Chapter 20: Yellow Wind Ridge Brings Tripitaka to Peril; Bajie Races Ahead on the Mountainside

The Dharma is born from the heart, and from the heart it is also destroyed.
Who brings forth birth and death? Judge that for yourself.
Since all of it is your own heart, why need another man's words?
Only grind yourself through bitter toil until you wring the blood from iron.
Thread a velvet cord through the nose and draw the wild thing tight to the void.
Tie him to the tree of nonaction and do not let him rear and bolt.
Do not mistake the thief for your son; forget the mind-law altogether.
Do not let him deceive you: one fist, and strike him clean.
When the heart appears, there is still no heart; when the method appears, even the method must stop.
When man and ox are nowhere to be seen, the blue sky shines clear and bright.
The autumn moon is round as ever, and the two are hard to tell apart.

This verse was proof that Tripitaka had thoroughly awakened to the Heart Sutra and opened the gate. The elder recited it over and over, keeping it always in mind, until a single glimmer of light shone forth of itself. And so the three of them traveled on, eating wind and sleeping by water, wearing stars and moonlight. Before long they had reached the heat of summer.

Flowers were done, and butterflies had no further feelings to tell;
the trees stood high, and cicadas filled the air with their cries.
Wild silkworms were spinning their cocoons, and the pomegranates blazed red;
in the marshes, the fresh lotus had begun to show.

That day they were on the road when evening came on all at once, and by the roadside ahead they saw a village house. Tripitaka said, "Wukong, look there. The setting sun hides its fire wheel in the western hills, and the moon rises over the eastern sea with its ice wheel. Happily there is a household by the road. Let us borrow a night's lodging there and set out again tomorrow."

Bajie said, "Just so. Old Pig is hungry too, and if we go and ask for a vegetarian meal, I will have enough strength to carry the luggage."

Wukong said, "You homesick fool. You have been away from home only a few days, and already you are grumbling."

Bajie said, "Brother, it is not like you wind-eating, smoke-swallowing fellows. Since I have followed Master these few days, I have endured half a bellyful of hunger. Do you know that or not?"

Tripitaka said, "Wuneng, if your heart is still set on home, then you are not the kind of man meant for the religious life. Go back, then."

The fool was frightened and dropped to his knees at once. "Master, do not listen to Senior Brother. He has a nasty way of speaking ill of people. I have not been complaining at all. He says I am complaining simply because I said I was hungry and wanted to find a house to ask for food.

"I am a simple-minded blunt fellow. I only said my stomach was empty so that we might find a household and beg a vegetarian meal. Then he called me a homesick fool. Master, I have taken the Bodhisattva's precepts and received your pity, and I am willing to serve you on the road to the Western Heaven without any thought of turning back. This is what is called bitter cultivation.

"How can you say it is not the speech of a monk?"

Tripitaka said, "If that is so, get up."

The fool sprang to his feet, muttering under his breath, and took up the load again with a dead-set face as he followed along.

Before long they had reached the gate of the roadside house. Tripitaka dismounted. Wukong took the reins, Bajie set down the luggage, and all three stood beneath the green shade.

Tripitaka leaned on his nine-ringed monk's staff and adjusted the vine-woven mantle about his shoulders before going first to the door. There he saw an old man reclining on a bamboo couch, murmuring the Buddha's name under his breath. Tripitaka did not dare speak loudly. Instead he called softly, "Alms-giver, may I ask after you?"

The old man sprang up at once, straightened his robe, and came out to return the bow. "Reverend sir, I have been rude in not meeting you at the door. From what place do you come, and why have you come to my poor gate?"

Tripitaka said, "This poor monk is a monk from Great Tang, sent by imperial command to the Thunderclap Monastery to worship the Buddha and seek the scriptures. We have just reached your blessed place and night has fallen. I have come to your honorable house to ask the kindness of a single night. I beg your help."

The old man waved his hands and shook his head. "You cannot go. The Western Heaven is hard to reach by scripture. If you want scriptures, go to the Eastern Heaven."

