Now the Great Sage Sun and Zhu Bajie were just about to work their magic on those women, when suddenly they heard a gust of wind, and the Sha Monk shouting in alarm. They turned their heads quickly—and Tang Sanzang was gone. "Who was it that snatched Master away?" said the Pilgrim. "It was a woman," said the Sha Monk, "who raised a whirlwind and carried Master off."
At these words the Pilgrim gave a whistle and sprang into the clouds, shading his eyes with his hand as he looked in every direction. He saw only a cloud of dust, with a great wind rolling toward the northwest. He turned his head at once and called: "Brothers! Mount the clouds quickly and come with me to chase after Master!" Bajie and the Sha Monk at once slung the luggage onto the horse, and with a sound they both leapt into mid-air. This threw the ruler and ministers and womenfolk of the Western Land of Women into such a fright that they knelt in the dust, saying: "These are arhats risen into the sky in broad daylight. Your Majesty need not be alarmed or doubtful. The sworn brother of Tang was also a Chan monk of the Way; we had eyes but no pupils, and mistook a man of China, wasting all that thought and care. Pray mount the palanquin and return to court." The Queen felt shame of herself, and all the officers returned with her to the kingdom—of this no more.
Now the Great Sage Sun and his two brothers, riding cloud and mist, followed the whirlwind straight on until they came to a high mountain, where the dust had settled and the wind had died away, and they knew not whither the monster had gone. The brothers brought down their clouds and searched for a path, when suddenly they saw to one side a smooth green rock, bright and shining, shaped like a screen.
The three of them led the horse around the stone screen, and behind it were two stone gates, on which were six great characters: "The Scorpion Cave of Poison-Enemy Mountain."
Bajie, who understood nothing, went up and began battering the gate with his rake. The Pilgrim checked him at once: "Brother, hold on. We followed the whirlwind and chased it here, and searched all this while before we found this gate—and we know nothing of what lies within, whether it's deep or shallow. What if this is not the gate? Wouldn't we provoke its anger for nothing? You two lead the horse and go back before the stone screen to wait a while, while old Sun goes in to scout things out, to see what's there and what's not, so that we can act properly." Hearing this, the Sha Monk was delighted: "Good! Good! Good! Just as they say, there's fineness in roughness, and in a tight spot one finds room." So the two of them turned and led the horse back.
The Great Sage Sun displayed his magic powers: he pinched his fingers, recited a spell, shook himself, and turned into a bee. Truly a nimble little thing! Look at him:
Wings so thin they bend before the wind, A waist so light, a slender speck in the sun. His sweet mouth once sought out the pistils; His sharp tail excels at routing toads. His art of making honey is no slight thing; He enters the hive with humble ceremony. Now he puts his cunning plan to work, And flits and hovers in through the gate's eaves.
The Pilgrim slipped in through a crack in the door, flew past a second gate, and saw, in the very center, seated upright on a flower pavilion, a female demon, with a few maids in embroidered colored dresses, their hair in twin topknots, standing to left and right, all merry and happy, chatting about no one knew what.
The Pilgrim flew up softly and alighted on the lattice of the flower pavilion, cocking an ear to listen. Then he saw two women with tousled hair in childish tufts, bearing two trays of steaming hot buns, who came up the pavilion and said: "Grandma, one tray is meat buns stuffed with human flesh; the other is vegetable buns stuffed with bean paste."
The female demon laughed: "Little ones, bring out the sworn brother of Tang." Several maids in embroidered colored dresses went to the rear room and helped Tang Sanzang out. The master's face was yellow, his lips white, his eyes red and brimming with tears. The Pilgrim sighed secretly in the shadows: "Master has been poisoned!"
The demon came down from the pavilion, revealing ten slender fingers like spring scallions, and caught hold of the elder: "Sworn brother, set your mind at ease. Though my place is not the palace of the Western Land of Women, with its wealth and splendor, it is in truth quiet and free, just the place to chant the Buddha's name and read the sutras. I'll be your companion on the Way, and we shall live in harmony a hundred years, truly."
