Having learned quite a few things from the waiter, Lin Mu was given a lot to think about. The more he did, the more he felt like things were not right here. He gazed out of the gallery and saw the hustle and bustle of the port below.
’This place is way too prosperous for the cheap prices that they have.’ Lin Mu thought.
Lin Mu could easily list over ten different sources of income that the city had and despite that, the people didn’t seem to be that rich. Even this tea shop, which was supposed to be for the richer people, wasn’t particularly expensive.
Even in Wu Lim city, Lin Mu had seen places more expensive than this. He was not feeling even more sure that there was something wrong with this place. The waiter took his leave after Lin Mu dismissed him and was tipped a few more silvers.
Lin Mu took another sip of the warm tea and closed his eyes. Low chanting that was inaudible to anyone in the room came out of Lin Mu’s voice as his spirit sense spread around.
While before Lin Mu had done a quick scan with his spirit sense, it was only to get a gauge of the area of the city. If he wanted to see what was actually going on, he would need to focus on particular parts to be able to do that.
Once Lin Mu’s eyes were closed, darkness descended in his vision. But as his spirit senses started to pick up things, that darkness started to be filled with things. At first, the building and people that were the closest to Lin Mu appeared in the darkness.
They were all in black, white and Grey in color now and if Lin Mu focused on any particular part, he could see its color as well. The more ’diffused’ his perception was, the lesser details there were for him to ’see’.
Lin Mu went from the closest area around him in circles and expanded outwards. There he saw the commoners toiling and working hard, some cultivators fighting and arguing among themselves, fishermen carrying large wicker baskets filled with fish, women doing their daily chores and cooking, children playing around in the streets and old people watching them while reminiscing about their own childhood.
Lin Mu’s perception kept on expanding as he started sensing the cultivation bases of everyone in the city. Those that were in the Qi refining realm and body tempering realm couldn’t even feel anything when Lin Mu’s spirit sense swept over them.
Eventually, Lin Mu even found Jing Luo on the opposite side of the city. He too was sitting in one of the city’s establishments and this one seemed like a restaurant. Currently, he seemed to be enjoying a table full of dishes and was eating in a manner quite similar to that of Lin Mu himself.
Jing Luo felt when Lin Mu’s spirit sense arrived near him and he responded with a simple nod. But upon seeing this, a thought appeared in Lin Mu’s mind.
"Does he... even have money to pay for that food?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.
Lin Mu tried to recall but he didn’t remember ever giving the man any of the coins that he had with him.
’He should be fine using the spirit stones for payment, he should have some low quality ones left probably.’ Lin Mu thought to himself.
Lin Mu pulled his spirit sense from Jing Luo’s area and proceeded ahead. After a bit, he finally reached a place of interest, the building where the council of merchants assembled.
"Hmm... interesting," Lin Mu muttered to himself.
His spirit sense easily bypassed the few formation barriers that were set up around the building and entered the building. The building was not that big compared to its importance and there were other buildings in the Jiao Long city that were over ten times bigger than this, but those buildings were warehouses for storing goods and raw materials.
There were several rooms in the building and it was mostly empty, other than a few servants and clerks going about their data. Only when Lin Mu reached the inner most hall of the building did he meet some resistance.
’Hmm... this is a stronger barrier. My spirit sense won’t be able to enter at this range.’ Lin Mu thought to himself.
He opened his eyes and stood up from the table before leaving the tea house. Once he was out of the building, he directly went to the side alley that went from the left of the tea house and then entered an even smaller alley.
Lin Mu had already scanned the entire Jiao Long city and now knew it like the back of his hand. He knew exactly what would be the best locations to hide and the places that would be empty.
Lin Mu sank into the ground using phase and quickly made his way to the merchant council’s building. In less than ten seconds, he was already there. Lin Mu’s movement speed while underground had increased by quite a bit since he could now fly using just his cultivation base due to being at the Nascent Soul realm.
To him, the ground was pretty much the same as air when he used Phase, and thus he could just fly around in the ground that way. Thus reaching the merchant council’s building didn’t take him that long.
Once he was there though, he quickly found some flaws in the barrier and made an opening just big enough for him to pass. He easily reached the innermost hall where the ten council members were likely to meet.
While there, Lin Mu saw several servants gossiping.
"Did you hear, they are going to remove the Mu clan from the council?" One of the servants whispered to another one.
"Hasn’t that rumor been going around for a while now? Nothing strange there," the second servant replied with a whisper as well.