I can push my cultivation progress to the end

"We're here. We've arrived at the Ancient Sect Ruins."

Having walked to the end of the cave and passed through layers of rock walls, arriving at another vast cavern, Li Hai slowly raised his head and looked forward, following Qiu Fangzheng's chilling voice.

There, a mere hundred or so feet away, a massive and desolate ancient complex was situated haphazardly, already intertwined and fused with countless stalactites.

No, calling it ancient ruins would perhaps be more appropriate.

Because at first glance, Li Hai couldn't see any complete buildings within these ruins. Whether towering pavilions or wide halls, all had collapsed into piles of broken walls.

Broken paths, collapsed stone walls, twisted eaves, shattered window lattices… Every brick and tile that composed them seemed to echo the passage of years.

The great earthquake of over a thousand years ago mercilessly dragged this martial arts sect into the dark underground, crushing countless people to death while also turning the buildings into rubble, lying across the skewed and broken ground of the ruins like corpses.

Now, as Li Hai looked around, all of this was covered in a thick layer of dust and small gravel.

Apart from these, there was nothing else.

However, after following Qiu Fangzheng, twisting and turning, flying and crossing many collapsed buildings, a dazzling golden light suddenly appeared before Li Hai's eyes.

"Gold?!"

Li Hai stared blankly ahead, looking at the collapsed building where Qiu Fangzheng was suspended.

There… a large amount of gold was piled up.

It was a golden mountain, taller than a man, made of gold bars stacked upon each other. And next to the golden mountain were more than a dozen golden sculptures of various shapes.

Finally, supporting the golden mountain and sculptures was a golden 'foundation' made of gold cakes the size of dinner plates, gold grains the size of fingernails, and gold chains of varying thicknesses, all piled and stacked together.

Although Li Hai didn't care much about money, the sudden appearance of so much gold still made his heart race.

As the saying goes, a small fortune can relieve worries, a large fortune can change fate, and a huge fortune can reach the heavens.

If possible, who wouldn't want more money in their pocket?

"It just so happens that I've been spending money quite aggressively recently and am almost strapped for cash."

Li Hai slowly walked over, stroking the golden mountain in front of him, and laughed, "With this gold, no matter how recklessly I spend, it will be enough for a long time."

Then, he asked in confusion, "But… it's just a martial arts sect. Why would they possess so much gold?"

"Master," Qiu Fangzheng said, "The inscriptions left by this sect say that they discovered a treasure, and this gold came from that treasure."

"Is that so?" Li Hai grinned. "They're too lucky. Could it be that their luck was so heaven-defying that the heavens sent down disaster and buried them?"

"Master, you're right," Qiu Fangzheng echoed. "That should be the case."

Immediately, Li Hai added, "Fangzheng, I guess these golden mountains are something you've been piling up bit by bit over the decades, right?"

"Yes, Master," Qiu Fangzheng admitted. "This is what I've gathered after searching the entire ruins for all the gold, and then stacking it piece by piece. Now, it's all yours."

When he said this, he showed no reluctance, as if he was just giving away a pile of useless stones.

"I'm just a homeless, wandering ghost," Qiu Fangzheng picked up a gold bar, looked at it, and then casually put it back. "Even more gold is meaningless to me."

"Good."

Li Hai didn't say any of those polite, deferential nonsense. After nodding, he raised his hand, the words '奈何' (Nai He) shining in his palm, and took all the gold in front of him.

The four brothers guarding the cave dwelling would naturally stack these gold pieces neatly.

"Master, there are other things," Qiu Fangzheng said again after witnessing Li Hai use some kind of immortal technique he didn't understand to take away all the gold. "Please follow me."

After speaking, he took the lead, turning into a wisp of black smoke and flying into the intricate cracks of the ruins in the distance.

Li Hai followed closely behind, also turning into black smoke and whirling in.

Before long, Qiu Fangzheng led him to another hidden location deep within the ruins.

There, dozens of magical artifacts of various shapes and sizes were piled up.

Although most of these magical items were broken and fractured, there were still a few good ones that emitted faint magical fluctuations. Naturally, Li Hai gladly accepted them.

In the following time, Qiu Fangzheng led Li Hai to many other places, allowing him to successively obtain many weapons, armor, and two ancient secret books.

The first secret book was called 'Jade Toad Elixir Scripture,' which described various methods of refining elixirs.

However, due to the passage of time, most of this elixir book had been damaged. Now, only five so-called elixir formulas—Tongfu, Anshen, Jieqi, Heshou, and Wangsheng—remained completely recorded.

But even these five elixir formulas were still extremely valuable.

For example, the Heshou Pill inside was an elixir that could help people extend their lifespan.

According to its records, one person could take three pills in their lifetime. The first pill would extend their lifespan by fifty-six years, the second pill would have half the potency and extend it by twenty-eight years, and the third pill would have half the potency again and extend it by fourteen years.

Taking all three pills would extend one's lifespan by a total of ninety-eight years, nearly a century.

Moreover, this Heshou Pill would be effective for anyone who took it. Even a Thousand Army-level martial artist with a lifespan of nearly two hundred years could take this pill when their death was approaching and still gain ninety-eight years and return to their youth.

If this medicine appeared on Earth, I don't know how many billions it would sell for.

As for the latter secret book, it was called 'Demon Subjugation True Art.'

It contained a large number of records on how to use ordinary fierce beasts as materials to cultivate, train, and transform them into so-called demon beasts.

Unfortunately, this book had also become incomplete after a thousand years.

Now, only the cultivation methods for six types of demon beasts remained: the Six-Eyed Crystal Winged Moth, the Black Howling Tapir, the Illusionary Scale Demon Hound, the Soul Mimicking Ape, the Iron Scale Fungus Ox, and the Five-Tailed Blue Winged Snow Fox.

But even with only six types, the abilities of each demon beast greatly amazed Li Hai.

He even couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Is this… asking me to switch careers and become a Pokémon trainer?"