The first, which includes chapters 1–7, is really a self-contained prequel to the main body of the story. The novel comprises 100 chapters that can be divided into four very unequal parts. Gohan as the Monkey King (" Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Power!") Part of the novel's enduring popularity comes from the fact that it works on multiple levels: it is a first-rate adventure story, a dispenser of spiritual insight, and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeying toward India stands for the individual journeying toward enlightenment. Journey to the West has a strong background in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and value systems the pantheon of Taoist deities and Buddhist bodhisattvas is still reflective of Chinese folk religious beliefs today. Some scholars propose that the book satirizes the effete Chinese government at the time. These four characters have agreed to help Xuánzàng as an atonement for past sins. On instruction from the Buddha, the Bodhisattva Kuan Yin|Guānyīn gives this task to the monk and his three protectors in the form of disciples: namely Sūn Wùkōng, Zhū Bājiè and Shā Wùjìng together with a dragon prince who acts as Xuánzàng's horse mount. The novel is a fictionalized account of the legends around the Buddhist monk Xuánzàng's pilgrimage to India during the Táng dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist religious texts called sutras.