Chapter 75: The Mind-Monkey Bore Through the Body of Yin and Yang; the Demon Kings Returned to the True Way

Sun the Great Sage went into the cave mouth and looked about on both sides. What he saw was dreadful:

Skulls rose like ridges, and bones stood like forests.
Human heads and hair mats had been made into felted mats;
human flesh had rotted into mud and dust.
Human sinews were wound about the trees, dry and glinting like silver.
Truly it was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood,
and the stench was indeed unbearable.
To the east, little demons were flaying living men;
to the southwest, vile fiends were cooking human flesh fresh from the cut.
If the Great Sage had not been a hero of such bold nerve,
no other mortal could have entered that gate.

Soon he passed through the second gate, and the scene was different. Here it was clean, strange, secluded, elegant, and broad. On both sides grew immortal grasses and fairy flowers, and in front and behind stood tall pines and green bamboo. After another seven or eight li, he came to the third gate. He slipped aside and peeked in. There, seated high above, were three old demons, each one hideous to behold.

The one in the middle looked like this:

Teeth chiseled sharp, jaws like a saw,
round head, square face.
His roar was like thunder, his eyes like lightning.
His nose turned upward to the sky, his red brows flared like fire.
Wherever he went, beasts lost their wits;
wherever he sat, demons trembled in fear.
This was the king of beasts, the Azure-Haired Lion Monster.

The one on the left looked like this:

Phoenix eyes, gold pupils, yellow teeth, thick legs.
A long nose and silver hair, his head looking like a tail.
A round forehead, furrowed brow, a great hulking body.
His voice was fine as a graceful maiden's,
yet his jade face was as vile as a bull-headed ghost.
This was the Yellow-Tusk Elephant, who had long years of hidden cultivation.

The one on the right looked like this:

Golden wings, a kun-headed bird, star-bright eyes and leopard eyes.
Bold and brave, he could fly north or south at will.
His transformations soared high, making swallows sneer and dragons despair.
When he unfurled his fierce talons, all birds lost their courage.
This was the Roc with ninety thousand li of cloud-road.

Along the two sides stood a hundred or so lesser captains, each fully armed and arranged in proper order, all bristling with killing air.

When Wukong saw them, he was delighted and did not fear them in the least. He strode straight through the gate, laid aside his gong and bell, and called up, "Great Kings."

The three old demons smiled and said, "Little Drillwind, you are here?"

Wukong answered, "I am."

"You went out to patrol the mountain. Did you hear anything of Sun Wukong's whereabouts?"

Wukong said, "Your Majesties, I did not even dare speak of it."

"Why not?"

Wukong said, "I was carrying out your order, beating the gong and ringing the bell as I went. Just then I raised my head and saw a man squatting there grinding a staff. He looked like a road god. If he stood up, he would be more than ten zhang tall. He was crouched beside a cliff in the ravine, taking up water to grind the rod, and he muttered that his staff had not yet shown its power here. Once he had polished it bright, he would come and beat the Great Kings. I knew at once he must be Sun Wukong, and I hurried back to report."

When the old demon heard this, he broke out in sweat all over and trembled. "Brother, I told you not to provoke Tripitaka. His disciple is mighty indeed. He has made preparations in advance and is grinding his staff to beat us. What are we to do?"

He ordered, "Have all the little ones outside brought in. Shut the gate and let him pass by."

One of the captains who knew the truth said, "Great King, all the little demons outside have already scattered."

The old demon said, "Why are they all gone? They must have smelled something bad. Hurry and shut the gate. Hurry and shut the gate."

The little demons clanged and slammed both the front and back gates and barred them tight.

Wukong thought to himself, "If they shut the gate and then start asking about my family and where I came from, I will not be able to answer. Then I will give myself away, and they will catch me. Better to frighten them again and make them open the gate so I can run."

He stepped forward and said, "Great King, he said something else too."

"What else?"

Wukong said, "He said he would skin the Great King, strip the bones of the Second Great King, and pull out the sinews of the Third Great King.

If you shut the gate and do not go out, he can change himself. In no time at all he could turn into a fly and slip in through the crack. Then he would haul us all away. What then?"

The old demon said, "Brothers, be careful. There has never been a fly in my cave year after year. If one does come in, it must be Sun Wukong."

Wukong laughed inwardly. "Let me become a fly and scare him into opening the door."

