Why is the most powerful figure in The Journey to the West the woodcutter who guides the Monkey King?

There have been several mysterious figures in Journey to the West, such as Bodhi, who taught Wukong magic, Wu Chao, who passed on the Heart Sutra of the Tang Priest, and Liu Er, a macaque who took the scriptures under a pseudonym. However, the first mysterious man appeared, but it was a woodcutter who didn't even have a name-a woodcutter who attracted the Monkey King with his singing and guided him to Sanxing Cave in the Xieyue.

The Monkey King searched hard in China for 89 years. When the future was bleak, he "suddenly saw a high mountain" and the scenery was very pleasant. Disturbed the Monkey King naturally went to enjoy the mountain scenery.

When I was watching, I heard someone singing, but the surprise of the lyrics was staggering. For a while, "watch chess and suck", for a while "relax the moon and pillow the roots", or "prolong life", and finally simply "either become immortal or become a Taoist, sit quietly and talk about Huang Ting".

Monkeys naturally think this is an old fairy. Worship said, "Old Immortal, disciple, put up your hands!"

The woodcutter criticized that he didn't write this song, but the fairy on the mountain wrote it, but it happened that this fairy was his neighbor ... and then instructed the Monkey King to go to the "heart-shaped mountain on the platform and the three-star cave on the slanting moon" to find a fairy apprentice. Although the Monkey King was a little suspicious of the woodcutter and tried to take him to learn magic several times, the woodcutter said that I needed him to chop wood every day to support me, so I couldn't leave or practice.

The original way: "the Monkey King said: Since your home is adjacent to the immortal, why don't you practice elsewhere? Learn a method that is not old? But not good? The woodcutter said, I had a hard time. I was raised by my parents until I was eight or nine years old. Unfortunately, my father died and my mother was widowed. No more brothers and sisters, just me, helpless, waiting for you in the morning and evening. Now that my mother is old, I dare not go. However, the rural areas are barren and have insufficient food and clothing. I'm going to cut two bundles of firewood, pick them between the city dust, sell them for a few pence, make a few liters of rice, and arrange some tea and rice to support my mother, so I can't practice. "

Are you afraid that I will starve to death by learning magic from fairy neighbors? The Monkey King obviously think this reason is ridiculous, but there is no way. "I have to resign."

His lyrics, such as Watching Chess is Boring, Selling Wine for Salary, Meditating for Longevity, and Sitting and Talking about Huang Ting, are basically based on the story of the King of the Western Jin Dynasty. Wang Zhi is also a woodcutter. One day, he chopped wood and went into the depths of the forest by mistake, just like a Wuling fisherman went into the Peach Blossom Garden by mistake. He was watching a game when he saw someone playing chess. When I got home, I found that my hometown had changed beyond recognition. When I asked him, I realized that he had not played chess for more than one hundred years. All his family members died, and his axe (ke) for chopping wood was oxidized and rotted. He realized that chess players are immortal.