The story continues: The Great Sage Sun was carrying on his mischief inside the old demon's belly for a while, until the demon fell flat in the dust, without a sound or a breath. Since he said nothing, the Pilgrim thought he must be dead, and let go a little. The demon's breath came back, and he cried: "Greatly Merciful, Greatly Compassionate, Great Sage Equal to Heaven Bodhisattva!"
When the Pilgrim heard this, he said: "Son, don't waste your effort. Save a few words and just call me Grandpa Sun."
The demon, clinging to his life, actually cried: "Grandpa! Grandpa! It was my fault! By a slip and a blunder I swallowed you, and now you turn and torment me. I beg the Great Sage to show mercy—pity the wish of even an ant to live—and spare my life. I will see your master carried over the mountain."
Though the Great Sage was a hero, he was very much concerned for the Tang Priest's progress. When he saw the demon pleading and flattering, his heart turned to mercy. He called: "Demon, I'll spare you—how will you carry my master?"
The old demon said: "I've no gold or silver, no pearls or jade, agate or coral, lapis lazuli or amber or tortoise shell—no rare treasures to give you. But my three brothers will carry a rattan sedan chair and bear your master over this mountain."
The Pilgrim laughed: "If you'll carry him in a sedan chair, that's better than any treasure. Open your mouth, and I'll come out."
The old demon opened his mouth wide. But the Third King came close and whispered to the old demon: "Big Brother, when he comes out, snap your mouth shut and chew the monkey to bits, then swallow him. That'll be the end of his tormenting you."
Now the Pilgrim heard this from inside, and he didn't come out first. Instead he thrust out his gold-banded cudgel to test him. Sure enough, the demon bit down—CRACK!—and shattered his front teeth.
The Pilgrim pulled his cudgel back: "Fine demon, am I! I was sparing your life and coming out, and you turn around to bite me, wanting my life! I won't come out! I'll torment you to death right here! I won't come out! I won't come out!"
The old demon grumbled at the Third King: "Brother, you're playing your own family false! If you'd just let him come out and be done with it—but you told me to bite him. He didn't get bitten, but my gums are split and aching—how did this come about?"
When the Third King saw the old demon blaming him, he tried a provocation. He called out in a loud, stern voice: "Sun the Pilgrim! Your name rings like thunder in my ears—they say you showed your might outside the South Gate of Heaven and flaunted your power beneath the Lingxiao Hall. Now, on the road to the Western Heaven, subduing demons and binding monsters—you turn out to be a petty monkey!"
The Pilgrim said: "How am I petty?"
The Third King said: "A true hero is a guest for a thousand li, traveling ten thousand to spread his name. Come out and fight me—then you're a hero! How can you skulk inside a man's belly doing mischief? If that's not petty, what is?"
When the Pilgrim heard this, he thought to himself: "True, true, true! If I tore his intestines apart and ripped his liver to pieces and tormented this demon to death, what difficulty would that be? But it would ruin my reputation. Very well! Very well! Open your mouth, and I'll come out and fight you. Only, your cave mouth is too narrow for weapons—we'd better go to a wide place."
When the Third King heard this, he dispatched his demons, great and small—more than thirty thousand of them, all bearing sharp weapons—out of the cave. They deployed in a Three Talents formation and waited for the Pilgrim to emerge, ready to swarm him all at once.
The Second King supported the old demon and led him outside, calling: "Sun the Pilgrim! Come out, hero! Here is your battlefield—come and fight!"
The Great Sage, inside the belly, heard the cawing of crows and magpies, the crying of cranes and the whistling of wind outside, and knew it was an open place. He thought: "If I don't go out, I break my word. If I do go out, this demon has the face of a man and the heart of a beast. First he said he'd carry my master, then he tried to lure me out to bite me. Now he's called up his troops. Very well—very well. I'll give him a two-way solution: I'll go out, but I'll leave a root behind in his belly."
