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37 Xuanying Cave

Seeing he could not get away, the one Who Wards Off Heat stopped and cried again and again, "Mercy!" Jing Mu'an stepped up, seized him by the ear, and said, "We will not kill you. We will only take you for the Great Sage to deal with." Jing Mu'an and Prince Mo'ang brought their prisoner to the gate of the crystal palace. "They are all taken," they said to Wukong. Seeing the severed head, Wukong said in surprise, "This head was not cut by any blade." "Had I not shouted in time," the prince explained, "the star lord would have eaten the whole body too." Wukong had the horns sawn off and the hide stripped from the dead beast to be carried away, leaving the flesh to the Dragon King and his son. Then he had rings put through the noses of the two living demons, and with Jiao Mujiao and Jing Mu'an leading them he went to lay before the governor of Jinping the charge of having so long masqueraded as Buddhas and harmed the people. They thanked the Dragon King and his son, led the rhinoceroses up out of the Western Sea, joined Dou Muxie and Kui Mulang, and rode the clouds straight towards Jinping. Over the city of Jinping, Wukong trod the air on a shaft of light and declared aloud how the rhinoceros demons had posed as Buddhas and wrought their mischief, and bade the authorities offer the golden lamps no more, lest the people be drained of labour and wealth. Within the walls and without, every household set out incense and bowed to the gods of heaven. At the Temple of Compassionate Clouds, Bajie and Sandy had just brought their master through the gate when they heard Wukong's voice in the air. They left the Tang Monk, rose upon the clouds, and asked how the demons had fared. Wukong told them all, and Bajie proposed that the two captives be taken into the government office of Jinping, as a warning to the officials of the prefecture and the county. The brothers and the gods came down on a bright cloud into the hall of Jinping, the rhinoceroses in their keeping. The governor and his deputy officers had lit great candles and censers of incense, and bowed towards them in worship. Presently the monks of the temple carried the Tang Monk in a sedan chair into the gate. Wukong went forward and told him how the demons had been destroyed, and the Tang Monk praised and thanked the four star lords without ceasing. Then Bajie gave way to his temper; he drew his knife and struck off the heads of the two demons, and had a saw brought to cut away their four horns. Wukong asked the four star lords to take four of the horns up to heaven as tribute to the Jade Emperor, and so discharge their commission. Of the two that were left, one was to be kept in the treasury of the prefecture as proof that the lamp-oil levy was ended for ever; the other was to be carried to the Western Heaven and offered to the Buddha. The four stars were well pleased; they took their leave of Wukong and his brothers and rode a bright cloud back to the heavens. The officials of Jinping kept the Tang Monk and his disciples as their guests and spread a great vegetarian banquet in thanks. They also posted a proclamation for soldiers and people alike: from the coming year the golden lamps were to be abolished, and the common folk freed from the duty of offering oil. The magistrate ordered butchers to flay the rhinoceroses; the hides were tanned, smoked and dried to make armour, while the flesh was shared out among the people round about to eat and settle their fears. Grateful to the Tang Monk, his disciples and the four star lords, the people of Jinping raised a temple to the four stars who had quelled the demons, and built a shrine to the four pilgrims while they yet lived, setting up a carved stone to carry the tale down a thousand years. To show their thanks, the people of Jinping took turns to spread vegetarian feasts for the four. Bajie ate his fill and was well content; and of the treasure taken from the Xuanying Cave he gave a share to every household, to pay for the feasts they had laid on. A month went by and still they could not get away. The Tang Monk grew anxious to press westward, and charged Wukong, "Give all the treasure that is left to the monks of the temple as our thanks. We will leave before daybreak, without a word to the people of Jinping. We must not let pleasure delay the scriptures, or the Buddha will hold it against us and fresh troubles arise." Wukong went and saw to it all.

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