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17 Fire Cloud Cave

Sandy laid Wukong on the ground and saw his limbs stiff and body icy cold; he thought Wukong was dead and wept, "Brother, what a pity! You were a guest who would live ten thousand years, and now you have become a short-lived man halfway along the road!" Bajie laughed, "Brother, don't cry; this monkey is pretending to be dead to frighten us. He has seventy-two transformations, so he has seventy-two lives. Watch me handle him." He rubbed his hands warm and pressed Wukong's seven orifices, using a massage meditation method. It turned out Wukong's breath was blocked in his dantian and he could not make a sound. After Bajie pressed, in an instant his breath passed through the three passes and burst open the orifices; he cried out, "Master!" Sandy said, "Eldest Brother, you lived for Master and even in death you are thinking of him. Wake up quickly; we are here." Wukong struggled to stand, looked up, and said, "Dragon kings, where are you?" The four dragon kings answered from mid-air, "We little dragons are here." Wukong said, "Thank you for traveling so far; please return for now, and I will thank you another day." The dragon kings led the water creatures away reluctantly. Wukong discussed with Bajie and Sandy, "For the present plan we must go and invite Guanyin. But my waist and knees hurt and I cannot mount the somersault cloud." Bajie said, "No matter; I will go and invite her." He mounted his cloud and mist and headed south. Now Red Boy guessed Wukong and the others would fetch more rescuers. Seeing Bajie heading south, he reckoned it was to invite Guanyin, so he hurriedly took a shortcut and overtook Bajie, sat on a cliff, and changed into Guanyin's appearance, waiting quietly. Bajie was riding his cloud on the way when he suddenly saw the Bodhisattva. Unable to tell true from false, he hastily knelt and said, "Bodhisattva, your disciple Zhu Wuneng kowtows." Bajie told how his master had been carried off by Red Boy and begged the Bodhisattva to save him. Red Boy said, "The master of the Fiery Cloud Cave is not one who takes life; you must have offended him. Rise and follow me to meet the cave master; I will put in a word and ask him to release your master." Bajie did not know good from bad and followed Red Boy along the old road back to the Fiery Cloud Cave. Arriving outside the Fiery Cloud Cave, Red Boy first walked into the cave and said to Bajie, "The cave master is my old acquaintance; you come in too." Bajie did as he was told and entered the cave. The demons gave a great shout, seized him, stuffed him into a bag, tied the mouth of the bag tightly with rope, and hung him high from a carrying beam. Red Boy resumed his true form and shouted, "Zhu Bajie, what power do you have to dare invite the Bodhisattva to subdue me? I will hang you for three to five days and steam you as a dish with my wine!" Bajie heard this and cursed angrily from inside, "Demon, how rude! If you eat me, I guarantee you will each suffer heavenly plague!" Wukong and Sandy had waited a long time without seeing Bajie return. Wukong cried, "This is bad! Bajie must have run into a demon. I'll go and find out." Sandy said, "Brother, your waist hurts; let your younger brother go." Wukong said, "Better let me go." Wukong gritted his teeth, endured the pain, and walked to the Fiery Cloud Cave leaning on his golden-hooped rod. The small demons saw him, raised their spears and blades together, and shouted in unison, "Seize him, seize him!" Wukong's body was weary and he dared not engage; he cried "Change!" and transformed into a brocade bundle. The small demons saw this and went in to report, "Great King, Sun Wukong has dropped his bundle and fled." Red Boy laughed, "That bundle has nothing valuable in it; at most it contains monks' worn shirts and old hats. Keep it for patching and washing." The small demons took the bundle back and threw it inside the cave.

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