He turned his hand, plucked a single hair from his tail, blew on it with immortal breath, and cried "Change!" It became a cord, as fine as a hair but forty zhang long. He threaded the cord out, and when it met the wind it thickened. He tied one end to the demon's heart and liver with a slip knot—a knot that didn't hurt unless pulled, but pulled tight, sent pain shooting through him.
Holding the other end, he laughed: "When I go out, if he carries my master, fine. If he doesn't, if he starts waving swords and spears, I won't waste time fighting him. I'll just yank this cord, and it'll be as though I'm still inside his belly!"
Then he shrank his body small and crawled outward. He reached the throat and saw the demon's great square mouth gaping wide, upper and lower teeth ranked like sharp blades. He thought: "Bad! Bad! If I go out through the mouth pulling this cord, and it hurts him, he'll bite down—won't that snap the cord? I'd better go out where he has no teeth." Marvelous Great Sage! He threaded the cord along, crawled from the upper palate forward, and came out through the demon's nostril.
The old demon's nose tickled, and with a great "Achoo!" he sneezed the Pilgrim out. The Pilgrim caught the wind, arched his back, and grew to three zhang tall, one hand holding the cord, the other gripping his iron cudgel.
The old demon, not knowing any better, saw him out and raised his steel blade to strike at his face. The Great Sage met him with his iron cudgel in one hand.
Then the Second King came with his spear, and the Third King with his halberd, and they all swarmed him headlong. The Great Sage let go of the cord, stowed his cudgel, leaped up on his cloud and flew—not because he feared the crowd of little demons, but because with them swarming around, he couldn't work. He bounded clear of the camp, landed on a spacious mountaintop, and hauled on the cord with all his might. The old demon's heart seized with pain. He jerked upward, and the Great Sage yanked him downward.
The little fiends saw from a distance and cried: "Great King, don't provoke him! Let him go! This monkey is out of season—Qing Ming isn't here yet, but there he is flying a kite!"
[Translator's note: Qing Ming is the tomb-sweeping festival in early April, when kite-flying is traditional. The little demons compare the Pilgrim's rope to a kite string.]
When the Great Sage heard this, he gave a mighty tug, and the old demon fell from mid-air—crashing down like a spinning spindle—and plowed into the hard yellow earth at the foot of the slope, making a pit two feet deep.
The Second King and the Third King hastened to bring their clouds down, came forward, and seized hold of the cord. They knelt at the foot of the slope and pleaded: "Great Sage! We thought you were an immortal of great magnanimity, but you turn out to be one with the belly of a mouse and the intestines of a snail! We truly meant to lure you out and fight you face to face—we never expected you to tie a rope around our brother's heart!"
The Pilgrim laughed: "You pack of demons, utterly shameless! The first time, you lured me out to bite me. The second time, you lured me out to array troops against me. With these tens of thousands of demon soldiers fighting one of me, there's no justice in it. I'll haul him along! Haul him along to see my master!"
The demons all kowtowed: "Great Sage, have mercy! Spare our lives! We will carry the Venerable Master over the mountain!"
The Pilgrim laughed: "If you want your lives, just take a knife and cut the cord."
The old demon said: "Grandpa! If we cut the cord on the outside, the part on the inside is tied to my heart, and my throat feels scratchy and sick. What are we to do?"
The Pilgrim said: "In that case, open your mouth. Let me go back inside and untie the cord."
The old demon panicked: "If you go back in, you won't come out again! That'll be trouble! Trouble!"
The Pilgrim said: "I have the skill to undo the cord from the outside. If I undo it, will you truly carry my master?"
The old demon said: "Untie it and we'll carry him. We would never dare lie."
The Great Sage was satisfied that they were telling the truth. He gave his body a shake, and gathered up the hair. The demon's heart stopped hurting.
This was the Great Sage Sun's trick of camouflage: he used a hair to tie the demon's heart; when he gathered up the hair, it no longer hurt.
The three demons rose to their feet and thanked him: "Great Sage, please return. Tell the Tang Priest to pack his luggage, and we'll bring the sedan chair to carry him."
