A goddess dwells in my heart.

Chapter 1 I'm an idiot, I have a doctor's certificate.

The quiet room of Chang'an Academy.

"Name?"

A languid female voice came from behind the desk.

Lu Zheji looked up and saw the woman in the red dress in front of him resting her chin on her hand, playing with a calligraphy brush with her fingertips.

Her features were strikingly beautiful, her dark hair loosely tied up with a few strands falling beside her cheeks, making her skin appear even whiter than snow.

"The road was broken."

"Broken halberd and sunken sand"—this name was considered unlucky; he'd often heard people say that. But the woman merely jotted it down, her expression indifferent, clearly already aware of his identity, and this inquiry was just a formality.

"Although it's a bit late to ask now, who exactly are you, young lady? And what business do you have with me?"

Upon hearing this, the woman in the red dress tilted her head slightly, then tapped the black iron token on the table with her jade-like finger.

"Grand Priestess of the Moon Guard, Yin Siyue." The woman's charming voice was lingering and sweet, just like her alluring and captivating face. "Young Master Lu doesn't even recognize the Moon Guard's badge? Should I say you're ignorant, or...?"

Lu Zheji smiled slightly: "It shows that I am an honest person who does nothing wrong and is not afraid of the Moon Guard knocking on the door."

He remained calm on the surface, but his heart tightened. From the fragments of memory that had just flooded in, he knew the weight of the words "Moon Guardian".

They oversee both the imperial court and the sects, wielding the power of life and death. Once they set their sights on you, you'll often suffer a severe beating, if not die.

As for why he could still pretend to be calm, it wasn't that he was really not afraid, but rather that he was now, after all, the young master of the Prince of Zhenbei, and with that status, he might be lucky enough to only have his foreskin removed.

only……

His gaze swept over the woman in front of him in a subtle way. This woman was on official business, but she was not wearing the Moon Guard uniform. Instead, she wore a bright red dress that complemented her alluring eyebrows and eyes. Her eyes exuded a natural charm.

She had a wonderful figure, full where she should be and slender where she should be. At this moment, she leaned lazily against the desk, one hand supporting her chin, a section of her smooth calf peeking out from under her skirt, her toes lightly tapping the ground.

The way she sat in front of him, so casually, and her tone so disrespectful, clearly showed that she didn't take his status seriously at all.

The title of Grand Elder indicates that Yin Siyue is a sect cultivator hired by the imperial court, and her cultivation level is extremely high. She is actually a powerful figure in the cultivation world, no wonder the sons of princes and nobles are not worthy of her attention...

"As for the purpose of summoning you here..." Yin Siyue finally steered the conversation back on track, "What was Young Master Lu doing an hour ago?"

"The academy's grand exam was an hour ago..." Lu Zheji had a bad feeling.

Yin Siyue took out an exam paper from under the desk and spread it on the table.

Lu Zheji recognized it at a glance; it was the very same answer he had given an hour earlier.

He had a bad feeling in his heart; it really was this kind of thing.

Yin Siyue extended her jade-like finger and pointed to the last major question on the exam paper, which was "Discuss the merits and demerits of the founding emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty".

"The last emperor of the human race, his merits and demerits were 70/30, the savior of the common people, the gravedigger of the demon race and gods and demons... Ha!" She read the words from the scroll, then let out a cold laugh, "Young Master Lu, do you know where you are? How dare you sing the praises of Emperor Taizu of Wei? If you were not the young master of the Prince of Zhenbei, I would have arrested you directly and thrown you into the imperial prison for questioning based on these words."

To dare to sing praises of Emperor Taizu of Wei while living in the Great Wei is simply going against the natural order, yet Lu Zheji could not laugh.

He was desperate too. He had only transmigrated an hour ago and was still in a daze. Everyone said the worst transmigration was ending up in the college entrance exam hall, but he was even more unlucky. Not only did he transmigrate to the imperial examination, but he hadn't even had time to process the memories.

Of course, as fragments of memory gradually flooded in, he learned that this was not the imperial examination, but the final exam of the Chang'an Academy. This academy was similar to a combination of the Imperial Academy and a military academy, and those with outstanding results could be directly appointed to official positions.

Well, it's pretty much the same as the imperial examination system.

Fortunately, when he transmigrated, there was only one incense stick's time left before the exam ended, and only the last question on the exam paper remained unanswered.

More importantly, he knows how to do this problem!

Before his transmigration, Lu Zheji was a newly promoted game planner. Based on the content at the front of the exam paper and the common sense of this world that gradually emerged in his mind, he recognized that this was the world view of the project he was in charge of, "The Record of the Goddess".

