Prehistoric Ancient Stele

Although Qiu Fangzheng made it sound simple, once Li Hai actually began traversing this trail, he realized it was anything but easy.

If one were to measure the total length, this path probably didn't even reach two hundred miles.

However, it was not a straight road; it was a winding, undulating mess filled with countless forks, even cutting through numerous karst caves and more than one underground river.

Furthermore, since Qiu Fangzheng was the only one who knew the correct route, Li Hai's speed was useless, making the journey exceptionally time-consuming.

Consequently, it took the two ghosts a full day and night to finally reach the end of the trail.

Splash—

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

Li Hai raised his eyes and discovered that the area surrounding the pool was, in fact, a massive underground karst cave.

The ceiling of the cave, nearly a hundred feet above, was draped with long stalactites emitting a faint, eerie green glow.

These numerous stalactites resembled an inverted forest, filling almost the entire upper half of Li Hai's field of vision.

The environment was not quiet either; one could clearly hear the hissing of many snakes and insects crawling slowly about.

With all these factors combined, the cave felt as gloomy and terrifying as a ghost city.

After surveying the area carefully, Li Hai asked Qiu Fangzheng:

"Where are the ruins? Why is there nothing but stalactites?"

"My Lord, do not be impatient," Qiu Fangzheng explained. "We still need to travel a bit further to arrive."

"Hmm," Li Hai nodded. "Lead the way."

The two ghosts then set off once more.

As Li Hai continued to walk, he was surprised to discover traces of human habitation in various corners of the cave, such as houses, suspension bridges, wooden fences, and courtyard walls.

However, these were now covered in a thick layer of dust and radiated an extremely heavy, ancient aura, making it clear at a glance that they had been abandoned for a very long time.

As they traveled, Qiu Fangzheng seemed to notice Li Hai's gaze lingering on these objects, so he spoke up:

"My Lord, these things were not left behind by the disciples of the Ancient Sect, but are relics from an even older era."

"An even older era?"

Li Hai asked skeptically, "Why are you so certain?"

"My Lord, I have entered the ruins."

Qiu Fangzheng explained, "Judging from the inscriptions on the steles, when the Ancient Sect fell to the bottom of the mountain during the earthquake, ninety-nine percent of its disciples perished. The survivors were all wounded and had neither the heart nor the necessity to go through the trouble of breaking through layers of rock to reach this cave, let alone leave behind so many traces of daily life.

Furthermore, none of the relics within the Ancient Sect possess such thick dust or such a heavy ancient charm, so one can only conclude that these items must come from an era even older than the Great Xuan dynasty."

"An era older than the Great Xuan, which preceded the Great Jing?" Li Hai was suddenly intrigued. "Then when was that?"

"My Lord, I am not entirely sure. I only know that the Great Xuan dynasty lasted for over a thousand years."

Qiu Fangzheng answered honestly, "After all, when I was still among the living, I was merely a merchant."

But he immediately added:

"However, when I was alive, I seem to recall an old scholar in town saying that before the Great Xuan, the world was in extreme chaos, with many countries existing simultaneously."

"Oh~" Li Hai realized, "I understand now. You mean the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period."

"Warring States?"

Qiu Fangzheng pondered, "An era of warring nations—indeed, your description is quite fitting."

Just as the two ghosts were talking, an ancient stele flashed past along the way, firmly catching Li Hai's attention.

"Wait!"

His blurry, speeding figure came to an abrupt halt, and he retreated to the side of the ancient stele.

Seeing this, Qiu Fangzheng stopped immediately and flew back to join him.

"This is..."

Li Hai slowly crouched down, staring silently at the broken ancient stele buried crookedly in the solid rock and soil, his eyes filled with shock.

Although the stele was covered in rust and scars, one could still roughly make out two lines of extremely strange and alien characters.

"What kind of script is this?" Qiu Fangzheng asked, deeply puzzled. "Why have I never seen it before?"

He could not recognize it, but Li Hai, who possessed the

Study Hard

system... recognized it.

If the text were translated into understandable content, it would roughly read: "Wuxian Federation, Qiongqi Sea Area War Zone, Third Mecha Brigade Accessory Warehouse. Unauthorized personnel are strictly prohibited from entering."

After examining the ancient stele several times, Li Hai turned to ask Qiu Fangzheng:

"Have you heard of a country called the Wuxian Federation?"

Qiu Fangzheng shook his head blankly: "My Lord, I... have never heard of it."

"Then have you heard of the Qiongqi Sea Area?"

Li Hai asked again. "Is it to the south of Coiling Dragon Mountain?"

Qiu Fangzheng continued to shake his head. "I have never heard of it. I only know that there are many small barbarian states south of the Coiling Dragon Mountain, and to the south of those barbarian states lies the Cangming Ocean, not any Qiongqi Sea."

"Small barbarian states?"

Li Hai suddenly had a thought and asked again, "Then is there a small state named Wuxian south of the Coiling Dragon Mountain?"

"This..." Qiu Fangzheng said uncertainly, "I haven't heard of it. Perhaps there is, or... perhaps not."

"Fine."

Li Hai nodded, let out a long sigh, and said, "I think I roughly know the true origin of this ancient stele and those relics."

"What origin?" Qiu Fangzheng asked curiously.

"Prehistoric civilization."

Li Hai looked certain. "It is definitely a prehistoric civilization, no doubt about it!"

"What is a prehistoric civilization?"

Qiu Fangzheng was even more confused. "Why call it a civilization instead of a prehistoric dynasty? And it's two characters, not one. This... it sounds a bit like the names of those barbarian states in the south."

In his understanding, a great power must use a single character for its name to be considered noble, while two-character or multi-character names were inferior titles used only by those small barbarian states.

"This thing called a prehistoric civilization is not something that can be explained in a sentence or two."

Li Hai did not want to waste effort explaining, so he urged, "Let's go, to the Ancient Sect Ruins."

"Alright." Qiu Fangzheng nodded, then turned and sped rapidly toward the depths of the karst cave.

Li Hai, flying swiftly alongside him, felt his mind filled with complex and chaotic thoughts.

All this time, the emergence of various martial arts, ghosts, and sorcery had led Li Hai to take it for granted that this world called Yu Province was simply a fantasy-oriented parallel world, with at most a few firearms and cannons.

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

"Wuxian Federation, Mecha Brigade."

Li Hai recited silently in his heart, This is clearly a prehistoric civilization that followed a technological path... Phew, what a chaotic world, but also an interesting one.