The demons laid down their weapons and all returned to the cave.
The Great Sage gathered up his cord and flew back east of the mountain. From far off he saw the Tang Priest rolling on the ground weeping, while Zhu Bajie and the Sha Monk had opened the bundles and were dividing the luggage.
The Pilgrim sighed inwardly: "Needless to say, that idiot must have told Master I was eaten by the demon. Master couldn't bear to lose me and is weeping, and that idiot is dividing the goods to split up. Huh! I'm not sure that's it, though—let me call out and see."
He brought his cloud down and called: "Master!"
When the Sha Monk heard this, he grumbled at Bajie: "You're a coffin-stand, you are—nothing but bad luck for people! My elder brother wasn't dead, but you said he was, and here you are up to this business! And he's calling from over there!"
Bajie said: "I saw with my own eyes the demon swallow him in one gulp. It must be an unlucky day—the monkey's ghost is coming back to haunt us."
The Pilgrim came up, grabbed Bajie by the face, and gave him a slap that sent him staggering: "You lout! What ghost am I haunting?"
The idiot clutched his face: "Brother, the demon really did eat you—how are you alive again?"
The Pilgrim said: "You worthless bag of pus! He ate me, so I grabbed his intestines and squeezed his lungs, then threaded a rope through his heart and pulled till he was in such agony that one and all they kowtowed and begged for mercy. I spared his life. They're bringing a sedan chair to carry Master over the mountain!"
When Sanzang heard this, he scrambled to his feet and bowed to the Pilgrim: "Disciple, you've suffered so! If I had believed Wuneng's words, I'd be done for!"
The Pilgrim swung his fist at Bajie and cursed: "You chaff-swilling idiot, utterly useless, no good for anything! Master, don't be upset—they're coming to carry you." The Sha Monk was much ashamed and hastened to cover his embarrassment, packing up the luggage and saddling the horse. They waited by the road. Let us leave them for now.
Now the three demon kings led their host of fiends back to the cave. The Second King said: "Brother, I thought Sun the Pilgrim would have nine heads and eight tails, but he turns out to be such a tiny monkey! You shouldn't have swallowed him. If you'd just fought him, he could never have matched us! With these tens of thousands of demons in the cave, we could have drowned him in spit. But you swallowed him, and he worked his magic inside you and made you suffer. How could you compete with him? That talk of carrying the Tang Priest was all false—we only said it to save your life, to lure him out. We will not carry the Tang Priest!"
The old demon said: "Worthy Brother, what's the reason you won't carry him?"
The Second King said: "Give me three thousand little demons. I'll set out a battle formation and I'll capture that monkey-head!"
The old demon said: "Never mind three thousand—take the whole camp if you like. Just capture him, and we'll all share the credit."
The Second King mustered three thousand little demons and marched to the great road, where he deployed them. He sent a blue-flag courier back and forth to report, and challenged: "Sun the Pilgrim! Come out and fight the Second Great King, your grandpa!"
When Bajie heard this, he laughed: "Brother, as the saying goes, you can't lie to the locals. Here they are, pulling tricks and playing deceptions! You said you'd subdued the demons and they'd bring a sedan chair to carry Master, but now they're out challenging to battle. What gives?"
The Pilgrim said: "The old demon I already subdued. He doesn't dare show his face—when he hears the word 'Sun,' his head hurts. This must be the Second Great King, who won't accept the arrangement and wants to fight. I say, brother, these demons are three brothers, with such loyalty. We three brothers too—have we no loyalty? I've subdued the First Great King. The Second Great King comes out. You go and fight him—there's no shame in it."
Bajie said: "What's there to fear? Let me go fight him!"
The Pilgrim said: "If you want to go, then go."
Bajie laughed: "Brother, I'll go, but lend me that rope of yours."
The Pilgrim said: "What for? You can't crawl into his belly, you can't tie a rope around his heart—what use would it be?"
