Say now how the king of Jisai, with his ministers great and small, watched Sun the Great Sage and Bajie riding the clouds and mist with the two little demons in hand, drifting away into the distance, and how one and all they worshiped toward Heaven, saying: "The saying was no empty report! Only today do we know there are such living Buddhas and immortals among men!"
And when they saw him vanish without trace into the distance, they turned and bowed to Sanzang and the Sha Monk: "Your subject has mortal eyes and a mortal body. I knew only that your worthy disciples had strength enough to capture the demon thieves—how was I to know they were supreme immortals who ride the clouds and mist?"
"This poor monk has no magic powers at all," said Sanzang. "On the road I have owed everything to these three humble disciples."
"To tell Your Majesty the truth," said the Sha Monk, "my senior brother is none other than the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who has turned to the faith. He once made havoc in Heaven, wielding a gold-banded cudgel, and among the hundred thousand heavenly troops there was not one his match; he made the Most Exalted Lord Lao Zi afraid and set the Jade Emperor's heart quaking. My second brother is Marshal Tian Peng, who has attained the true fruit; he too once commanded eighty thousand watery hosts in the Milky Way. Only I, your disciple, have no magic powers—I am the Great General Who Rolls Up the Screen, come to the precepts. We brothers, your humble disciples, are good for little else; but as for seizing monsters and binding fiends, catching thieves and capturing fugitives, subduing tigers and taming dragons, kicking the sky and toying with wells, even to churning up seas and overturning rivers—of such arts we know a thing or two. This riding the clouds and mist, calling rain and summoning wind, shifting the stars and changing the constellations, carrying mountains and chasing the moon—these are mere side matters, hardly worth the speaking!"
Hearing this, the king's respect grew tenfold; he begged the Tang monk to take the seat of honor, calling him the Old Buddha with every breath, and addressed the Sha Monk and the others as Bodhisattvas. The civil and military officers of the whole court were delighted, and the common people of the whole kingdom bowed in reverence. Of them no more for now.
Say now how Sun the Great Sage and Bajie, riding on a fierce wind, swept the two little demons to the Blue Wave Pool of Jumbled Rocks Mountain. They steadied their cloud, and the Great Sage blew a breath of immortal air on his gold-banded cudgel, crying "Change!" and it changed into a knife of the monastic precepts. With it he cut off the ear of the black-fish monster and the lower lip of the catfish demon, and threw them into the water, shouting: "Go quickly and tell the Dragon King of Ten Thousand Saints that I, Sun the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, am here, and that he must send out at once the treasure of the pagoda of the Golden Light Monastery in Jisai, if he would spare the lives of his whole family! If a single 'no' escapes him, I will stir up this pool until not a drop remains, and see his whole household, old and young, put to death!"
The two little demons, their lives spared, fled in pain, dragging their chains and fetters, and plunged into the water. Startled, the alligators and soft-shelled turtles, the tortoises and terrapins, the shrimp and crab and fish spirits, all crowded round to ask: "Why are you two dragging ropes and chains?" One held his ear, shaking his head and wagging his tail; the other covered his mouth, stamping his feet and beating his breast.
All in an uproar they went straight up to the Dragon King's palace to report: "Great King, disaster!" The Dragon King of Ten Thousand Saints was just then drinking with the Nine-Headed Prince Consort. Seeing the two of them come, he set down his cup at once and asked what the disaster was.
The two at once reported: "Last night, on patrol, we were captured by the Tang monk and Sun the Pilgrim while they were sweeping the pagoda, and bound with iron chains. This morning, when we were taken before the king, the Pilgrim and Zhu Bajie seized us again; they cut off one of our ears and the other's lip, threw us into the water, and sent us to report—they demand the treasure from the top of the pagoda."
And they told the whole affair from beginning to end in detail.
Hearing that it was Sun the Pilgrim, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the old dragon was so frightened that his soul left his body and his spirit scattered to the ninth heaven. Trembling, he said to the prince consort: "Worthy son-in-law, if anyone else had come, we could have dealt with him; but if it is really he, that bodes no good!"
