I attained immortality in the real world.

Chapter 4 Son of the Plane
[The world begins!!]

[World Rules Alienation: Formlessness.]

[Note: The absence of self, others, sentient beings, and lifespan enhances the sensory impact on others by 1000%.]

[Note: Clicking the sword-shaped icon on the back of your hand will display the world introduction, character information, related quests, etc.]

Chen Jing's consciousness awoke from the chaos, and he examined the virtual body that carried his consciousness.

His body became thin and frail, his appearance changed drastically, his skin turned sickly pale, and he wore a blue robe in the style of an ancient scholar; he had become a completely different person.

"No character creation required, you randomly arrive in a soul-swapping-like experience – is this a niche virtual reality game that time-travel enthusiasts would love?"

Chen Jing got up and looked around. There was a desolate courtyard outside the door. He was in an antique house with several flower and bird paintings on the wall. On the elm round table, there was a pot of leftover wine and a wine cup. Someone must have been drinking alone to drown their sorrows last night.

Seeing that Chen Jing had sobered up, a maid who had been spying outside the door hurriedly left.

After a moment, a short, stout middle-aged man strode in and said with concern, "Kui'er, don't be discouraged. I have investigated and found out that those who made the list this year are all from aristocratic families. It has nothing to do with your talent. If you want to blame someone, blame our Zhu family for not having enough resources."

Is the body named Zhu Kui?
Did he drown his sorrows in alcohol because he failed his exams?

Chen Jing hadn't had time to learn about the Boundless Realm and didn't know how to respond.

Knowing that saying too much would only make things worse, he rubbed his temples and deflected, "I'm just a little dizzy from a hangover, I'll be fine after a rest!"

Upon hearing this, the short, stout middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, that's good. Kui'er, you should get some more sleep. I'll have someone prepare some hangover soup."

After seeing off the man who appeared to be the father of this body, Chen Jing pulled out a folding chair and sat down, not in a hurry to go out and explore the unknown world.

Before rushing to read the information provided by the 'God', I clicked on the light gray sword-shaped pattern on the back of my hand.

A semi-transparent light screen popped up, displaying three viewable options: world introduction, character information, and missions.

"........."

[World Introduction!]

A world overview, presented in the form of a historical documentary.

The opening scene features a dim, yellowish background that evokes images of ancient people living a primitive life, practicing slash-and-burn agriculture, and the existence of tribes and dynasties.

The murals record how the human race of the Formless Realm evolved from a barbaric tribe to a public world ruled by a supreme sovereign, and then to a family-based world with dynastic changes.

Its historical context is extremely similar to that of the Yanhuang civilization, or rather, it was originally created using the history of the Yanhuang civilization as a blueprint.

Time flew by and into modern times, only then did the narrative style of the Spring and Autumn Annals cease, and precise years became the unit of measurement.

"In the 1231st year of the Tianxuan calendar, King Tang acted tyrannically, causing a three-year drought. Instead of reducing taxes and corvée labor, the people resorted to cannibalism."

"Zhou Ji, the second son of the Zhou family in Linxi City, was born with the appearance of a black bird. He led hundreds of clan soldiers to attack Tang, and the people flocked to him like clouds."

"When the generals and soldiers guarding Linxi saw Zhou Jisheng's appearance as a black bird, they all abandoned their troops and surrendered, occupying Linxi City to resist King Tang."

"In the year 1244 of the Tianxuan calendar, after thirteen years, Zhou Ji completed the great undertaking of overthrowing Tang. He made an alliance with the Xuan River, distributed the land to those who had made contributions, and established the Tianxuan Dynasty."

"In the year 1332 of the Tianxuan calendar, the ruler of Xiang, Xing Zhao, re-established the Xuanshui Alliance. None of the feudal lords dared not to attend. Emperor Zhou Qi of Tianxuan lost his throne, and the feudal lords rose up, ushering in an era of war among the feudal lords."