Bajie said: "I want to tie it around my waist as a life-line. You and the Sha Monk hold the other end. Send me out to fight him. If it looks like I'm winning, you let go, and I'll capture him. If it looks like I'm losing, you pull me back. Don't let him drag me off."
The Pilgrim laughed inwardly: "Here's a chance to play a trick on the idiot!" He tied the rope around Bajie's waist and sent him out to fight.
The idiot raised his nail-rake and ran up the hillside, shouting: "Demon, come out! Fight your Pig Grandpa!"
The blue-flag courier reported hastily: "Great King, a long-snouted, big-eared monk is coming!"
The Second King came out of the camp, saw Bajie, and without a word thrust his spear at his face. The idiot raised his rake and met him.
The two of them joined battle on the hillside. After seven or eight bouts, the idiot's arms went soft. He couldn't hold off the demon. He turned his head and called: "Brother, bad news! Pull the life-line! Pull the life-line!"
On this side, when the Great Sage heard this, he tossed the rope loose and let it fly. The idiot, beaten, turned to run. The rope had dragged along fine while he charged forward, but now that it was slack and he turned back, it tangled his feet. He tripped and fell, got up and fell again. At first he merely stumbled, but then he went face-first into the dirt.
The demon caught up, uncoiled his trunk like a flood dragon, and wrapped Bajie up by the waist with one curl of his nose. Victorious, he returned to the cave. The fiends sang triumphal songs and swarmed in after him.
When Sanzang saw this from the foot of the slope, he was angry with the Pilgrim: "Wukong, no wonder Wuneng curses you for dead! You brothers have no love for one another—you're full of jealousy and spite! He called for you to pull the life-line. Why didn't you pull it? And you threw the rope away! Now he's been captured—what are we to do?"
The Pilgrim laughed: "Master, you're too partial, too biased! When old Sun was captured, you didn't fret at all—I was just a life to be thrown away. But the moment the idiot gets caught, you blame me. Let him suffer a little—that's the price of fetching scriptures."
Sanzang said: "Disciple, when you went, how could I not worry? But I thought of your transformations and was sure you wouldn't come to harm. That idiot, though, is big and clumsy, and he can't somersault about. If he goes, luck is thin and danger thick. Go and save him."
The Pilgrim said: "Master, don't complain. Let me go save him."
He bounded up the mountain, thinking darkly: "That idiot cursed me dead. I won't give him an easy time! Let me follow and see how the demon handles him. Let him suffer a while first, then I'll save him." He pinched the sign, recited the spell, shook his body, and turned into a tiny gnat. He flew after and perched on the root of Bajie's ear, traveling with the demon into the cave.
The Second King led his three thousand little fiends, with much blowing of horns and beating of drums, to the cave mouth, where they set up camp. He himself dragged Bajie inside and said: "Brother, I caught one!"
The old demon said: "Bring him here, let me see."
He loosened his trunk and dumped Bajie on the ground: "Here he is."
The old demon said: "This one's no use."
When Bajie heard this, he said: "Great King, if I'm no use, let me go. Go catch someone useful."
The Third King said: "He may be no use, but he's the Tang Priest's disciple Zhu Bajie. Tie him up and soak him in the pond out back. When his hair's soaked loose, split him open, salt him down, and dry him in the sun. We'll eat him with wine on rainy days."
Bajie was terrified: "Done for! Done for! I've run into a pickle-peddling monster!" The fiends all set to at once, hogtyed the idiot, and hauled and carried him to the pond, shoved him in, and all went away.
The Great Sage flew up and looked. The idiot lay floating face-up, snout pointing skyward, half-submerged, half-afloat, mouth puffing. It was a comical sight—he looked just like a great black lotus pod, stripped of its seeds by the frost in the eighth or ninth month.
The Great Sage looked at him and felt both annoyance and pity. "What's to be done?" he thought. "He too is a person destined for the Longhua Assembly. But I can't stand how he's always dividing the luggage to split up, and how he keeps egging Master on to recite the Band-Tightening Spell and torture me. I heard from the Sha Monk that he's been hoarding some private money. I wonder if it's true. Let me give him a scare and see."