Sanzang was silent. The demon said: "Don't fret. I know that at the banquet in the women's kingdom you never got a bite of food or drop of drink. Here are two trays of meat and vegetable buns—pray take some to steady your shock."
Sanzang pondered in silence: "If I refuse to speak and refuse to eat, still this demon is not like the Queen. The Queen was human and acted with propriety; this demon is a spirit of evil, and I fear she may do me harm. What's to be done? My three disciples do not know I am trapped here. If she harms me, wouldn't my life be lost for nothing?" He asked his heart of his heart, and no plan came to him; he could only rouse himself by main force and speak: "What is in the meat ones? And what in the vegetable ones?" The female demon said: "The meat ones are stuffed with human flesh; the vegetable ones with bean paste." Sanzang said: "This poor monk eats vegetarian." The demon laughed: "Maid, bring hot tea, for your master to eat the vegetable buns." A maid indeed brought a cup of fragrant tea and set it before the elder. The demon split a vegetable bun open and handed it to Sanzang. Sanzang handed the whole meat bun to the female demon. The female demon laughed: "Sworn brother, why don't you split it for me?" Sanzang put his palms together: "I am one who has left the world; I dare not break the vegetarian rule." The female demon said: "You, who have left the world and dare not break the vegetarian rule—how is it that the other day at the Mother-and-Son River you drank your fill of the high water, and today you're so fond of bean-paste stuffing?" Sanzang said: "When the water is high the boat goes fast; when the sand sinks the horse walks slow." The Pilgrim, listening from the lattice, heard the two of them trading words, and feared that Master's true nature might be shaken; he could not restrain himself, revealed his real form, drew his iron cudgel, and shouted: "Vile beast, you forget your manners!" At the sight of him the female demon spat out a stream of smoke and light, veiling the flower pavilion, and called: "Little ones, take the sworn brother away!" Then she seized a three-pronged steel fork, leapt out the pavilion gate, and cursed: "You lazy ape! How dare you steal into my house and peek at my beauty! Don't run—take one fork from your old lady!" The Great Sage blocked it with his iron cudgel, fighting as he fell back. The two fought their way out of the cave, where Bajie and the Sha Monk were waiting before the stone screen. Seeing the struggle, Bajie in alarm led the white horse over and said: "Sha Monk, you just mind the luggage and the horse—let old Pig go help a bit."
Good blockhead! Raising his rake with both hands, he ran up shouting: "Senior Brother, stand back—let me hit this shameless wretch!" At the sight of Bajie the demon worked her arts again: with a shout, fire gushed from her nose and smoke from her mouth; she shook her body once, and whirling her three-pronged fork, charged to meet him. No one could tell how many hands the female demon had as she rolled at them head and face. The Pilgrim and Bajie attacked from both sides. The demon said: "Sun Wukong, you don't know when to advance and when to retreat! I know you, though you don't know me. Even the Buddha Tathagata of your Thunderclap Monastery stands in fear of me—what can the likes of you two hairy creatures accomplish? Come on, all of you; watch your heads as I strike!"
Was this not a fine battle! The female demon's prowess grew, the Monkey King's spirit rose. The Marshal Tianpeng fought for his own merit, wildly raising his rake to show his skill. She, with her many hands and tight fork, wreathed in smoke and light; they two, eager and fierce of weapon, steaming with mist. The female demon fought only to win a mate; the monk, how could he spill his primal essence! Yin and yang, ill-matched, gripped each other; each displayed his gifts, hating the bitter struggle. Yin, still and nurturing, stirs and moves; Yang, gathering and guarding, loves only purity. Hence the two sides could not agree—fork, rake, and iron cudgel, betting who should win. This one's staff was strong, that one's rake the more so, and the female demon's steel fork clashed tip for tip. Before Poison-Enemy Mountain neither would yield; outside the Scorpion Cave both were merciless. She rejoiced to have caught Tang Sanzang for her phoenix-mate; they two were sworn to follow the elder for the true scriptures. Heaven-shaking, earth-moving, they joined in battle, and fought until sun and moon lost their light and the stars their order! The three fought a long while, with no victor and no vanquished.
