I have a ghost diary

Then Chu Jiang hugged the whale's body, and Chen Ke'er squatted down, gently grasping the long, pointed, spiral horn with her right hand, and took photos of the two of them with the narwhal from various angles.

After editing the text and posting it on her WeChat Moments to make her girlfriends envious, Chen Ke'er smiled and pulled Chu Jiang ashore, saying, "Love you, honey~"

"I love you too." Chu Jiang said with a faint smile.

Chu Jiang has always felt incredibly lucky to have so many people by his side throughout his journey. His life isn't over yet; the future holds a long, long time...

(End of the book)

P.S.: The last two chapters have been combined and released together. I originally said yesterday that there would be about ten chapters; but after writing this far today, I thought about it and realized that I've written everything that needed to be written and explained everything that needed to be explained, so I won't dawdle anymore and will just finish it.

In the next few days, I might write some side stories or something. After all, I have a bit of OCD about finishing at 98 words, but I can't guarantee how many side stories I'll be able to write.

After I finish writing the side stories, I will write the author's note to thank all the readers who have subscribed for their support along the way.

Side Story: The Fate

The opening took place eight months after the completion of the opening plan.

Chu Jiang accepted Jing Ruoxue's long-standing invitation and set off with her to officially return to the land of Chu.

The two returned by plane. Jing Ruoxue had now learned to integrate into modern society and was no longer the ancient heroine in flowing white robes and holding a long sword. Instead, she wore a white long-sleeved shirt and beige trousers.

Jing Ruoxue and Chen Ke'er are practically two extremes; she has absolutely no idea how to dress.

When Chu Jiang first told her to try to look as modern as possible in terms of appearance and clothing, Jing Ruoxue put on a brightly colored plaid shirt and a pair of loose, baggy pants, which made people shake their heads in disapproval.

In the end, Chen Ke'er took her shopping, dressed her up nicely, and taught her some simple and easy-to-understand dressing tips, such as "wear warm clothes with warm clothes, wear cool clothes with cool clothes, green is a bridge, and black, white, and gray are versatile." After that, her fashion sense wasn't so bad.

Today, Chu Jiang was wearing a light blue shirt and black casual pants. He and Jing Ruoxue were sitting in first class together. They looked quite handsome and beautiful, and the flight attendant who brought them drinks mistook them for a couple.

For some reason, Jing Ruoxue felt a little nervous. She looked out the window, wondering why she felt a little guilty.

This is perfectly normal, and it was something we agreed on a long time ago...

"What's wrong with you?" Chu Jiang turned his head to look at her.

"No, it's nothing." Jing Ruoxue lowered her head slightly, but when she got nervous, a white mask appeared on her face again.

This is Chu Mei's power. Although Jing Ruoxue's control over the ghost inside her body is much stronger than before, sometimes when her emotions fluctuate too much, there are still some uncontrollable phenomena.

Seeing this, Chu Jiang reached out and rubbed her little face to help her suppress the supernatural power; to be honest, her face was quite tender, and after rubbing it, he couldn't help but pinch it.

This made Jing Ruoxue's face turn bright red.

Chu Jiang laughed and said, "This time it's really exaggerated. I remember the first time I did this, you were expressionless."

It was only after the topic of "having children" came up that Jing Ruoxue started to blush.

Jing Ruoxue shook her head slightly, making a sound as faint as a mosquito's buzz, which was difficult to hear clearly.

"I've always had a question: now that the paranormal resurgence is over, why are you still willing to stay at the company?"

Just as Jing Ruoxue was about to answer, Chu Jiang continued, "Don't say it's because of the alliance between the two families, or the wishes of your elders; I know you didn't stay for such a simple reason."

Jing Ruoxue paused for a moment, then turned her gaze back to the porthole, to the endless sea of ​​clouds.

After a while, she continued, "In the 'Nine Songs' of the Chu Ci, there are two poems: 'The Great Master of Fate' and 'The Lesser Master of Fate'."

"But what many people don't know is that these two poems are actually sung in the voice of two deities."

"Among them, the 'Da Siming' has seven sections. The first four sections are sung by Da Siming, and the last three sections are sung by Shao Siming."

