Rather than gather all his information directly from Bear Three, Sage chose the much cheaper path of purchasing books. Someone else might be annoyed at having to read through the pages of a book rather than just ‘downloading’ the whole text into their mind using a Jade Scroll or Tablet, but Sage had an abundance of time. Even if he didn’t, he could just have someone from the Inner World transcribe the books into different mediums. He was actually curious to see if there was anything special about these books as most knowledge he ran into in this world had been recorded with supernatural means. After looking around the shop for a while, Sage realized this place was similar as well.

The books were only used to record the most mundane sorts of knowledge: history, geography, simple bestiaries, law, biographies, and resources for mundane versions of the professions. Higher level knowledge, like combat and Gu raising techniques, as well as detailed maps were all contained within Jade Tablets, each of them sized much like they were a booklet, which was quite a bit larger than the usual, but made them fit neatly upon the shelves like the books. He found a few books that seemed to be what he was looking for, but it was better to get the opinion of an expert.

“I need works on the Kingdom’s History, Gu Raising, and comprehensive knowledge on the basics of Gu. I’ve got some nieces and nephews that need a full refresher, and I don’t trust the teachers in that small town they’re from. Can you gather them up for me?”

The clerks accomplished the job quickly, picking out twice as many books as he’d found himself. Sage paid using his freshly minted coins and walked down the street to another shop. This open air shop had shelves filled with ceramic tubes of many sizes. Each of them were perfect cylinders sealed on either end with dense wicker-like covers. They were all placed upon their side, either stacked or carefully placed upon racks on the shelves or tables. Sage took a look around before one of the workers came to assist him.

“Get me everything on this list.”

Sage handed over a sheet of paper to the man, who quickly started to read it. Then he looked back up, “We have most of the things on this list, but there are a few rare Gu we don’t have in stock, and we also don’t usually carry live plants for these Gu resources.”

“Aren’t you the best Gu shop in the district? Just get them.”

Sage placed a pile of Spirit Stones onto the table, creating a little show for the others in the shop as he flaunted his wealth by pouring it out like water. He usually wouldn’t be so conspicuous, but he didn’t have any Storage Bags in the local style to hand over. The short trip from one shop to the other had been more than enough time for Sage to learn everything contained in the books he’d purchased and he found the information teaching children the basics of the world to be very informative. The Storage Bags here were basically identical in function to those from the Tianxia Empire, but they had a very different visual style. In Tianxia, they were drawstring pouches, the circular opening on the top pulled tight by two loops of cord and then tied to a belt or hidden in a pocket. Here, they were small leather bags, attached by belt loops with a locking top flap. Sage examined a few while he was walking over and felt like they were built using similar techniques, like they came from the same creator, but simply of different styles.

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It seems that the group who builds Storage Treasures for Tianxia, also does the same for Xuanyuan. Curious.

Since handing over a bag of Spirit Stones was out of the question, Sage acted like a spendthrift and put on a show. Since he was being unreasonable, he was really unreasonable and made the store complete the rest of his shopping stops for him. The research teams had compiled a list of all the Gu they wished to bring to the Inner World, for testing and research. They also needed to grow their own supplies for them so they needed seeds and living plants which this shop did not deal in.

Another worker from the shop led him into a private room near the back of the shop, serving him tea and snacks while they waited. Another cleaned up all the Spirit Stones he’d spilled onto the floor and table. Sage had to wait half an hour, but eventually they arrived with a few bags filled with Gu raising resources, along with their equivalent to the beast bag here. The Beast Bag of the Tianxia Empire was similar in appearance to the Storage Bag here in Xuanyuan, while the Beast Bag of Xuanyuan actually looked more like a cricket cage. It was a small cylindrical wicker cage that was so densely woven that blocked the interior completely from view. It had some straps on either end to attach it to a belt just like the Storage Bag. From the looks of it, as well as the Cultivators he saw on the streets, everyone here wore their Storage Treasures on their belts.

He took the bags and put them under his robes, taking some time to slide them onto a belt and wear it around his waist. Then he swapped one of them into the Inner World and brought it back out again carrying the rest of the Spirit Stones he owed. After leaving the shop, the belt disappeared from his waist sending all the gains to the Inner World. Sage was walking towards a shop to purchase more of the local Storage Treasures when he noticed something at the edge of his Spirit Sense. He kept it drawn in tight, so it wouldn’t be vulnerable and also so it would be noticed by others. Just a mere wisp of its full strength, and the usual practice of Nascent Souls in cities. They didn’t want to offend any others at their rank, but also didn’t want to be left vulnerable so they used their Spirit Sense to this very slight level.

Stepping away from the road he turned into an alleyway and walked down to a corner that led to another narrow alley down between the backs of the buildings on two blocks. This was the sort of place for servants to travel out of sight, but like most alleys, became a magnet for crime. He stopped at the corner where he remained out of sight. He could already tell exactly what was happening before, but wanted to get close enough to interject if he had to. Just around the corner from him there was a group of four teenagers surrounding a smaller figure who was on the ground. They were taking turns delivering kicks, which coaxed out muffled grunts from the person on the ground.

This is some sort of story plot, isn’t it? The kid who robbed me is being beaten in an alley. This is where I’m supposed to save him, right?

Unfortunately, for the kid, Sage didn’t jump in to save him. He already gauged the damage that the older teens were inflicting and saw they were purposely controlling their strength to inflict pain without breaking anything. Each of these punks were Cultivators, even the one on the ground, and they could control their strength quite carefully. Sage was just there to make sure they didn’t kill or maim the kid, not to stop them from whatever this was. As soon as he butts in, won’t those teens turn out to be working for some powerful gang and then they go after this kid’s only remaining family member. While he was trying not to think about what sorts of plots he might accidentally get pulled into, a new one appeared in front of him.

The boy who’d tried to pickpocket him earlier stopped releasing pained grunts. There was silence for two kicks before the older teens stopped to whisper among themselves, wondering if the kid had been seriously injured somehow. Then, a deep and guttural snarl came from that crumpled pile of flesh and bone on the ground. The sound made the older teens freeze in shock. Their skin crawled and a shiver ran up their spines upon hearing this ravenous sound. While the sound was chilling, it was what came after that truly caught Sage’s attention. A wave of blood red energy spilled out of the boy’s body. It swept over the teens like a crashing surf, submerging their ankles in foamy red light. They overcame the moment of shock and tried to run, but the red energy seemed thick, holding onto their feet and slowing them down.