The female demon then sprang up, and using her poison sting that fells a horse, pricked the Great Sage once on the scalp without his noticing. The Pilgrim cried "Ah, misery!" and, unable to bear the pain, fled the field in defeat. Bajie, seeing things had gone wrong, dragged his rake and retreated in full. The demon, having won the victory, put away her steel fork.
The Pilgrim held his head, his brows knit and his face twisted with pain, crying "Terrible! Terrible!" Bajie came up to him and asked: "Brother, why did you leave just as the fight was going well, howling your woes to Heaven?" The Pilgrim, clutching his head, cried only: "It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!" The Sha Monk said: "Perhaps your head-wind has flared up?" The Pilgrim jumped: "No! No!" Bajie said: "Brother, I never saw you wounded—why does your head ache?" Groaning, the Pilgrim said: "It's past bearing! Past bearing! While I was fighting her, she saw me break through her fork-work, and she sprang up—with no one knows what kind of weapon—and pricked me once on the head. The pain is so unbearable that I fled the field." Bajie laughed: "And here you are, always boasting in your quiet moments that your head has been through training. How is it it can't stand even this one poke?"
The Pilgrim said: "Exactly. This head of mine, ever since I finished my cultivation and attained the truth, has eaten stolen peaches of immortality and the Old Lord's cinnabar elixir by stealth. When I made my great havoc in Heaven, the Jade Emperor sent the Ghost King of Great Strength and the Twenty-eight Constellations to haul me to the Dipper and Ox Palace to be executed. Those gods used knives, axes, hammers, swords, thunder, and fire against me, and the Old Lord shut me in his Eight Trigrams furnace and refined me for forty-nine days—and none of it did me the least harm. Yet today, who knows what weapon this woman used, to wound old Sun's head!" The Sha Monk said: "Let go your hands and let me look. I hope it isn't broken!" The Pilgrim said: "It's not broken! Not broken!" Bajie said: "Let me go to the Western Land of Women and beg a plaster for you." The Pilgrim said: "It's neither swollen nor broken—how can a plaster be put on it?" Bajie laughed: "Brother, I never came down with any pre-natal or post-natal illness—but you've gone and gotten yourself a boil on the forehead!" The Sha Monk said: "Second Brother, no more teasing. The day is now late, Elder Brother's head is hurt, and Master's fate, dead or alive, is unknown. What are we to do!"
Groaning, the Pilgrim said: "Master's all right. When I went in, I turned into a bee and flew inside, and saw that woman sitting on the flower pavilion. In a little while, two maids brought two trays of buns: one tray of meat buns stuffed with human flesh, the other of vegetable buns stuffed with bean paste. Then she had two maids help Master out to eat one to steady his shock, and she wanted to be his companion on the Way, or some such. At first Master would not answer her, nor eat any bun; but then she set to with her sweet words and honeyed phrases, and before you knew it he had opened his mouth and said he ate vegetarian. That woman split a vegetable bun open and handed it to Master, and Master handed the whole meat bun to her. She said: "Why won't you split it?" Master said: "I have left the world, and dare not break the vegetarian rule." She said: "If you won't break the rule, how were you able to drink your fill at the Mother-and-Son River the other day, and be so fond of bean-paste stuffing today?" Master, not understanding her meaning, answered her with two lines: "When the water is high the boat goes fast; when the sand sinks the horse walks slow." I heard it from the lattice, and fearing that Master's nature would be shaken, I showed my real body, drew my cudgel, and struck. She worked her magic too, spat out smoke and mist, called to take the sworn brother away, and whirling her steel fork fought old Sun out of the cave."
