The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2 (24 page)

We tell you now about Eight Rules and Sha Monk, who took the two boys to the Precious Image Kingdom and dashed them to the ground before the white jade steps. Alas! They were reduced to two meat patties; their bones were all crushed and blood splattered all over. “Terrible! Terrible!” cried the officials in court. “Two persons have been thrown down from the sky!” “These boys,” shouted Eight Rules from above, “are the sons of the monster, Yellow Robe. They were caught by old Hog and Brother Sha.”

Still under the effect of wine, the fiend was sleeping in the Silver Peace Palace when he heard someone shouting his name. He turned over and looked up: there were Zhu Eight Rules and Sha Monk standing on the edge of the clouds hollering. The monster thought to himself: “If it were just Zhu Eight Rules, I could understand this, but Sha Monk was tied up in my house. How could he get here? Why would my wife let him go? How could my boys land in their hands? Could it be that Zhu Eight Rules, fearful of my unwillingness to do battle with him, is using this to trick me? I can take the bait and go fight with him. Hey! I’m still hungover. If he gives me a whack with his rake, I’ll lose all my credibility. Let me go home first and see if they are indeed my sons or not. Then I can speak to these monks.”

Dear monster! Without taking leave of the king, he headed straight for
his
cave in the mountain forest to investigate. At this time, people in the court knew full well that he was indeed a monster. For, you see, he ate one of the palace maids during the night, but the seventeen others who escaped made a thorough report to the king after the hour of the fifth watch. Since he left so abruptly, they knew all the more that he was without doubt a monster. All the king could do was to order the many officials to guard the specious tiger, and we shall speak no more of them for the moment.

We now tell you about the fiend, who went back to the cave. When Pilgrim saw him arriving, he at once devised a plan of deception. He blinked a few times and tears began to fall like rain; stamping his feet, pounding his chest, and calling for the boys all the time, he bawled lustily in the cave. So sudden an encounter made it impossible for the fiend to recognize that this was not his wife. He went forward instead and embraced Pilgrim, saying, “Mistress, why are you so upset?” With artful invention, with imaginative fable, the Great Sage said tearfully, “Dear Husband! As the proverb says,

    
If a man has no wife, his wealth has no boss;

    
If a girl has no mate, she’s completely lost!

After you went into court yesterday to present yourself to the kinfolks, why didn’t you return? This morning Zhu Eight Rules came back and robbed us of Sha Monk. Furthermore, they took away our two boys by force despite my desperate pleadings. They said that they would also bring the boys into court to present them to their maternal grandfather. Half a day has gone by already and there’s no sight of our boys or even news of whether they are alive or dead. And you didn’t turn up until just now. How could I part with my babies? That’s why I’m so broken up.” When the fiend heard those words, he grew very angry, saying, “Did that really happen to my sons?” “Yes,” said Pilgrim, “and they were taken away by Zhu Eight Rules.”

The demon was so incensed that he jumped about madly, crying, “Undone! Undone! My sons have been dashed to death by him! They can’t be revived! The only thing left is to catch that monk and make him pay with his life. Mistress, don’t cry. How do you feel now? Let’s take care of you first.” “I’m all right,” said Pilgrim, “but I miss my babies so much, and all that weeping has caused my heart to ache.” “No need to worry,” said the demon. “Get up first. I have a treasure here; all you need to do is to rub it on the painful spot and it will not hurt anymore. But you must be careful not to fillip your thumb onto the treasure, for if you do, my true form will reveal itself.” When Pilgrim heard this, he said, smiling, to himself, “This brazen creature! He’s quite honest; even without torture he has made a confession already. Wait till he brings out his treasure. I’m going to strike at it with my thumb and see what kind of monster he is.” Leading Pilgrim, the fiend took
his
companion into the murky depth of the cave before spitting out from his mouth a treasure having the size and shape of a chicken egg. It was an internal elixir, formed crystalline white like a śarīra.
⁵
Secretly delighted, Pilgrim said to himself, “Marvelous thing! God knows how many sedentary exercises had been performed, how many years of trials and sufferings had elapsed, how many times the union of male and female forces had taken place before this śarīra of internal elixir was formed. What great affinity it has today that it should encounter old Monkey!”

