Just as Sun Wukong sank into thought, a clear, pleasant voice rang out above him.
"Amitabha. The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, who once threw Heaven into chaos, imprisoned here... How pitiful. How pitiful."
"Who's there?"
In the past, Sun Wukong would have snapped back at anyone who mocked him like that.
But after seeing the cowherd boy's future, all he could think about was escaping Five-Finger Mountain. He looked up at once, his heart pounding.
Guanyin soon appeared with the young attendant at her side.
Sun Wukong's eyes lit up when he saw them.
"It's you! Merciful Guanyin of the South Sea, please let me out!"
Five hundred years beneath Five-Finger Mountain had stripped him of his old belief that nothing in heaven or earth stood above him.
Five hundred years ago, proud as he was, he would never have said those words, even on pain of death.
But now, to save the cowherd boy, he had learned to ask for help.
Guanyin nodded inwardly, pleased.
Outwardly, though, she shook her head and said sternly, "You wretched monkey. Your sins run deep. If I set you free, I fear you'll only bring more calamity."
Sun Wukong had been chosen to take part in the Journey to the West, but she intended to teach him a proper lesson first.
After all, he had caused her no small amount of embarrassment back then.
"No, I won't!" Sun Wukong shook his head, his voice urgent. "Merciful Bodhisattva, please!"
Guanyin smiled faintly at the sight of him.
It seemed the monkey had finally tasted hardship over the past five hundred years. He knew how to beg now.
Even so, she shook her head again. "Someone in this world will save you, but that person is not me."
"Then where is this person?" Sun