Aboveground, no one had slept all night.
The sky was turning the pale white of a fish's belly.
Xuanzang sat cross-legged on the ground, slowly turning the prayer beads in his hand.
A-Hu lay at his feet, an enormous head resting on front paws, with an occasional snore.
Nearby, around the enormous crater Wukong had smashed out with a single blow, the Western Sea's Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals had stopped digging at Bajie's insistence. Exhausted, they slumped every which way.
Bajie sat on a rock beside the crater, holding a twig and idly scratching at the ground.
He glanced at the sky, then down at the bottom of the crater, before turning toward Xuanzang.
"Master, Brother Monkey and the others have been down there so long. Look, it's almost dawn. You don't think something's gone wrong, do you?"
Sha Wujing, who had been staring intently into the crater, immediately turned and protested in his deep, muffled voice.
"Second Brother! Spit that bad luck out, quick! No taboos, let the wind blow it away! Eldest Brother has vast powers, and the Dragon King and Madam Bull went with him. What could go wrong? They're bound to be fine!"
Bajie rolled his eyes extravagantly, tossed the twig onto the ground, and spread his hands.
"Come on, Sha, is that what Old Pig meant?"
He pointed at the bottom of the crater, then at the horizon.
"I meant that the depths of the earth veins are terribly dangerous. If they really have run into trouble down there and gotten trapped, Old Pig can hurry off on a cloud and find someone to help!"
Sha Wujing scratched his head and was just about to apologize.
Rumble-!
A deep, thunderous roar suddenly rose from far beneath the earth, like thousands of troops and horses