Six-Eared Macaque accepted the armor and, in the end, put it on.</p>
Ao Tu looked him up and down. The monkey certainly looked more dashing now.</p>
Six-Eared Macaque was delighted too. He looked left and right at the armor he wore, yet dared not move too much. Having said earlier that he did not care about such things, he was now too embarrassed to show too much delight.</p>
The two continued onward. Six-Eared Macaque said, "Great King, we still have several dozen li to go. Why not ride a cloud there? It would be faster."</p>
Ao Tu said, "There's no hurry. We'll walk and wait for business to come knocking."</p>
Six-Eared Macaque did not know why, but since Ao Tu had said so, he went along with it.</p>
And so the two walked another twenty or thirty li at an unhurried pace.</p>
Six-Eared Macaque warned him, "Great King, there's a group of people in the woods ahead."</p>
Ao Tu said, "Let's go over."</p>
The two stepped into the woods.</p>
Suddenly, a fierce shout rang out. More than a dozen burly men leaped out from the thick grass and shrubs on either side of the forest path, wielding spears, sabers, clubs, and cudgels. They blocked Ao Tu and Six-Eared Macaque's way and said, "You travelers! Leave your money before you go!"</p>
Hearing this, Ao Tu looked at them.</p>
One had leopard eyes and protruding teeth, another red hair and a yellow beard, another a bulbous red nose and a face full of savage flesh, and another a horse face and short eyebrows. The others all had vicious eyes and ferocious faces too.</p>
Ao Tu said, "Are you bandits?"</p>
The horse-faced man said, "Boss, he called us bandits!"</p>
The man addressed as boss was tall and brawny. Hearing this, he glared with