The last two verses are sung like this: "Riding the dragon, rumbling and soaring high into the sky; I linger with a cassia branch, my thoughts growing ever more sorrowful. What can I do, this sorrowful one? I wish that things could be as they are now, without any loss; indeed, human life has its own destiny, so what is the point of separation and reunion?"

"It means: The Great Master of Fate rides his dragon chariot, rumbling and galloping swiftly towards the high sky. I weave cassia branches and gaze into the distance, the more I think of him, the more worried I become. Sorrow is truly helpless; I only wish he would cherish himself as he does now. After all, everyone's lifespan is different, and who can control or manipulate joys and sorrows, separations and reunions?"

At this point, Jing Ruoxue hesitated for a moment, "You asked me why I stayed, and my answer is: I might be... a little lost, like Shao Siming in the poem."

Chu Jiang smiled. "Are you afraid I'll run away?"

Jing Ruoxue shook her head, "I just don't want to be too far away from you. I know how to say it, but I don't know why."

"Then don't overthink it. Just focus on your work and I won't treat you unfairly."

After saying that, Chu Jiang took a sip of cola and closed his eyes to rest peacefully.

Jing Ruoxue glanced at the cola straw, then at Chu Jiang's profile, and finally just closed her eyes to rest.

......

The plane landed in Zigui City, and the two went to the Jing family's residence first.

The lineage of Shao Siming has been passed down from generation to generation since ancient times without interruption, so it is not as decadent as the Chu family.

Their ancestral home is located in the foothills of Wushan Mountain, surrounded by mountains and in a secluded place.

However, in recent years, as human development has expanded, in order to prevent the main family from being directly exposed to outsiders, more than a decade ago, the Jing family's conglomerate developed a tourist scenic area, surrounding some ancient buildings to prevent outsiders from easily approaching.

Led by Jing Ruoxue, Chu Jiang entered this ancient architectural complex and found it quite pleasing to the eye, as if he had traveled back to ancient times.

This was the first time that the current Grand Master of Fate had visited the lineage of the Lesser Master of Fate, so Chu Jiang naturally received a grand welcome and courteous treatment.

Even though Chu Jiang had said before that there was no need to be too polite, according to Jing Ruoxue, this was already a simplified ceremony. According to previous records, it was a large-scale celebration comparable to a sacrificial ceremony.

After having a welcome banquet at the Jing family's residence, Chu Jiang declined the invitations from the rest of the Jing family and instead stayed alone in a guest room to prepare for the sacrificial ceremony that evening.

......

In reality, not many people actually attend the sacrificial ceremony, far from the "grand" event that Jing Ruoxue had previously described.

This is normal. Times are changing. Originally, due to the resurgence of the supernatural, there were signs that these strange and supernatural things were on the rise. But now, the supernatural resurgence has been completely wiped out by Chu Jiang. Who can you complain to?

Fortunately, this global disaster is still fresh in our minds, and at least everyone has passed through that mysterious door and knows that there are indeed all sorts of incomprehensible forces and phenomena in this world.

Therefore, the Jing family was finally able to gather more than 500 pure Chu people to participate this time.

Actually, if we really want to make it big, it's not impossible. We can have the government organize the whole cultural roots-seeking activity, including sacrificial ceremonies and celebrations, and arrange for it to be broadcast live on TV and the internet.

This place is still within a tourist area, and it will likely attract tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of participants from all over the country.

However, that would distort the ritual, and Chu Zhan and Chu Mei would be unable to collect much pure "thought".

So in the end, the Jing family decided to hold a more retro ceremony.

At 11 p.m., with the moon high in the sky, the ceremony was officially held beside the Jiuwanxi River.

Although the number of participants was small this time, the altar was very elaborately constructed. The entire ceremony was divided into three parts: music and dance, shamanic chanting, and worship of the gods.

This corresponds to the words 【乐之、百之、赣之】 in the Chu bamboo slips.

First, they use exquisite dances and music to please the gods; then, male and female shamans appear, pray to the gods, chant the "Nine Songs," and ask the gods to descend to the mortal world; finally, the gods appear in the world and receive the sacrifices and worship of mortals.

Actually, there is an epilogue, which is the "sending off the gods," usually accompanied by songs and dances.

Chu Jiang and Jing Ruoxue did not participate in the first two parts of the ceremony; they simply stood by the river, gazing at the distant flames.