Hearing this, the Sha Monk bit his finger: "That shameless wretch—she must have followed us all the way from somewhere, to know all that has gone before!" Bajie said: "If that's so, we can't rest easy! Never mind dusk or midnight—let's go to her gate and challenge her, raise a din and keep her from sleeping, so she can't go trifling with our master." The Pilgrim said: "My head aches—I can't go!" The Sha Monk said: "There's no need to challenge her. First, Elder Brother's head aches; second, our master is a true monk and will never let lust and emptiness disturb his nature. Let us just sit out the night here on the hillside, in a place sheltered from the wind, and build up our strength; when day breaks we'll make our plans." So the three brothers tethered the white horse firmly, guarded the luggage, and settled down to rest on the slope—of this no more.
Now that female demon put away her fierce heart and put on again a face of delight. She called: "Little ones, bar the front and back gates tightly." She also set two watchwomen to guard against the Pilgrim, bidding them report the moment they heard a knock at the gate. Then she said: "Maids, put the bedchamber in good order, light the candles and burn incense, and bring the sworn brother of Tang here, that I may share his love." And they helped the elder out from the back.
The female demon put on a full display of charming coquetry, and taking Sanzang by the hand said: "As the saying goes, gold is not the most precious thing; peace and joy are worth more. Come, let us be man and wife for a while, and have some sport." The elder gritted his teeth and would not let out a sound. He wanted to refuse, but feared she would take his life in anger; so, trembling, he followed her into the perfumed chamber. There he stood as if dumb and deaf, never lifting his head or eyes; he did not look to see what bed and curtains the room held, nor whether there were chests and dressing-tables; and the words of clouds and rain, of passion, that the female demon spoke, he heard as if they were nothing. A fine monk indeed, truly:
His eyes looked not upon foul sights, His ears heard not the lewdest sounds. He held this brocaded beauty as dung and filth, Her golden and pearled loveliness as dust. All his life he loved only to meditate, And never left the Buddha's ground by half a step. What cared he for jade and fragrance? He knew but to cultivate the truth and nourish his nature. The female demon, lively and bright, her spring feeling boundless; The elder, dead and still, his Chan-sense firm within. One was as soft jade and warm fragrance, the other as dead ashes and withered wood. She spread the mandarin-duck quilt, her lewd desire running strong; He drew his robe about him, his true heart burning steadfast. She would cling breast to breast and leg entwined, like phoenix and mate; He would paint his wall and retire to the hills, to seek out Bodhidharma. The female demon undid her clothes, showing off her fragrant skin and sleek flesh; Tang Sanzang gathered his lapels tight, hiding his rough skin and coarse hide.
The female demon said: "My pillow is empty and my quilt is idle—why not sleep?" Tang Sanzang said: "My head is shaven and my dress is strange—how could I keep you company?" She said: "I would be the Liu Cuicui of the former dynasty." He said: "This poor monk is no the monk Yue of the moon [Translator's note: an allusion to the love story of the monk Yue and the courtesan Liu Cuicui]. The female demon said: "I am as lovely and graceful as Xi Shi." Tang Sanzang said: "And it was for such as you that the King of Yue long buried his corpse." The female demon said: "Sworn brother, do you remember the saying, better to die beneath the flowers, a ghost yet gallant in love?" Tang Sanzang said: "My true yang is my precious treasure—how could I lightly give it to a painted skeleton like you?" So the two of them traded banter, piece by piece, until the night was deep, and the elder Tang never once stirred in his resolve.
The female demon tugged and pulled and would not let go, but the master only remained steady and would not consent. They kept at it until midnight, when the demon grew angry and called: "Little ones, bring a rope!" And the poor dear object of her love was bound with a rope until he was rolled up like a lion cub, and she had him dragged out under the corridor eaves, then blew out the silver lamp and went each to her own rest.
All night long there was nothing to tell, and before they knew it the cock had crowed three times. On the hillside the Great Sage Sun stretched himself: "My head ached for a while, and now it neither aches nor is numb—it only itches a little." Bajie laughed: "If it itches, let her prick you again—how about that?" The Pilgrim spat: "Cut it out, cut it out, cut it out!" Bajie laughed again: "Cut it out, cut it out, cut it out! And my master—this whole night long he's been carrying on, on, on!" The Sha Monk said: "No more sparring of tongues. It's light now—let's hurry and catch the demon early." The Pilgrim said: "Brother, you stay here and watch the horse—don't move. Bajie comes with me." The blockhead shook himself briskly, tightened his black brocade gown, and followed the Pilgrim, each carrying his weapon, up the cliff and straight to the foot of the stone screen.