He slipped aside, reached back over his head, and plucked out one hair. He blew on it with immortal breath and cried, "Change!"

At once it became a golden fly, which flew forward and struck the old demon squarely on the forehead.

The old demon panicked and cried, "Brothers, this will not do. That thing has come inside."

The great and small demons were frightened too. Each one grabbed a broom, a rake, or a dust mop and rushed forward to swat at the fly.

Wukong could not hold back and laughed out loud. He should not have laughed. The moment he did, his true face showed through.

The third demon jumped forward and grabbed him. "Brother, we were nearly fooled by him."

The old demon said, "Brother, who fooled whom?"

The third demon said, "This little demon answering just now is not Drillwind. He is Sun Wukong. He must have met Drillwind somewhere, killed him without our knowing it, and then changed into his shape to trick us."

Wukong panicked. "He has recognized me."

He touched his face and said to the old demon, "How am I Sun Wukong? I am Drillwind. Great King, you have mistaken me."

The old demon smiled. "Brother, he is Drillwind. He reports in front of me three times a day. I know him."

Then he asked, "Do you have a badge?"

Wukong said, "I do."

He tugged at his robe and took out the badge.

The old demon recognized him at once. "Brother, do not wrong him."

The third demon said, "Brother, did you not see? Just now he slipped aside and laughed, and I saw a thunder god's mouth on him. When I grabbed him, he changed again into this shape."

He called, "Little ones, bring rope."

The captains fetched ropes at once. The third demon flipped Wukong over and tied him in a four-hoofed bundle. When they lifted his robe to look, sure enough he was a horsekeeper spirit.

It turned out that Sun Wukong had seventy-two transformations. If he changed into birds, beasts, flowers, trees, utensils, or insects, his whole body changed with the form. But if he changed into a person, only his face would change; his body would not.

Sure enough, he still had yellow fur, two red buttocks, and a tail. The old demon looked and said, "It is Sun Wukong's body and Drillwind's face. It is him."

He ordered, "Bring wine first, and let us give the Third Great King a cup to celebrate his success. Since we have captured Sun Wukong, Tripitaka is surely our meat."

The third demon said, "Do not drink yet. Sun Wukong is slippery, and he can use escape methods. What if he gets away? Tell the little ones to bring out the bottle and put Sun Wukong inside it. Then we can drink."

The old demon laughed. "Just so, just so."

He immediately chose thirty-six little demons and sent them inside to open the warehouse door and bring out the bottle. How big was the bottle? Only about two chi and four cun high.

How could thirty-six demons carry something so small? The bottle was a treasure of yin and yang breath, and inside it held the seven treasures, eight trigrams, and twenty-four solar periods. Only thirty-six men, arranged according to the number of the heavenly gang, could lift it.

Soon the bottle was brought out and set down outside the third gate. The ground was cleared, the lid was opened, and Wukong's ropes were untied. They stripped off his clothes, and then, with the immortal breath inside the bottle, they went whoosh and sucked him in. The lid was sealed and the slip pasted over the top.

Then they went off to drink and said, "The monkey is now inside our treasure bottle and will never see the road west again. If he still wants to bow to the Buddha and seek scriptures, he will have to turn around, step onto the spinning wheel, and go back into another life."

The great and small demons all smiled and went to celebrate.

Now to return to the Great Sage. Once he was inside the bottle, the treasure shrank his body smaller and smaller, so he simply changed himself again and crouched in the middle. After a while, the inside was cool, and he laughed out loud.

"This monster has a fine reputation but no real skill. How can they say that once a man goes into this bottle, in one or three moments he turns to pus and blood? If it stays this cool, I could lie in here seven or eight years with no trouble."

Ah! The Great Sage did not know the nature of the treasure. If a man were placed inside it and no sound were made, it would remain cool for a year and keep cool for a year; but if it heard human speech, fire would come to burn it.

The Great Sage had not finished speaking when the whole bottle became flames. Fortunately he had the skill to sit in the middle and recite the fire-avoidance spell, so he was not afraid at all.

After half an hour, forty snakes drilled out from all around to bite him. Wukong swung his hands, grabbed them, and with all his strength squeezed them into eighty pieces.

Shortly after, three fire dragons came out and wound themselves around him from top to bottom. He could hardly bear it.

He thought in alarm, "On other matters I can hold out, but these three fire dragons are troublesome. If I do not get out soon, the fire breath will attack my heart."

