Yang Fei, Zhou Yu, and Li Yun had yet to reach thirty years old. They were seen as the relatively younger cultivators, among the itinerant cultivators on Golden Pearl Island.
Other than Yang Fei, the oldest, who was already at the 5th level of the Qi Refinement stage, Zhou Yu and Li Yun were both at the 4th level. Li Yun, in particular, had advanced to that level in the past year.
The three of them were very curious about why Wang Ping brought a little girl like Lin Xiao'e here.
However, after being brushed off like Wang Ping's response to He Meng, they understood his attitude and didn't probe any further. Instead, they began chatting with Wang Ping about the interesting things they had encountered over the past year and a half.
The itinerant cultivators of Golden Jewel Island were well aware of how terrible their cultivation environment was. Hence, for the sake of their own safety and for the sake of improving their cultivation, they would often exchange information with each other through the gatherings at Black Stone Mountain, particularly their experiences and insights in cultivation and combat.
For example, Wang Ping was able to obtain information on demon beasts like the Alligator-Tailed Toad, because he had heard other cultivators talking about similar experiences during such exchanges.
At this time, when he was talking to Li Yun and the other two, he did not withhold anything as he spoke about the few times he went out to hunt in the past year, nor did he hide anything about the weaknesses, habits, and other relevant details of the demon beasts he had observed.
Of course, Wang Ping definitely did not mention that he and Xiao Feng had worked together to kill two Alligator-Tailed Toads. If he did, Xiao Feng's existence would be exposed and people would know that he was quite well-off.
Moreover, he saw Xiao Feng, who was currently in the "Heaven and Earth Shell," as an important trump card.
This sharing of experiences also allowed Wang Ping to learn about a few types of demon beasts that he had never heard of before.
Moreover, he also learned some tips about opening up acupuncture channels from Li Yun, who shared her experience of advancing to the 4th level of Qi Refinement. This was rather fruitful for him
After conversing for about four hours, Wang Ping looked at the sky and realized that it would be dark in about an hour. Today was the full moon of August, and the dark sky signaled the official opening time for the temporary market.
Thus, he then glanced at Lin Xiao'e, who had been quietly listening in to his conversation with Yang Fei and the others. Suddenly, he said in a low voice, "I wonder if Senior Black Shark Drifter will be here to preside over the transaction this time around. Ever since I arrived here three years ago, I have been fortunate enough to see him once. I have yet to see him again!"
Hearing his words, Yang Fei couldn't help but shake his head and said, "That's hard to say. According to what I know, Senior Black Shark Drifter hasn't come out to host a transaction for three months. It's not something new for a senior at the Foundation Building stage like him to spend a year and a half in seclusion!"
After he spoke, he looked up at the sky and said, "Judging by the color of the sky, the market will open in about an hour. We will know whether SeniorBlack Shark Drifter will come out later."
An hour soon passed. The sun had set and the sky had turned dark, Night-Illuminating Pearls used for lighting were taken out from the pockets of the secret cultivators and placed on the "lamp posts" in the temporary market.
Golden Pearl Island's sea region was rich in pearls, and Night-Illuminating Pearls were not considered rare. Even some of the more wealthy mortal families in White Sand City could purchase one or two of them to light up the night.
On the other hand, the Night-Illuminating Pearls that Wang Ping and the other cultivators used were even larger in size. The pearls were very bright; a single pearl could easily illuminate an area of forty to fifty feet.
At that moment, dozens of Night-Luminescent Pearls were placed at the same time. The empty ground where the temporary market was located instantly became as bright as day, completely unaffected by the night.
Taking a quick scan, Wang Ping saw that there were more than thirty cultivators participating in this temporary market transaction.
Given that there were less than a hundred itinerant cultivators on Golden Pearl Island, this number had already exceeded one-third of the total population. Such a number would only appear a few times in a year of monthly temporary market openings.
This brought some hope to his heart, he felt that he might really be able to accomplish his objective this time.
With the temporary market opened, Li Yun and the others were either already setting up their own stalls to sell their own materials, or looking around at other stalls.
Wang Ping could only walk around the market to check out the items at the stalls first.
Some demon beast body parts, some stones that contained spiritual force, unknown plants that also contained spiritual force, swords that looked extremely sharp yet had weak spiritual force…
The items sold by the cultivators in the temporary market square were not much different from what Wang Ping had seen the past few times he was here.
To the itinerant cultivators of Golden Pearl Island, elixirs, magic tools, and spirit talismans were things that they would forever lack. Even if they had them, they would trade them away.
Therefore, the items that people would exchange for were mostly the various raw materials that they had recently obtained. They did not even know what most of their names were, so they naturally did not know about their actual uses.
In any case, they only knew that anything containing spiritual force could be considered spiritual objects, and most of them could be used by cultivators.
Typically, when itinerant cultivators obtained these raw materials, they would first sell them in a temporary market or find someone to help them appraise them. If they were unable to sell them and could not identify their origins or uses, they would then be sold to the Li family at the lowest price.
According to Wang Ping's previous observations, during the two days that this temporary market would be open, the number of successful transactions made could easily be counted with his fingers on one hand.
In fact, no one really expected to get rich in this temporary market. The real reason for coming here was to exchange experiences with other cultivators, and to express support for the senior "Black Shark Drifter."
After all, this temporary market was established by him. If no one came to the market, or if no one bought or sold anything, wouldn't it be embarrassing for this senior?
To the itinerant cultivators on Golden Pearl Island, this senior, "Black Shark Drifter," was their greatest support to avoid being exploited and oppressed by the Li Clan. They naturally couldn't make him displeased with them, which would make him stop protecting them.
As Wang Ping also knew about this situation, he treated this idle stroll as a mere pastime. Occasionally, he would ask about the uses and origins of certain items, though it was difficult to obtain any real information most of the time.
"Heh, Old Xu, aren't you being too half-hearted? You're at least at the fourth level of the Qi Refinement stage, so it shouldn't be difficult for you to bring a spiritual object out for show, right? Why are you selling an ordinary bird egg like this that doesn't even contain any spiritual power? Are you intentionally trying to break the rules of the market to discredit senior Black Shark Drifter?"
Wang Ping was strolling around when a loud voice suddenly caught his attention. It also caught the attention of many others, including those who had been softly talking to each other.
In an instant, over thirty pairs of eyes in the market were looking over to the source of the voice.