After agreeing to Gu Feng's request, Wang Ping decided to stay by Gu Feng's side without leaving to prove his 'innocence.'
Gu Feng was naturally very satisfied with his tactful way of doing things. In the following period of time, he specially brought Wang Ping to get to know a few cultivators at the seventh level of the Qi Refinement realm that he had never known before, giving him the opportunity to interact with these veteran middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivators.
In the cultivation world of Golden Pearl Island, the late stage of Qi Refinement was a huge hurdle for many itinerant cultivators.
Many cultivators with poor spiritual core constitutions, such as Wang Ping who was born with a five-elemental mixed spiritual core constitution, might not be able to reach the late stage of Qi Refinement, regardless of how diligent they cultivated for their entire lives, or they might only make a breakthrough into the late stage at the age of eighty or ninety.
Once one broke through to the late stage of Qi Refinement, not only would their cultivation and Dharma power be a lot stronger than that of a middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivator, their blood vitality would also flourish and their lifespan would increase by 20 years, due to the opening of their "Chest Meridian."
As long as a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator didn't sustain any extremely serious and incurable internal injuries, and as long as they didn't die from an unexpected accident, they could live to 120 years of age.
Therefore, for many of the Qi Refinement Cultivators on Golden Pearl Island, reaching the late stage of the Qi Refinement Realm and lengthening their lifespan by twenty years was their greatest pursuit.
After all, with their Dharma power to protect their bodies, cultivators basically wouldn't fall sick. If they could extend their lifespan to 120 years, they would be able to live a carefree life for the rest of their lives.
According to what Wang Ping knew, many itinerant cultivators on Golden Pearl Island would no longer go out to sea to hunt demon beasts after reaching the late Qi Refinement Realm. Instead, they would live a life of luxury and seclusion in large mortal cities.
Considering their lifespan of 120 years and their bodies that were immune to sickness or disaster, they could continue to enjoy this kind of life until the end of their lives.
Under these circumstances, the number of late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators that could be spotted on Golden Pearl Island was very small.
Basically, the most active cultivators were the middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivators. Gu Feng, who was at the seventh level of Qi Refinement, was one of the top cultivators in this stage.
Normally, if there was no one to guide him, it was basically impossible for a newcomer like Wang Ping, who had just stepped into the middle stage of the Qi Refinement realm, to form a small social circle and interact with people.
After that, Wang Ping did not leave Gu Feng's side until the temporary market closed.
After the market was dispersed, Gu Feng led Wang Ping to a seaside city on the east side of Golden Pearl Island, Giant Crab City.
In fact, Giant Crab City was not as prosperous as White Sand City, and its population was about ten to twenty percent lower than the latter.
However, the shipbuilding workshops here were more skilled than the ones in White Sand City and they were able to build bigger and better ships. Many of the ships used by cultivators to go out to sea were made here.
Gu Feng and the others' boat had been greatly damaged during their last voyage, so they had no choice but to drive it to Giant Crab City for maintenance. After months of maintenance, their boat was almost fully maintained.
"This Qin Shipbuilding Workshop has a long history of over two hundred years. Its ancestors were also cultivators and there were once cultivators guarding the family for generations."
"However, now that the Qin family is in a state of decline, even if they have cultivation techniques, they don't have any clansmen with a spiritual core constitution who can embark on the path of cultivation. They have no choice but to resort to recruiting someone with a spiritual core constitution to marry into their family to protect the Qin family's wealth."
"Brother Wang, you are now a middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivator. In the future, if you form a team to go out to sea to hunt demons, you must also have your own ship. If you are interested in ordering a ship here, I can introduce you to the current owner of the Qin Shipbuilding Workshop."
At the dock outside Giant Crab City, Gu Feng brought Wang Ping here to check on the maintenance progress of their ship, while also introducing the background of the shipyard responsible for their ship maintenance.
Ordering a ship?
Wang Ping had initially only come with Gu Feng to take a look, but upon hearing his words, his heart stirred; he was enticed.
There was actually a ship in Wang Ping's "Heaven and Earth Shell."
However, it was just a small fishing boat that he had placed inside as a backup and it could only sail in the waters near the island.
If one wanted to sail into the deep sea where the winds were strong and the waves were high, one would need a larger ship to sail through them without capsizing.
However, it was impossible for one person to control such a large ship. At least a dozen people had to work together to do so.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, when cultivators like Gu Feng and the others were going to the deep sea area to hunt demon beasts, they would bring some mortal boatmen with them to help control the ship. Some would even especially take in a group of mortal boatmen as servants.
"If it wasn't for Big Brother Gu mentioning it, I wouldn't have considered this matter at all. I'll have to trouble Big Brother Gu on this."
Wang Ping pondered for a moment. Finally, he cupped his fists and bowed to Gu Feng with an appreciative expression, agreeing to purchase a ship.
Regardless of whether he could find boatmen to control the ship, ordering a ship that could withstand the fast winds and high waves would indeed be beneficial to him.
Under Gu Feng's lead, Wang Ping soon met the current owner of the Qin Shipbuilding Workshop. He agreed to have the Qin Shipbuilding Workshop build a ship for him with ten low-grade spiritual stones as remuneration.
Using spiritual stones as remuneration for shipbuilding was also a unique characteristic in business transactions between the Qin Shipbuilding Workshop and the cultivators.
After all, the Qin Clan didn't lack gold and silver, and the requirements of cultivators for ships were far higher than ordinary ships. They would have to use many precious wood materials that they normally couldn't bear to use. Hence, if they traded with gold and silver, the clan would actually be making a loss.
Ten low-grade spiritual stones were exactly the price for two pieces of low-grade tier-1 demon beast materials on Golden Pearl Island. A middle-stage Qi Condensation cultivator wouldn't be unable to afford it.
Wang Ping himself was quite satisfied with this price.
After the two parties confirmed the transaction, they established a contract to have the ship handed over in a year.
Building a ship was not easy. Even if the Qin Shipbuilding Workshop had enough wood, they would need at least a year to build one. After all, they could not divert the manpower of the entire Shipbuilding Workshop to building Wang Ping's ship.
As soon as the contract was signed, Gu Feng, who had been watching him talk to the owner of the Qin Shipbuilding Workshop, smiled and patted Wang Ping's shoulder. "Brother Wang, you are truly heroic. When I owned my first ship, I was already at the fifth level of Qi Refinement at over forty years old. Brother Wang, you have attained what I achieved when I was at the age of forty, at the age of twenty. I'm afraid that you will surpass me in the future!"
Wang Ping was a little dumbstruck by his sudden actions, failing to understand why he was happy. Nevertheless, in lieu of humility and prudence, Wang Ping still hurriedly cupped his hands. "Big Brother Gu, your words are too much for this little brother. It's not like you don't know how this little brother's cultivation came about. Moreover, you've always been a role model for me to learn and imitate. If this little brother can have 80% of Big Brother Gu's accomplishments in the future, my life wouldn't be wasted!"
"Hahaha, you're too modest. Brother, you're too modest."
Gu Feng laughed and patted Wang Ping's shoulder before leaving the shipyard with him.
It would take a few more days for Gu Feng's ship to be ready, so he planned to bring Wang Ping to meet his teammates first.
Wang Ping only found out later that the reason why Gu Feng was so happy was that he could get two-fifths of the contract price as commission if he successfully lured someone over to the workshop to order a ship.