I can push my cultivation progress to the end

Although Qiu Fangzheng spoke very simply, Li Hai realized it wasn't easy after actually walking this path.

In terms of overall length, this path was probably less than two hundred li.

However, it wasn't a straight road, but a winding, up-and-down path filled with countless forks, even running through many caves and more than one underground river.

In addition, only Qiu Fangzheng knew the correct route of this path, so no matter how fast Li Hai was, it was useless, making the journey particularly time-consuming.

Therefore, the two ghosts walked for a full day and night before finally reaching the end of this path.

Hua—

In a secluded pool, the figures of Li Hai and Qiu Fangzheng slowly emerged.

Li Hai looked up and found that surrounding this pool was a vast underground cave.

The top of the cave, nearly a hundred zhang high, was covered with long stalactites emitting a faint green light.

These numerous stalactites were like an inverted forest, almost filling all of Li Hai's field of vision in front, behind, left, right, and above.

Audibly, it wasn't quiet either, as one could clearly hear the hissing sounds of many snakes and insects slowly crawling.

Thus, with the convergence of various factors, this cave was as eerie and terrifying as a ghost town.

After carefully looking around, Li Hai asked Qiu Fangzheng:

“Where is the relic? Why are there only stalactites?”

“Don't be anxious, sir.” Qiu Fangzheng explained, “We still need to walk for a while before we can reach it.”

“Mm.” Li Hai nodded, “Lead the way.”

Afterward, the two ghosts set off again.

As Li Hai continued to walk, he was surprised to find that in many corners of this cave, there were traces of people having lived here, such as houses, suspension bridges, wooden fences, courtyard walls, and so on.

However, these were now covered with a thick layer of dust and exuded an extremely heavy and ancient aura, so it was clear at a glance that they must have been abandoned for a long time.

Along the way, Qiu Fangzheng seemed to have noticed Li Hai's gaze constantly shifting to these things, so he said:

“Sir, these things were not left behind by the disciples of that ancient sect, but are relics from an even older era.”

“An even older era?”

Li Hai asked doubtfully, “Why are you so sure?”

“Sir, I have entered the relic.”

Qiu Fangzheng explained, “According to the records on the steles in the relic, after the ancient sect encountered an earthquake and fell to the bottom of the mountain, ninety-nine percent of its disciples died, and those who remained were all injured, so they had no energy or need to painstakingly break through the many rock layers to reach this cave and leave behind so many traces of life.

In addition, all the relics within the ancient sect do not have such thick dust or such a heavy ancient charm, so I can only judge that these things should come from an era even older than the Da Xuan era.”

“An era even older than the Da Xuan era before Da Jing?” Li Hai suddenly became interested, “When was that?”

“Sir, I am not very clear about this. I only know that the Da Xuan Dynasty lasted for more than a thousand years.”

Qiu Fangzheng honestly said, “After all, when I was alive, I was just a merchant.”

But then he said:

“However, when I was alive, I seemed to have heard the old scholar in town say that before the Da Xuan, the world was extremely chaotic, and there were many countries existing at the same time.”

“Oh~” Li Hai suddenly understood, “Then I understand, it's the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period.”

“Warring States?”

Qiu Fangzheng thought for a moment, “An era of warring states, indeed, what you said is quite fitting.”

Just as the two ghosts were talking, an ancient stele that flashed by caught Li Hai's attention.

“Wait!”

His rapidly moving blurry figure suddenly stopped, and then he returned to the side of the ancient stele.

Upon seeing this, Qiu Fangzheng also stopped immediately and flew over together.

“This is…”

Li Hai slowly squatted down, silently looking at this incomplete ancient stele that was crookedly buried in the solid rock and soil, his eyes filled with shock.

Although this stele was covered with rust and scars, one could still roughly see two lines of extremely unfamiliar and strange characters written on it.

“What kind of characters are these?” Qiu Fangzheng asked in great bewilderment, “Why have I never seen them before?”

Qiu Fangzheng shook his head blankly: “Sir, I… have never heard of it.”

“Then have you heard of the Qiongqi Sea Area?”

Li Hai asked again. “Is it south of the Qiulong Mountains?”

Qiu Fangzheng still shook his head: “I have never heard of it. I only know that there are many barbarian small countries south of the Qiulong Mountains. South of these barbarian countries is the Cangming Ocean, not any Qiongqi Sea.”

“Barbarian small countries?”

Li Hai, on a whim, asked again, “Is there a small country named Wuxian south of the Qiulong Mountains?”

“This…” Qiu Fangzheng said uncertainly, “I haven't heard of it, maybe there is, uh… maybe not.”

“Alright.”

Li Hai nodded and let out a long breath, “I roughly know… the true origin of this ancient stele and those relics.”

“What origin?” Qiu Fangzheng asked curiously.

“Prehistoric civilization.”

Li Hai said with a look of certainty, “It's definitely a prehistoric civilization, no doubt about it!”

“What is a prehistoric civilization?”

Qiu Fangzheng was even more puzzled, “Why call it a civilization instead of a prehistoric dynasty? And it's a double-character name instead of a single character, this… is a bit like the names of those barbarian countries in the south.”

In his understanding, a large country must use a single character for its name to appear noble, while double-character or multi-character country names are inferior names used by those barbarian small countries.

“This thing called prehistoric civilization cannot be explained in one or two sentences.”

Li Hai didn't want to bother explaining, so he urged, “Let's go, to the ancient sect's relic.”

“Okay.” Qiu Fangzheng nodded, and then turned around and quickly rushed towards the depths of the cave.

At the same time, Li Hai, who was also flying rapidly, had complex emotions and his mind was filled with various chaotic thoughts.

All along, the emergence of various martial arts, ghosts, and spells had made Li Hai naturally think that this world called Yuzhou was a fantasy-oriented otherworld, with at most some guns and cannons.

But now, the appearance of that ancient stele completely shattered his perception.

“Wuxian Federation, Mecha Brigade.”

Li Hai silently recited in his heart, “This is clearly a prehistoric civilization that took the path of technology… Haa~ What a chaotic world, but also an interesting world.”