Tripitaka said nothing, but in his heart he wondered, "The Bodhisattva pointed the way west. Why does this old man say east? How could there be scriptures in the east?" He sat there embarrassed and could not answer for a long while.

Now Wukong, by nature fierce and impatient, could not hold his tongue. He stepped up and shouted, "Old man, for one so old you know very little. We monks have traveled a long way to ask for lodging, and you throw such irritating nonsense at us to scare us off. If your house is too small and there is no room to sleep, we can sit under a tree for the night and not trouble you."

The old man grabbed Tripitaka by the sleeve and said, "Master, you do not speak, but your disciple has that crooked face, that twisted jaw, that thunder-god's mouth and those red eyes, like some fever demon. Why does he dare charge at an old man like me?"

Wukong laughed. "Old man, you have no eye for talent. The pretty fellows are called good to look at but not to eat. I, old Sun, may be small, but I am solid enough. I am all muscle under this skin."

The old man said, "I suppose you must have some skill."

Wukong said, "I dare not boast, but I do manage."

The old man asked, "Where is your home, and why did you shave your head and become a monk?"

Wukong said, "Old Sun was born in Aolai Country, in the Eastern Continent, on Flower-Fruit Mountain, in the Water-Curtain Cave. From childhood I learned to be a monster and earned the name Wukong. By my own ability I became the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Because I refused to accept Heaven's roster, I raised a great rebellion in the Heavenly Palace and brought down a whole disaster upon myself.

"Now that I have escaped my calamity, I have taken refuge in the monk's gate and protect my master on his journey west to pay homage to the Buddha. What mountain can be too high, what road too steep, what water too wide, what waves too wild? Old Sun can seize monsters, subdue demons, tame tigers, and catch dragons. I can even kick at Heaven's well and jar the earth's shaft. I know a little bit of everything. If your honorable house has any loose bricks to fall, any pots crying out, any door that keeps opening by itself, Old Sun can quiet the whole business."

The old man heard this and laughed aloud. "So you are a familiar-tongued monk come to beg from the door."

Wukong said, "If I am familiar-tongued, your son is familiar-mouthed. I have been walking hard with my master these days, and I am only lazy with words."

The old man said, "If you are not tired and not lazy with words, you would chatter me to death. If you have such skill, then the Western road can still be traveled. Come, come. How many of you are there? Please come into my humble house and rest."

Tripitaka said, "I am most grateful for your kindness in not rebuffing us. We are three in all."

The old man said, "Where are the others?"

Wukong pointed and said, "Old man, your eyes are cloudy. Are those not the ones standing in the green shade?"

The old man really was half blind. When he lifted his head and looked closely, he saw Bajie and was so frightened that he stumbled backward again and again, running wildly for the house and shouting, "Close the gate! Close the gate! A monster has come!"

Wukong hurried forward and held him fast. "Old man, do not be afraid. He is my junior brother, not a monster."

The old man trembled and said, "Good, good, good. One monk is ugly enough, and the other is uglier still."

Bajie stepped up and said, "Old sir, if you judge by looks alone, you are far off. We may be ugly, but we are useful."

While the old man was still speaking with the three monks at the door, two young men came in from the south field with an old mother and three or four little children, all barefoot and with their hems tucked up from transplanting rice. They saw the white horse, the load of baggage, and the noise by the gate, and did not know what sort of people had come. They crowded up at once and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Bajie turned his head, wagged his ears twice, and stretched his long snout, so that those people were scared into stumbling over one another in confusion. Tripitaka was startled and kept saying at once, "Do not be afraid, do not be afraid. We are not bad men. We are monks seeking the scriptures."

Only then did the old man come out again and help the mother by the arm. "Mother, get up. Do not be frightened. These masters are from Great Tang. Their faces are only a little ugly, but a rough look often hides a good heart. Take the children home."

Then the mother took the old man by the arm, and the two young men led the children inside.