Marvelous Great Sage! He flew close to his ear, disguised his voice, and called: "Zhu Wuneng! Zhu Wuneng!"
Bajie panicked: "Bad luck! My name Wuneng was given by Guanyin Bodhisattva. Since I joined the Tang Priest, they've called me Bajie. How does anyone here know I'm called Wuneng?"
The idiot couldn't resist asking: "Who's calling my dharma name?"
The Pilgrim said: "It's me."
The idiot said: "Who are you?"
The Pilgrim said: "I'm a soul-reaper from the underworld."
The idiot was alarmed: "Official, where do you come from?"
The Pilgrim said: "I've been sent by the Fifth King of Hell to fetch you."
The idiot said: "Official, please go back. Tell the Fifth King of Hell that my elder brother Sun Wukong is a great friend of his. Ask him to give me a day's grace. Let him come tomorrow."
The Pilgrim said: "Nonsense! When Yama decrees death at the third watch, who dares keep a man till the fourth! Come with me now, or I'll put the rope on you and drag you along!"
The idiot said: "Official, show some mercy anywhere you can. Look at my face—do I look like I'll live much longer? I'm dead for certain. Just give me one day. The demon will soon capture my master and the others. We'll all have a reunion, and then we'll settle our accounts together."
The Pilgrim laughed inwardly: "Very well. My warrant has thirty names on it, all in this area. Let me summon them, and that'll give you a day's delay. But have you any traveling money? Give me some."
Bajie said: "Alas! What traveling money does a monk have?"
The Pilgrim said: "If you have no money, I'll put the rope on you! Come with me!"
The idiot panicked: "Official, don't put the rope on me! I know your rope—it's called the Soul-Chasing Rope. Once it goes on, a man stops breathing. I have some! I have a little, but not much."
The Pilgrim said: "Where is it? Bring it out, quick!"
Bajie said: "Pitiful, pitiful! Since I became a monk, when pious folk have given alms to the monks, they saw I had a big appetite and gave me a little more than the others. I took it and saved it. In bits and pieces it came to five mace of silver. It was hard to keep in scraps, so when we passed through a city I asked a silversmith to melt it into one piece. The scoundrel had the nerve to steal a few candareens of it, so all I got was one piece of four mace and six candareens. You take it."
The Pilgrim laughed inwardly: "This idiot doesn't even have pants to wear—where did he hide it? Hey! Where's your silver?"
Bajie said: "I stuffed it in my left ear. I'm tied up and can't reach it. You'll have to take it yourself."
When the Pilgrim heard this, he reached into the ear and pulled it out. Sure enough, it was a saddle-shaped silver ingot, weighing a good four mace and five or six candareens. Holding it in his hand, he couldn't help bursting into loud laughter.
The idiot recognized the Pilgrim's voice and cursed from the water: "Murderous Bimawen! At a pass like this, you still come to extort money!"
The Pilgrim laughed again: "You chaff-swilling lout! Old Sun protects the Master, heaven knows how many hardships I've endured, and here you are hoarding private money!"
Bajie said: "What a face! What private money? It was scraped together from what people gave me for my teeth. I couldn't bear to spend it on food—I saved it to buy a bolt of cloth for a shirt. And you frightened me out of it! You should give me some back."
The Pilgrim said: "Not a half-candareen will you get!"
Bajie cursed: "The ransom money's all yours—but at least save me!"
The Pilgrim said: "Don't rush. Let me save you." He pocketed the silver, returned to his true form, whipped out his iron cudgel, gathered the idiot to him, hauled him up by the feet, pulled him out of the water, and untied his bonds.
Bajie jumped up, stripped off his wet clothes, shook them, and draped them over himself, dripping: "Brother, let's go out the back door."
The Pilgrim said: "Going out the back door—is that what a man of ambition does? We go out the front." Bajie said: "My feet are numb from the tying. I can't run."