The Pilgrim said: "You wait here. I only fear that monster may have harmed Master in the night. Let me first go in and see what's what. If she has fooled him and drained his primal yang, truly ruining his virtue, then we'd all have to break up the company. But if his nature is unshaken and his Chan heart unmoved, then we can fight in earnest, beat the spirit to death, and rescue Master to go west." Bajie said: "How foolish you are! As the saying goes, would you lay a dried fish for a cat's pillow? Even if not, even if not, she'd still have clawed a few handfuls out of it!" The Pilgrim said: "Stop your wild suspicions and nonsense—let me go see."
Good Great Sage! He turned the stone screen, took leave of Bajie, shook himself, and turned again into a bee, flying in through the gate. Inside the gate he saw two maids, pillowed on their wooden clappers and bells, fast asleep. He flew on to the flower pavilion to look: the demon and her crew, having been at their games half the night, were all worn out, and none of them knew it was dawn; they were still sleeping. The Pilgrim flew on to the back, and faintly heard Tang Sanzang groaning. He looked up suddenly and saw, beneath the covered corridor, his master trussed up with all four limbs bound together.
The Pilgrim alighted softly on Sanzang's head and called: "Master." Sanzang recognized the voice: "Wukong, you've come! Save my life, quick!" The Pilgrim said: "And how were the night's delights?" Gritting his teeth, Sanzang said: "I would sooner die than do any such thing!" The Pilgrim said: "Yesterday I saw her with a loving, pitying air toward you—how is it today she treats you so?" Sanzang said: "She pestered me half the night, and I never undid my sash nor so much as touched the bed. When she saw I would not submit, she bound me here. For pity's sake, save me and let us go fetch the scriptures!"
While master and disciple were thus talking, they had already woken the demon. Though she had dealt harshly with him, she still kept a lingering desire for him, and as she turned over in her sleep, catching the words "go fetch the scriptures," she rolled off the bed and cried out in a loud voice: "A fine husband and wife you'd be—what scriptures do you think you're going for!" The Pilgrim took fright, abandoned his master, and spreading his wings flew out in haste, resumed his real form, and called: "Bajie!" The blockhead came round the stone screen: "Did the deed get done?" The Pilgrim laughed: "No! No! The old master wouldn't yield to her coaxing and fondling, and she got angry and tied him up there. He was just telling me what had gone before when the demon woke up—and I fled in a fright." Bajie said: "And what did Master say?" The Pilgrim said: "He said only that he never undid his sash and never touched the bed." Bajie laughed: "Good! Good! Good! A true monk after all! Let's go rescue him!"
The blockhead, crude as ever, would not be argued with: he raised his rake and drove it with all his might at the stone gate, smashing it into several pieces with a great crash. The maids who had been sleeping pillowed on the clappers and bells ran to beyond the second gate, crying: "Open up! The front gate has been smashed in by those two ugly men from yesterday!"
The female demon was just leaving her room when four or five maids ran in and reported: "Grandma, those two ugly men from yesterday have come again and smashed the front gate!" At this the demon hurriedly called: "Little ones! Heat water quickly—I must wash my face and dress my hair!" and "Carry the sworn brother, rope and all, to the rear room and put him away; I'm going out to fight them!" Good demon that she was, she came out, raising her three-pronged fork, and cursed: "Ape! Wild boar! Utterly brainless! How dare you smash my gate!" Bajie cursed back: "You lewd and shameless bitch! You've trapped my master, and still you talk tough! My master was coaxed here to be your husband—send him out at once and I'll spare you! Say one more word against it, and old Pig will knock down your whole mountain with one rake!" The demon would not be argued with; she shook herself and worked her arts as before, puffing smoke from nose and mouth and spitting fire, and raising her steel fork, thrust at Bajie.