The monkey took it over. Of course, he did not have any pain, but he rubbed it deliberately on his body somewhere before filliping his thumb at it. Alarmed, the fiend immediately stretched forth his hand to try to snatch it away. Think of it! This monkey is just too slick and shifty a character! He popped the treasure in his mouth and with one gulp swallowed it whole. The demon raised his fist and punched at him, only to be parried by the arm of Pilgrim. With his other hand, Pilgrim wiped his own face once and changed back to his original appearance, crying, “Monster, don’t be unruly! Take a look! Who am I?”

When the fiend saw what he saw, he was greatly shaken, saying “Gosh, Mistress! How did you manage to bring out a face like that?” “You impudent imp!” chided Pilgrim. “Who’s your mistress? You can’t even recognize your own ancestor!” Suddenly comprehending, the fiend said, “I think I know you.” Pilgrim said, “I won’t hit you just yet, take another look.” The fiend said, “Though you do look familiar, I just can’t think of your name at the moment. Who indeed are you? Where do you come from? Where have you moved my wife? How dare you come to my house to cheat me of my treasure? This is most reprehensible!” “So you don’t recognize me,” said Pilgrim. “I am the eldest disciple of the Tang Monk, and my name is Pilgrim Sun Wukong. I’m also your old ancestor of five hundred years ago!” The fiend said, “No such thing! No such thing! When I caught the Tang Monk, I found out that he had only two disciples named Zhu Eight Rules and Sha Monk. No one had ever mentioned that there was someone by the name of Sun. You must be a fiend from somewhere who came here to deceive me.” “The reason why I didn’t accompany the two of them,” said Pilgrim, “was because my habitual slaying of monsters had offended my master. A kind and compassionate person, he dismissed me when I slaughtered one too many. That’s why I was not traveling with him. Are you still ignorant of your ancestor’s name?” “How feckless you are!” said the fiend. “If you were banished by your master, how could you have the gumption to face people here?” Pilgrim said, “You impudent creature! You wouldn’t know about the sentiment of ‘Once a teacher, always a father,’ nor would you know that ‘Between father and son, there’s no overnight enmity.’ If you plan to harm
my
master, you think I wouldn’t come to rescue him? And you didn’t stop at that; you even abused me behind my back. What have you got to say to that?”

“Since when did I abuse you?” asked the fiend. Pilgrim replied, “Zhu Eight Rules said you did.” “Don’t believe him,” said the fiend. “That Zhu Eight Rules, with his pointed snout, has a tongue like an old maid’s! Why do you listen to him?” “No need for such idle talk,” said Pilgrim. “I’ll just say that during old Monkey’s visit to your house today, you have not shown your distant guest sufficient hospitality. Though you may not have food and wine to entertain your visitor, you have a head. Stick it over here quickly and let old Monkey beat it once with the rod. I’ll consider that my taking tea.” When the fiend heard this, he roared with laughter, saying, “Pilgrim Sun, you’ve miscalculated! If you wanted to fight, you shouldn’t have followed me here. The various imps under my command, young and old, number in the hundreds. Though you may have arms all over your body, you won’t be able to fight your way out.” Pilgrim said, “Don’t talk rot! And don’t mention a few hundreds! Even if you have hundreds of thousands, just call them up one by one and I’ll slay them. Every stroke of my rod will find its mark. I guarantee that they will be wiped out! Exterminated!”

When the monster heard these words, he quickly gave the order and called up all the monsters before and behind the mountain, all the fiends in and out of the cave. Each holding weapons, they lined up thickly and completely barricaded the several doors inside the cave. When Pilgrim saw this, he was delighted. Gripping his rod with both hands, he shouted “Change!” and changed at once into a person having three heads and six arms. One wave of the golden-hooped rod and it changed into three golden-hooped rods. Look at him! Six arms wielding the three rods, he plunged into the crowd—like a tiger mauling a herd of sheep, like an eagle alighting on chicken coops. Pity those little fiends! One touch, and heads were smashed to pieces! One brush, and blood flowed like water! He charged back and forth, as if he had invaded an uninhabited region. When he finished, there was only one old monster left, who chased him out the door, crying, “You brazen ape! You are nasty and noxious! You dare oppress people right at their own door!” Spinning around, Pilgrim waved at him, crying, “Come! Come! It’s no merit until I’ve struck you down.” Lifting his scimitar, the monster aimed at his opponent’s head and hacked away, as dear Pilgrim brandished the iron rod to face him. This time they fought on top of the mountain, halfway between mist and cloud.