The Pilgrim said: "Follow me, quick."
Marvelous Great Sage! He swung his iron cudgel, unleashing a flurry of martial routines, and smashed his way out. The idiot, enduring his numbness, had no choice but to follow close. By the second gate they saw his nail-rake leaning against the wall. He stepped forward, shoved aside the little fiends, snatched up his rake, and began swinging, fighting his way out with the Pilgrim through three or four layers of gates. Heaven knows how many little fiends they killed.
When the old demon heard the commotion, he said to the Second King: "Fine captives! Fine captives! Look—Sun the Pilgrim's broken out Zhu Bajie and battered the fiends at the gates!"
The Second King leaped up, snatched his spear, and rushed out the door, cursing: "Brazen macaque! So insolent! How dare you slight us!"
When the Great Sage heard this, he stopped and stood. The demon gave him no chance to speak, but thrust his spear. The Pilgrim, being an expert, was in no hurry. He whipped out his iron cudgel and met the blow. The two of them fought at the cave gate. What a battle this was!
The Yellow-Tusked Old Elephant took human form, And swore brotherhood with the Lion King. Because the Great King brokered the match, They joined hearts to scheme to eat the Tang Priest. The Great Sage Equal to Heaven has magic vast, Aiding the right, destroying evil, he means to end the fiend. Bajie, unskilled, suffered the vicious blow; Wukong rescued him and marched out the gate. The demon king caught up, fierce and brave; Spear and staff crossed, each showing his skill. The one's spear came like a python threading through the wood, The other's staff rose like a dragon bursting from the sea. The dragon leaves the sea gate, clouds thick and dark; The python threads the forest trees, mists boiling up. Reckon it—they all fight for the Tang Monk, In bitter hatred, locked in combat, with no mercy.
When Bajie saw the Great Sage fighting the demon, he planted his rake on the hillside and didn't join in—he just stood there watching. The demon saw that the Pilgrim's cudgel was heavy, his techniques flawless, with no opening to exploit. He pushed his spear up to block, uncoiled his trunk, and made to coil it around the Pilgrim.
The Pilgrim knew his trick. He gripped the gold-banded cudgel with both hands, raised it high, and the demon's trunk coiled around his waist and hips—but not his hands. And there was the Pilgrim, juggling and twirling his cudgel with both hands right on the tip of the demon's trunk, having a fine time.
Bajie saw this and beat his chest: "Huh! That demon has bad luck! When he caught me, the clumsy one, he caught my hands too, and I couldn't move. But when he catches the slippery one, he doesn't catch the hands! Those two hands of his are holding the cudgel—if he just thrusts it up the trunk, it'll hurt and make it run, and how can he hold on?"
The Pilgrim hadn't thought of this, but Bajie had taught him. He gave his cudgel a shake, made it small as an egg and a zhang long, and thrust it straight up the demon's nostril. The demon panicked—with a swoosh he let go of his trunk. The Pilgrim seized it with one hand, hauled forward with all his might, and the demon, hurting, came following step by step. Only then did Bajie dare come close, swinging his rake at the demon's haunches.
The Pilgrim said: "No good! No good! Those rake-tines are sharp—you might break the skin and draw blood. If Master sees it, he'll say we're killing creatures. Just use the handle to beat him."
The idiot dutifully raised the rake handle, taking a step and landing a blow each time. The Pilgrim led the demon by the trunk, and they were like two elephant-trainers, walking him down to the foot of the slope. Sanzang, straining his eyes in hope, saw the two of them coming, shouting and bustling along. He called: "Wujing, look—what is it that Wukong is leading?"
The Sha Monk saw and laughed: "Master, Eldest Brother is dragging the demon along by the nose. How delightfully satisfying!"
Sanzang said: "Good! Good! Such a big demon! Such a long nose! Ask him: if he's willing to carry us over the mountain in good cheer, spare him. Don't harm his life."