They were dressed in magnificent robes and wore crowns. Chu Jiang wore a dark blue robe and a jade mask; Jing Ruoxue wore a white dress and a white jade mask.

Even from a great distance, they could smell the incense of burning mugwort and hear the desolate and distant melodies played on instruments such as chimes, zithers, drums, cymbals, ocarinas, and chimes.

This feeling was so familiar; Chu Jiang had dreamed of this scene many times, so much so that at this moment, he could feel the Chu Qi within him spontaneously becoming active.

Jing Ruoxue, who was standing next to her, had a similar feeling.

She glanced at Chu Jiang, then at the distant sacrificial fire, but felt none of the joy she had anticipated.

Perhaps Chu Jiang is right; the old era is over, but she remains fixated on it, refusing to let go...

With a somewhat melancholy feeling, when the final step arrived, Jing Ruoxue and Chu Jiang flew into the air together, and finally descended from the altar at a great height through a beam of light.

It must be said that this scene was quite spectacular. High above, two mysterious deities, a man and a woman, descended in radiance.

They exuded an awe-inspiring aura that made people dare not look them in the eye.

The five or six hundred people present at the ceremony knelt down at that moment, and under the guidance of the male and female shamans, they began to chant prayers, mostly for divine protection and for happiness and well-being.

At this moment, Chu Jiang and Jing Ruoxue remained silent, simply sensing the feedback from "thought". Due to the limited number of people, this feedback was not frequent, but it was Chu Jiang's first time experiencing something like this, so it was quite novel to him.

He could even tell which believers were more devout and which were more skeptical.

Next, the two simultaneously raised their hands and pointed, and a point of bluish-black light and a point of grayish-white light burst forth from their fingertips, dispersing into equal amounts and flying towards all the mortals present who were worshipping.

This is also part of the ritual process, a blessing from the gods.

However, Chu Jiang felt it was impossible for it to work, because these people had already entered the real world.

But to his surprise, this energy, which originated from ghosts, could enter the bodies of ordinary people.

At that very moment, all those who received the blessing immediately felt refreshed and comfortable; some minor ailments were instantly cured, which deepened the faith of those who were not yet devout.

Chu Jiang looked at his fingers, still somewhat incredulous. Could this moment truly be an interaction between a human and a god, rather than an interaction between a human and a ghost?

Including when he improved the health of these believers, Chu Jiang only instinctively used the power of [Controlling Lifespan], but he didn't understand how this principle was implemented.

On the other side, Jing Ruoxue was even more melancholy. The Jing family had held such a ceremony more than ten years ago; when she was still young then, she had received five or six times more "recitations" than she does now. Indeed, the changes of the times have changed everything.

Just as the two were having different thoughts, they suddenly looked up at the same time.

Something is coming.

These eerie creatures emerged from the ground, crawled out of the water, sprouted from the trees, and flew in from the air. They looked like pale ghosts, and upon approaching the altar, they knelt down in devout worship, just as they had many years ago...

The number of these ghosts was so great that it seemed unbelievable to Chu Jiang; they covered the mountains and fields, yet they were clearly distinct from ordinary people. They bowed their heads slightly, their mouths opening and closing as if they were making a silent prayer.

Even though she couldn't obtain the power of "thought" from these ghosts, Jing Ruoxue still couldn't help but tear up at this moment, tears falling from her mask.

This scene has never occurred before, probably because the Grand Master of Fate and the Lesser Master of Fate haven't appeared together for many years, so the ceremonies held separately by the Jing family in the past were incomplete.

From the ghosts that filled the mountains and fields, she seemed to vaguely see the glory of thousands of years ago, the glory of the [Siming], the glory of the nine gods of Chu.

It was a glorious era, where humans, gods, and demons were intertwined, forming a complete tapestry of that time...

Not long after, the ceremony officially ended, and the Grand Master of Fate and the Lesser Master of Fate rode in a dragon chariot formed from radiant light, soaring into the sky and disappearing from sight.

The gods departed, and after the final dance and music performance, both humans and ghosts left the stage.

......

By the Jiuwan Creek, Jing Ruoxue, who had already taken off her gorgeous clothes and removed her mask, looked calmer and even more composed than before.

Seeing this, Chu Jiang asked, "Have you put it down?"

Jing Ruoxue nodded, "I've let it go, but I haven't given up."