From within the Pearl’s vision, Clara Heart saw two immortal maids flying by with baskets in hand.
Bathed in bright sunlight, she furrowed her brow slightly, unable to shake her sense of puzzlement.
Though the Heavenly Court today is far less powerful than it was six hundred years ago, its millennia of Daoist accumulation still make it more resourceful than any other force in the Three Realms.
Beyond its million-strong Celestial Army, the Heavenly Court also boasts a vast civilian bureaucracy—officials who do not serve in martial posts but work diligently at assigned duties: overseeing mortal marriages, balancing fortune and longevity, managing the immense logistics network, and more.
It is these people who uphold the vast functions of the Heavenly Court.
Though they do not hold martial posts nor take pride in combat, they are cultivators all the same. Among them are artisans of great skill, but instead of channeling their craft into weapons as the Celestial Army does, they prefer to create all manner of idle amusements.
Could this bead in her hand be some trinket left behind by an immortal artisan?
Bored and idle, Clara Heart experimentally injected spiritual power into the bead. Instantly, the images inside grew chaotic and blurry. At the same time, she realized the bead’s internal structure was far more intricate than she had imagined, and she couldn’t help but marvel inwardly.
After all, she had trained since childhood under Master Sage Subhuti and Lord Lao—two of the foremost Daoist powers, versed in every Daoist art and artifact. Though her two centuries of cultivation have yet to earn her high status among Daoists, for someone to craft a treasure beyond her comprehension is no ordinary feat.
Could it be that this bead she picked up by chance is actually a remarkable treasure?
She held the bead in her palm, paused for a moment, and soon the images grew clear again.
This time, she saw a palace within the bead.
It was a palace built in the Heavenly Court’s style, clearly the work of celestial craftsmen—yet its scale was considerable, and despite wandering all corners of Heaven, she had never seen it before.
Clutching the bead, she walked slowly along, glancing about in every direction.
She saw gardens she had never seen before, buildings she had never seen before, and immortals she had never seen before coming and going within the bead.
Soon she realized these sights did not truly exist within the bead. As the bead—and her own perspective—shifted, the scenes inside kept changing.
It felt as though two overlapping worlds existed—one was the reality she inhabited, and the other could be glimpsed through the strange bead in her hand.
It didn’t take long for her to spot a common feature between the two worlds.
It began with an artificial mountain in the garden.
In reality, there was a rockery; in the bead, in the same spot, there was also a rockery. The difference was, the one inside the bead looked perfectly intact, with a tiny pavilion atop its peak and even two immortals sipping tea and chatting inside.