A project led by a newcomer is naturally a low-budget money-grabbing scheme. The boss shamelessly named him as someone who copied Hextech, a popular game from another game, and used it as a gimmick to create the core gameplay of this cultivation game.

Hextech is basically just a set of codes or abilities. In a cultivation-themed world, it's hard to explain the origin of such cheat codes. The boss told him not to worry about it; the most important thing in a game is to have fun, not to make it logical.

Lu Zheji agreed with the first half of his boss's statement, but he still hoped to design the world view as logically consistent as possible. To this end, he set the protagonist as the reincarnation of the Great Emperor, and the cheat was a backup plan prepared by the Great Emperor before his death for his reincarnation.

He was still working out the specific details, and the world-building was only just beginning when he was transported into the world. And coincidentally, this last question happened to fall within the scope of the world-building he had already started working on.

So he began writing based on the character design of the game's protagonist.

He was too hasty. Just because he discovered that the country's name was still Wei and the royal family's surname was still Lu, he naively thought he could fairly judge the founding monarch of Wei on the exam paper, without considering that the person who killed the emperor in the past might still be alive and in charge of the world's order.

But he couldn't calm down at the time. Friends who have taken the college entrance exam know that it's very difficult to stay calm when your adrenaline is soaring and you're in a state of high excitement, especially when the exam is almost over and you still have one big question to answer.

His body was in this state when he transmigrated.

However, after receiving the memories, he knew that he didn't really have a choice. Other candidates could slander Emperor Taizu of Wei out of political correctness, but he couldn't.

Because his surname was Lu, and he was a member of the royal family of the Great Wei Dynasty.

The identity he transmigrated into was Lu Zheji, the youngest son of the Prince of Zhenbei of the Great Wei Dynasty. They shared the same name and even looked exactly alike.

If a member of the royal family slanders his own founding ancestor, it is considered a heinous crime. If this were to reach the Northern Prince's Mansion, being expelled from the family register would be the least of his worries.

But he wasn't the kind of prince who could just laze around at home and wait to die. He was sent to the capital as a hostage. The result of upholding his integrity in the enemy's stronghold was that he was invited for tea by the Moon Guard the moment he finished his exam.

Seeing his silence, Yin Siyue moved her finger to another question: "You wrote this, didn't you? Two thousand years ago, the human race was in decline, demons roamed freely, and all living beings suffered. There was a fairy named Qiao who took pity on all living beings and protected the human race for a thousand years. The people were grateful and revered her as a goddess, remembering her kindness for generations and never forgetting her."

After reading it aloud, she sneered, her beautiful eyes fixed intently on Lu Zheji: "Young Master Lu, do you still remember what became of this goddess who protected humanity for a thousand years?"

Lu Zheji remained silent for a moment, then recited the original text from the textbook: "Emperor Taizu of Wei was licentious and admired the beauty of the goddess. He pretended to discuss state affairs with her, lured her to Chang'an, and intended to forcibly take her as his concubine. The goddess refused, so Emperor Taizu, together with other emperors, suppressed her and imprisoned her in the Bronze Sparrow Terrace built in the inner palace. From then on, the goddess was never heard from again."

Yin Siyue continued, "The mere act of imprisoning the Goddess is enough to erase all of Emperor Taizu's achievements. Those who do many evil deeds will surely perish. After the Goddess, another woman of extraordinary talent emerged in the world, who led the major sects to overthrow Emperor Taizu's tyrannical rule five hundred years ago. Unfortunately, after Emperor Taizu was executed, the Goddess was nowhere to be found in the Bronze Sparrow Terrace, presumably having already met a tragic end."

"Though humanity has lost its goddess, the fairy who slew Emperor Taizu of Wei inherited the will of Goddess Qiao, continuing to protect humanity and all living beings. People, grateful for her virtues, also revered her as a goddess. The new goddess, merciful and unwilling to see the people displaced by dynastic change, allowed the Lu royal family to rule the land, establishing the Goddess Palace to oversee the government and setting up the Moon Guard to monitor the world. Unexpectedly, five hundred years have passed, and you royal relatives still do not know what is good for you…"

Do you really think I'm a three-year-old child? Is this just a whitewashed explanation from sects to control the court?

Yin Siyue's words secretly relieved Lu Zheji. The royal family and the Goddess Palace were at odds, but by some twist of fate, he hadn't chosen the wrong side.

"Miss Yin has misunderstood. I can explain."

"Oh?"

