chsdbacks Chapter 77 Singing the Internationale, Reading the Spring and Autumn Annals
Chapter 77 Singing the Internationale, Reading the Spring and Autumn Annals
Chapter 76 Singing the Internationale and Reading the Spring and Autumn Annals (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
The tiger's body vanished, revealing a wild ginseng about half a foot tall. What else could it be but the Daizong ginseng that had been used to lure everyone earlier?
Upon seeing this item, Zhao Jing, Lao Li, and Xiao Zhang all had their eyes light up.
"Wow, there really is ginseng?" Cai Liang couldn't help but chuckle. "I thought it was some kind of illusion conjured up by a ghost, a hoax!"
Zhao Jing picked up the ginseng and presented it to Jiang Jun: "Please take a look, teacher."
Jiang Jun didn't take it, but simply brushed it with his true energy, then laughed and said, "The ginseng is real, and there is no strange energy seeping in. It must have been brought from the real world by those three people, and it hasn't been there long."
"Since you found this ginseng from Mount Tai, you should accept it and take it back to nourish your grandfather's body."
A flicker of joy crossed Zhao Jing's face, but he quickly regained his composure.
He looked at Old Ji: "Grandpa, what are the circumstances of those three ginseng gatherers' families? They perished in the Ghost Realm; do their families still have anyone to rely on?"
Old Li had been hesitant to speak, but when asked, he quickly replied, "The three of them all have elderly parents to support and young children to raise. Although they live off the land and have no worries about food and clothing, they have no other source of income, so they haven't saved much money."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jing pursed his lips and said, "Teacher, then I don't want this ginseng. Once we leave the Ghost Realm, I'll ask the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs to exchange it for money and send it to their home."
Jiang Jun smiled and said, "You found the ginseng, so it's up to you how you deal with it."
"However, don't worry too much. My method of suppressing things is different from that of controlling monsters. I absorb spiritual energy to cultivate true energy, which is used to nourish the body of the elderly. It has a health-preserving effect, so there is no need to eat this Daizong ginseng."
Zhao Jing's eyes widened as he realized that what had just happened might have been Jiang Jun testing his character.
Cai Liang, Lao Li, and Xiao Zhang suddenly realized.
Jiang Jun ignored their commotion and flicked his finger to extinguish the eerie aura left by the tiger demon: "It's getting late, let's go back to the cabin and rest first, and continue searching for the Yellow Essence Demon Child tomorrow."
In the following days, Jiang Jun, along with Cai Liang and Zhao Jing, and guided by Lao Li, captured three more Huangjing Guiwa tribes in Xuanling Mountain.
Finally, I was lucky once. The Huangjing Ghost Child I caught had never harmed anyone, so I could take it back and raise it.
The travels and practical experience of the past few days have also greatly benefited Cai Liang and Zhao Jing's cultivation.
Under Jiang Jun's guidance, Cai Liang broke through the bottleneck of the Spirit Communication Realm in one fell swoop. His divine sense merged with the spirituality of "Gui Bu Xu", leaving a talisman on the lotus petal and sublimating into divine thought, thus officially advancing to the Fusion Realm.
Zhao Jing's "Pure Lotus" visualization diagram also condensed the first lotus petal on the basis of the initial formation of the lotus seedpod, and his divine consciousness was much more solid than before.
Having achieved all their travel goals, Jiang Jun led his group back to the cat café on Changning Street.
Jiang Jun handed over the two herb gatherers, along with the Huangjing ghost children who had eaten people, to the Department of Mysteries.
Zhao Chen and his team came to take over.
Cai Liang and Zhao Jing followed along to handle the victim's ashes and the ginseng from Mount Tai, and also to learn how to deal with this type of incident.
Su Tie, who had brought people to make the arrangements, stayed behind and took out a wooden box from his storage bag.
"Senior." He pushed the wooden box in front of Jiang Jun, "This is what Elder Jiang asked me to pass on to you. It's a small token of our appreciation from the three seniors."
Jiang Jun opened the wooden box, inside which lay a piece of peach wood about the length of a forearm.
Peach wood is dark brown with a charred black line on its surface, resembling a lightning strike mark. Fine wood grain is faintly visible, and it feels warm and smooth to the touch.
"Lightning-struck wood?" Jiang Jun picked it up and examined it for a moment. "But it doesn't seem to be pure lightning-struck wood—"
Su Tie nodded: "Senior has a good eye. This is a piece of wood struck by lightning, and also a mystical object. But its power is never outwardly displayed, and it has never shown its might against monsters."