"In the year 1341 of the Tianxuan calendar, there was a small country called Tai Sui in the northwest border region. Its ruler, Qu Mo, had cloud patterns on his face. He reformed the country's system and created the imperial examination to select officials, regardless of their social status, only those with talent were chosen."

"In the year 1456 of the Tianxuan calendar, the successive monarchs of the Tai Sui Kingdom followed the ancestral system, and the country's strength grew stronger day by day. They sent envoys to seven countries to mediate a century of war and finally became one of the hegemons among the feudal lords of the Tianxuan Dynasty."

[Character Profile!]

【Task!】

[Name: Zhu Kui]

[Age: 21. 】

[Identity: Scholar of the Tai Sui Kingdom.]

[Synopsis: He recognized a thousand characters at three, could compose poetry at five, had read all the classics by eight, passed the imperial examination for children at twelve, and became a scholar at fifteen. At twenty-one, he met the Grand Duke of Jupiter, failed the exam, and returned home heartbroken, entrusting his life to a demon from beyond the realm.]

[Note: This feature allows access to shallow memories of a person's life, extraction of keywords, facial features, landscapes, and architecture, and searching the memory sea to view related memories.]

[Mission: Achieve Top Honors! (The higher the ranking, the greater the reward.)]

[Note: In the Realm of No Form, those who pass the imperial examination at the lowest level (xiucai) are qualified to be listed on the Golden List. Every year on the second day of the second lunar month, the Tai Sui Examination is held, and the top one hundred candidates are selected to participate in the Deer Cry Banquet. The monarch personally selects twelve people to be included on the Tai Sui List.]

"........."

"A sea of ​​memories? A database?"

"A virtual game character has 21 years of complete life experience, and all the past events can be recalled."

"Is it really necessary for a game to go this far?"

"In the real world, no human being can have a complete memory of their life."

"Even the most advanced virtual reality games in the Metaverse will only refine the plot-related settings."

Who developed the Realm of No Form?

"Computing power, doesn't it cost money?"

The memory search function surprised Chen Jing slightly.

As expected of a game recommended by my second great-uncle, although the game has no fame whatsoever, the developer is really willing to invest a lot of money.

A finger swipes across the semi-transparent screen, clicking to access Zhu Kui's shallow memories. Shallow memories consist of two types: those that have left a deep impression on one's life, and those that have occurred recently and have not yet been forgotten.

Once the superficial memories are fully digested, it will be enough to deal with the problem of impersonating Zhu Kui.

"........."

In his memory, Zhu Kui, who was only five years old, was still unsteady on his feet, his dark eyes staring intently at a large white goose in the pond.

Suddenly, a catchy five-character poem was recited: "Goose, goose, goose, with its curved neck singing to the sky, white feathers floating on green water, red webbed feet paddling through clear waves."

The simple and easy-to-understand words brought the white goose to life, astonishing everyone and earning him the reputation of a child prodigy in the surrounding villages.

This is a poem about geese written by Luo Binwang when he was seven years old, but in this realm of formlessness, it truly comes from the mouth of Zhu Kui when he was five years old.

"........."

At the age of 7, Zhu Kui, known as a child prodigy, entered the Tai Sui Academy of the Tai Sui Kingdom at a very young age.

The young students, eight or nine years older than him, were unwilling to be taught in the same classroom as the little kid. They deliberately made things difficult for the thin Zhu Kui, and only allowed him to enter the room after he had memorized a scroll of scriptures.

Zhu Kui turned the pages one by one, and the moment he closed the book, he spoke: "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao... The way of Heaven is to take from those who have more than enough and give to those who have less than enough..."

He could memorize it after just one glance, and amidst astonished gazes, he recited the entire five thousand words of the Tao Te Ching without missing a single one.

"........."

At the age of twelve, Zhu Kui had mastered countless books and stood among the crowd of people who had just received their examination results.

Zhu Kui is the shortest, and Zhu Kui is also the tallest; Zhu Kui's name is written at the top of the list.

A yamen runner in a black robe shouted in a loud voice, "Zhu Kui, first place in the children's examination!"

"........."

"The first twelve years of Zhu Kui's life were definitely like a protagonist in a wish-fulfillment novel."