The Sha Monk hurried forward and called: "The Master says: if you truly carry him over the mountain, he orders us not to harm your life!"
When the demon heard this, he quickly knelt and mumbled assent—he'd been pulled by the nose so hard his speech was stuffed up, as though he had a terrible cold. He called: "Lord Tang, if you'll spare my life, we'll bring the sedan chair and carry you at once."
The Pilgrim said: "My master and I are men of peace and good faith. By your word, I'll spare your life. But bring the sedan chair quickly. If you change your mind again, we'll capture you, and there will be no second pardon!"
The demon got his hands free, kowtowed, and went.
The Pilgrim and Bajie went to see the Tang Priest and recounted the whole affair. Bajie was utterly ashamed, and at the foot of the slope he hung out his clothes to dry. They waited. Let us leave them for now.
The Second King, trembling, returned to the cave. Before he arrived, little fiends had already reported to the old demon and the Third King that the Second King had been dragged off by the nose. The old demon, frightened, was about to lead the whole host out when he saw the Second King returning alone. They brought him in and asked why he'd been released. The Second King told them of Sanzang's merciful and peaceful words. The demons looked at one another, none daring to speak.
The Second King said: "Brother, will you carry the Tang Priest?"
The old demon said: "Brother, what are you saying? Sun the Pilgrim is a monkey of broad humanity and righteousness. When he was in my belly, if he'd wanted my life, a thousand of me would have been killed. Just now, when he grabbed your nose, if he hadn't let you go but kept pulling, he'd have ripped the tip right off—how frightening! Hurry and arrange to carry the Tang Priest."
The Third King laughed: "Carry him! Carry him! Carry him!"
The old demon said: "Worthy Brother, you sound like you're still sulking. If you won't carry him, the two of us will."
The Third King laughed again: "Two elder brothers above, if the monk doesn't want us to carry him and just tries to slip past, that'll be his good fortune. But if he does want carrying—he won't know he's walking right into my Lure-the-Tiger-from-the-Mountain stratagem!"
The old demon said: "What is the Lure-the-Tiger-from-the-Mountain?"
The Third King said: "Now, muster the whole host of fiends in the cave. Select a thousand from ten thousand, a hundred from a thousand, sixteen from a hundred, and another thirty."
The old demon said: "Why sixteen and thirty both?"
The Third King said: "Thirty who know how to cook—give them fine rice, fine flour, bamboo shoots, tea buds, fragrant mushrooms, tofu, and wheat gluten. Have them go twenty or thirty li ahead, set up camps, and prepare tea and meals to entertain the Tang Priest."
The old demon said: "And the sixteen?"
The Third King said: "Eight to carry the sedan chair, eight to clear the road. We three brothers will escort him, seeing him on his way. Four hundred li to the west from here is my city. I have my own troops and horses waiting there. When we reach the city walls, thus and thus—and the Tang Priest and his disciples won't be able to help each other, front or rear. To capture the Tang Priest, it all hangs on those sixteen."
When the old demon heard this, he was overjoyed—as though wakened from a drunken stupor, as though roused from a dream. "Good! Good! Good!" he said.
He mustered the demons, first selecting thirty and giving them their provisions. Then he selected sixteen, who brought out a rattan sedan chair. They all went out the door, and he ordered the host: "Not one of you is to wander on the mountain! Sun the Pilgrim is a suspicious monkey. If he sees you coming and going, he'll grow suspicious and see through the plan."
The old demon led the host to the great road and called out: "Lord Tang, today is no inauspicious day. Please set out early and cross the mountain."
When Sanzang heard this, he said: "Wukong, who is it that calls me?"
The Pilgrim pointed: "Over there—it's the demon I subdued, come with a sedan chair to carry you."
Sanzang pressed his palms together and said to Heaven: "Good! Good! Were it not for my worthy disciple's skill, how could I ever get through?" He went straight forward and bowed to the demons: "Much indebted for your kindness. When my disciple and I fetch the scriptures and return east to Chang'an, I shall spread the word of your good deed."
