"No. Merely that America is rich, and China - the China we know of - is poor. But I think it's not the same place; America has no ghosts, or supernatural dangers, or cultivators, and yesterday morning I would have said no monsters either. Nor does it have rumors of those existing anywhere else. And if there were sects on the coast near the port cities where steamships dock, we would definitely have heard rumors."

"There are places where the supernatural is suppressed, but even if you'd been in one you'd have heard about magic from migrants.  Also, the snake monster wouldn't have been able to attack you."

She hums, still not quite understanding what happened.  It seems like a problem for scholars, not a guard.

"What is a steamship like?"

"A steam engine burns fuel, usually coal, to heat water, turn it to steam, and use that to spin a turbine, which turns to other motion by gears and pulleys. A steamship is a very large sailing ship, usually four masts, that propels itself with steam engines, through a pair of large underwater propellers at the rear. They make much better speed than wind power, and in any direction. Most still have sails as secondary power. I forget the time to cross the great ocean but I think it was about forty days by sail and twenty by steam."

"We only have sails, oars, and talismans to power ships.  I've never heard of anyone crossing the ocean without magic."

"It took careful charting of the winds based on latitude, and good clocks to calculate longitude when out of sight from shore, before anyone could made the crossing, and I think several attempts which failed and turned back with improved charts. It's a very, very large ocean. ...Also maybe yours has monsters in it? Ours only has whales and sharks which are too small to attack sailing ships."