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"Hold on tight!"

Gu Sheng gently patted the Verdant Python's large head. The big fellow seemed to understand Gu Sheng's intention, shaking its head in a very human-like way, as if to agree.

Gu Sheng bent down, reaching into a bloody hole to feel around. Iron Arm Apes were tall and strong. Teng Qinghu (Gu Sheng)'s build was already extremely tall among the people of the Nine Provinces, but he paled in comparison to the Iron Arm Ape. So, while it was a bit troublesome for his hand to reach into the wound, it wasn't too difficult.

This wound on the Verdant Python's body wasn't shallow, reaching more than four inches deep beneath its scales. Gu Sheng felt around, his fingers touching a 'small stick' that had pierced even deeper, embedded in the flesh.

"Up!"

Gu Sheng steeled his heart, grabbing the thing and abruptly pulling it out.

"Pfft~"

A stream of blood spurted out, even forming a 'small fountain' at the wound.

"Roar~"

The Verdant Python belatedly roared, Gu Sheng's left hand on its body feeling it tremble all over. That just now must have touched a sensitive spot in its wound.

Gu Sheng looked at the blackened 'small stick' in his hand. It was a thick finger bone, with a fingertip as sharp as a dagger. This was an Iron Arm Ape's finger, probably left behind when the Verdant Python fought the Iron Arm Ape yesterday.

Gu Sheng then began to deal with other suspected sources of contamination and Iron Arm Ape fur and fragments in the wound. Only then did he discover that the Iron Arm Ape had left behind quite a bit: beast claws, paws, hard horn fragments, ape hair, and bone fragments. It was a real 'muddy mess'.

"Roar! Roar! Roar roar~"

Gu Sheng finished treating one wound and then moved on. One after another, heavily bleeding wounds were cleaned. The Verdant Python gradually began to struggle, seemingly expressing and venting its pain.

Gu Sheng moved quickly, and before long, he had cleared the foreign objects from several wounds, squeezing out and cleaning away the blood and pus. Then, he took out a mass of ointment. Although this ointment restrained the Verdant Python's toxicity, it could also stop bleeding and heal injuries. The mutual generation and overcoming of all things was that magical.

"Hiss~"

After being treated by Gu Sheng, the Verdant Python felt much more comfortable, its mouth slightly open, hissing docilely. Its attitude towards Gu Sheng was noticeably gentler.

Gu Sheng's eyes flickered. He noticed that the Verdant Python seemed to have something in its mouth as well. He reached out and patted the giant snake's head, saying, "Open your mouth!"

The Verdant Python seemed to know what he wanted, turning its head towards Gu Sheng, opening its huge mouth and remaining motionless.

Snakes don't have many teeth, and no molars for chewing. They can only swallow things whole. This also has one advantage: food generally doesn't get stuck between their teeth. Although the Verdant Python was a demon beast, its habits were roughly similar to those of snakes, swallowing things whole.

However, when it ate, it was accustomed to using venom to soften the food. While this softened the food, it also created a problem: the food easily became loose, and certain hard bones were easily stuck in its teeth. This was the situation now.

When it swallowed the Iron Arm Apes yesterday, two of them had already been shattered beyond recognition. When it swallowed them whole, some bones got stuck in its teeth. It had no hands or feet to deal with it, and with the wound behind its neck already beginning to suppurate, it certainly wouldn't feel good.

"Hey! You're really something!"

After putting on a layer of animal hide on his hand, Gu Sheng reached in and grabbed a remnant arm of an Iron Arm Ape, holding it against the snake's head and pulling hard. The already skeletal and blackened skeletal claw was pulled out by him. Holding a skeletal claw that resembled a human hand felt strange, so Gu Sheng threw it directly onto the ground.

"Hiss hiss~~"

As soon as the skeletal claw landed, a few drops of black liquid dripped onto the surrounding meadow, constantly emitting a dizzying, pungent white gas.

Gu Sheng endured the nausea, quickly cleaning up some of the bone fragments and other things between the Verdant Python's teeth. By the time he had finished all this, the Verdant Python had already begun to regain its ability to move.

"Roar~"

The Verdant Python nudged Gu Sheng with its head to express its closeness. It recognized this 'little monkey' who had helped it.

"You stay here and heal properly. I'm leaving!"

Gu Sheng also noticed that the Verdant Python had begun to regain its ability to move. He patted its big nose, said a word, turned around, and moved away from the place.

Although the Verdant Python had shown goodwill and closeness to Gu Sheng, this was its subconscious behavior when it was weak. The friendship between them was only superficial. Besides, Gu Sheng's previous behavior had been a bit excessive, so it was better to leave now. You can't get fat with just one bite; slow and steady wins the race.

"Roar~"

The Verdant Python twisted its body, watching Gu Sheng leave, a pair of vertical pupils seeming to hold an unusual warmth.

Gu Sheng left the valley where the Verdant Python was and continued his journey from yesterday, searching for traces of Iron Arm Apes in Iron Arm Ape Mountain. The information he had obtained from the Myriad Manifestations Pavilion showed that more than one adventurous martial artist had discovered Vermillion Fruit in Iron Arm Ape Mountain, but each time they would basically encounter Iron Arm Apes blocking the way.

However, the information didn't mention the hot spring lake where a large number of Vermillion Fruit grew in the original story, only mentioning that the places where Vermillion Fruit grew were all areas with extremely high temperatures, and that Iron Arm Apes were present.

This indicated that the Vermillion Fruit in Iron Arm Ape Mountain might not be limited to just the one place in the original story.

Come to think of it, the Iron Arm Ape Mountain's Iron Arm Ape tribe numbered over a thousand. The hot spring lake only had a dozen or so plants. Even if they could flower and bear fruit every year, the brewed liquor would be limited. How could it withstand so many Iron Arm Apes drinking heartily, and even have a considerable surplus stored in the Ape King Cave?

Halfway up Iron Arm Ape Mountain, there was a nearly circular small lake, about several tens of feet long. The lake water emitted heat, and many Iron Arm Apes were in the lake, with a few on the shore.

In the center of the hot spring lake, there were a dozen or so slender, long stems emerging from the water, with green leaves on the stems. Among them, five plants had a red fruit hanging among the green leaves.

Of the other twelve plants, six also had fruits, but three fruits were half green and half red, and smaller in size. The other three were even smaller and completely green. The remaining plants only had leaves and no fruit.

"This place has as many as seventeen plants. It's the most I've found so far, and should be the hot spring lake mentioned in the original story!"

In a corner of a small hillside outside the hot spring lake, Gu Sheng was lying low, half-slumped on the ground, peeking out to observe the scene inside the hot spring lake.

In his hand, he held a parchment scroll and a charcoal pencil. On it was a rough outline of Iron Arm Ape Mountain. There were also seven or eight red dots marked with numbers on the map. Most of the numbers were only two or three. The most before this was ten. And the red dot representing the halfway point of the mountain was marked with a seventeen by him.

In addition, each red dot had a series of lines extending to another place, a place located near the top of the mountain, marked with a name – Ape King Cave.

"Aah! Aah aah!"

The Iron Arm Apes were frolicking in the lake, and the Iron Arm Apes on the shore were also calling out. They were communicating about the Vermillion Fruit situation.

"The five Vermillion Fruits that are about to ripen will be ready in the next day or two. The other three Vermillion Fruits will probably take another half a month to fully ripen."

Gu Sheng's gaze was fixed on the five red fruits, a glint flashing in his eyes. "I've gathered enough information. It's time to act."