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13 White Tiger Ridge

The Tang Monk would not believe it and recited the Tightening-Band Spell again. Wukong collapsed to his knees in pain. Sandy pleaded at the side, "Master, Eldest Brother is loyal; perhaps that old man really was a demon." The Tang Monk angrily said, "You too are bewitched by him!" The Tang Monk insisted on driving Wukong away. Wukong kowtowed and said, "Master, do you truly not want me? This old monkey has followed you, subduing demons, and today it comes to this!" The Tang Monk hardened his heart. "Go; I never want to see you again." Wukong had no choice but to take leave of his master and brothers, mount his somersault cloud, and leave with tears in his eyes. Sandy and Bajie could not bear it but were helpless. After Wukong left, the Tang Monk mounted his horse, and Bajie and Sandy packed the luggage to continue westward. Though the demon was dead, the Tang Monk still resented Wukong and sighed all along the way. They had not gone far when the Tang Monk grew hungry and ordered Bajie to beg food. Bajie lazily took the bowl, went into the woods, found a grassy spot, and lay down to sleep, ignoring his errand. The Tang Monk waited a long time without Bajie returning, so he sent Sandy to find him. Sandy came back after a while and said, "Master, Second Brother is sleeping in the woods." The Tang Monk sighed, "How can Wuneng fetch the scriptures when he is so lazy?" The Tang Monk had no choice but to dismount and rest. Suddenly he heard someone call at his ear, "Holy monk, please follow me." He looked up and saw an old man with a dragon-head cane beckoning to him. The Tang Monk did not know it was a trick and followed the old man into a stone cave. The old man suddenly turned into a wild wind, and many small demons poured out of the cave and seized the Tang Monk. The old man was actually the Yellow-Robed Monster in disguise. Sandy saw his master captured and hastily raised his staff to save him, but the demons swarmed forward and seized him too. Only Bajie, terrified, hid in the grass and dared not make a sound. When the demons had gone far away, Bajie crept out of the grass and thought, "Master and Sandy have been captured; what can I do? Better return to Flower-Fruit Mountain and find Eldest Brother to save them." He mounted a cloud and left. Bajie arrived at Flower-Fruit Mountain and saw Wukong seated high on a stone platform with the monkeys arrayed before him. Bajie stepped forward, knelt, and told how the Tang Monk had been captured by the Yellow-Robed Monster, begging Wukong to go and rescue him. At first Wukong refused. "Master already doesn't want me; why should I go save him?" Bajie urgently said, "Brother, though Master speaks harshly, he often thinks of you in his heart. If you don't save him, who will?" Wukong's heart moved. Wukong pondered a moment and said, "Very well, this old monkey will go with you." He told the monkeys to guard the cave well and left with Bajie on a cloud. Wukong and Bajie arrived at the entrance of the Moon-Wave Cave. Wukong said, "Fool, wait here while this old monkey goes in to investigate." He transformed into a bee and flew into the cave. Wukong entered and saw the Tang Monk tied to a pillar, Sandy hanging from a beam, and the Yellow-Robed Monster drinking and enjoying himself with a woman. He heard that the woman was Princess Hundred-Flower Shame of the Baoxiang Kingdom, carried off by the monster thirteen years before.

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