Plan

Gu Sheng took a deep look at the hot spring lake, then slowly retreated, lightly leaving the area and rapidly heading towards the canyon where the Verdant Python was located.

Gu Sheng moved quickly, and soon returned to the canyon. In the canyon cave, the Verdant Python lay motionless on the ground, appearing somewhat blurry from a distance, as if two Verdant Pythons were stacked together.

It was shedding its skin to recover from its injuries, a unique recovery method of its kind. In fact, even without Gu Sheng helping it clean its wounds, it could recover on its own, but it would suffer more and shed its skin several times. This kind of healing shedding also had a problem: when shedding, they were extremely weak and unable to move easily, making them vulnerable to secondary injuries from other demonic beasts.

"Roar~"

The Verdant Python noticed Gu Sheng's arrival, lowering its head and opening its mouth to growl at him, showing unusual affection.

"Don't rush!"

Gu Sheng grabbed the package behind him, and after untying it, it revealed colorful mountain fruits of various kinds. The Verdant Python's eyes lit up when it saw these mountain fruits, shaking its head and constantly nudging Gu Sheng, as if saying, Hurry up and give them to me.

"Alright, alright! So impatient!"

Gu Sheng shook his head with a smile, and shook the package, which was half the size of the Verdant Python's head, into its mouth. Hundreds of mountain fruits were swallowed whole. The giant's vertical pupils narrowed slightly, its face showing a hint of pleasure.

"Roar~"

After swallowing for a while, the Verdant Python suddenly opened its mouth and roared, seemingly undergoing some change.

Gu Sheng had already moved away from the spot at this time, watching the struggling, shedding Verdant Python from afar. A trace of anticipation flashed in his eyes, "If Qing Ling sheds its skin once more today, its injuries should be completely healed. And the Vermillion Fruit near the hot spring lake is about to ripen. Everything is really happening at the right time!"

Qing Ling was the name Gu Sheng had given to this Verdant Python. It had been with Gu Sheng for nearly half a month, and had basically accepted him as its 'master'. In reality, 'master' was just Gu Sheng flattering himself. Perhaps in the Verdant Python's eyes, he was just a 'shit shoveler' taking care of its life.

But regardless, at least he could direct the Verdant Python's actions through communication.

"Roar~~"

After a roar, a flash of green light appeared in front of Gu Sheng. A behemoth of nearly ten zhang lowered its head and rubbed against him affectionately, while a huge dark green snakeskin remained in place, with four extremely small holes in the neck of the snakeskin.

"Qing Ling! Don't move!"

Gu Sheng reached out and patted its big nose. The Verdant Python, very understanding, stopped moving. He went around to its back, where the four blood holes had disappeared, but the color of a piece of snakeskin here was lighter, and it felt softer to the touch.

"Okay!"

Gu Sheng nodded with a smile, walked to the cave and packed the huge snakeskin into the package. After returning to the Verdant Python, he skillfully climbed onto the verdant body, clamped its big head and pointed forward, saying, "Go that way!"

"Swoosh~"

The Verdant Python followed Gu Sheng's command, turning into a streak of green light and disappearing into the canyon.

At the foot of Iron Arm Ape Mountain, near the cave, large gourds were drying on the ground. Chu Xin was observing the movements outside through the cracks in the mountain. Although Gu Sheng and she had confirmed that this place was basically safe, for Chu Xin's safety, Gu Sheng would still seal the stone slab every time he left.

"Dong, dong, dong!"

A rhythmic knocking sound came from outside. Chu Xin's eyebrows relaxed, and she ran to the cave entrance to move away the big stone blocking the stone slab.

"You're back~ Ah~"

Chu Xin was about to greet Gu Sheng, but who knew that besides the familiar figure, a huge snake head would come into view. This startled the little girl, and she screamed and retreated.

"Don't be afraid, this is Qing Ling, the one I told you about!"

