The Real Plan

"Aiya!"

"Aiya, aiya~"

"Aiya! Aiya, aiya~"

The Iron-Arm Apes cried out in disarray, watching the landslide-like cliff face with great alarm. They were terrified and afraid.

"Boom~"

Before the apes' despairing eyes, a large section of the mountain crashed down, heavily impacting the base of the Iron-Arm Ape's nest, sinking it several inches and burying the entrance to the Ape King Cave, where the Vermillion Fruit Wine was stored.

"Aiya, aiya, aiya~~"

The Golden-Eyed Silver Ape King, witnessing this, was consumed by rage. He beat his chest and roared at the sky. He was furious, but powerless against the 'might of heaven' and could only vent his anger on the attacking beasts.

"Aiya~"

At the Golden-Eyed Silver Ape King's command, the Iron-Arm Apes swarmed around the invading beasts, working together to kill them. But the beasts that dared to steal the fruit wine were skilled, and Gu Sheng, to stir up the situation, had deliberately lured more powerful beasts from elsewhere. The battle escalated into a fierce and chaotic melee.

Meanwhile, some of the cleverer beasts had taken advantage of the chaos to escape, while those left behind to fight to the death were no match for the well-trained Iron-Arm Apes. In the end, most of the beasts fled wounded, leaving only a dozen unlucky ones to be surrounded and torn apart by the enraged Iron-Arm Apes!

Inside the empty mountain belly, as the Ape King Cave entrance was sealed, the last ray of light disappeared within.

"Thump, thump, thump!"

Suddenly, a hollow knocking sound came from a section of the mountain wall within the belly.

"Boom~"

With a crisp sound, a circular hole, taller than a person, appeared where the mountain wall had been. The figures of a man and a woman, each carrying a gourd as tall as themselves, appeared in the mountain belly.

"Sniff, sniff~"

Gu Sheng closed his eyes, concentrating. After twitching his nose, he opened his eyes, took Chu Xin's small hand, and walked into the cave. Following the winding passage, they arrived at the square stone pit inside the empty mountain belly.

"So much~"

Chu Xin gasped, staring dumbfounded at the pit filled with shallow, reddish liquid. So many innate demon beasts were fighting to the death for a little Vermillion Fruit Wine outside, and there was so much here. It was truly speechless!

"Stop gawking and get to work!"

Gu Sheng urged Chu Xin to start. He had already thrown the half-person-tall gourd off his back into the pit, then reached behind Chu Xin to unfasten and throw down another gourd.

His initial plan had been simple and crude: find an opportunity to understand the Ape King's habits, dig a tunnel to the Ape King Cave, then find a chance to blast the mountain, blocking the cave entrance, and then take the Vermillion Fruit Wine.

Gu Sheng's plan wasn't brilliant, but if everything went smoothly, the rewards would be great, and it was quite feasible, perfect for him and Chu Xin, who lacked strength.

But ideals were rich, and reality was skinny. The plan was good, but the difficulty of execution was hellish, like risking their lives.

Iron Arm Ape Mountain was full of dangers. A moment of carelessness could mean death. Any Iron-Arm Ape was stronger than Gu Sheng had been before, and being discovered would mean the end. The most critical thing was the blast point. Simply burying explosives wouldn't guarantee that the explosion would collapse the cave entrance without damaging the wine pit containing the Vermillion Fruit Wine.

Also, explosives were a big problem. In this era, in this world, even if there was something similar, the cost would be high, and transportation would be a problem.

Fortunately, Gu Sheng was lucky enough to gain the favor of the Jade Azure Serpent, Qing Ling. In terms of strength, he had a backer, and his safety was guaranteed. With its help, digging a hole wasn't difficult. It could be said that most of the problems were solved at once.

What remained was the most important material for the plan: explosives. The explosives Gu Sheng prepared were very familiar in reality: granular, black powder.

As mentioned earlier, the Wildlands were rich in resources, and many materials could be found there. Iron Arm Ape Mountain was a potentially erupting volcano, so sulfur could be found with a little searching.

As for saltpeter, Gu Sheng had been collecting it on the way. He hadn't been idle at Iron Arm Ape Mountain either. While wandering around every day, he used the system to detect nearby components to determine where there were minerals. Finally, he discovered a large open-air saltpeter mine in a canyon at the foot of the mountain.

Charcoal was the easiest thing to obtain in the Wildlands; a fire would solve it. Of course, Gu Sheng wasn't so insane as to start a forest fire in this primeval forest.

He just played with bonfires every day when he came back. A large amount of firewood became charcoal, and Chu Xin hadn't been idle in the cave these past few days. Grinding the three main materials into powder was her job.

After mixing them in a certain proportion, Gu Sheng found a way to turn them from powder into more powerful granules. Then, with Qing Ling's help, the explosives were buried in specific locations. And just now, he had put on a fireworks display for the monkeys to watch.

"Glug, glug, glug~"

With a gurgling sound, the Vermillion Fruit Wine continuously poured into the gourds. Bubbles floated on the surface of the fruit wine. Soon, both gourds were full.

Gu Sheng reached out, picked up the two gourds, wiped their surfaces immediately, plugged the bottles, and quickly rushed with Chu Xin to the shady cliff exit, where the two of them had entered.

"Hiss, hiss~"

With a subtle rustle, the Jade Azure Serpent Qing Ling came out from behind him and hissed twice towards the outside of the cave. Two giant snakes, each over sixty feet long, came over, carrying two empty gourds in their mouths.

Gu Sheng sighed inwardly with relief. After the Verdant Python Qing Ling advanced to become a Jade Azure Serpent, it became one of the only two beast kings on Iron Arm Ape Mountain, the Sovereign of the Snake King Pool behind the shady side of Iron Arm Ape Mountain, the King of Ten Thousand Snakes, the Lord of Snakes, able to command and control all snakes.

These two large snakes were the helpers for Gu Sheng and Chu Xin's operation this time. Not just them, but also several other large snakes. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to dig through such a large hole so quickly.

"Glug~ Glug~"

Gu Sheng returned to the wine pit and dropped two more gourds. Before long, they were full again, and he repeated the previous action, back and forth. With each trip, the Vermillion Fruit Wine in the pit visibly decreased.

Outside the cave in the valley, the Iron-Arm Apes, worried about the Vermillion Fruit Wine, frantically clawed and dug at the cliff face with their metal-cutting claws, trying to dig a path to the mountain belly.

Although beasts like the Iron-Arm Apes had a certain level of intelligence and could even use tools, they still habitually used the most primitive methods when faced with this kind of tunneling situation. Or rather, they were too nervous to think of other ways.

The clanging sounds were urgent and loud. More and more Iron-Arm Apes were summoned by the Ape King. With over a thousand Iron-Arm Apes working together to tunnel, even the deep mountain and thick walls couldn't withstand it. A passage to the mountain belly was visibly taking shape.