The prince consort laughed: "Set your mind at rest, honored father-in-law. Your son-in-law learned some martial arts in his youth, and in all the four seas has met a few heroes. What is there to fear in him! Let me go out and fight him for three rounds—I warrant that fellow will shrink his head and surrender, not daring to look up."
A capable monster indeed! He sprang up at once, put on his armor, took a weapon called the crescent-shaped spade, strode out of the palace, parted the water-way, and called out from the surface of the water: "What Great Sage Equaling Heaven is that! Come up quickly and give up your life!"
The Pilgrim and Bajie stood on the bank and looked at how the monster was arrayed. He wore a helmet of bright silver, its gleam outshining white snow; a cuirass of mail, its brilliance rivaling autumn frost. Over it a brocade battle-robe—truly colored clouds wrapping a jewel; round his waist a girdle of rhino-horn pattern—like a flowery python wrapped in gold. In his hand he held the crescent-shaped spade, flashing like the glow of dawn and the lightning's dart; on his feet he wore pigskin boots, parting the waters and cleaving the waves. Seen from afar, one head and one face; seen up close, faces all around on every side.
Eyes in front, eyes behind—he could see through all eight directions; Mouths on the left, mouths on the right—nine mouths to speak with. One shout of his shook the long sky, Like a crane's cry piercing the ninefold heavens.
Seeing no one answer, he called again: "Which one of you is the Great Sage Equaling Heaven?"
The Pilgrim pressed his golden fillet and straightened his iron cudgel: "Old Sun here is he."
The monster said: "Where is your home? What is your origin? How did you come to Jisai, guarding the pagoda for the king? How dare you seize my officers, and then commit violence and come up to my precious mountain to demand battle?"
The Pilgrim cursed: "You thieving monster, so you don't know your Grandfather Sun! Come forward and hear me out:
Old Sun's ancestors lived on Flower-Fruit Mountain, In the Water-Curtain Cave between the seas. From youth I cultivated an indestructible body; The Jade Emperor made me the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Because I made havoc in the Dipper and Bull Palace, The gods of Heaven could not win against me. At last the Tathagata was invited to display his wondrous height, His boundless wisdom beyond the common. To gamble in magic with me over the somersault, He turned his hand into a mountain and pressed me down, heavy upon me. It was fully five hundred years Before Guanyin pleaded for me and I escaped with my life. Then Sanzang of the Great Tang, bound for the Western Heaven, Journeyed far to the Spirit Mountain to beg the Buddha's scriptures. He freed my body, and I protect him, Refining away demons and cleansing monsters as he follows the Way. On the road we met the western city of Jisai, Where the innocent monks were wronged for three generations' lives. We, in compassion, asked into the old matter, And found it was because the pagoda had lost its light. My master swept the pagoda to search out the truth; At the third watch of the night, when all sounds were still, He caught the fish spirits and got their true confession— They said it was you who stole the treasure. The whole gang of thieves has a dragon king for its head, And the princess bears the name Ten Thousand Saints. With a rain of blood you washed away the pagoda's light And stole its treasure for your use. The confession before the throne was in no way false, And I, obeying my king's word, have sped to this land. That is why I come to seek you out for battle— No need to ask Grandfather Sun's name again. Quick, give back the treasure And spare your whole family, old and young! If in your ignorance you flaunt your strength, I will make your waters dry up and your mountains crumble, to your utter ruin!"
Hearing this, the prince consort smiled a faint, cold smile: "So you are a scripture-fetching monk, meddling in what is none of your business, making up charges! I steal his treasure, you fetch the Buddha's scriptures—what has that to do with you, that you come fighting?"
"This thieving monster is utterly unreasonable!" said the Pilgrim. "True, I have received no favors from the king, eaten none of his grain or water, and owe him no service. But you stole his treasure and defiled his pagoda, and year after year wronged and tormented the monks of the Golden Light Monastery. They are of one breath with me, followers of the same faith—how could I not do them service and right their wrongs?"
