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13 White Tiger Ridge

The Tang Monk still would not eat. Bajie at his side kept pouting. "Master has no mind of his own; here is food ready to eat, yet you wait for that monkey!" He snatched the jar and was about to eat heartily. At that moment Wukong returned from the southern mountain with peaches in his alms bowl, somersaulting through the air. He opened his fiery eyes and golden pupils, immediately recognizing that the woman was a demon in disguise. Without a word Wukong set down his bowl, drew his iron club, and struck at her head. The Tang Monk hastily seized him. "You monkey, why are you showing your wild nature again?" Wukong said, "Master, this woman before you is a demon come to deceive you." The Tang Monk was both startled and angry. "This good lady has such kindness, offering us food; how can you say she is a demon?" Wukong said, "Master, how could you recognize her? If I had come half a step later, you would have fallen into her clutches." He raised his club and struck the demon in the face. The monster indeed had some skill. She used a "corpse-releasing" spell; when Wukong's club came down, she had already fled, leaving a false corpse struck dead on the ground. The Tang Monk was dumbfounded with fright and shouted, "Rebellious disciple, why do you kill someone without cause?" Wukong said, "Master, don't blame me; come and see what's in this jar." Sandy supported the Tang Monk as they approached. Where was the food? The jar was full of maggots, frogs, and toads hopping all over the ground. Only now did the Tang Monk partly believe. But Bajie, resentful, muttered at the side, "Master, Brother Monkey's club is heavy. He's afraid you'll recite the Tightening-Band Spell, so he's deliberately using a magic trick to fool you." Hearing this, the Tang Monk believed it true. He immediately formed a mystic gesture and recited the spell. Wukong rolled on the ground in pain, begging for mercy again and again. The Tang Monk said, "A monk sweeping the ground fears harming ants; he covers his lamp to spare the moths. You commit violence at every step — what use is it to fetch scriptures? Go back!" Wukong was startled. "Master, where do you want me to go?" The Tang Monk said, "Anywhere you please; I don't want you as my disciple anymore." Wukong hastily knelt and kowtowed. "If Master doesn't want me, so be it, but I have not yet repaid your great kindness." The Tang Monk said, "When did I ever show you kindness?" Wukong recalled, "This old monkey once made havoc in Heaven and brought calamity upon himself. Guanyin gave me the precepts, and fortunately Master saved me. If I do not accompany you to the Western Heaven, the world will blame me for ingratitude, leaving a bad name for ages." The Tang Monk was compassionate at heart. Seeing Wukong's plea, he relented. "Since you say so, I will forgive you this once. If you still do evil, I will recite the spell backwards twenty times." Wukong smiled. "Thirty times is also up to Master." He helped the Tang Monk mount and offered him the peaches. The Tang Monk ate a few on horseback to satisfy his hunger. Meanwhile the demon escaped into the sky and ground her teeth in the clouds. "Long have I heard that Sun Wukong's powers are vast; indeed his name is not false. If I let the Tang Monk go like this, won't all my efforts be wasted? I'll go down and trick him again." The demon descended on yin clouds and below the slope transformed herself into an old woman of eighty, leaning on a bent bamboo staff and stumbling along weeping.

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