Then he thought, "I will lengthen my body and burst the bottle."

The fine Great Sage pinched a spell, recited an incantation, and cried, "Grow!"

At once he grew several zhang taller. The bottle pressed tight against his body and grew taller too. Then he shrank himself again, and the bottle shrank with him.

Wukong was shocked. "Impossible. If I grow, it grows; if I shrink, it shrinks. What am I to do?"

While he was speaking, his hip bones began to ache. He quickly reached down and touched them, only to find they had been burned soft. He panicked. "What now? My hip bones have been burned soft. I will be crippled."

He could not hold back tears.

This was just as the saying goes: when calamity meets Tripitaka, suffering follows; when danger comes, the disciple must think of the holy monk.

He said, "Master! When I first returned to the right path, I was favored by Guanyin Bodhisattva's advice and escaped the heavenly disaster. I have traveled through many mountains with you, subdued countless monsters, and brought in Bajie and Brother Sha. Through all those thousand hardships, I only hoped to reach the Western Heaven together and complete the true fruit. Who could have expected that today I would meet this poisonous monster and be trapped here, my life in danger, while you are left halfway up the mountain unable to go forward? It must be because my old fame was too great, and that is why I have this calamity now."

In his grief, he suddenly remembered, "When the Bodhisattva and I were at Snake-Circling Mountain, she gave me three life-saving hairs. I do not know whether they are still here. Let me search."

He reached out and felt all over himself, and on the back of his head he found three hairs, stiff as needles. He was overjoyed. "All the hairs on my body are soft and pliant, but these three remain hard. They must be the ones that save my life."

He clenched his teeth, endured the pain, plucked the hairs out, blew on them with immortal breath, and cried, "Change!"

One became a diamond drill, one became a bamboo sliver, and one became a cotton cord. He made a little bent bamboo bow, strung the drill on it, and drilled furiously into the bottom of the bottle. Soon he had bored a hole and light came through.

He said with delight, "Fortune, fortune. I can get out now."

As soon as he changed his body, the bottle became cool again. Why? Because the drilling had broken the yin-yang breath and let it leak away, so the inside cooled at once.

The Great Sage gathered up the hairs, shrank himself down, and turned into a tiny locust-like insect, light as a hair, slender as a eyebrow. He flew out through the hole and did not leave at once. Instead he flew straight to the top of the old demon's head and stuck there.

The old demon was drinking when he suddenly set down his cup and said, "Third brother, has Sun Wukong melted away this time?"

The third demon laughed. "Is it already time for that?"

The old demon ordered the bottle brought up. The thirty-six little demons below lifted it at once, and the bottle now felt much lighter.

The little demons were alarmed and reported, "Great King, the bottle has grown light."

The old demon shouted, "Nonsense. This treasure is the full power of yin and yang. How could it be light?"

One of the little demons, making an effort, brought the bottle up and said, "Look, it really is lighter."

The old demon opened the lid and saw only light shining through. He could not help crying out, "This bottle is empty!"

Wukong, above his head, could not help blurting out, "My boy, whoosh, he is gone!"

The demons heard that and cried, "He is gone! He is gone!"

At once they shouted, "Shut the gates! Shut the gates!"

Wukong shook himself, took back the clothes they had stripped off him, and returned to his true form. He jumped out of the cave, turned back, and cursed, "You demons have no manners. I drilled a hole in the bottle, so it cannot hold a man anymore. It is only good for carrying away your stench."

He laughed and shouted all the way, riding the cloud straight back to Tripitaka. The holy monk was standing there with handfuls of soil as incense, praying to the empty sky.

Wukong paused on the cloud to hear what he was praying.

Tripitaka had his palms together and was saying, "I beg and invite the fairies of the cloud and mist, the six ding and six jia, and all the gods of heaven. Please protect my worthy disciple Sun Wukong. His divine powers are vast and without limit."

When the Great Sage heard these words, he put forth even more effort, gathered in the cloud light, and stepped forward, calling, "Master, I am here."

Tripitaka hurried to support him. "Wukong, you have worked hard. You went to scout that high mountain and did not return for a long time, and I was terribly worried. What was the outcome in that mountain, good or bad?"

Wukong laughed. "Master, after that visit, first, the people of the Eastern Land have the right karma and the right destiny. Second, it is because your merit is vast and boundless. Third, it was thanks to my own skill.

