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17 Fire Cloud Cave

This red light was indeed a demon. Years before he had heard someone say, "The Tang Monk will pass this way to fetch the scriptures; if one can eat a piece of his flesh, one will live forever." From that day on he waited in the mountains every day, and today at last he had met them. The demon saw Wukong and the other two protecting the Tang Monk and guessed he had been recognized. After a moment's thought he dispersed the red light, descended from the clouds, and turned into a seven-year-old child: naked from the waist up, with hands and feet bound by hemp rope, hanging from a pine tree and crying repeatedly, "Save me!" Wukong saw the red cloud vanish and the fiery air disappear, so he asked his master to mount and continue. The Tang Monk asked, "You said there was a demon; how dare you go on now?" Wukong said, "That red cloud just now was indeed a demon, but who knew it would suddenly disperse? It must have been a demon passing by, not daring to harm anyone." Bajie interrupted, "Brother must be talking nonsense. Since when do demons split into resident and passing?" The Tang Monk half believed and half doubted, then climbed into the saddle and rode toward the mountain. As they walked they suddenly heard someone cry "Save me!" The Tang Monk followed the voice and saw a small boy hanging naked from a tree. He asked, "Whose child are you, and how did you come to be here?" The demon saw him ask and put on a miserable expression, tears in his eyes, saying, "Master, I live in the village west of the mountain. I met with bandits who killed my father and carried off my mother, and hung me here; I have been here three days and three nights. I beg you, Master, save me!" The Tang Monk believed it and told Bajie to untie the ropes and bring him down. Bajie was about to act when Wukong shouted from the side, "Demon, stop deceiving people! Since your father was killed by bandits and your mother carried off, to whom could we hand you even if we saved you?" The demon pretended to tremble and said with tears, "I still have a grandfather in the southern mountain. If you are willing to save me, Master, he will surely give a feast when we reach the village!" As soon as Bajie heard there was food to eat, he paid no heed to good or bad, cut the ropes, and let the demon down. The demon came before the Tang Monk's horse with tears streaming, kowtowing without cease. The Tang Monk's compassion was moved and he called, "Child, get on the horse." The demon said, "Master, my hands and feet are numb from hanging; I cannot ride." Wukong smiled coldly, "No matter; I will carry him on my back!" Wukong placed the demon on his back and tested the weight; it was only a little over three jin. He asked, "If you are a child of good family, why are you so light?" The demon said, "I have had small bones since I was little." Wukong also said, "If you need to urinate, tell me so I can avoid soiling old Sun's clothes." Then the Tang Monk, Bajie, and Sandy went ahead, while Wukong carried the demon behind, and they went westward. Wukong inwardly blamed the Tang Monk for being muddled and planned to find a chance to dash the demon to death. The demon guessed his thought and used a magic power, drawing four breaths and blowing them onto Wukong's back, making it weigh a thousand jin. Wukong laughed, "My son, are you using body magic to weigh down your elder?" Hearing this, the demon feared Wukong would harm him, so he left a substitute and his true body leaped into the ninefold heavens. Wukong felt his back grow heavier and heavier and became enraged. He seized the demon and dashed it fiercely against a stone by the road, smashing the substitute into a meat patty. The demon saw this from the air and his anger flared. He cursed inwardly, "What a vicious monkey! I have not yet harmed your master, yet you came to harm me first!" He raised a whirlwind, and in an instant sand and stones flew, black vapors billowed, forcing Bajie and Sandy to bow their heads and cover their faces, not daring to look up.

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