    
Great Sage had great magic power;

    
The demon had vast abilities.

    
This one struck sideways with the raw iron rod;

    
That
one raised aslant the steel scimitar.

    
The scimitar rose softly, and bright mist glowed;

    
The rod parried lightly, and colored clouds flew.

    
Back and forth it circled to protect the head;

    
Round and round it turned to guard the body.

    
One followed the wind to change his looks;

    
One shook his body standing on the ground.

    
This one widened his fiery eyes and stretched his simian arms;

    
That one flared his golden pupils and bent his tigerlike waist.

    
Coming and going, they fought round and round—

    
Rod and scimitar giving blow for blow.

    
The Monkey King’s rod conformed to battle art;

    
The fiend’s scimitar followed the rules of war.

    
One had always worked his skills to be a demon-lord;

    
One had used his vast power to guard the Tang Monk.

    
The fierce Monkey King became more fierce;

    
The violent monster grew more violent.

    
Heedless of life or death they fought in the air,

    
All for Tang Monk’s quest for Buddha from afar.

The two of them fought for over fifty rounds, but a decision could not be reached. Secretly pleased, Pilgrim thought to himself, “The scimitar of this brazen monster is quite a match for the rod of old Monkey! Let me pretend to blunder and see if he can detect it.” Dear Monkey King! He raised the rod above his head with both his hands, using the style of “Tall-Testing the Horse.” The fiend did not perceive that it was a trick. When he saw that there was a chance, he wielded the scimitar and slashed at the lower third of Pilgrim’s body. Pilgrim quickly employed the “Great Middle Level” to fend off the scimitar, after which he followed up with the style of “Stealing Peaches beneath the Leaves” and brought the rod down hard on the monster’s head. This one blow made the monster vanish completely. He retrieved his rod to look around, but the monster-spirit was nowhere to be seen. Greatly startled, Pilgrim said, “O my child! You can’t take much beating! One stroke, and you’re dead! But even if you were beaten to death, there had to be some blood or pus left. Why isn’t there a trace of you? You must have escaped, I suppose.” Leaping up quickly to the edge of the clouds, he stared in all four directions, but there was not the faintest movement anywhere. “These two eyes of old Monkey,” he said, “can see everything anywhere. How could he vanish just like that? Ah, I know! That fiend said that he recognized me somewhat, and that meant that he couldn’t possibly be an ordinary monster of this world. Most likely he was a spirit from Heaven.”

Unable
to suppress his anger, the Great Sage somersaulted all at once and leaped up to the South Heavenly Gate, wielding his iron rod. Pang, Liu, Gou, Bi, Zhang, Tao, Deng, Xin, and the other celestial captains, were so startled that they bowed on both sides of the gate and dared not stop him. He fought his way in and arrived before the Hall of Perfect Light. Zhang, Ge, Xu, and Qiu, the Celestial Masters, asked him, “Why did the Great Sage come here?” “Because I accompanied the Tang Monk until the Precious Image Kingdom,” said Pilgrim, “where there was a demon who had seduced the princess and sought to harm my master. Old Monkey waged a contest with him, but as we were fighting I suddenly lost him. I don’t think he’s an ordinary fiend of Earth; he has to be a spirit from Heaven. I came especially to investigate whether any monster deity has left the ranks.” When the Celestial Masters heard this, they entered the Hall of Divine Mists to make the report, and an order immediately was issued to take the roll among the Nine Luminaries, the Twelve Branches, the Five Planets of the Five Quarters, the numerous gods of the Milky Way, the Gods of the Five Mountains, and the Four Rivers. Every one of the Heavenly deities was present, for none dared to leave his post. The investigation was then extended beyond the Big Dipper Palace, and the count, back and forth among the Twenty-eight Constellations, had turned up only twenty-seven members. Revatī, the Wood-Wolf Star,
⁶
was missing.