"If that is how it is," said the prince consort, "you must mean to wager in battle. As the saying goes, 'In arms there is no courtesy.' I fear only that when the blows begin, no quarter will be given, and in a moment I may take your life and put an end to your scripture-fetching!"
The Pilgrim flew into a rage and cursed: "You lewd thieving monster! What mighty powers have you, to open your mouth so wide! Come up and take a stroke of your grandfather's cudgel!"
The prince consort, not at all flustered, caught the iron cudgel with his crescent-shaped spade, and there at the head of Jumbled Rocks Mountain a truly fine battle began.
The demon fiend stole the treasure, leaving the pagoda without light; The Pilgrim seized the fiends to report to the king. The little monsters fled for their lives back into the water; The old dragon, his courage shattered, consulted all his kin. The Nine-Headed Prince Consort displayed his might, Coming in his armor to show his native strength. Furiously the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun, raised his gold-banded cudgel, tenfold fierce. That monster, with nine heads and eighteen eyes, Shot rays of light before and behind; This Pilgrim, with a pair of iron arms of a thousand-pound strength, Put forth auspicious power, thick and manifold. The spade was like the moon at its first crescent; The cudgel like frost flying over ten thousand li.
He said: "Mindless meddler, quit avenging the wrongs of others!" I said: "Treasure-thief by design, truly a scoundrel!" You lewd thief, less of your insolence— Give back the treasure and find your peace! Cudgel met spade, each vied for mastery; No winner or loser yet upon the field of war.
The two of them came and went, fighting through thirty-odd rounds without a decision. Zhu Bajie, standing before the mountain, saw them at the height of the battle, raised his nine-toothed rake, and brought it down on the monster's back. But that monster had nine heads, and every one of them was eyes; he saw it clearly, and when he saw Bajie coming from behind, he used the butt of his spade to fend off the rake, while the blade of the spade held the iron cudgel.
He held out for another five or seven rounds, but could not withstand the rake and cudgel wielded together front and back. So he turned a somersault, leapt into the air, and showed his true form—it was a Nine-Headed Insect. His appearance was utterly hideous; the very sight of his shape was enough to scare a man to death! He was born with feathers laid like brocade, his body balled up and tufted. He was a full twelve feet around, and in length shaped like a soft-shelled turtle or an alligator. His two feet were sharp and hooked; his nine heads bunched together in a ring. When he spread his wings he could fly supremely well—even the great roc had no more strength than he; when he raised his voice it resounded to the ends of the earth, and he could cry shriller than the immortal crane. His many eyes flashed and glittered with golden light, and his proud air was nothing like that of common birds.
Bajie was alarmed at the sight: "Elder Brother! In all my life as a man I have never seen such a terrible creature! What blood and breath could have given birth to this bird-beast?"
"Truly rare! Truly rare!" said the Pilgrim. "Let me catch up and strike at it!"
The good Great Sage at once sprang on his auspicious cloud, leapt into the air, and brought his iron cudgel down at the monster's head. The monster displayed his body to the full, spread his wings and flew aslant, and with a swish wheeled round and skimmed to the front of the mountain. From the middle of his body he stretched out another head, opened a mouth like a blood-basin, and caught Bajie in his teeth by the bristles of his neck. Half-dragging and half-pulling, he carried him down into the water of the Blue Wave Pool and away.
When he reached outside the dragon palace he changed back into his former shape, threw Bajie down on the ground, and called: "Where are my little ones?" The fish spirits within—the dace, bream, carp, and mandarin fish—and the shelled monsters, the tortoises and terrapins, the alligators and soft-shelled turtles, all surged forward, answering "Here!" The prince consort said: "Bind this monk there, to avenge my patrol officer!" As the spirits pushed and shoved Bajie along to carry him in, the old Dragon King came out rejoicing to meet them: "Worthy son-in-law, you have won merit! How did you catch him?" The prince consort told the whole story, and the old dragon at once ordered wine laid on to celebrate the feat. Of him no more for now.
