At midnight.
The moon had climbed to the center of the sky.
Snores rose and fell from the disciples on the communal bed.
Sun Wukong quietly climbed down from his bed.
By the moonlight, he felt his way all the way to the outside of Patriarch Bodhi's sleeping quarters.
The back door was indeed half-closed, leaving a crack.
Sun Wukong pushed the door and entered.
Patriarch Bodhi was lying on the couch, turned inward on his side, sleeping peacefully.
Sun Wukong did not dare make a sound. He knelt before the couch and waited in silence.
Half an hour passed.
Patriarch Bodhi turned over and chanted aloud.
"Difficult, difficult, difficult! The Dao is most profound; do not treat the golden elixir as something common. If one does not meet a true person to pass on the marvelous formula, empty words will leave the mouth weary and the tongue dry."
Sun Wukong hurriedly kowtowed.
"Master, your disciple has been waiting here for a long time."
Patriarch Bodhi sat up and draped on his outer robe.
"You monkey, why are you not sleeping in the dead of night, and instead running into my room?"
Sun Wukong grinned from ear to ear.
"Master struck me three times in front of everyone during the day, then clasped his hands behind his back and shut the middle door."
"Was that not telling me to come through the back door at the third watch to seek Master's transmission of the Dao?"
Patriarch Bodhi's gaze fell on the monkey kneeling before the couch, and inwardly he praised him.
This Stone Monkey was indeed clever and refined.
One hint, and he understood.
Zhunti's true body had given the right instructions. With roots and perception like this, if he were not properly nurtured, it would truly be a reckless