After hearing Gold Horn's words, the Silver Horn King hesitated no longer.
He pulled the stopper from the Purple-Gold Red Gourd, aimed it at Zhu Bajie, who lay trussed up on the ground, and called out coldly:
"Zhu Bajie!"
The Golden Horn King kicked Bajie in the face. In pain, Bajie instinctively yelled, "I told you not to kick my face!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than red light flared, and Bajie, ropes and all, was sucked back into the gourd.
The Silver Horn King put away the gourd, picked up the Nine-Toothed Rake with his other hand, nodded to Gold Horn, and strode out through the stone doorway.
Wind sprang beneath his feet. Following the rear mountain trail his lesser demons had scouted, he became a streak of silver light and sped away.
The sun slanted westward, and the light beneath the trees grew dimmer.
Xuanzang and his disciples followed the little fox, struggling along the rugged trail.
The path was truly difficult, thick with brambles and blocked by jagged rocks. The farther they went, the more desolate it became.
The little fox hopped back and forth on A-Hu's broad forehead, giving occasional little yips as she pointed here and there with one tiny paw:
"Left! No, no, right! Oh dear, I think it's this path..."
Under her haphazard directions, master and disciples wandered in circles for nearly an hour. The scenery before them hardly changed; perhaps they had been going around the same spot.
A-Hu gave an irritated growl and shook that enormous head, clearly displeased with the little creature. But because of Xuanzang's instructions, A-Hu could only endure it and keep walking.
Sun Wukong, who was leading the way, stopped and planted the Golden Cudgel on the ground, looking at the little fox