Say now how Sun the Pilgrim, seeing the monster capture Bajie, was alarmed and thought: "This fellow is fierce indeed! If I go back to court to see my master, I fear the king will laugh at me. If I cry out a challenge, I am alone, and moreover I am not used to fighting under water. Let me change myself and go in to see how the monster disposes of the blockhead; and if I get the chance, I'll steal him out and then get on with the business."
The good Great Sage made the magic pass with his fingers, shook himself, and changed again into a crab, plunged into the water, and went straight to the front of the archway.
This road he knew well from the time before, when he had come to attack the Bull Demon King and steal the golden-eyed beast. He crawled sideways right up to the foot of the palaces, and saw again the old Dragon King and the Nine-Headed Insect with his whole family drinking merrily. Not daring to go near, the Pilgrim crawled past beneath the eastern corridor, where he saw several shrimp and crab spirits playing and disporting themselves.
After listening to their talk for a while, the Pilgrim mimicked their speech and asked: "That long-snouted monk brought in by the lord consort—is he dead yet?"
"He is not dead," said the spirits. "Isn't that him groaning, tied up under the western corridor?"
Hearing this, the Pilgrim crawled softly across to the western corridor, and sure enough there was the blockhead tied to a pillar, groaning.
The Pilgrim came near: "Bajie, do you know me?"
Hearing his voice, Bajie knew it was the Pilgrim: "Elder Brother, what has happened! I have been caught by this fellow after all!"
The Pilgrim looked around and saw no one, bit through the ropes with his pincers, and told him to go. The blockhead, freed, said: "Elder Brother, my weapon—he has taken it. What am I to do?"
The Pilgrim asked: "Do you know where he put it?"
Bajie said: "The monster carried it up to the palace."
The Pilgrim said: "Go first to the archway and wait for me."
Bajie, escaping with his life, slipped quietly out.
The Pilgrim turned and climbed back up to the palace, and looking to the left saw a dazzling gleam of light—it was Bajie's nine-toothed rake giving off rays. He used his art of invisibility, stole out the rake, and came to the archway, calling: "Bajie! Catch your weapon!"
The blockhead got his rake and said: "Elder Brother, you go on ahead. Let old Pig storm the palace. If I win, I'll take his whole household; if I can't win, I'll come out beaten, and you'll be there on the bank of the pool to rescue me."
The Pilgrim was delighted and only told him to be careful. Bajie said: "No fear of him! I know a little something of the arts under water." The Pilgrim left him and carried himself up out of the water. Of him no more for now.
This Bajie tightened his black monk's robe, gripped his rake with both hands, and with a shout charged in. The water creatures great and small, in panic and confusion, ran up to the palace crying: "Disaster! The long-snouted monk has broken his ropes and come charging back in!"
The old dragon, the Nine-Headed Insect, and the whole family were caught unprepared; they jumped up and dodged and hid. This blockhead, reckless of life and death, burst into the palace, and all the way his rake smashed through doors and broke up tables and chairs, shattering the wine-service and everything else. There is a poem in witness:
The Wood Mother fell and was captured by the water fiend; The Mind Ape would not give him up and searched on through hardship. In secret he laid his clever plan and stole away the locks, Then displayed his mighty power, his fury and his wrath deep.
The prince consort hastily took the princess and hid; the Dragon King trembled and lost his voice. The water palace's crimson towers lost their doors and windows; the dragon sons and grandsons all lost their souls. In this bout Bajie smashed the hawksbill screen to pieces and knocked the coral trees into ruin.
The Nine-Headed Insect hid the princess away inside, hastily took his crescent-shaped spade, and rushed to the front palace, shouting: "You lewd, clodhopping pig! How dare you bully and frighten my family!"
Bajie cursed: "You thieving monster! How dare you capture me! This battle is none of my doing—you invited me to your house to fight! Bring out the treasure at once and return it to me, so I can go back and see the king and settle the matter! Otherwise I will never spare a single life in your family!"
