Verdant Python's Venom

"Roar~~"

The Verdant Python's meal was interrupted, and it let out a muffled hiss. However, it had yet to swallow the food in its mouth, leaving it temporarily unable to move freely. Just as it flung away the two huge trees flying toward it with its tail, two large branches stabbed toward its enormous eyes.

For a moment, the Verdant Python could only close its eyes. At the same time, its already-moving tail swept horizontally forward.

Whoosh~

The tail swept through the air, bringing with it a howling gust of wind. The momentum was truly terrifying.

"Eek!"

The two Iron-Arm Apes, having already thrown away the trees in their hands, were charging toward the Verdant Python. When its tail came sweeping over, they both let out strange cries and leaped toward the back of its neck—the vital point known as the "three inches" in most snakes.

"Roar~"

Although the Verdant Python had closed its eyes, its senses were no joke. Sensing something pouncing at it, it opened its massive jaws and bit toward one of them.

"Ahwoo~"

Its wide-open jaws swallowed an Iron-Arm Ape whole. The ape struggled constantly inside its mouth, causing the snake's jaws to bulge and shift erratically. Clearly, the ape's immense strength was challenging even its biting force.

"Hiss hiss~~"

Suddenly, white smoke began to pour from the Verdant Python's mouth. Its cries of "Eek! Eek!" were enough to make one's scalp crawl. After a bout of frantic movement, its mouth finally fell still.

"Eek~~"

With a strange cry, the other Iron-Arm Ape that had leaped into the air successfully landed on the enormous python's body. All four claws moved at once. With a force of one hundred thousand jin and razor-sharp claws, it instantly tore through the Verdant Python's outer defenses.

"Rip!"

A pair of sharp claws plunged into the Verdant Python's flesh. As the Iron-Arm Ape violently pulled, scales flew in all directions, and four bloody, mangled wounds appeared on the python's body.

"Roar~~"

The Verdant Python had never imagined that the Iron-Arm Apes it regarded as prey could injure it. It opened its vertical pupils and roared madly, thrashing and rolling across the ground. The Iron-Arm Ape clinging to its body failed to react in time and was crushed directly into a puddle of flesh.

"Eek!"

"Eek eek!"

"Eek~~~"

Seeing this, the two Iron-Arm Apes did not flee. Instead, they leaped forward together, intent on ending the Verdant Python's life.

"Roar~~"

Though the Verdant Python was in pain, it had not gone mad. Seeing the two "little monkeys" still dare to provoke it, it spat a mouthful of green venom directly at them.

"Hiss hiss~~"

The green "water jet" struck one of the charging Iron-Arm Apes head-on. The Demon Beast did not even have time to cry out before turning into a puddle of blood. The splashing venom sprayed onto the other Iron-Arm Ape as well.

"Eek~"

The pain jolted the vengeance-filled Iron-Arm Ape back to its senses. It hurriedly turned and prepared to flee.

Whoosh~

Seeing the monkey trying to escape, the Verdant Python instantly launched itself after it. A green blur shot forth like an arrow loosed from a bow, reaching the fleeing Iron-Arm Ape's back in an instant.

"Crack!"

The enormous python's jaws bit down on the running Iron-Arm Ape and an entire section of tree trunk. As wisps of white smoke seeped from between its jaws, the slaughter of the Iron-Arm Apes came to an end.

"Bang~"

As the Verdant Python opened and closed its jaws, a mangled Iron-Arm Ape was smashed heavily onto the ground. Several sections of tree trunk fell with it, charred black like coal, wisps of white smoke continuously rising from them. They looked as though they had been soaked in concentrated sulfuric acid.

"What terrifying venom!"

Far away, Gu Sheng, who had been observing all along, watched his pupils contract sharply. With such potent poison, forget a half-baked practitioner like him, who had not cultivated Internal Fist for long—even Teng Qingshan, who would later reach the Grandmaster realm and control his bodily blood and qi, would likely find it extremely troublesome if he came into contact with it.

"Roar~"

The Verdant Python's voice was somewhat low. Using so much venom in such a short time had consumed a great deal of its strength.

The enormous python head swept from side to side. After confirming that nothing had been overlooked, it lowered its head and bit down on the already-corroded, mangled Iron-Arm Ape, swallowing it whole after a few gulps. It then swallowed the Iron-Arm Ape it had crushed into a puddle of flesh in the same manner.

After eating nearly four Iron-Arm Apes in succession, its body inevitably grew a little fatter. It turned left and right, and when it found nothing else, it turned and slithered into the lush green grass.

"Phew~"

Gu Sheng let out a soft breath. He had truly been scared half to death just now. He was confident that he had used Internal Fist to restrain his blood flow and heartbeat as much as possible, but the senses of a Demon Beast like this were genuinely terrifying.

It seemed to have detected some clues, but for some reason had not come over directly. Perhaps it had failed to locate Gu Sheng's exact position, and since it was injured, it had no interest in coming to search for a "little ant."

"That was close. If it had really come over, I might have had no choice but to return ahead of schedule."

A trace of worry flashed through Gu Sheng's eyes. Although he and Chu Xin had both reached the minimum requirements for returning, each had achieved at least a one-percent degree of plot alteration. If they returned early, however, all his careful planning over the past several days would be wasted.

Of course, Gu Sheng was not the kind of person who valued money over his life. If matters truly reached the point of no return, he would rather lose everything than gamble with his life.

He was taking a risk, not throwing his life away. Once someone did that, there would inevitably be a next time. The more one walked along a dark road at night, the more likely one was to encounter a ghost. Gu Sheng did not want his own recklessness to ruin him in the future.

Gu Sheng carefully slid down the tree and slowly walked toward the battlefield where the Iron-Arm Apes and the Verdant Python had fought. The once-lush grass lay in complete disarray, with branches and broken weeds scattered everywhere. Patches of black "water" made one's blood run cold. These were all traces left behind by the Verdant Python's venom.

The Verdant Python's strength increased with its size. Now it seemed that the same applied to its venom.

"Add to database!"

Gu Sheng cautiously reached out with his index finger and touched a charred branch. Visible to the naked eye, his fingernail began to turn black, and the discoloration showed signs of spreading upward.

"Ding-ling!"

A notification sound rang out.

"Verdant Python Venom has been added to the database. Its primary components are... Its effects are..."

After confirming that the venom had been recorded, Gu Sheng hurriedly stood up and shook his finger. As he used Internal Fist to vibrate his blood and qi, wisps of green smoke rose from his finger. In just that short time, beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead.

A grave look flashed through Gu Sheng's eyes. Fortunately, he had been the one to touch the branch. If it had been any postnatal martial artist other than Teng Qingshan, they would probably already have been dead.

"Where poisonous creatures appear, detoxifying medicine will inevitably be found within a hundred zhang. Though this is merely a folk saying, it isn't entirely without basis!"

A thoughtful look crossed Gu Sheng's eyes. He paced through the grass, repeatedly bending down to pick various leaves and weeds.

"Ding-ling!"

"Ding-ling!"

The notification sound rang out continuously, and new plant species were constantly added to the system database by Gu Sheng.

The wilderness was vast, and countless species had never been recorded. To Gu Sheng, it was an immense treasure trove waiting to be developed. Even if he failed to obtain the Cinnabar Fruit, relying on these secret medicines of the wilderness, he was confident that he could become a First-Rate Expert with a strength of over ten thousand jin before leaving.