I once saw someone say it and forgot what it was. It probably means that the Monkey King can change seventy-two, and his skills are above those of Tang Yan's disciple.

The only difference between Tang's monk and other disciples: among the four people traveling to the west, only Tang's monk has a clear goal-no matter what the situation, he always insists on going to the West to learn from the scriptures. Others simply don't have such strong beliefs. The Monkey King often wants to go back to Huaguoshan, and Pig Bajie is also thinking about Lao Zi and Zhuangzi. He is greedy and ignorant. The sand monk is a man without ideas.

It is the strong desire to go to the Western Heaven to learn Buddhist scriptures in order to save the people of China that makes Tang Priest the core force among the four.