The monster would not relent; he gritted his teeth and crossed weapons with Bajie. By then the old dragon had steadied his wits, and led the dragon sons and grandsons, each with spear or sword, to attack all together.
Seeing matters turn bad, Bajie made a feint with his rake and turned to run, and the old dragon led the host in pursuit. In a moment they burst out of the water and tumbled about on the surface of the pool. Now Sun the Pilgrim had been standing on the bank of the pool waiting; suddenly he saw them chasing Bajie out of the water. He stepped halfway onto the cloud and mist, whipped out his iron cudgel, and shouted: "Don't run!" One blow—and the old dragon's head was smashed to a pulp.
Pitiful sight! His blood spattered into the pool, dyeing the water red; his corpse drifted on the waves, its broken scales floating. The dragon sons and grandsons fled for their lives, while the Nine-Headed Prince Consort gathered up the dragon's corpse and turned back to the palace.
The Pilgrim and Bajie did not pursue, but returned to the bank and told each other all that had happened.
"His spirit is broken," said Bajie. "When I charged in with my rake, I beat them into scattered flowers and streaming water, their souls scattered and their spirits flown! Just as I was fighting the prince consort, the old Dragon King came after me—lucky you killed him. Those fellows have gone back, and they are sure to be holding the funeral and wearing mourning. They will never come out again. And now it is getting late. What's to be done?"
"What do I care if it is late!" said the Pilgrim. "Take this chance—you go down and fight again. Only when the treasure is brought out can we return to court."
The blockhead, listless and reluctant, made excuses, and the Pilgrim pressed him: "Brother, don't be so hesitant. Just lure him out as you did just now, and let me strike him."
As the two of them were conferring, they heard a rolling gale and a gloom of dismal mist, suddenly coming from the east and heading south. The Pilgrim looked carefully, and it was Erlang the Sagely and Miraculous, leading his six brothers of Plum Mountain. They flew their hawks and led their hounds, carried foxes and hares on poles, and bore roe-deer and deer on their shoulders; each with a curved bow at his waist and a sharp blade in his hand, they came leaping along on wind and mist.
"Bajie," said the Pilgrim, "those are my sworn brothers of the Seven Sages. Better to stay them and ask their help in battle. If we succeed, it will be a great stroke of fortune."
"If they are brothers," said Bajie, "by all means stay and invite them."
The Pilgrim said: "But among them is my elder brother the Sagely and Miraculous One, by whom I was once subdued, and I am ashamed to face him. You go stop his cloud and call out: 'True Lord, stay a while. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven is here to pay his respects.' If he hears it is I, he will surely stop. Once he has settled down, then I can come and see him."
The blockhead at once sprang up on his cloud, stopped them on the mountain, and called in a loud voice: "True Lord, hold your procession a while—the Great Sage Equaling Heaven asks to see you."
Hearing this, that lord at once ordered the six brothers to halt, and after exchanging greetings with Bajie, asked: "Where is the Great Sage Equaling Heaven?"
Bajie said: "He is below the mountain, awaiting your summons."
Erlang said: "Brothers, go quickly and ask him up."
The six brothers—Kang, Zhang, Yao, Li, Guo, and Zhi—each came out of the ranks calling: "Elder Brother Sun Wukong, our eldest brother invites you."
The Pilgrim came forward, bowed to them all, and they went up the mountain together.
The lord Erlang came to meet him, and taking him by the hand, they greeted each other: "Great Sage, you have escaped your great calamity and taken the vows of a monk of the sandy gate. In no long time your work will be complete and you will ascend the lotus throne—congratulations, congratulations!"
"Not so," said the Pilgrim. "Long ago I received from you a favor beyond measure, and have never shown the least return. Though I have escaped my calamity and journey west, I do not know yet how my merit will turn out. Now, coming by way of the kingdom of Jisai, I am rescuing the monks from their misfortune, and I am here seizing fiends and demanding back the treasure. Happening to see my elder brother's procession, I boldly asked you to stay and lend a hand. May I ask where my elder brother comes from, and whether he will grant me this kindness?"