"It lacks all the abilities commonly possessed by mystical beings, such as purification, leaving traces, and generating the Dharma realm."
He paused, then smiled wryly, "Our Qingjiang Division has had it for years, but nobody knows what it's for, so it's just been gathering dust in the storeroom. Many people privately call it a 'fake mystical object.'"
"Old Jiang heard that you might need peach wood when compiling the talisman, so he asked me to send it over. It's a good way to make the best use of it."
Jiang Jun nodded slightly.
He had previously confided in the Bureau of Divine Revelation. Peach wood, jujube wood, and lightning-struck wood are all common folk remedies for warding off evil spirits, and they will most likely be used in the compilation of talismans in the future.
As for the mystery of this strange object, we'll have to figure it out when we get back.
"Please thank Elder Jiang for me." Jiang Jun put the peach wood into his sleeve. "This item may be of great use to me in the future."
Su Tie cupped his hands in greeting: "Senior, you are too kind. The two mountain worms you sent are more precious to you seniors than any mythical object. This piece of lightning-struck wood is merely a token of our appreciation."
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, and Jiang Jun, without lingering any longer, disappeared into the ghost realm with turmeric and ginger juice.
Back home, Jiang Jun left the two little ones in the greenhouse, went to his study alone, closed the door, and took out the two Rising Sun-level divine artifacts.
A piece of paper, a bamboo slip.
He first spread the paper out on the table.
The handwriting on the paper was crooked but clearly legible: "There has never been a savior, nor a god or emperor!"
Jiang Jun did not use his divine sense or true energy to probe as he had done before. Instead, he stared at the line of words and read it aloud softly.
The paper did not react at all.
Jiang Jun raised an eyebrow slightly, used the "Pure Lotus" to cleanse his mind of distractions, and recited it again with a solemn tone.
A flash of crimson light appeared on the paper, but it vanished in an instant, like a yawn, before the paper fell into a deep sleep again.
"No," Jiang Jun shook his head. "It's not enough to just be able to recite it; you also need to truly understand and resonate with it from the bottom of your heart."
He closed his eyes and began to recall the theories he had learned from childhood to adulthood, the ideas that had been compiled into books, and the arguments about "man conquering nature".
"There has never been a savior, nor do we rely on gods or emperors. To create human happiness, we must rely entirely on ourselves."
This is not just a few words or a melody, but a heroic spirit of fighting against nature, smashing the old world and creating a new one.
Jiang Jun originally thought he had long forgotten them, but now, looking back, he finds that this belief has long been ingrained in his bones.
He opened his eyes and began to chant softly.
He hadn't hummed that song's melody in a long time, and the lyrics were a bit fuzzy, but as soon as the tune started, something inside his chest responded.
"Arise, ye prisoners of hunger and cold! Arise, ye wretched of the earth!"
A crimson glow emanated from the paper, like a bursting sunrise, dyeing the entire study a deep crimson.
The light was not dazzling, but warm, like the sunshine of early spring or the warmth of a winter fire.
A surge of power entered Jiang Jun's sea of consciousness, transforming into a crimson glow that enveloped the Pure Lotus.
He closed his eyes and sensed it carefully.
The power granted by this mystical object, once activated, can suppress the characteristics of monsters, allowing ordinary people to harm them even with fists, scythes, hammers, and the like.
Under the crimson glow, the monsters were no longer invincible terrors, but enemies that could be defeated by mortals.
With a thought, Jiang Jun unleashed a crimson light that shone upon the "Gourd of Devouring Demons." Inside the gourd, the Starving Demon and the Demon Toad trembled simultaneously.
He could clearly sense their emotions: fear and unease, like wild beasts being targeted by a hunter.
"They actually developed emotions." Jiang Jun thought with a chill.
They are bizarre, ferocious, and brutal, driven only by the instinct to devour and kill. Even their scattered soldiers rarely show fear, let alone those at the lord level.
Under this crimson glow, they were actually afraid.
The resistance inside the gourd noticeably weakened, and the two lord-level monsters, as if their eerie energy had been drained, slumped listlessly in the corner.
Jiang Jun carefully put the paper away and gave this strange object a name in his mind: "From now on, I'll call you [Crimson Dawn]."
The abyss is like a long, dark night, but a spark can herald the dawn!
He took a deep breath to calm himself and turned to the bamboo slips on the table.