He then described in detail how he had impersonated Drillwind, been trapped in the bottle, and escaped at last.

"Now that I have seen my teacher's face again, it is as if I have lived through two lifetimes."

Tripitaka thanked him without end. "Did you not have to fight the demon this time?"

Wukong said, "I did not."

Tripitaka said, "Then you cannot lead me over the mountain."

Wukong was a proud fellow and shouted, "How could I not lead you over the mountain?"

Tripitaka said, "If you have not yet settled the question of victory or defeat and are still speaking loosely like this, how dare I go forward?"

Wukong laughed. "Master, you truly are not adaptable.

As the saying goes, 'A single silk thread does not make a rope, and one hand cannot make a sound.' There are three demon kings and tens of thousands of little demons. How could Old Sun fight them all alone?"

Tripitaka said, "Outnumbered one against many is indeed hard for one man. Bajie and Sha Wujing also have skill. Let them both go with you and work together. Sweep the road clean and protect me across."

Wukong thought it over. "Master speaks correctly. Let Sha Wujing stay to protect you, and let Bajie come with me."

The fool panicked. "Brother, you have no eye for talent. I am clumsy and have no real skill. If the road blows wind at me, what use am I to you?"

Wukong said, "Brother, even if you do not have much skill, at least you are a person. As the saying goes, 'A fart can add to the wind.' You can still lend me some courage."

Bajie said, "Very well, very well. I beg you to carry me along. Only do not make sport of me when matters get urgent."

Tripitaka said, "Bajie, be careful. I will stay here with Brother Sha."

The fool put on his spirit and followed Wukong up the mountain in a gale of wind. They reached the cave mouth. The gate was tightly shut, and no one was about.

Wukong stepped forward, raised his iron staff, and shouted, "Monsters, open the gate! Come out and fight Old Sun!"

The little demons reported inside.

The old demon was frightened and said, "They have long said that the monkey is fierce, and it is true."

The two younger demons asked, "Brother, what are you saying?"

The old demon said, "That Wukong disguised himself as Drillwind and slipped in this morning. We could not recognize him. Fortunately the Third Brother knew him and put him in the bottle. But he used his skill to drill through the bottle and stole back his clothes.

Now he is outside calling for battle. Who dares go out to meet him first?"

No one answered.

He asked again, and still no one answered. They all played deaf and dumb.

The old demon grew angry. "We have earned a nasty name along the Western road. If Sun Wukong now humiliates us and we do not go out to meet him, then our fame will be lowered. I will go risk this old life and fight him for three rounds. If I can win those three, Tripitaka is still our meat. If I lose, then shut the gate and let him go by."

He put on his armor and went out through the gate.

Wukong and Bajie watched from beside the gate, and truly what a monster he was:

A bronze head and iron forehead, crowned with a precious helmet,
its plume streaming bright and brilliant.
His flashing eyes shot lightning, bright as shining beams;
his temples poured out radiance like clouds.
His hooked claws were silver, sharp beyond compare;
his saw-teeth were dense and even.
He wore golden armor without a single seam,
and a dragon sash at the waist held all in place.
In his hand he carried a steel blade, glittering white,
a rare and valiant figure in all the world.
He gave a cry like thunder and asked, "Who is knocking at my gate?"

The Great Sage turned and said, "It is your grandfather Sun, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven."

The old demon laughed. "You are Sun Wukong? You bold, vile monkey. I have not bothered you, so why do you come shouting outside my gate?"

Wukong said, "If there is wind, waves will rise. If there is no tide, the water will not settle. If you had not bothered me, why should I have come looking for you? It is because you and your fox-and-dog gang have formed a band and plotted to eat my master, so I have come to deal with you."

The old demon said, "You are making such a fierce racket at my gate. Do you mean to fight?"

Wukong said, "Yes."

The old demon said, "Do not be so proud. If I were to call out my demon troops, set the battle array, raise the flags, beat the drums, and fight you, it would only make me seem like a house cat bullying you. I will fight you one on one. No helpers allowed."

When Wukong heard that, he called, "Zhu Bajie, step aside and see what Old Sun can do."

The fool did indeed slip aside.

The old demon said, "Come here first and let me plant you. I will use all my strength to cut three blows on your bald head, and then I will let your Tripitaka pass. If you cannot stand it, send him over to me, and I will make a meal of him."

