"Where is that?" Little Li asked, suddenly curious enough to forget all about chairs and such.

"That's… where I come from." Remian tried not to blurt out anything else that might get him more attention. He was in enough trouble as it was.

"There is truly no slavery?" Little Yan stared at him, eyes wide.

"There was, but not any more. We ended it." Remian told her.

"How?"

"We killed the slavers and drove them out." That was as simple a summary as he could make it.

Zhao Feng snorted. "You? You couldn't kill time if you tried."

Big Li let out a snort of laughter. Hearing that, Mu Hou's laughter suddenly stopped. [c.r.a.p. Zhao Feng scored a point on humor.]

"I had a crossbow." Remian said, not mentioning magic. "And a lot of friends who fight in close combat much better than I do."

[I see. It wasn't like he was their leader. He just happened to be part of the army.] Zhao Feng once again lost interest and said, "We're wasting daylight. What else do you need to bring to the Sect?"

Right. Based on their swiftly s.h.i.+fting thoughts, Remian discovered what their shopping agenda was. Apparently, Big Li and Little Li were preparing to leave for the Cloud Mountain Sect. These were their last few days before they left home for an unknown period of time, probably years.

As for the guys, Zhao Feng was already an Inner Disciple of Cloud Mountain Sect. Mu Hou was a guest alchemist who could freely access the Sect anytime.

But Big Li wasn't done. "So… that means you're leaving Soaring Crane Country? Because there's no place in this country like the place you mentioned."

[She's still interested in him?] Zhao Feng suddenly had a sweeping killing intent.

[Maybe I should kill him after all.] Mu Hou thought along the same lines.

Feeling glum, Remian nodded. "Yes. My home is… very far away."

"Where is it, exactly?" Little Li asked. "Which way are you going?"

"I'm actually not too sure. I'm still trying to find my way back." Remian confessed.

"Well, how did you get here? Just go back the way you came." Little Li suggested.

"I… I guess I could try?" Remian struggled.

"How DID you get here?" Little Li pressed.

"I got here through a crack in s.p.a.ce." Remian tried his best to use words and concepts they might understand.

"A Spatial Tear?" Zhao Feng stared. "You survived falling through a Spatial Tear?!"

"He appeared in one of those Ancient Formations in the Forbidden Runes." Big Li informed him. "Badly wounded and half-dead, with all his meridians withered."

My dear great aunt, have you forgotten already? Those wounds were inflicted by you...

"Ah." Zhao Feng nodded to himself slowly. "Well, good luck returning that way."

But of course, he and Mu Hou were both thinking, [If that cripple tries to enter another Spatial Tear, he's dead for sure.]

The three older ones moved on after a brief farewell, but Little Li lingered behind.

"Do you need any help?" Little Li asked. "To go home and all?"

"Well, I showed up on top of an Ancient Formation, so I think I could try to use it to go back…"

"That's dangerous! We have no idea what might happen!" Little Li thought a bit. "You could learn about formations if you come with us to the Cloud Mountain Sect. Too bad you don't qualify. There's not much knowledge or experts on formations around here. You'd need to go to a place like the Grand Luo Continent to find that sort of knowledge."

"Grand Luo Continent? Where's that?" Remian asked.

"Um…" Little Li scratched her head. "I actually don't know. You could ask around."

"Great." Remian sighed. "Thanks, Little Li. I'll do that. But first, we need to buy some shoes."

***

After they bought her a pair of leather boots, Little Yan asked for a crossbow.

"A crossbow?" Remian blinked.

"You killed slavers with one, didn't you?"

"Uh… yeah?"

"Then I want one too!"

It wasn't a bad idea. In terms of defense, Remian relied mainly on his version of Gale Slash, which only required air, but having a crossbow around could be useful. Besides, the cheaper versions only cost a dozen Black.

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Then again, those were mainly for small-prey hunters. They were supposed to be for shooting rabbit-sized rodents for easy meat. The beasts out there that Remian had to worry about were Tier 3 and 4, possibly even a Tier 5 one day. Translating that into local power levels meant…

"I need two crossbows of lower or middle Innate Qi level." Remian told the weapons shopkeeper.

"Certainly, sir!!" The man's face lit up like the sunrise and Remian suddenly had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach for the sake of his purse.

As it turned out, weapons of the lower Innate Qi level were sold by the thousands of Black-grade Crystals. Weapons of the middle Innate Qi level sold at tens of thousands Black. On top of that, at a certain level, the difficulty in finding good materials caused a severe escalation of prices.

Early on, flexible and elastic materials (wood, string) cost less than hard ones (metals, etc), so spears and bows were cheaper than swords and maces. But at higher Tiers, finding strong flexible or elastic materials were more and more difficult, so spears and bows became more expensive than swords and maces.

For example, ever-popular swords made mainly with forged metals. At Tier 1 (useful only for killing rodents), a toy sword made of sc.r.a.p iron could cost at most one or two Black. A commoner's Tier 2 ma.s.s-produced cast iron sword should cost upwards of 20 Black. A soldier's Tier 3 sword of tempered steel could easily sell for 400 Black. A captain's Tier 4 sword forged by a master smith from Blood Jade Iron would likely cost about than 10,000 Black. A general's Tier 5 sword forged by a grandmaster weaponsmith using Dark Thunder Heart Iron could be commissioned for over 500,000 Black.