Erlang laughed: "I had nothing to do, so I went hunting with my brothers and am on my way back. Happily the Great Sage has not scorned me but asked me to stay—this shows the old friendship well enough. If you command me to lend my strength against the fiends, how should I not obey! But I don't know what monsters and thieves are in this place."
The six sages said: "Elder Brother, have you forgotten? This is Jumbled Rocks Mountain; below it is the Blue Wave Pool, the dragon palace of the Ten Thousand Saints."
Erlang exclaimed in surprise: "The old dragon of Ten Thousand Saints never made trouble before. How dare he steal the pagoda treasure?"
The Pilgrim said: "He recently took in a prince consort, who is the Nine-Headed Insect in spirit form. The two of them, son-in-law and father-in-law, turned thieves, brought a rain of blood upon the kingdom of Jisai, and stole the sarira Buddha-treasure from the top of the pagoda of the Golden Light Monastery. The king did not understand the matter and cruelly had the monks tortured. My master, out of compassion, swept the pagoda by night, and on the pagoda I caught two little demons, who had been sent by the dragon to patrol and spy out the news. This morning, taken to court, they confessed everything truly. The king then asked my master to subdue the demons, and my master ordered us here. In the first battle, the Nine-Headed Insect stretched out a head from his waist and carried Bajie off in his mouth; I changed myself and went down into the water and freed Bajie. We just had a great battle, and I killed the old dragon; those fellows gathered up his corpse and went off to wear mourning. The two of us were just deliberating how to renew the battle when we saw my elder brother's procession arrive—that is why I have presumed upon you."
"Since the old dragon is wounded," said Erlang, "this is the very time to attack, so that those fellows cannot collect their wits. Why not wipe out the whole nest together?"
"If that is so," said Bajie, "but what of the lateness of the day?"
Erlang said: "As the military masters say, 'A campaign waits for no season.' Why fear the lateness of the day?"
Kang, Yao, Guo, and Zhi said: "Elder Brother, don't be hasty. Their families are here, and there is nowhere they can flee. Second Brother Sun is an honored guest, and Pig Ganglie has returned to the true fruit. In our camp we have wine and dishes brought along with us. Let the men make a fire, and we'll lay out a spread right here: one, to congratulate you two, and two, to renew our friendship. Let us make merry this one night; will it be too late to demand battle when day breaks?"
Erlang was delighted: "Worthy brothers, well said indeed." He ordered the men to make the arrangements. The Pilgrim said: "For your great kindness, gentlemen, I dare not refuse. But since I became a monk, I keep the vegetarian fast, and I fear meat and vegetables may not agree."
Erlang said: "There are vegetarian fruits, and the wine is vegetarian too."
So the brothers, before the starlight and moonlight, with the sky for a canopy and the ground for a mat, raised their cups and spoke of old times. Truly, in loneliness the night is long, in merriment the night is short—before they knew it, the east was white with dawn.
Bajie, made lively by a few cups of wine, said: "Day is about to break. Let old Pig go down into the water to demand battle."
Erlang said: "Be careful, Marshal. Just lure him out, so that we brothers can strike."
Bajie laughed: "I know, I know!" And watch him: he tucked in his robe, gripped his rake, used his art of parting the waters, jumped down, went straight to the archway, raised a shout, and charged into the palace. At this moment the dragon son, in hempen mourning, was weeping over the dragon's corpse, while the dragon grandson and the prince consort were behind, making the coffin. This Bajie cursed as he came up, and his rake struck home—one blow through the dragon son's head, brains and all, made nine holes in it. In terror the dragon lady and all the others ran about inside, weeping: "The long-snouted monk has killed my son too!"