The bamboo slips were dusty and gray, with seven large seal characters engraved on them: "The Master did not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits."
Having learned from his previous experience, Jiang Jun did not rush to use his divine sense to test it. Instead, he closed his eyes and recalled the Confucian attitude towards ghosts and gods.
When he was in school, apart from the texts in the textbooks, he didn't study Confucian classics much, but he still had some impression of some sentences.
"Respect ghosts and spirits, but keep them at a distance."
"If you don't know about life, how can you know about death?"
"If you cannot serve men, how can you serve ghosts?"
Confucianism does not deny the existence of ghosts and spirits, but advocates not relying on them or getting entangled in them. Ultimately, human affairs must be resolved by humans themselves.
Jiang Jun opened his eyes and recited in a low voice: "The Master did not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits."
The bamboo slips glowed slightly, and a wisp of blue light emanated from the seal script, rippling through the study like water.
The light was cool and refreshing, like the morning breeze of early summer, carrying a calming and soothing atmosphere.
Another force surged into Jiang Jun's sea of consciousness, transforming into a blue cloud that echoed the crimson glow.
With a slight sense, he knew that the power of this strange object was limited to negating the existence of monsters within a certain range.
Once activated, the monster will be forcibly expelled and sent to a different dimension called "the Void Realm," which is separate from both the real world and the monster realm.
Under this influence, as long as people do not talk about supernatural or bizarre things, strange and eerie things will be difficult to descend upon.
Jiang Jun held the bamboo slip in his palm and pondered for a moment.
"The Master did not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits. Although this sentence comes from the Analects, I prefer to read the Spring and Autumn Annals." He looked at the bamboo slip in his hand, "From now on, I'll call you the Spring and Autumn Annals Slip."
Both magical artifacts were activated, but Jiang Jun didn't rush to put them away. Instead, he stared at them with a furrowed brow.
He thought of a problem.
These two mystical objects, especially the Spring and Autumn Annals, lay in the storeroom of the Department of Mysteries for so many years.
Countless people have gone through this process; surely some have tried to recite the texts and comprehend the meaning of the scriptures, just like him. But why has no one succeeded?
Don't they recognize seal script? Don't they understand the meaning of "The Master did not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits"?
That's absolutely impossible!
Jiang Jun leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, a thought becoming clearer and clearer in his mind.
Forty years have passed since the Abyss descended.
Over the past forty years, the supernatural has transformed from something of legend into a real threat.
As strange and supernatural objects are discovered, studied, and used, the system of the Ghost Masters is gradually established and perfected.
Humanity's understanding of the supernatural has transformed from a single term into a discipline.
Anyone who knows about the existence of ghosts, strange objects, and supernatural phenomena has been deeply instilled with the idea that:
Monsters are real, monsters are terrifying, and ordinary methods cannot deal with them; one must rely on strange objects, divine objects, and extraordinary powers.
This is where the problem lies.
To activate the power of the Spring and Autumn Annals, the existence of the bizarre must first be denied. But how could someone who has witnessed these things truly and sincerely deny their existence?
So what about those atheists who have never seen anything strange in their lives and whose faith is unwavering? Are they no match for them?
Jiang Jun frowned, his mind racing. A terrifying guess surfaced in his mind, sending chills down his spine.
Perhaps the collective consciousness of humankind has been corrupted.
As the concept of the supernatural was repeatedly mentioned and reinforced, the pollution of the Abyss had long since been integrated into the "Alaya Consciousness" or "Gaia Consciousness" of the Blue Star!
Those who lived on the timeline of the Abyss's arrival are probably all already unfortunate, having become carriers of the Abyss's corrupting information!
But Jiang Jun is different.
He was born and grew up on another timeline, where he shaped his worldview.
That timeline had no monsters, no supernatural objects, and no monster tamers.
In his underlying logic, the supernatural should not exist.
Because his soul was not corrupted by the Abyss, he was able to flexibly change his stance.
Despite having witnessed strange phenomena and even created talismans to ward off evil, he could still shamelessly declare: "So-called strange gods are nothing more than unexplained scientific phenomena."
He thought of that piece of paper again. It was no coincidence that the divine object [Crimson Dawn] chose to appear before him.
It wasn't because of his strength or his good luck, but because deep in his subconscious he possessed something that people on this timeline had already lost.
Jiang Jun remained silent for a long time before carefully putting the two wondrous objects into his sleeve.
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