Meanwhile, a Tier 1 spear (basically just a sharpened stake, maybe with an added spike on top) could cost little more than a broom, fifty Yellow, or two for one Black. A Tier 2 spear of stout wood and a steel tip could go for 10 Black. An ironwood Tier 3 spear, however, would be priced between 300-400 Black, already matching swords of the same Tier. Ironwood was just that much harder to find, even though several specialized clans cultivate those trees. Prices rise even further at Tier 4; wood that reached that kind of strength while still maintaining flexibility was incredibly rare. A Tier 4 Silver Streamed Barkwood spear could be priced at 30,000 Black easily, more than twice what a Tier 4 sword would cost.

As for Tier 5… this shop had one in a gold-gilded gla.s.s case. It was made of dragon bone, and the tag on it said; 1,000,000 Black.

A whole million! That was the price the shop was asking for that spear.

As for Tier 4 crossbows, the shopkeeper had four of them in gla.s.s casings.

The first one was so big, it resembled something the Iron Legion would mount on a tower turret. It had an Elder Ironwood bow three feet wide and string made from Reef Spider Silk. The mechanisms for the trigger were forged from high quality steel. This was rated as a Lower Innate Qi level weapon. The asking price was 40,000 Black.

This was what it would take to shoot down a martial artist like Big Li?! But the mechanisms did seem incredibly simple. There was simply a trigger to release the string, a loading crank, and that was it. Pulling the loading crank the way it was now was likely something only an Innate Qi level expert could manage.

The second was smaller, with a two feet wide bow, Silver Streamed Barkwood and Tier 4 Rocky Goat tendon for string. The mechanisms used a bit of those strings in the loading crank, so it would be easier to pull. Those mechanisms were forged from locally sourced Celestial Iron directly from the Xue Clan. This one was priced at 50,000 Black.

The third had two bows crossing each other in an X-shape. This one didn't even use wood; it was formed from some dark green jade and actually looked like stone. The strings, however, were supposedly flood dragon tendons and had elasticity that was supposedly jaw-dropping.

"Supposedly?" Remian pressed.

"We don't really know." The shopkeeper confessed. "None of our staff have ever been able to pull the string back to load it."

That was for sure. This one didn't even have a loading crank or anything, just a hook on the handle. Someone using this would have to pull the string back by hand, and then thumb that hook down when he wanted to fire it. Very likely the action of firing this thing would take some skin off the shooter's finger. Whoever designed this made it look really fierce while not really thinking about actually using it. 90,000 Black looked more like a deterrent from too much attention than an actual asking price tag.

But the last one…

"What's this?" Remian stared.

The crossbow in question was small, with a bow barely a foot wide. It was colored completely black, and looked metallic, but it had a complex loading mechanism that involved springs, gears, and from what Remian could see, the loading crank itself had to be wounded up and triggered.

"This one showed up in the hands of the foreign a.s.sa.s.sin who murdered our late Grand Elder. Fifty men were injured and nineteen killed before he was finally executed. It belongs to the Zhao family, and we are just selling it on commission. The money from its sale will go to the bereaved family of our beloved Elder Zhao."

Remian was afraid to ask, but he had to admit he was tempted. "How much?"

"120,000 Black." The shopkeeper said. "That was the price the Zhao Family set on this horror. I know it looks too complicated and n.o.body knows how to get it to work, and most people loathe to even touch such an evil thing, but buying it is a good cause that would provide some comfort to Grand Elder Zhao's family after their loss."

n.o.body knew how to use it? Just looking at the mechanisms, Remian could figure out the general usage of the thing. First, you had to wind up the back crank. That would power up the loading crank, which you needed to press THAT switch to trigger. The string would be pulled back by the mechanisms automatically, and then you had to release the safety before firing from the under-handle trigger.

It was a beautiful, complex design and Remian felt it a shame that the locals just didn't understand mechanisms enough to truly appreciate it.

"Where did it come from?" he had to ask.

"Probably from the Grand Luo Continent. That's where all the good stuff comes from." The shopkeeper said, wistfully. "That's where the wealthiest, strongest nations in the world gather. They trade in Earth Crystals there."

"How far away is it? In what direction?" Remian asked at once.

"West. Directly west. You can't miss it. That continent is six times bigger than ours." The shopkeeper laughed. "But you'd be half a hundred years old by the time you arrived."

"What? Why?" Remian stared.

"Just crossing the continent alone would take you five years." The shopkeeper snorted. "Unless you rode a high-level Beast or you were a high level pract.i.tioner. If you were a Sky Qi expert, you could just fly over there in less than a day, but the rest of us need to walk through mountains and forests and whatnot just to get to the other side of the continent and then take a s.h.i.+p on a half-year voyage!"

"I see." Remian said, thinking. [Fly over there in less than day, eh?]