At the bottom of the deep shaft, Tripitaka struck down with his hoe and immediately sensed something different.
He quickly tossed aside the hoe and reached out, feeling a patch of loose, damp earth.
His eyes flew wide open; he was stunned.
A moment later, his face erupted in pure joy!
After months of effort—months spent toiling here—he finally had results!
He threw back his head and shouted, "Old County Prince! Water—there's water coming up!"
He ducked his head and dug with renewed vigor, pouring every ounce of strength into it. All the exhaustion of the past days seemed to vanish in that moment.
Sure enough, before long, a stream of clear spring water gushed from the spot he was digging—cold and pure.
Tripitaka didn’t hesitate; he crouched down, scooped up the spring water, and drank deeply.
It was wonderfully sweet.
"Excellent! Excellent! As long as you give it your all, step by step you can cross a thousand miles and achieve the Dao! Ha ha ha!" He burst out laughing, then struggled to turn around, forgetting even his hoe as he scrambled up the rope ladder.
He quickly climbed out of the well, his movements almost frantic.
From afar, a crowd of demons and Monkey silently watched him, their faces expressionless.
"Water’s up," Prince Adrian murmured nearby.
"I know," Monkey replied simply, still saying nothing more.
His expression seemed to say to everyone that perhaps it would have been better if no water had come up at all.
When Tripitaka leapt out of the well, he fell flat on his face but still grinned as he struggled to his feet. He ran a few steps, then suddenly remembered something and hurriedly turned back to look for it.
"What’s he doing?"
"Probably looking for a bucket to fetch water."
"But it looks like there aren’t any buckets here."