Hearing this, the prince consort seized his crescent-shaped spade and, with the dragon grandson, came charging out. Bajie raised his rake to meet them, fighting as he retreated, and leapt out of the water. On the bank, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and the seven brothers surged forward together, stabbing wildly with spear and sword, and chopped the dragon grandson into several pieces of meat-cake. Seeing that matters were not going well, the prince consort turned a somersault before the mountain, resumed his true form, spread his wings, and soared wheeling in flight.
Erlang at once took his golden bow, fitted a silver pellet, drew the bow to the full, and shot upward. The monster quickly folded his wings and skimmed close, meaning to bite Erlang; but as he was just stretching out a head from the middle of his body, the fine hound bounded up and, with a single "wough!" bit the head off, dripping blood. Wounded and in pain, the monster fled for his life, going straight off toward the Northern Sea.
Bajie wanted to give chase, but the Pilgrim stopped him: "Don't chase him—as the saying goes, 'Pursue not the cornered bandit.' With his head bitten off by the fine hound, he is sure to die rather than live. Let me change into his likeness; you part the waters and chase me in, so I can find the princess and wheedle the treasure out of her."
Erlang and the six sages said: "Not chasing him is all very well, but to leave this breed alive in the world must prove a scourge to later generations." To this day there is a nine-headed creature that drips blood—that is the seed he left behind.
Bajie did as he was told and parted the waters, while the Pilgrim, changed into the monster's form, went ahead, with Bajie shouting and hallooing in pursuit behind. Gradually they chased their way to the dragon palace, where the Princess of Ten Thousand Saints said: "Prince consort, why are you in such a fluster?"
The Pilgrim said: "Bajie has won the day and driven me in here. I feel I cannot withstand him. Quick—hide the treasure carefully!"
The princess, in her haste, could not tell true from false, and at once went to the rear hall and brought out a box of pure gold, handing it to the Pilgrim: "This is the Buddha-treasure." Then she brought out a box of white jade, also handing it to the Pilgrim: "This is the nine-leaf glossy ganoderma. Take these treasures and hide them away; let me fight two or three rounds with Zhu Bajie to hold him off. When you have the treasures safely put away, come out again and join the battle."
The Pilgrim put both boxes away at his side, wiped his face, resumed his own form, and said: "Princess, do you see—am I the prince consort?"
The princess panicked and made to snatch back the boxes, but Bajie ran up and struck her down from behind with his rake.
There was also an old dragon lady who turned and ran, but Bajie caught hold of her and raised his rake to strike. The Pilgrim said: "Hold! Don't kill her. Keep her alive, so we can go back to the kingdom and show our merit."
So they carried the dragon lady up out of the water.
The Pilgrim came up onto the bank after, bearing the two boxes, and said to Erlang: "Thanks to my elder brother's might, we have recovered the treasure and swept the demon thieves clean."
"It is first because the king's vast fortune reaches to Heaven," said Erlang, "and second because you worthy brothers' magic powers are measureless. What merit is mine!"
The brothers all said: "Since Second Brother Sun's work is accomplished, we will take our leave here." The Pilgrim thanked them beyond measure and wanted to keep them to see the king, but they would not, and so they led their host back to Guankou.
The Pilgrim bore the boxes, Bajie dragged the dragon lady, and half in cloud and half in mist they were in the kingdom in an instant. It happened that the monks of the Golden Light Monastery, now delivered, were all waiting to welcome them outside the city; when the two of them settled their clouds and mist, the monks came up, kowtowed and bowed, and escorted them into the city.
The king and the Tang monk were just then discussing matters in the hall, and one of the monks who had gone ahead, summoning up his courage, entered the court gate to report: "Long live the king—the two lords Sun and Pig have captured the thieves and recovered the treasure, and are on their way!"
Hearing this, the king hastily came down from the hall and, with the Tang monk and the Sha Monk, went to meet them, thanking them for their divine service beyond measure, and at once ordered a feast laid to show his gratitude.
"Wait to offer us drink," said Sanzang. "Let my disciple first restore the treasure to the pagoda, and only then may we feast."
Sanzang asked the Pilgrim: "You left the kingdom yesterday—how is it you only come today?"
