This was the first time Lin Mu was seeing the Echo Conch kingdom and estimated that the size of the entire kingdom was about the same size as that of Wu Lin city. Though there were also some smaller islands around the main island. But they weren't big enough to be called cities or anything.
At most, these islands could house ten to twenty houses, but not much. From what Lin Mu learned about the Echo Conch kingdom, the lower class of the people that would be the same as the peasants would live on these smaller islands. And those that were even poor would not have actual land to live at all.
Rather, these people would have to make do with their boats.
In an island nation such as the Echo Conch kingdom, every inch of the land was valuable and expensive. Even on the main island, the ones that could live either did so temporarily or were rich enough to stay there permanently. There was also a tax system in the kingdom which made it so that those who did not have the permission to stay on the main island permanently would have to pay the kingdom a certain amount for each day that they stayed on the main island.
Of course, most of the trades here happened in goods and one didn't necessarily need to use hard currency or coins to pay the tax either. Many fishermen and traders had this tax cut at the time of the entry and whenever they sold their goods.
'No wonder the smuggling trade is so popular here. With a daily tax like this, not many would be able to afford it. And those that live on those smaller islands don't have the proper supply of water and other necessities either.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
The only source of fresh water was on the main island and came from two main places. First was the underground spring, that was protected by the kingdom's own guards. This was said to be the protected supply of water, and only the royal court had access to it. Other than this, there was the lake located in the center of the island.
This was the main supply of the entire kingdom, and everyone would buy this water. There were channels dug out from its sides that would be used to water the few crops that grew here. Because the land was very rare and precious, the crops that were grown in this land were not common grains or vegetables either.
Instead what grew here was a special kind of beans. These were called as Mist Echo Beans and were a kind of spirit herbs too. What was unique about them was that they didn't need spirit qi rich areas to grow, but rather the unique soil that existed in the Echo Conch kingdom. These Mist Echo beans were used to refine oils that were used in alchemy.
But other than this, the Mist Echo Beans had other uses too. For example, the dried and fermented flowers of the mist Echo beans had hallucinogenic properties and could give one an euphoric high when consumed. There was also a special wine distilled from the fresh flowers that was high in demand.
These were the high value cash products of the Echo Conch kingdom that they specialized in. Though if it were not for the fact these things didn't really affect cultivators, there was no way the Echo Conch kingdom would have been able to keep all this safe to themselves. Rather, these products were something that the mortals used the most.
Lin Mu also observed the commoners and their lives before checking the cultivators that were in the kingdom.
Another thing that was special about the Echo Conch Kingdom was that there were no cultivation sects here. Nearly all cultivators of the kingdom instead worked for the Royal court or the royal family as they were the only ones that had the cultivation resources. The sales and trade of cultivation resources was almost monopolized by the royal court and if someone wanted to do any business related to it, they would need to get permission from them.
This was also one of the reasons why the alliance had not suspected of Gu Yao hiding here. With all the power being in the hands of the Echo Conch kingdom's royal court, he would have to either control them all or get official permission. Either of those would have resulted in him being found out.
Lin Mu saw less than four hundred cultivators in the entire kingdom and the number of core condensation realm cultivators was a measly thirty.
"Three Nascent soul realm cultivators in the entire kingdom. One is in the palace, one is in the hidden courtyard behind the royal palace and one is… in the water?" Lin Mu observed the 'experts' of the kingdom.
He could understand the two cultivators in the palace and behind it, but the one in the water made him feel strange.
"What's he doing over there?" Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and saw an old man.
His body was surrounded by an air bubble, and the runes were also present around it. It was evident that he was using some spirit tool to keep the water away. Though the state of the old man wasn't exactly fine. There were several injuries on his body and even teeth marks!
~SHUA~
Deep in the water some distance from the kingdom, a large fish was swimming around. It had sharp teeth and its cultivation base was also at the Nascent soul realm. This fish and the old man were seemingly in a battle, but neither of them were coming out on top.
But while Lin Mu was observing it all, he heard something from the ships near the area.
"Oh? He's the royal general of the kingdom?" Lin Mu heard from the conversations of the soldiers.
They seemed to be worried and could see blood in the water appearing from time to time.
