The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2 (36 page)

    
Fell on this mountain and destroyed themselves.

    
What bitter grief when flocks of birds break up!

    
How tears flow when monster troops are wiped out!

    
When will the scourge end, the chastisement cease,

    
That they may return to their primal forms?

Overborne by grief, the old demon wailed step by step into the cave; he saw that the furniture and other belongings remained, but not even a single person was in sight. In this total silence, he became sadder than ever: as he sat all by himself in the cave, he placed his head on a stone table, his sword he leaned against the table, and the fan he stuck back into his collar. Soon, he fell into a deep sleep, just as the proverb says:

    
Your spirit is full when you are happy;

    
Once dejected you tend to be sleepy!

We tell you now about the Great Sage Sun, who turned the direction of his cloud somersault around and stood before the mountain, thinking again of trying to rescue his master. Fastening the vase tightly to his belt, he returned to the entrance of the cave to see what was happening. The two doors he found wide open, but not a sound could be heard. With light, stealthy steps he slipped inside and discovered the demon sleeping soundly, leaning on the stone table. The palm-leaf fan was sticking out of his collar, half covering the back of his head, while the sword of seven stars was placed against the table. He tiptoed near the demon, pulled out the fan, and turned at once to flee outside. The fan, however, scraped against the hair of the fiend when it was pulled out, rousing him from his sleep. When he lifted his head to look and found that his fan had been stolen by Pilgrim Sun, he gave chase at once with the sword. The Great Sage leaped out the door and, having stuck the fan into his waist, met the fiend with both hands wielding the iron rod. This was a marvelous battle!

    
The maddened demon king,

    
His cap raised by angry hair,

    
Wanted to swallow with one gulp his foe—

    
But e’en that was no relief!

    
He reviled the monkey thus:

    
“You mock me far too much!

    
You took our many lives.

    
You steal my treasure now.

    
This time I’ll not spare you,

    
I’ll see that you are dead!”

    
The Great Sage rapped the demon:

    
“You
don’t know what’s good for you!

    
A student wants to fight old Monkey?

    
How could an egg smash up a rock?”

    
The treasure sword came,

    
The iron rod moved:

    
The two would no longer cherish kindness.

    
Again and again a contest they waged;

    
Over and over they used their martial skill.

    
Because of the scripture monk

    
Who sought at Spirit Mount a place,

    
Bringing discord to Metal and Fire,

    
The Five Phases, confused, lost their peace.

    
They showed their awe-inspiring, magic power;

    
They kicked up dust and stones to flaunt their might.

    
They fought till the sun was about to sink:

    
The demon grew weak and retreated first.

The demon fought with the Great Sage for more than thirty rounds; when the sky darkened, the demon fled in defeat and headed for the southwest in the direction of the Crush-Dragon Cave. We shall speak no more of him for the moment.

Lowering the direction of his cloud, the Great Sage dashed into the Lotus-Flower Cave and untied the Tang Monk, Eight Rules, and Sha Monk. After they were freed, they thanked Pilgrim while asking, “Where did the demons go?” “The second demon has been stored up in the gourd,” said Pilgrim, “and he must be completely dissolved by now. The old demon was defeated by me just now and he fled toward the Crush-Dragon Cave in the southwest. Over half of the little fiends of the cave have been killed by the body-division magic of old Monkey, and the rest who were defeated have also been wiped out by me. Only after that could I come in here to rescue and free all of you.” Profoundly grateful, the Tang Monk said, “Disciple, you must have worked awfully hard!” “Indeed,” said Pilgrim, laughing, “though all of you had to bear the pain of being hung up, old Monkey hasn’t been able even to rest his legs! I had to be on the go even more frequently than the postal messenger: coming in and getting out, there was never a moment’s pause. Only after having managed to steal his treasures could I defeat the demons.” “Elder Brother,” said Zhu Eight Rules, “take out the gourd and let us have a look inside. The second demon, I suppose, must have been dissolved by now.” The Great Sage first untied the pure vase; he then took out the gold rope and the fan before he held the gourd in his hands. Then he said, “Don’t look! Don’t look! Just now he had old Monkey stored up, and only after I deceived him into opening the lid by feigning
some
gargling noise did I escape. We must not, therefore, lift up the lid, for he may still pull some tricks and escape.” Thereafter master and disciples happily searched the cave and found some of the monsters’ rice, noodles, and vegetables; after heating and washing some of the pots and pans, they prepared a vegetarian meal and ate their fill. They rested in the cave for the night and soon it was morning again.

We tell you now about that old demon, who went straight to the Crush-Dragon Mountain and gathered together all the female fiends, to whom he gave a thorough account of how his mother was beaten to death, how his brother was sucked into the gourd, how his monster soldiers were wiped out, and how his treasures had been stolen. The female fiends all burst into tears, wailing for a long time. Then the old demon said, “Stop crying, all of you. I still have with me the sword of seven stars, and I plan to go with all of you, female soldiers, to the back of this Crush-Dragon Mountain to borrow some more troops from my maternal relative. I’m determined to capture that Pilgrim Sun to exact vengeance.”

Before he had even finished speaking, a little fiend came from the door to report, saying, “Great King, your Venerable Maternal Uncle from behind the mountain has led his troops here.” When the old demon heard this, he quickly changed into mourning garments of plain white silk and bowed to receive his visitor. The Venerable Maternal Uncle, you see, was the younger brother of his mother who went by the name, Great King Fox Number Seven. Because he had already received the report from some of his monster soldiers out on patrol that his elder sister was beaten to death by Pilgrim Sun, who then changed into the form of his sister to swindle treasures from his nephew, and that there had been fighting for several days on the Level-Top Mountain, he called up some two hundred soldiers from his own cave to offer his assistance. He stopped first at his sister’s home to find out whether indeed she had died. The moment he walked in the door, however, he saw the old demon in mourning garments, and the two of them burst into loud wailing. After some time, the old demon knelt down to give a complete account of what had taken place. Growing very angry, Number Seven ordered the old demon to take off his mourning garments, to pick up his treasure sword, and to call up all the female monsters. Together they mounted the wind and the cloud, speeding toward the northeast.

