simply didn't believe that first-time visitors would be truly sincere towards a statue they'd never seen before.

After observing for a while and seeing no other clues or danger, Chu Jiang temporarily took Jing Ruoxue away from the River God Temple.

In fact, Chu Jiang could have ordered the forced evacuation of all people. He could have even sent people to smash the temple and forbid anyone from worshipping the river god from then on.

However, this is only a temporary solution and may even cause the river god, who was originally normal, to undergo unimaginable mutations.

Therefore, Chu Jiang decided to maintain the status quo, at least until the investigation results were released.

Arriving at the entrance again, Chu Jiang asked the old man a key question about the appearance of the river god statue.

Out of consideration for the money, the old man still answered properly.

The gist is: the new statues are naturally carved according to the old ones, but some people have indeed said that the statues look different every day and seem different from before.

However, the old statues had long been thrown into the River God Lake and returned to the River God, so no one could verify this.

Chu Jiang took out the photos he had on him again and looked at them. He didn't have any photos of the old statues, only an old black and white photo of a distant view of the old river god temple.

After thinking for a moment, Chu Jiang bid farewell to the other party and took Jing Ruoxue away from the River God Lake for the time being.

He planned to go to the Three Gods Mountain first to see if he could find the source of the Luo River. If he couldn't find it, he would come back here that night and explore the bottom of the River God Lake.

In short, the death of the former head, Wang Lei, is most likely related to the River God; but that's not the most important thing. Chu Jiang wants to know more about whether this ghost will harm people.

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The Three Divine Mountains consist of several peaks over 1,000 meters high, including Yuanshangang, Heshugang, and Qixingdun.