Lu Zheji took out a scroll of documents from his sleeve and handed it over. This was called a "disability certificate," which was issued by the government to disabled or seriously ill people. Based on this certificate, they could be exempted from military service and corvée labor, and their taxes could be reduced.

Yin Siyue frowned her beautiful eyebrows and looked him over: "Where is there any disability on you? I can't see it."

"I'm brain-dead."

"..."

Lu Zheji pointed to his head: "I'm mentally disabled, I have a doctor's certificate."

"You speak clearly and your logic is sound. How could you be mentally challenged?" Yin Siyue said, unfolding the medical record and reading aloud: "...Your innate spiritual soul is weak. Outwardly, you appear normal and can communicate and interact with others as usual. However, your intelligence is slightly inferior to that of ordinary people, and you have memory problems. You have forgotten many things that happened three years ago, and you may be experiencing memory disorder. To cure this, you need to strengthen your spiritual soul..."

Thanks to this congenital weakness of the soul, even though Lu Zheji received the original owner's memories, he could only barely remember the events of the last three years. The earlier events were almost a blank. Even the opposing stances of the royal family and the Goddess Palace were only pieced together from Yin Siyue's words.

However, this has now become an excellent excuse.

"To be honest, young lady, this morning I managed to break through to the second realm. Perhaps it was because my soul suddenly grew stronger, which triggered an old ailment, causing memory disturbances and incoherent speech during the major exam. Now that my realm is stable and my soul has calmed down, the ailment has naturally healed, and my mind is no different from that of an ordinary person."

Yin Siyue put down the urgent message, a half-smile on her face. "Are you saying that you're an idiot, but others can't tell usually, and you just happened to fall ill during the big exam, and then recovered right after the exam? Is that what you mean?"

"That's right! Exactly!"

"Very good, I believe you." Yin Siyue nodded gently.

I think you believe the seal of the Goddess Palace on my medical report... Lu Zheji took the medical report handed back by Yin Siyue.

Just when he thought everything was fine, he saw Yin Siyue put away the exam paper and say calmly, "Young Master Lu's illness is understandable and he can be exempted from punishment. However, the inappropriate words on the exam paper are indeed true. According to the law, Young Master Lu's entire score for this major exam must be invalidated. Does Young Master have any objections?"

Compared to the possibility of literary inquisition, having his grades invalidated was insignificant. After all, he was just the son of a prince and didn't expect to get an official position through his academic achievements... Lu Zheji immediately said, "No objection."

Yin Siyue blinked her charming eyes, a hint of surprise flashing across them: "I thought your face would look worse. It seems that Young Master Lu's memory is indeed not very good."

Lu Zheji's heart skipped a beat: "What if my grades are invalidated?"

"The Goddess Palace summoned you to Chang'an under the pretext of 'summoning the sons of princes and nobles to the capital for further studies.' Now that your studies are over, and you are unable to serve as an official in the court, you should naturally return to the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion."

Isn't it a good thing that we don't have to be hostages anymore?

Yin Siyue seemed to see through his thoughts and explained, "Unlike other nobles, for the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion, the matter of the hostage is an act of mercy from the Goddess Palace. The Zhenbei Prince was bathed in dragon blood in his youth, which is why he is unparalleled in bravery and has a long lifespan. However, the dragon blood also brought misfortune to his later years. In his old age, he became mentally unstable and ordered all his children to join the army and guard the border after reaching adulthood, with no mercy for those who disobeyed. Unless they obtain an official position in the imperial court, the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion will hunt them down to the ends of the earth."

Lu Zheji's Adam's apple bobbed: "Are the casualties high at the front?"

"The Prince of Zhenbei has been ordered to start from the lowest rank of soldier, while the Lu royal bloodline is like a beacon in the darkness for the demons of the North. Apart from the Ninth Prince, who already possessed considerable cultivation before the Prince went mad, Young Master Lu, you have no other brothers or sisters."

"My medical certificate exempts me from military service, could you...?"

"Why not give it a try? As far as I know, your brothers who tried to play tricks all had their heads chopped off by the Prince of Zhenbei and hung on the city wall for all to see."

What kind of sadomasochistic choice is this? Your family of origin wins...

"Sister Yin," Lu Zheji tried to ingratiate himself, "you just asked if I had any objections. Now, how could I possibly have any objections?"

"It's just a routine question. Do you think your objections will be of any use? Besides, even if the results aren't invalidated, how could someone with a mental disability pass the exam?"

As Yin Siyue spoke, she stood up and lazily stretched her waist, her full curves rising and falling breathtakingly under her red dress for a moment.