The Pilgrim told in detail all about the battle with the prince consort, the striking down of the Dragon King, the meeting with the True Lord, the defeating of the monster, and the business of changing his form to trick away the treasure. Sanzang, the king, and all the civil and military officers, great and small, were delighted beyond measure.
The king asked again: "Can this dragon lady speak human speech?"
"She is the Dragon King's wife," said Bajie, "and has borne many dragon sons and grandsons. How could she not know human speech?"
The king said: "If she knows human speech, let her quickly confess the whole business of thievery from beginning to end."
The dragon lady said: "Of the stealing of the Buddha-treasure I knew nothing at all. It was all my husband, that dragon fiend, and the prince consort, the Nine-Headed Insect, who knew that the light on your pagoda was the Buddha's sarira, and so three years ago they brought down the rain of blood and took the chance to steal it away."
The king asked again: "And how was the glossy ganoderma stolen?"
"My little daughter, the Princess of Ten Thousand Saints," said the dragon lady, "secretly entered the Hall of Divine Mists in the Great Heaven and stole the Queen Mother's nine-leaf glossy ganoderma. Nurtured by the immortal breath of that herb, the sarira is imperishable for a thousand years and gives light for ten thousand ages; set in the earth or in a field, one sweep of it and it sends out ten thousand rays of colored light and a thousand strands of blessed vapor. Now you have taken it from us and brought it about that my husband is dead, my son cut off, my son-in-law lost, and my daughter ruined—I beg you a thousand times over to spare my life!"
"It is precisely you I won't spare!" said Bajie.
"Where a household is guilty, not all need pay," said the Pilgrim. "I will spare you, only you must serve me as keeper of the pagoda forever."
"Better an evil life than a good death," said the dragon lady. "Only leave me my life, and I will do whatever you bid."
The Pilgrim called for an iron chain, and the officer on duty at once brought one; they passed it through the dragon lady's collarbones, and the Pilgrim told the Sha Monk: "Ask the king to come watch us restore the pagoda." The king hastily prepared his procession, and holding the Tang monk by the hand, left the court together with all the civil and military officers, and they all followed to the Golden Light Monastery and up the pagoda.
They placed the sarira in the jeweled vase on the top of the thirteen-story pagoda, and locked the dragon lady to the central pillar of the pagoda. Reciting the true spell, the Pilgrim summoned the local deity of the kingdom, the city god, and the temple guardians of this monastery, and ordered them to bring the dragon lady a meal every three days to keep her alive; at the least error, she was to be executed. The spirits all silently assented. Then the Pilgrim took the glossy ganoderma and swept it story by story through all thirteen floors of the pagoda, then placed it in the vase to nourish the sarira with warmth.
This was truly a case of repairing the old to make it new: ten thousand rays of colored light, a thousand strands of blessed vapor, once more seen by all eight directions and gazed upon by the four neighboring kingdoms.
Coming down from the pagoda, the king gave thanks: "Had not the Old Buddha and the three Bodhisattvas come here, how could this matter ever have been cleared up!"
"Your Majesty," said the Pilgrim, "the name Golden Light is not a good one; it is not a thing to last long. Gold is a substance that flows, and light is a vapor that blazes and is gone. This poor monk has toiled so hard for you in this affair—let me change the monastery's name to Dragon-Subduing, so that it may endure forever."
The king at once ordered the name changed and a new tablet hung, reading: "The Dragon-Subduing Monastery for the Protection of the Realm, Built by Imperial Command." On one side they arranged the imperial banquet, and on the other summoned painters to draw the true likenesses of the four travelers, and registered their names at the Tower of Five Phoenixes.
The king set out his imperial procession to escort the Tang monk and his disciples on their way, and offered gold and jade in requital, but master and disciples firmly declined, not accepting a single strand. Truly:
The evil fiends wiped out, all realms are still; The jeweled pagoda's light returned, and the great earth is bright.
We do not know what lies ahead on the road from here; listen to the next chapter for the explanation.