Wukong laughed when he heard this. "Monster, if you have paper and brush in your cave, bring them out and let us write a contract. From today until next year, you may keep hacking all you want, and I still will not take it seriously."

The old demon stirred himself, planted his feet in a T-stance, raised the steel blade with both hands, and chopped down at the Great Sage's head.

Wukong lifted his head to meet it. There was a cracking sound, and yet his scalp was not even red.

The old demon was startled. "This monkey has a hard head!"

Wukong laughed. "You do not know. Old Sun was born with a copper head and an iron skull. Heaven and earth have never seen its equal.

He was born with a copper head and an iron skull, unmatched under heaven and earth.
Neither axe nor hammer could break it. In youth he once entered Laozi's furnace.
The four stars and the twenty-eight mansions watched over the work.
Water soaked him many times and could not ruin him; boards and sinews were packed around him all the way.
Even Tripitaka feared he might not be hard enough, so the golden fillet was put on in advance.

The old demon said, "Monkey, stop boasting. See how I cut with my second blow. I will not spare your life."

Wukong said, "No matter. Hack away."

The old demon said, "Monkey, you do not know this blade:

It was made in a furnace of metal and fire,
forged through a hundred refinings by divine skill.
Its edge follows the military classics,
and its strength is measured by the Six Treatises.
Its blade is thin as a fly's tail,
yet its waist is like a white python.
In the mountains it can stir drifting clouds,
and on the sea it can raise surging waves.
It has been polished countless times,
refined through hundreds of burnings.
Hidden in the deep cave, it waits to be used in battle.
One chop across that monk's skull would split it into two gourds.

Wukong laughed. "This monster has no eyes. He thinks Old Sun's head is a gourd."

The old demon raised the knife again and chopped.

Wukong met it with his head, and with a crack the head split into two halves. The Great Sage rolled on the ground and turned into two bodies.

The monster was frightened at once and lowered the steel blade.

Bajie, watching from far away, laughed. "The old demon is good for two chops, and now there are four of them?"

The old demon pointed at Wukong and said, "I heard you could use the body-separating method. Why are you showing it off in front of me?"

Wukong asked, "What body-separating method?"

The old demon said, "Why was it that when I chopped you once before, you did not move, but when I chopped you now, there are two of you?"

Wukong laughed. "Monster, do not be afraid. Chop me ten thousand times, and I will give you twenty thousand people."

The old demon said, "Monkey, you can split your body, but you cannot gather it back. If you have the ability, gather into one and strike me once."

Wukong said, "Do not lie. You said three chops, but you have only chopped me twice. If I strike you once and it is less than half a blow, then I will no longer be named Sun."

The old demon said, "Just so, just so."

Then the Great Sage drew himself together, rolled once, and became one body again. He raised his staff and chopped down at once.

The old demon raised his blade to block it and cursed, "Vile monkey, what sort of mourning staff do you wield, that you dare come beating people at my gate?"

Wukong shouted, "If you ask about this staff, it has a name in heaven and earth."

The old demon said, "How is its fame shown?"

Wukong recited:

