Great King Si stared at A-Hu and said quietly:
"No matter what, you're still nothing more than a mount."
A-Hu shook his head and said firmly, "I have a name."
Great King Si narrowed his eyes.
A-Hu enunciated every word. "My name is A-Hu."
"My master gave it to me."
Great King Si sneered.
He raised his palm again and set it on A-Hu's head, his hand as heavy as a mountain.
Holding him down, Great King Si lowered his head to look at him.
"Little kitty, are you really that stupid?"
"A-Hu? You call that a name?"
A-Hu jerked his head up. "Yes!"
His roar rang out.
Several nearby lesser demons clapped their hands over their ears.
Great King Si's palm was actually pushed up half an inch.
The interest in his eyes deepened.
"Good."
"Interesting."
He chuckled, about to speak again, when a sudden commotion erupted outside the cave.
A lesser demon came scrambling into the cave from the stone steps.
He stumbled to the foot of the dais and knocked his forehead against the ground.
"Great King!"
"A muzzle-faced, hook-mouthed monk has come!"
"He says he's the disciple of the Holy Monk of the Tang Dynasty, Great Sage Equal to Heaven Sun Wukong."
"He's here to demand his master back!"
A-Hu's eyes lit up at once.
Great King Si turned toward the cave entrance and chuckled. "He got here quickly enough."
He lifted his Steel-Pointed Spear.
"Lads."
"Tie up Tang Sanzang."
"Disarm those three useless fools, tie them up too, and throw them in the back."
He looked at A-Hu again.
"Put a separate heavy rope around this little kitty and tether him here."
"Wait until I return."
The lesser demons answered in unison and surged around them.
A-Hu shielded Sanzang with one wing while sweeping