So It Wasn't a Small World After All

[Great Purity Pharmaceutical: Hello, Fellow Daoist Chen. The Myriad-Mechanism Essence-Nourishing Solution and Spirit-Flow Stabilizing Injection you purchased have shipped. Please watch for their arrival!]

[Spirit-Mechanism Store: Thank you for purchasing the basic Mystic-Arts Reconnaissance Drone. Please watch for its arrival.]

In the time it took to wave a hand, only a little over forty of the five hundred Immortal Dao Potential Chen Zhuo had borrowed remained.

They were all necessities.

Two body-nourishing Needles would let him rapidly improve his cultivation.

And the Mystic-Arts Reconnaissance Drone would be put to important use.

Chen Zhuo intended to use the Mystic-Arts Reconnaissance Drone to find out how large his Microcosm was.

He had already tested the flow of time on both sides and found it identical. Size was the only thing left to verify.

The name Mystic-Arts Reconnaissance Drone sounded impressive, but it was really a rechargeable drone.

The basic model was designed for mortals and needed no Spiritual Qi to activate, so it cost only a few Spirit Coins.

It also came with a screen and Protective Goggles. All told, it was just a drone he could pilot.

"Animals have been moving around here all three months. The small world inside the World-Breaking Pearl seems pretty large, too. I've spent these three months cultivating and hardly explored it. Now that I've enrolled, I can finally see what's out there..."

Chen Zhuo mused to himself. All he wanted from this Microcosm was a place to grow spirit herbs and resell them for profit.

With Spiritual Qi this abundant, the herbs would surely grow well and fetch a high price.

Then he could repay his loan.

Before long, Chen Zhuo accepted delivery of his online purchases. He took a deep breath, guided his Spiritual Qi, and channeled it into the pearl.

A black flash later, Chen Zhuo arrived in the Spirit Pearl World.

In the Spirit Pearl World, the green mountains and clear waters remained as beautiful as ever.

Returning here, Chen Zhuo immediately felt refreshed from head to toe.

This time, he had come well prepared.

In his left hand was a palm-sized drone case; in his right were two medicine-filled Needles that glimmered faintly blue.

One held the Myriad-Mechanism Essence-Nourishing Solution, the other the Spirit-Flow Stabilizing Injection.

"No rush to inject them."

Chen Zhuo set the medicine aside and carefully opened the drone case.

Inside was a palm-sized drone with a simple design and sleek lines.

Its four propellers could fold away, and a tiny camera at the center of its body bore a blinking red indicator light.

The drone also came with a pair of Protective Goggles fitted with a control screen.

The Protective Goggles looked like sunglasses. Once he put them on, he could see through the drone's camera.

Buzz!

A faint hum sounded.

As the Spirit-Energy Battery started up, the drone's four propellers slowly unfolded, and it hovered in midair.

Chen Zhuo put on the Protective Goggles, and his view changed at once.

The natural scenery vanished, replaced by a high-definition feed from the drone's camera.

"Altitude: two hundred meters. Cruising speed: medium."

Chen Zhuo slid his finger across the control screen, setting the parameters with practiced ease.

He had learned the basic operation of this Mystic-Arts Reconnaissance Drone several times in the Immortal Estate's vocational training courses.

Though designed for mortals, it was genuinely convenient to use—far easier than the drones from before his transmigration.

"Let's begin."

Chen Zhuo sighed softly and began piloting the drone.

It shot upward, racing toward the sky.

His viewpoint rose with it.

The mountain beneath him gradually shrank until it became a patch of lush green.

The sky of the Spirit Pearl World was exceptionally clear, a spotless blue.

"This environment..."

Though he had seen it several times, Chen Zhuo still had to marvel at it.

In the Immortal Estate, even a so-called Spiritual-Energy Nature Reserve could not offer a sky this pure.

The surrounding landscape held few surprises. Plenty of animals roamed the mountain gullies, and Chen Zhuo even spotted a white-foreheaded tiger with fierce, glaring eyes sprawled on a rock, lazily basking in the sun.

"There are plenty of living creatures here. I wonder if they could be used for alchemy."

Chen Zhuo nodded slightly and considered: If they can, I could make a fortune just selling tiger bones... But I'd need some way to make up a story about where they came from. Going to the Black Market at my cultivation level would draw too much attention.

Many animals could be used in alchemy, including tigers for their bones.

But Chen Zhuo had a headache over it. His cultivation was too low for him to safely trade on the black market, while official channels would demand an explanation for where the goods came from.

What a headache.

Chen Zhuo shook his head and set the matter aside. For now, he planned to get a general sense of the mountain range's terrain, then choose a relatively safe area for a future herb-growing base.

When you carried a Microcosm around with you, farming was the natural move.

Chen Zhuo had read novels. Protagonists with portable Microcosms mainly used them to farm.

Besides, he could not think of another way to turn the place into money just yet.

Just as Chen Zhuo was about to survey the area more carefully, something caught his eye.

Through the drone's camera, he seemed to spot... a road?

It did not look like a trail trampled by wild animals. It was a passage with clear signs of human maintenance.

"People have been here?"

Startled, Chen Zhuo brought the drone to a stop and aimed its camera down the road.

If someone comes through, my drone will catch them on camera. Even if they spot it, it won't matter. I'm several kilometers from that road. Unless they're a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, they won't find me...

With his thoughts running wild, Chen Zhuo lowered the goggles and prepared to cultivate.

There was no rush to take the injections. Afterward, he would go through a period of agitation.

Unless he was absolutely safe, Chen Zhuo would not inject himself lightly.

For now, Chen Zhuo continued breathing in spiritual energy and began Qi Refinement.

With so much Spiritual Qi here, he ought not waste time.

"Phew~"

After several hours of drawing in and releasing breath, Chen Zhuo slowly opened his eyes, picked up the Protective Goggles, and reviewed the footage.

In the drone's feed, a traveling party had appeared.

A party dressed in ancient-style clothing.

There were roughly a dozen people, with a sedan chair in the middle carried by four burly men.

Each man was broad-shouldered, with a saber at his waist, steady steps, and temples that bulged prominently.

According to what Chen Zhuo had learned in the Immortal Estate, bulging temples were a sign that someone had trained external martial arts to a certain level.

These guards were clearly trained fighters—agile and no weaklings.

"There really are people here?"

The smile on Chen Zhuo's face slowly stiffened and froze.

He had thought the Spirit Pearl World was simply a Microcosm containing nothing but wild animals and abundant Spiritual Qi.

But now it seemed things were not so simple.

He...

He might not have connected to a fragmented Microcosm at all, but to a complete world!

Just then, the drone's electronic voice sounded in Chen Zhuo's ear.

[Spiritual Qi target detected. Estimated cultivation: fourth level of Qi Refinement.]

It can do that, too?

Chen Zhuo was surprised, but he did not panic. He quietly recalled the drone, acting as though he had never noticed the path.

Fortunately, the basic Mystic-Arts Reconnaissance Drone was purely electronic equipment, with only one function for detecting Spiritual Qi.

A more advanced Mystic-Arts Reconnaissance Drone would probably have been noticed the moment it appeared by the fourth-level Qi Refinement cultivator inside the sedan chair.

Cultivators were especially sensitive to Spiritual Qi, after all.

A mortal device like the basic Mystic-Arts Reconnaissance Drone, on the other hand, would not attract attention. They had probably taken it for a bird flying past.