Bajie dodged aside and drove his rake at her, and the Great Sage Sun helped with his iron cudgel. The demon worked her magic again; no one could tell how many hands she had, warding left and right. After three or five rounds of fighting, with no one knew what weapon, she pricked Bajie once on the lips. The blockhead dragged his rake, clutched his mouth, and fled for his life in pain. The Pilgrim, who had some fear of her himself, made one feint with his cudgel and fled the field in defeat.
The demon, having won the victory, returned and had her little ones pile up stones to wall up the front gate—of this no more.
Now the Sha Monk was grazing the horse before the slope when he heard a pig grunting. He looked up and saw Bajie coming, clutching his mouth and groaning. The Sha Monk said: "What's the matter?" The blockhead groaned: "Terrible! Terrible! It hurts, hurts, hurts!" Before he had done, the Pilgrim also came up, laughing: "What a fine blockhead! Yesterday you cursed me with a boil on the forehead—and today you've gone and gotten yourself a swollen-mouth plague!" Bajie groaned: "Unbearable, unbearable! It aches terribly! Terrible, terrible!"
While the three were in their difficulty, they saw an old dame, carrying a green bamboo basket in her left hand, coming along the southern mountain path, picking greens. The Sha Monk said: "Elder Brother, that dame is drawing near; let me ask her some news, and find out what demon this is, and what weapon, that wounds so." The Pilgrim said: "Wait there; let old Sun go ask her." The Pilgrim looked sharply, and saw above her head auspicious clouds canopied over her, and about her body fragrant mists on left and right. The Pilgrim recognized her, and called at once: "Brothers, come knock your heads quickly! That dame is a Bodhisattva come among us!" In a flurry Bajie endured his pain and knelt in worship, the Sha Monk led the horse and bowed low, and the Great Sage Sun put his palms together and knelt, crying: "Hail to the Greatly Compassionate, Greatly Merciful, reliever of suffering and distress, the all-responsive Bodhisattva Guanyin." The Bodhisattva, seeing that they recognized her numinous light, trod her auspicious clouds and rose into mid-air, showing her true form—and it was the fish-basket image.
The Pilgrim rushed into the air and knelt to tell her: "Bodhisattva, forgive your disciple his fault in not coming to meet you! We were straining every nerve to save our master, and knew not that the Bodhisattva had descended. We have met a demon and cannot subdue her; I beg the Bodhisattva, save us, save us!" The Bodhisattva said: "This demon is extremely formidable. Those three-pronged forks of hers are her two natural pincers. What pricks so painfully is a hook on her tail, called the horse-felling poison sting. In herself she is a scorpion spirit. Once, when she was at the Thunderclap Monastery listening to the Buddha preach, the Tathagata saw her, and in an unlucky moment pushed her with his hand; she turned her hook and pricked the Tathagata's left middle finger. The pain was more than even the Tathagata could bear, and he at once ordered the Vajra warriors to seize her—and so she came here. If you would save Tang Sanzang, you must beg help of some other one; even I cannot come near her." The Pilgrim bowed again: "I beg the Bodhisattva to point the way—which other one should we beg? Your disciple will go fetch him at once." The Bodhisattva said: "Go to the Palace of Brightness inside the Eastern Gate of Heaven and beseech the Star Official Mao; only he can subdue her." With that she turned into a beam of golden light and returned to the Southern Sea.
Only then did the Great Sage Sun bring down his cloud, and said to Bajie and the Sha Monk: "Brothers, set your minds at rest—Master has his rescuer." The Sha Monk said: "Who is this rescuer, and where?" The Pilgrim said: "The Bodhisattva has just told me to go beseech the Star Official Mao—and old Sun is off." Bajie clutched his mouth and groaned: "Brother! Ask the Star Official for some pain-killing medicine while you're at it!" The Pilgrim laughed: "No medicine needed. Just like yesterday—once it aches through the night, it'll be fine." The Sha Monk said: "No more of this—be off, and quickly!" Good Pilgrim! He mounted his somersault cloud in haste and in a moment reached the outside of the Eastern Gate of Heaven.