The Great Sage just then was telling Sha Monk to prepare breakfast so that they could journey after the meal, when suddenly he heard the sound of the wind. Walking out the door, he found a horde of fiendish troops approaching from the southwest. Somewhat startled, Pilgrim dashed inside, calling to Eight Rules, “Brother, the monster-spirit has brought fresh troops to help him.” When Tripitaka heard these words, he paled with fright, saying, “Disciple, what shall we do?” “Relax, relax!” said Pilgrim, chuckling.
“Give
me all of his treasures.” The Great Sage fastened the gourd and the vase to his waist, stuffed the gold rope into his sleeve, and stuck the palm-leaf fan into his collar. Wielding the iron rod with both hands, he told Sha Monk to stand and guard their master sitting in the cave, while he and Eight Rules holding the muckrake went out to meet their adversaries.

The fiendish creatures ranged themselves in battle formation, and the one at the very forefront was the Great King Number Seven, who had a jadelike face, a long beard, wiry eyebrows, and knifelike ears. He wore a golden helmet on his head and a knitted cuirass on his body; his hands held a “square-sky” halberd.
⁵
In a loud voice he shouted, “You audacious, lawless ape! How dare you oppress people like that! You stole our treasures, slaughtered our relatives, killed our soldiers, and you even had the nerve to take over our cave dwelling. Stick out your neck quickly and accept death, so that I can avenge my sister’s murder!” “You reckless hairy lump!” cried Pilgrim. “You don’t know what your Grandpa Sun can do! Don’t run away! Take a blow from my rod!” The fiend stepped aside to dodge the blow before turning again to meet him with the halberd. The two of them fought back and forth on the mountain for three or four rounds, and the fiend grew weak already. As he fled, Pilgrim gave chase and encountered the old demon, who also fought with him for three rounds. Then the Number Seven Fox turned around and attacked once more. When Eight Rules on this side saw him, he quickly stopped him with the nine-pronged rake; so, each of the pilgrims took on a monster and they fought for a long time without reaching a decision. The old demon shouted for all the monster soldiers to join the battle also.

We tell you now about the Tang Monk, who was seated in the cave when he heard earth-shaking cries coming from outside. “Sha Monk,” he said, “go and see how your brothers are doing in the battle.” Lifting high his fiend-routing staff, Sha Monk gave a terrific cry as he raced outside, beating back at once many of the monsters. When Number Seven saw that the tide was turning against them, he spun around and ran, only to be caught up by Eight Rules, who brought the rake down hard on his back.

    
This one blow caused nine spots of bright red to spurt out;

    
Pity one spirit’s true nature going to the world beyond.

When Eight Rules dragged him aside and stripped off his clothes, he found that the Great King, too, was a fox spirit.

When the old demon saw that his maternal uncle was slain, he abandoned Pilgrim and attacked Eight Rules with the sword. Eight Rules blocked the blow with the muckrake; as they fought, Sha Monk charged near and struck with his staff. Unable to withstand the two of them, the demon mounted wind and cloud to flee toward the south with Eight Rules and Sha
Monk
hard on his heels. When the Great Sage saw that, he swiftly leaped into the air, untied the vase, and took aim at the old demon, crying, “Great King Golden Horn!” The fiend thought that it was one of his defeated little demons calling him, and he turned to give his reply. Instantly he was sucked also into the vase, which was then sealed by Pilgrim with the tape bearing the words, “May Laozi Act Quickly According to This Command.” The sword of seven stars dropped to the ground below and it, too, became the property of Pilgrim. “Elder Brother,” said Eight Rules, coming up to meet Pilgrim, “you’ve got the sword. But where’s the monster-spirit?” “Finished!” said Pilgrim, chuckling, “He’s stored up in this vase of mine.” When they heard this, Sha Monk and Eight Rules were utterly delighted.

After they had completely wiped out the ogres and monsters, they went back to the cave to present the good news to Tripitaka, saying, “The mountain has been purged of all monsters. Let Master mount up so that we may journey again.” Highly pleased, Tripitaka finished the morning meal with his disciples, whereupon they put in order the luggage and the horse and found their way to the West. As they walked, a blind man suddenly appeared from the side of the road and caught hold of Tripitaka’s horse, saying, “Monk, where are you going? Give me back my treasures!” Horrified, Eight Rules cried, “We are finished! Here’s another old monster coming to ask for his treasures!” Pilgrim looked at the man carefully and saw that he was actually Laozi. Hurriedly he drew near and bowed, saying, “Venerable Sir, where are you going?” The old patriarch swiftly mounted his jade throne, which rose and stopped in midair. “Pilgrim Sun,” he said, “return my treasures.” The Great Sage also rose into the air saying, “What treasures?” “The gourd,” said Laozi, “is what I use to store elixir, while the pure vase is my water container. The treasure sword I use to subdue demons, the fan is for tending my fires, and the rope is actually a belt of my gown. Those two monsters happen to be two Daoist youths: one looks after my golden brazier, while the other my silver brazier. I was just searching for them, for they stole the treasures and left the Region Above. Now you have caught them, this will be your merit.”