The staff is forged of nine-turn tempered iron,
hammered in Laozi's own furnace.
Yu the Great begged for it and called it a divine treasure;
the four seas and eight rivers all bear witness.
Stars are hidden in its middle, laid out in darkness;
gold plates are clasped around both ends.
Its dense pattern makes ghosts and gods afraid,
and dragon designs and phoenix script are stamped upon it.
Its name is the Spirit-Sun Staff, hidden so deep in the sea treasury that men cannot see it.
Once shaped, it can transform and soar,
with five-colored clouds flashing around it.
Old Sun got the Way and took it home to the mountains,
and through endless changes I have learned its use.
When I need it large, it is as thick as a great vat;
when I need it small, it is fine as iron thread.
Thick as Mount South, thin as a needle,
it changes length according to my will.
A light lift and it raises colored clouds;
a bright flash and it shoots like lightning.
Its cold breath makes the air bite;
its killing mist appears wherever it goes.
It subdues dragons and tigers and stays close at hand,
traveling from one end of the world to the other.
I used this staff to stir up Heaven itself,
and its might scattered the Peach Banquet.
The Heavenly King could not beat me in a wager,
and even Nezha could not stand against it.
The staff struck the gods and gave them no place to hide;
ten thousand heavenly soldiers fled.
Thunder generals guarded Lingxiao Hall;
I rushed up and struck the Hall of Highest Clarity.
The celestial attendants were thrown into confusion,
and the palace ministers all lost their order.
I knocked over the Northern Dipper Palace with one swing,
and turned back to shake open the South Pole Court.
When the Heavenly Emperor saw how fierce it was,
he invited the Buddha himself to face me.
Victory and defeat in battle are like that;
when danger comes, no one can tell the end.
For five hundred years I paid the price of that disaster,
until Guanyin from the South Sea came to counsel me.
Then a monk from the Tang Kingdom made a great vow to the sky.
He sought to save dead souls from the underworld
and to seek the scriptures at Lingshan.
The road west is full of monsters,
and travel is truly difficult.
Since I know this iron staff is without peer under heaven,
I asked to travel with it on the road.
Evil demons are boiled in its fire;
flesh turns to red dust and bones to powder.
Wherever the monster dies, it dies beneath the staff;
ten thousand and a thousand counts are not worth mentioning.
It strikes and shatters the starry palace above;
it crushes the halls of hell below.
Heavenly generals once chased me with the Nine Luminaries;
the judges of the underworld were battered and bruised.
Thrown through the air, it shakes mountains and rivers,
better than the newly forged sword of Tai Sui.
By relying on this staff I protect Tripitaka,
and all the demons under heaven have felt its blows.

The old demon heard this and grew terrified, though he still fought for his life and brought the blade down again. Smiling, the Monkey King met him with the staff. The two first struggled outside the cave gate, then leaped up into the sky and fought there.

It was a fierce battle:

The Great Treasure Staff that fixed the bottom of the Milky Way,
whose name is Ruyi and whose fame is high in the world.
The monster's boldness only made his rage greater,
while his cutting blade showed no lack of skill.
They battled at the gate and then in the air,
one changing face and form at will,
the other standing his ground and stretching his waist.
Clouds thickened across the sky;
mist drifted over all the fields.
One fought with the purpose of eating Tripitaka,
the other with all his divine force to protect the Tang.
The Buddha had entrusted the scriptures to this road,
and right and wrong were locked in bitter enmity.

The old demon and the Great Sage fought more than twenty rounds, and neither gained the upper hand.

Now Bajie, seeing the two of them fighting well, could not hold back. He drew his rake, drove through the wind, and leaped up, aiming a jab at the monster's face.

The monster was alarmed. He did not know that Bajie was a reckless tiger-headed fellow who frightened people by charging in blindly.

The old demon only knew that Bajie had a long mouth and big ears and a hard rake. Thinking the battle was lost, he dropped his blade and turned to flee.

Wukong shouted, "Catch him, catch him."

That fool became bold, raised his rake, and hurried in pursuit.

The old demon saw him close behind, stopped on the slope, turned to face the wind, shook himself, and revealed his true body. He opened his great mouth and meant to swallow Bajie.

Bajie was frightened and quickly dived into the grass. He did not care about the thorns and briars, nor the scratches on his head. Trembling, he crouched in the grass and listened to the wind's sound.

Wukong caught up behind him, and the monster also opened its mouth to swallow him. But it fell into his trap. Wukong withdrew the staff and rushed straight in, only to be swallowed whole by the monster.

Bajie, hidden in the grass, muttered in annoyance, "This Marshal Canopy does not know when to advance or retreat. The monster came to eat you, and you did not run. Instead you went right toward him! Now that you have been swallowed, today you are still a monk, and tomorrow you will be just another bowel movement."

The monster won the fight and turned back. Only then did Bajie crawl out of the grass and sneak back along the old road.

Tripitaka and Sha Wujing were waiting at the foot of the slope when they saw Bajie running back, panting.

Tripitaka was shocked. "Bajie, how have you come to this sorry state? Where is Wukong?"

The fool wept as he said, "Senior Brother has been swallowed whole by the monster."

Tripitaka heard this and fell to the ground. After a long while he beat his feet and thumped his chest. "Disciple! You said you knew how to subdue monsters and lead me west to see the Buddha. Who knew you would die at the hands of this creature today? Alas, alas! All the labor of my disciples and companions has now turned to dust."

He was in terrible pain.

Look at the fool. He did not even comfort his master. Instead he cried, "Brother Sha, take the baggage. Let us split it between us."