The demons kowtowed: "Please mount the sedan chair, Venerable One."
Now the Tang Priest, with his mortal flesh and eyes, did not know it was a trap. And the Great Sage Sun, being a Golden Immortal of the Great Yi and of a loyal and upright nature, thought only that his capture and release had truly subdued the demons. How could he have expected that they all harbored different schemes? He didn't look closely, but followed his master's wishes. He had Bajie secure the bundles on the horse, and the Sha Monk follow close behind. The Pilgrim took his iron cudgel and went ahead to clear the road, watching for fortune and misfortune.
Eight demons lifted the sedan chair, and eight called out to clear the road in alternating voices. The three demon kings walked beside the chair rails. The master, happy and content, sat upright in the sedan chair as they climbed the high mountain and followed the great road.
On this journey, who could have known that joy would bring sorrow in its train? As the classic says: when peace reaches its extreme, misfortune returns. The season's fortune met the true Year Star, and the Mourning and Guest-Weeping Stars were ascendant.
That pack of demons, of one mind and purpose, served on left and right, attentive morning and night. At thirty li they served breakfast; at fifty li, another meal. Before dark they invited him to rest, and all along the road things were neat and orderly. Three meals a day, to his heart's content; a good bed each night, in comfort.
They traveled westward over four hundred li, and suddenly the city came into view. The Great Sage, holding his iron cudgel, was about a li ahead of the sedan chair. When he saw the city, the sight struck him down—he stumbled and couldn't get up.
You might think him bold—how could this sight so frighten him? It was because he saw that the city was full of evil aura. This is what he beheld:
Packed and clustered, demons and monsters; At all four gates, wolf spirits. Striped tigers served as overseers, White-faced fierce boars as commanders. Antlered stags carried documents and passes, Clever foxes patrolled the roads. Thousand-foot pythons paced the city walls, Ten-thousand-fathom serpents blocked the roads. Below the towers, gray wolves shouted commands; Before the dais, spotted leopards made human sounds. Those who waved flags and beat drums were all monsters; Those who watched the night and guarded the posts were all mountain spirits. Crafty hares opened the gates and plied their trades; Wild boars carried loads and ran their businesses. In former years it had been a kingdom of the heavenly court, But now it had become a city of tigers and wolves.
As the Great Sage stood in fear, he heard the wind whistling behind his ears. He turned his head quickly—and there was the Third King, raising a painted-shaft square-heaven halberd with both hands, bringing it crashing down on the Great Sage's head. The Great Sage scrambled to his feet and brought up his gold-banded cudgel to meet it. Each seething with rage, panting with fury, they fought without a word, teeth gritted, each determined to win.
Then the old demon gave the command, raised his steel blade, and brought it down on Bajie. Bajie, panicked, dropped the horse's reins, snatched up his rake, and charged forward, swinging wildly. The Second King came with his long spear, thrusting at the Sha Monk. The Sha Monk raised his demon-quelling staff and set his stance to meet him. Three demon kings and three monks—one against one—fought on the mountaintop, each risking life and limb in bitter combat.
The sixteen little fiends, following their orders, each did his part. They seized the white horse and the bundles, surrounded the Tang Priest, lifted the sedan chair, and bore it straight to the city wall, calling: "The Great King has planned it, and the Tang Priest is captured!"
On the wall, the fiends great and small all ran down, flung open the city gates, and ordered every camp to furl its banners and silence its drums. No one was to shout or bang the gongs. "The Great King gave orders beforehand," they said. "Don't frighten the Tang Priest. He can't take fright—if he's frightened, his flesh turns sour and won't be fit to eat."
The fiends all rejoiced and welcomed the Tang Priest, bowing and bending to receive their master. They carried the Tang Priest in his sedan chair up to the Golden Throne Hall, seated him in the center, and served tea and food, swirling around him on every side. The elder, dazed and confused, looked around and saw no one he knew.
Whether he lived or died—listen to the explanation in the next chapter.