Suddenly Heavenly King Virudhaka appeared before him and made his salute: "Great Sage, whither bound?" The Pilgrim said: "I am escorting Tang Sanzang west for the scriptures, and on the road we have met a demon affliction. I must go to the Palace of Brightness to see the Star Official Mao." Then he suddenly saw the four great marshals Tao, Zhang, Xin, and Deng, who also asked where he was going. The Pilgrim said: "I go to seek the Star Official Mao, to subdue a demon and save my master." The four marshals said: "The Star Official, by the Jade Emperor's decree, went up to the Star-Gazing Terrace this morning on his rounds." The Pilgrim said: "Is that the truth?" The Heavenly Lord Xin said: "We small officers came down from the Dipper and Ox Palace with him—how would we dare tell a lie?" The Heavenly Lord Tao said: "It has been a good while now; perhaps he is on his way back. Better that the Great Sage go first to the Palace of Brightness; if he has not returned, you may then go to the Star-Gazing Terrace." The Great Sage was delighted, and taking leave of them, went to the gate of the Palace of Brightness. Indeed no one was there, and he was turning to leave when he saw a file of soldiers drawn up on the far side, and behind them the Star Official approaching.
The Star Official was still in the court robes he had worn to audience with the throne, all woven with golden thread. See him:
His cap-pins of the Five Peaks gleam with golden light; In his hand the tablet of the Hills and Streams, jade-white as fine stone. His robe hangs with the Seven Stars amid trailing clouds; His girdle is clasped with the Eight Poles, its jeweled rings shining. His pendants jingle like struck notes; His swift wind-sound is like a swinging bell. His kingfisher-feather fan unfolds—Mao of the Pleiades! The fragrance of Heaven wafts and fills all the gate and court.
The soldiers in front, seeing the Pilgrim standing outside the Palace of Brightness, turned quickly and reported: "My lord, the Great Sage Sun is here." The Star Official gathered his clouds and mists, straightened his court robes, halted his attendants, and dividing them left and right, came forward and made his salute: "Great Sage, why have you come?" The Pilgrim said: "I have come especially to trouble you to save my master from his ordeal." The Star Official said: "What ordeal? In what place?" The Pilgrim said: "At the Scorpion Cave of Poison-Enemy Mountain in the Western Land of Women." The Star Official said: "What demon is in that mountain cave, that you come summoning your little god?" The Pilgrim said: "The Bodhisattva Guanyin just appeared to us, and said it is a scorpion spirit, and that only you, sir, could be recommended to cure it—and so I have come to ask you." The Star Official said: "I had intended to return and report to the Jade Emperor, but since the Great Sage has come, and I am moved by the Bodhisattva's recommendation, and fear delay might spoil the matter, your little god dares not offer tea. Let me go with you to subdue the demon, and I shall come back to report afterward." At these words the Great Sage and he left the Eastern Gate of Heaven together and went straight to the Western Land of Women. Seeing Poison-Enemy Mountain not far off, the Pilgrim pointed: "This is the mountain." The Star Official brought down his cloud and went with the Pilgrim to the hillside below the stone screen.
The Sha Monk, seeing him, said: "Second Brother, get up—Elder Brother has brought the Star Official." The blockhead, still clutching his mouth, said: "Forgive me, forgive me! I have an ailment, and cannot make my bow." The Star Official said: "You are a cultivator of the Way—what ailment can you have?" Bajie said: "This morning when I fought that demon, she pricked me once on the lips, and it aches to this very moment." The Star Official said: "Come here, and I will heal it for you." Only then did the blockhead take away his hand, grumbling and sputtering: "Do heal it, do! When it's well I'll thank you." The Star Official touched his lips with his hand and blew a breath of air—and the pain was gone. The blockhead, overjoyed, knelt and bowed: "Wonderful! Wonderful!" The Pilgrim laughed: "Trouble the Star Official to feel my head too." The Star Official said: "You did not suffer the poison—why have it felt?" The Pilgrim said: "I suffered it yesterday too; only after the night had passed did it stop aching. Even now it is a little numb and itchy, and I fear the damp weather may bring it on—trouble you to cure it as well." The Star Official indeed felt his head, blew a breath, and the lingering poison was dissolved; it was neither numb nor itchy any more.