Sha Wujing asked, "Second Brother, split what?"

Bajie said, "Split up and each go our separate way. You go back to the Flowing-Sand River and eat people again. I will go back to High Family Mansion and look after my wife. We can sell the white horse and buy a coffin for Master."

Tripitaka heard this and, with tears streaming, called on Heaven itself. We will not speak of that for the moment.

Now the old demon swallowed Wukong and thought he had won. He went back to his cave, where the little demons greeted him and asked about the battle.

The old demon said, "I have caught one."

The second demon was delighted. "Brother, who did you catch?"

The old demon said, "Sun Wukong."

The second demon asked, "Where is he?"

The old demon said, "He is in my belly."

The third demon was shocked. "Big Brother, did I not tell you that Sun Wukong is not good to eat?"

Inside the belly, the Great Sage said, "He is very good to eat, and he can stand hunger too. I will not be hungry again."

The little demons panicked. "Great King, this is bad. Sun Wukong is talking inside your belly."

The old demon said, "Why fear him talking? If he can eat him, why can he not manage him? Quickly bring some salted white broth. I will drink it down, make him vomit back up, and then slowly stew him as a drinking dish."

The little demons truly made half a basin of salted broth.

The old demon drank it all at once, opened his mouth, and really did retch. But the Great Sage had taken root inside his belly and did not move at all.

The old demon kept heaving and spitting, until his eyes blurred and his gall dried out, but Wukong still would not budge.

At last the old demon gasped, "Sun Wukong, will you not come out?"

Wukong said, "It is too early. I am not coming out yet."

The old demon said, "Why not?"

Wukong said, "You monster, you truly do not know how to adapt. I have been a monk all my life and live on very plain fare. Now that autumn has turned cool, I still wear only a single cassock. Your belly, however, is warm and windless. Let me stay here until winter has passed, and then I will come out."

The demons all heard this and said, "Great King, Sun Wukong means to spend the winter in your belly."

The old demon said, "If he wants to spend the winter, I will take up meditation and use the breath-carrying method. I can go the whole winter without food and starve that Marshal Canopy to death."

Wukong said, "My son, you do not understand. Old Sun escorted Tripitaka west to seek scriptures and came prepared. I even brought a folding pot and came in to cook offal. I will take your liver, intestines, stomach, and lungs and eat them slowly, and they will carry me all the way to Clear and Bright Festival."

The second demon was alarmed. "Brother, this monkey can do it."

The third demon said, "Brother, eating offal is one thing, but where will he set up the pot?"

Wukong said, "The best place is on the three-pronged bone."

The third demon said, "That is bad. If he sets up a pot and starts a fire, the smoke will rise into the nostrils. Will we not sneeze?"

Wukong laughed. "No matter. Old Sun will thrust the Golden-Hooped Rod up through the top of your skull and make a hole.

First, it can be a skylight; second, it can be a smoke vent."

The old demon heard this and, though he claimed not to be afraid, he was still uneasy. He had no choice but to harden his courage and say, "Brothers, do not fear. Bring me my medicinal wine. Let me drink a few cups and poison the monkey."

Wukong laughed inwardly. "When Old Sun raised havoc in Heaven five hundred years ago, I ate Laozi's elixirs, the Jade Emperor's wine, the Queen Mother's peaches, and phoenix marrow and dragon liver. What has he got that I have not eaten? What medicinal wine can poison me?"

The little demons truly strained out two pots of medicinal wine and filled a cup to the brim for the old demon.

The old demon took it in hand, and inside his belly Wukong caught the scent of wine and said, "Do not let him drink that."

The Great Sage twisted his head and turned into a trumpet-shaped mouth under the demon's throat.

The monster gulped down the wine, and Wukong gulped it right back up. The second cup went down, and Wukong gulped that too. In this way he drank seven or eight cups, all of them received by Wukong.

The old demon put down the cup and said, "No more. When I drink two cups at most, my stomach feels like fire. Yet now I have drunk seven or eight cups and my face is not even red."

As for the Great Sage, he did not often drink much, but after receiving those seven or eight cups he set off a drunken storm inside the monster's belly. He kept bracing himself, falling flat, kicking, hanging by the liver, doing handstands, somersaults, and wild turns. The monster could not bear the pain and fell to the ground.

But what became of him in the end, and whether he lived or died, that must wait for the next chapter.