She swayed gracefully as she walked towards the door, leaving behind only a languid whisper: "Good luck, little brother."

The door closed gently, and Lu Zheji was left alone in the room, sighing.

That's true. Although the academy's grand exam is not a civil service exam, as cultivators value cultivation more, the written exam can be handled by anyone with normal intelligence after studying for three to five years. But he just couldn't be considered to have normal intelligence before.

As for his cultivation level, he was unlucky to break through to the second realm only after the martial arts exam was over; otherwise, he would have had a real chance to push his way up.

The legitimate path to officialdom is now closed, but those who fail will have another chance to be selected by the sects that maintain close ties with the imperial court.

The prerequisite is that the sect has the confidence and is willing to offend the Prince of Zhenbei for his sake, or that it has such great influence that it can directly give him an official position.

But how could such a top-tier sect possibly look down on him...?

To have entered the second realm before reaching adulthood is no small feat; such talent is certainly not mediocre. Being stuck in one realm for life is the norm for most cultivators in the world, but this is still far from the threshold of a major sect.

"Let's take it one step at a time," Lu Zheji sighed softly.

Thinking about it carefully, the original owner of such intelligence was able to cultivate to the second realm, perhaps he really was a genius one in ten thousand?

He suppressed his chaotic thoughts and simply sat cross-legged on a futon in the room, trying to circulate his cultivation technique and familiarize himself with his newly broken-through second realm of cultivation.

Concentrate your mind and focus your attention on the dantian (lower abdomen).

After breaking through to the second realm, one can introspect, contemplate one's soul, and perceive the flow of qi in the meridians and dantian.

His consciousness slowly sank into his body. At first, he could only see a faint flow of energy in his meridians, but soon, a strange pulling force came from the depths of his soul.

"Um?"

After his initial surprise, he chose to stop resisting.

The scene before my eyes suddenly changed.

Consciousness seemed to penetrate some kind of barrier and enter a mysterious and indescribable space.

The place was completely surrounded by a tall, thick, hazy city wall, and directly in front of it stood a magnificent and awe-inspiring complex of buildings.

It was a towering stone platform, ten zhang high, upon which dozens of pavilions and halls rose one after another, with carved beams and painted rafters, green tiles and red eaves.

At the center of the complex stands a particularly prominent five-story pavilion, with its flying eaves and intricate brackets, displaying exquisite beauty. At the top of the pavilion is a bronze sparrow, fifteen feet tall, poised to take flight, lifelike in its form.

Lu Zheji was deeply shaken, and a name suddenly surged forth from the depths of his mind—

Bronze Sparrow Terrace!

Historical records state that after the death of Emperor Taizu of Wei, no trace of the goddess was found in the Bronze Sparrow Terrace... because the goddess's true place of imprisonment was elsewhere!

He set the real Bronze Sparrow Terrace as existing deep within the consciousness of the game's protagonist—the fallen emperor.

In other words...

A sudden realization, accompanied by an overwhelming excitement, surged into his heart. In this space of consciousness, Lu Zheji felt that he was the absolute master. With a slight thought, his figure appeared on the top floor of the central pavilion.

The sight that came into view made him gasp for breath.

The top floor of the pavilion was empty, except for the central area, where a beautiful figure knelt on a jade platform.

Her face was exquisitely beautiful, as if she embodied the essence of heaven and earth. She wore a sacred and noble white and gold gown, the hem of which flowed like clouds on the ground. Even in a kneeling posture, her slender and graceful figure was evident.

A collar adorned her slender, elegant neck, as graceful as a swan's, from which two silver chains extended, connecting two suspended magic arrays. Two other chains clung tightly to her waist from beneath the jade platform, accentuating her alluring curves.

The goddess's hands were also chained behind her back and hoisted high, forcing her upper body forward. Beneath her skirt, a pair of long, straight legs were revealed in a kneeling position, her skin as clear as jade, her bare, snow-white feet exquisite, each ankle locked with a shackle.

Two chains extended from the shackles on her wrists and ankles, making a total of twelve chains that firmly bound this stunning goddess to this small space.

But there was no humiliation on her face. She simply raised her emotionless eyes and looked at Lu Zheji, who had suddenly appeared. Her voice was as clear and cold as a jade chime:

"Emperor Wu, you have finally uncovered the mystery of the womb."

Just then, several lines of semi-transparent writing quietly appeared before Lu Zheji's eyes:

Name: Lu Zheji

[Identity: Reincarnation of the Great Emperor]

[Realm: Second Realm]

[Goddess's Blessing: None]