[Taiqing Pharmaceuticals: Greetings, Fellow Daoist Chen. Your purchased 'Wanji Origin-Nourishing Essence' and 'Spirit-Flow Voltage-Stabilizing Injection' have been dispatched. Please keep an eye out for delivery!]
[Lingji Store: Thank you for purchasing the basic model 'Dharma-Control Scout Drone.' Please keep an eye out for delivery.]
In the mere wave of a hand, the five hundred immortal path potential Chen Zhuo had borrowed dwindled to just over forty.
These were all necessities.
The two injections to nourish his physical body could swiftly raise his cultivation.
And the final Dharma-Control Scout Drone served a major purpose.
Chen Zhuo intended to use this Dharma-Control Scout Drone to explore how large his pocket realm was.
Chen Zhuo had tested it before: time flowed at the same rate on both sides. The only thing left unverified was its size.
The Dharma-Control Scout Drone sounded slick, but in reality it was just a rechargeable drone.
The basic model was designed for mortals and required no spiritual energy to activate, so it wasn't expensive—costing merely a few spirit coins.
Equipped with a screen and a pair of goggles, it was essentially just an operable flying drone.
"Over these past three months, I kept spotting animal activity. The Boundary-Breaking Bead's pocket realm seems quite vast. I was so focused on cultivating these three months that I barely explored the place. Now that I've successfully enrolled, I might as well see what this pocket realm holds..."
Chen Zhuo muttered to himself. As for this pocket realm, his only plan was to find a plot of land, grow some spirit herbs, and resell them for a profit.
With spiritual energy so abundant here, the herbs would undoubtedly thrive and fetch a hefty price.
That way, he could pay off his loans.
Before long, Chen Zhuo signed for his online orders. He took a deep breath, channeled his spiritual energy, and directed it into the bead.
In a flash of black light, Chen Zhuo arrived in the Spirit Bead World.
...
In the Spirit Bead World, verdant mountains and clear waters remained as before.
Returning here, Chen Zhuo felt thoroughly refreshed.
This time, he had come fully prepared.
In his left hand, he held a palm-sized drone case, and in his right, two syringes of medicine faintly shimmering with blue light.
One was the Wanji Origin-Nourishing Essence, and the other was the Spirit-Flow Voltage-Stabilizing Injection.
"No rush to take the injections just yet."
Chen Zhuo set the medicines aside and carefully opened the drone case.
Inside lay a palm-sized drone with a sleek, minimalist design and clean lines.
Its four propellers could fold in, and at the center of the body was a tiny camera with a blinking red indicator light.
The drone also came with a pair of goggles equipped with a control display.
The goggles resembled sunglasses; once put on, they synchronized with the drone's field of view.
*Bzz!*
A soft hum sounded.
As the spiritual energy battery kicked in, the drone's four propellers slowly unfolded, hovering in midair.
Chen Zhuo donned the goggles, and his view instantly shifted.
The natural landscape vanished, replaced by high-definition footage transmitted by the drone's camera.
"Set altitude to two hundred meters; set cruising speed to medium."
Chen Zhuo swiped his finger across the control screen, deftly configuring the parameters.
He had already practiced the basic operation of this Dharma-Control Scout Drone multiple times in the Immortal Mansion's vocational training courses.
Though designed for mortals, it was exceptionally user-friendly—far more convenient than the drones from Chen Zhuo's life before transmigrating.
"Let's begin."
Chen Zhuo murmured softly, then began piloting the drone.
The drone shot straight up, soaring into the sky.
Chen Zhuo's perspective climbed with it.
The mountains below gradually shrank until they turned into an expanse of lush green.
The sky of the Spirit Bead World was exceptionally clear, washed in pristine azure.
"What an environment..."
Even though he had seen it several times, Chen Zhuo couldn't help marveling at it.
Back in the Immortal Mansion, not even the so-called spiritual energy nature reserves could boast such a pure sky.
The surrounding landscape hadn't changed much. Many animals could be seen wandering the mountain valleys; Chen Zhuo even spotted a fierce, white-browed tiger lounging lazily on a rock, basking in the sun.
"There are plenty of living creatures here. I wonder if they can be used for alchemy."
Chen Zhuo gave a slight nod, musing, *If they can, I could make a fortune just selling tiger bones... But I'd have to concoct an origin story for them. With my current cultivation, going to the black market would be far too conspicuous.*
Many animals could be used in alchemy, such as tiger bones.
Still, Chen Zhuo felt a headache coming on. His cultivation was too low; relying on illicit channels wouldn't guarantee his safety, while official channels would require explaining where he got them.
A tricky dilemma.
Chen Zhuo shook his head and shelved the matter for now. He planned to first get a general sense of the mountain range's terrain, then pick a relatively safe area to serve as his future farming base.
With a portable pocket realm in hand, farming was the textbook play.
Chen Zhuo had read novels; protagonists with portable pocket realms almost always focused on farming.
Besides that, he couldn't think of any other ways to monetize it for the time being.
Just as Chen Zhuo was about to survey the surroundings in detail, something caught his eye.
In the drone's view, there seemed to be... a road?
This road didn't look like a trail trampled out by beasts; it was a path with clear signs of human maintenance.
"Traces of human activity here?"
Startled, Chen Zhuo maneuvered the drone to hover in place, aiming its camera down toward the road.
"If someone really passes by, my drone will capture it. Even if it gets spotted, it won't matter. I'm a few kilometers away from that road. Unless they're a Foundation Establishment cultivator, they won't be able to detect me..."
Musing to himself, Chen Zhuo took off the goggles and prepared to cultivate.
There was no rush with the injections; after all, an injection was followed by a period of turbulence.
Unless he was completely secure, Chen Zhuo wouldn't inject himself lightly.
For now, Chen Zhuo resumed his breathing exercises and began refining qi.
With spiritual energy so rich here, there was no point wasting time.
*Whew—*
After cycling his breath for several hours, Chen Zhuo slowly opened his eyes, brought out the goggles, and began reviewing the footage.
In the drone's recording, a procession appeared.
A party of people clad in traditional attire.
The group numbered around a dozen people. In their midst was a sedan chair carried by four burly men.
The men were all heavily built, sabers slung at their waists, their footwork steady and their temples bulging prominently.
According to what Chen Zhuo had learned in the Immortal Mansion, prominently bulging temples were a sign of having reached a certain level in external martial arts.
This meant these guards were trained martial artists—agile, capable, and far from weak.
"There really are people here?"
The smile on Chen Zhuo's face stiffened and froze.
Chen Zhuo had assumed the Spirit Bead World was purely a pocket realm filled only with wild animals and rich spiritual energy resources.
Now, however, it seemed matters weren't that simple.
He...
didn't seem to have connected to a shattered pocket realm, but to a fully realized world!
Just then, the drone's synthesized mechanical voice sounded in Chen Zhuo's ear:
[Spiritual energy target detected. Estimated target level: roughly fourth layer of Qi Refining.]
It even had that feature?
Chen Zhuo was surprised, but he didn't panic. He quietly recalled the drone, pretending he had never discovered the trail.
Fortunately, the basic model of the Dharma-Control Scout Drone was purely electronic, possessing only a simple spiritual energy detection function.
Had it been a higher-grade Dharma-Control Scout Drone, the fourth-layer Qi Refining cultivator inside the sedan chair would likely have sensed it the moment it appeared.
Cultivators, after all, were exceptionally sensitive to spiritual energy.
Conversely, a mortal device like this basic Dharma-Control Scout Drone wouldn't attract attention—they would probably assume it was just some passing bird.
Chapter 5