Gu Sheng jumped into the cave. Because the Verdant Python, Qing Ling, had been injured, Gu Sheng had not brought it back to meet Chu Xin.

"Oh!"

Chu Xin nodded, but still shrank behind Gu Sheng. Although Gu Sheng had mentioned it to her, she was not very brave to begin with, and was terrified of snakes and rats. Suddenly encountering such a big guy, her little heart could hardly take it.

Gu Sheng smiled, took Chu Xin's hand and walked to the Verdant Python, who looked 'dazed', and placed her small hand on the Verdant Python's cold, smooth scales.

Chu Xin subconsciously flinched, but after seeing that the Verdant Python's reaction was not strong, she mustered up the courage to touch it for a while, and slowly relaxed, no longer so nervous.

"Let's go~"

Gu Sheng put his arm around Chu Xin's slender waist and walked to the entrance of the cave, sliding down to the foot of the mountain on the Verdant Python-brand 'slide'. After he came down, the Verdant Python, which had been coiling its body at the entrance of the cave, also slid down, encircling Gu Sheng and Chu Xin in a large circle with its nearly twenty-five meter (one zhang is two and a half meters in the Nine Cauldrons world) body.

Gu Sheng held Chu Xin and sat on the Verdant Python's soft back, spreading out the map on his back. On the map, each red dot representing the Vermillion Fruit and the Ape King's Cave had a winding line, and each line had one or two crossed-out locations.

"This is~"

Chu Xin bent slightly and pointed to the hot spring lake location that Gu Sheng had just marked today, "Seventeen fruit seedlings, and five Vermillion Fruits about to ripen. Gu Sheng, is this your goal?"

"Xin'er is so smart!"

Gu Sheng smiled and pointed to the crossed-out places on the map, "These days I have also seen twice how the Iron-Arm Apes handle the Vermillion Fruit after it ripens. Usually, a tall Iron-Arm Ape, a congenital demonic beast with silver fur, comes to pick it.

We are too weak, and we are no match for any Iron-Arm Ape that comes along. So before, my goal was not the freshly picked Vermillion Fruit, but the treasure inside."

As Gu Sheng spoke, he pointed to the Ape King's Cave, the cave that contained a large amount of Vermillion Fruit monkey wine. He had explored the general situation almost thoroughly, and had even secretly tried to dig a small hole on the cliff behind the Ape King's Cave.

"You~ haven't you always said you wanted to find the Vermillion Fruit!"

Although Chu Xin had long discovered that Gu Sheng had been studying the Ape King's Cave, she had always thought that Gu Sheng was calculating the time it would take for reinforcements to arrive from the Ape King's Cave after ambushing and seizing the Vermillion Fruit. She never expected that he would be so crazy.

Although she had never been to the Ape King's Cave, she had heard Gu Sheng mention the situation inside. That was the Iron-Arm Apes' lair.

A Golden-Eyed Silver Ape King whose strength was comparable to a congenital Golden Core, more than ten tall Iron-Arm Apes at the congenital demonic beast level, and more than a thousand ordinary Iron-Arm Apes comparable to the Earth Ranking. This kind of strength was several times stronger than the current Gui Yuan Sect!

"Don't worry, I'm not a reckless person, look!"

As Gu Sheng spoke, he spread out another drawing, which detailed various data of the mountain where the Ape King's Cave was located, and marked small dots, with lines of words next to them.

"You~ can you find all the things on this?"

After Chu Xin read the entire drawing, she looked at Gu Sheng as if she had seen a ghost. She never expected that Gu Sheng would have such a plan, and it seemed that the chances of success were not low.

According to the plan above, even without the Verdant Python, she and Gu Sheng could lure out the Silver Ape King and safely stay in the Ape King's Cave for a period of time.

"Yes!"

Gu Sheng nodded. He had found the places of origin for the things marked on it in the surrounding area. Or rather, this plan was formulated based on the materials searched in the database.