"In this virtual world, it's like there's no limiter; he possesses unparalleled talent in literature."

"It means that the classic works of Li Bai, Du Fu, the three Su brothers, the three Cao brothers, and all the literati who have left their mark on history will become inspirations flowing into his mind."

"And it's not just a plagiarist; the AI ​​will also use five thousand years of cultural heritage as material to create entirely new poems, essays, lyrics, and prose, which will also become inspirations flowing into its mind."

Even if Chen Jing used the Main God to connect to the real network to cheat, he could only barely reach the average level of 'Zhu Kui'.

I really can't figure out how this chosen one of the Boundless Realm lost? How could he have failed the exam?
"continue!!"

Chen Jing swiped his finger across the light screen to continue reading the memories.

The color tone of the image changes with the mood of the person who remembers it, becoming gray and hazy, as if it were an illusion.

It didn't feel like looking at cold, hard data; it felt more like reading someone's memories, and those memories finally came to recent times.

Zhu Kuinian was twenty-one years old. He had already obtained the title of Tai Sui Guo Xiucai (a scholar who passed the imperial examination) and passed the Tai Sui test with a long poem. He successfully met the king at the Deer Cry Banquet.

However, the final test is not about knowledge, but about eloquence, character, and even appearance.

At the Deer Cry Banquet, a disheveled Taoist priest sat at the head of the left row. His eyes were like those of a hawk. He gave Zhu Kui a critique: "Your body is like a drifting catkin in the wind, and your life is like a duckweed in the rain. Although you have some natural talent, you are a person without form. You cannot enjoy the blessings. If you hold an important position, you will probably die young. You would be better off being an ordinary person."

The Taoist's voice was like a demonic chant, and the memory images changed from gray to black.

Zhu Kui's mind went blank, and he operated his body like a machine, resulting in a very poor performance at the banquet.

After listening to the Taoist's prediction, the King of Tai Sui didn't linger on him for even a second; all his knowledge was rendered useless.

Waiting for the results to be released the next day, Zhu Kui's name was naturally not on the list of those who received the Tai Sui (Grand Duke Jupiter) results.

"........."

"I thought Zhu Kui's failure to pass the exam was due to external factors, like Tang Bohu and Liu Sanbian, or perhaps it was a case of 'the talent of Zhong Yong is gone'."

"The truth is even more cruel than I expected. The Tai Sui Kingdom's imperial examination system remains true to its original purpose, and there is no distinction between social status and official rank in the selection process."

"There was no surprise, no targeting, no shady dealings; he simply doesn't deserve to be on the list."

"To judge a person's fate, or even the fate of a nation, by their face or appearance is absurd and laughable."

"But considering the distortion of the rules of the formless realm, which amplifies the impact on human senses by 1000%."

"It's a world that judges people by their appearance, so it somehow feels quite reasonable."

"How could Zhu Kui, who wrote 'Ode to the Goose' at the age of five and was known as a child prodigy for his ability to memorize anything after reading it once, possibly accept mediocrity?"

"In despair, I handed my body over to the extraterrestrial demons, which marked the beginning of my journey into the Boundless Realm."

"Zhong Kui lost his chance to become the top scholar because of his ugly appearance and died in the Golden Palace. Zhu Kui was the most talented but failed the exam. It is reasonable for him to give his body to the Heavenly Demon."

The memory ends.

Chen Jing didn't have a photographic memory, but he could roughly digest Zhu Kui's superficial memories.

He got up and walked to a bronze mirror with an animal head, examining the person in the mirror with a pale face, thin lips, and concave black eyes: "Am I ugly?"

To be honest, Zhu Kui's appearance was not ugly at all, at least not by modern standards of beauty. He was just a sickly and weak young master with an empty heart.

But "appearance" doesn't just refer to beauty or ugliness. The appearance of wealth and nobility, the appearance of high-ranking officials, the appearance of kings and nobles, the appearance of emperors—which of these can be categorized by beauty or ugliness?
(End of this chapter)