Bajie cried fiercely: "Brother, let's go beat that shameless wretch!" The Star Official said: "Exactly, exactly. You two call her out, and I'll subdue her." The Pilgrim and Bajie sprang up the hillside and came again behind the stone screen. The blockhead, cursing wildly, his hands like grappling hooks, drove his rake into the piled-up stones outside the cave gate and scraped them away, burst through the first gate, and with another rake smashed the second gate to bits.
In a flurry the little demons inside the gate flew to report: "Grandma! Those two ugly men have smashed the second gate too!" The demon had just ordered Tang Sanzang untied and vegetarian food and tea prepared for him; hearing the second gate smashed, she at once leapt out of the flower pavilion and whirled her fork to thrust at Bajie. Bajie met it with his rake, and the Pilgrim at the side struck with his iron cudgel. The demon rushed at them, meaning to use her deadly art, but the two knew the method now and turned and ran. When the demon chased them past the stone screen, the Pilgrim called: "Where is Mao of the Pleiades?" And the Star Official, standing on the hillside, revealed his true form—it was a great rooster with a double comb, holding up his head some six or seven feet high. He crowed once at the demon, and she at once revealed her true form: a scorpion spirit as big as a pipa lute. He crowed a second time, and the demon's whole body went limp and she lay dead at the foot of the slope. There is a poem in proof:
His flowered comb and embroidered neck are like a gathered tassel, His claws hard, his spurs long, his eyes glaring fierce. He leaps with the majesty that fulfills the Five Virtues, His lofty bearing envied for his triple crowing. How unlike the common bird that cries in the thatched hut— He is a star of Heaven displaying his sainted name. The poison scorpion vainly cultivated the human path; Reverted to her root, she showed her true form.
Bajie went up, set one foot on the demon's chest and back, and said: "Vile beast! You won't be using your horse-felling poison sting this time!" The demon did not move at all, and the blockhead with a bout of raking pounded her into a lump of mashed paste. The Star Official then gathered his golden light again and rode off on his cloud.
The Pilgrim, Bajie, and the Sha Monk folded their hands and gave thanks to Heaven: "We have put you to great trouble, great trouble! Another day we shall come to your palace to pay our respects." The three finished their thanks, and only then gathered up the luggage and the horse and entered the cave, where the maids, great and small, knelt on both sides and said: "My lords, we are not demons or monsters—we are all women of the Western Land of Women, snatched away here by that demon in days past. Your master is sitting in the perfumed room at the back, weeping." Hearing this, the Pilgrim looked at them carefully and indeed saw no demon aura about them. He went to the back and called: "Master!" Tang Sanzang, seeing them all come in, was greatly pleased: "Worthy disciples, I have put you to trouble! And what of that woman?"
Bajie said: "That creature was a great she-scorpion. Happily the Bodhisattva Guanyin showed us the way, and Elder Brother went to the heavenly palace and fetched the Star Official Mao, who subdued her. Only after old Pig had raked her into mud did we dare come deep in here and see Master's face." Sanzang thanked them endlessly. Then they found some vegetarian rice and flour, prepared a meal, and ate their fill; then they drove the women who had been snatched away down the mountain, pointing them the way home. They lit a fire and burned the rooms of the cave clean away, helped Sanzang onto his horse, and set out seeking the high road west. Truly:
Sundering the ties of the dusty world, he left the realm of forms behind; Draining dry the sea of gold, he awakened to the Chan mind.
But as to how many years would pass before they attained their true fruit—hear the explanation in the next chapter.