Tripitaka sat down on the bamboo couch under the gatehouse and complained, "Disciples, the two of you are ugly in face and rough in speech. You have frightened this whole family half to death and laid sins on my shoulders."

Bajie said, "To tell the truth, Master, since I have followed you these days, I have grown much better-looking. When I was still at Gao's house, if I opened my mouth and flung my ears out to the sides like I used to, I could scare twenty or thirty people to death at once."

Wukong laughed. "Fool, stop rambling and tuck some of that ugliness away."

Tripitaka said, "Look at what Wukong is saying. A face is born that way. How can you tuck it away?"

Wukong said, "Just stuff that rake-mouth into your chest and do not let it out; press those fan ears back and do not wag them. That counts as tidying up."

Bajie really did tuck in his mouth and lay back his ears, then stood on either side with his head bowed. Wukong carried the luggage into the house and tied the white horse to a post.

Soon the old man brought a young fellow with a tray and offered three bowls of clear tea. After the tea, he ordered a vegetarian meal prepared. The young fellow then set out an old table with holes in it and no varnish left on it, and two broken stools with split legs, placing them in the courtyard so the three guests could sit in the shade.

Tripitaka asked, "Old benefactor, what is your family name?"

The old man said, "My surname is Wang."

Tripitaka asked, "How many children do you have?"

He said, "Two sons and three grandsons."

Tripitaka said, "Congratulations, congratulations."

He asked again, "How old are you this year?"

The old man said, "I am a shameful sixty-one."

Wukong said, "Good, good, good. Then you have met your sexagenary cycle twice over."

Tripitaka asked again, "Old benefactor, why did you first say the Western scriptures were hard to obtain?"

The old man said, "The scriptures are not hard to obtain. It is only that the road is rough and difficult. Going west from here, some thirty li away, there is a mountain called Yellow Wind Ridge. There are many monsters in that mountain. That is why I said it is hard to obtain. If you count this little elder monk of yours, he does seem to have some skill and may perhaps go through."

Wukong said, "No matter, no matter. With Old Sun and my junior brother here, whatever monster it is will not dare come near us."

While they were speaking, the son brought the meal and set it on the table, saying, "Please eat."

Tripitaka joined his palms and began to chant the vegetarian meal prayer. Bajie had already swallowed one bowl.

Before the elder's few lines of scripture were even finished, the fool had eaten three more bowls. Wukong said, "This rice-bran fool, you would think he had run into a starving ghost."

Old Wang, seeing how quickly he ate, was also quick to grasp the situation and said, "This elder must be truly hungry. Bring more rice at once."

The fool really did have a huge stomach. Without lifting his head, he went on to eat a dozen bowls in one run. Tripitaka and Wukong each managed scarcely two bowls. Bajie did not stop eating there.

Old Wang said, "The food is plain and there is no elaborate dish, so I dare not urge you too hard. Please have another chopstickful."

Tripitaka and Wukong both said, "That is enough."

Bajie said, "Old man, what are you mumbling for? Who is taking your readings and tossing around your five lines and six lines? If there is food, just bring it."

In one sitting the fool cleared out the whole household's rice, and still said he was only half full. Only then were the dishes put away, and they laid out bamboo couches under the gatehouse for sleep.

At dawn the next day Wukong went to fetch the horse, and Bajie went to bundle the load. Old Wang also had the mother prepare some cakes and soup to see them on their way, and the three of them thanked him before taking leave.

The old man said, "If anything unexpected should happen on the road, you must come back to my humble house."

Wukong said, "Old man, do not talk nonsense. We monks do not walk back along the same road."

So they mounted and took the westward road. Ah! On this journey, there truly was no good road leading west to the foreign lands, only a certainty that demons and evil powers would bring great calamity.

They had not gone half a day before they came to a high mountain. Its steepness was fearsome indeed. Tripitaka reined in the horse at the cliff edge and looked up at the peak with alarm. It was truly a mountain where:

High is the mountain, steep is the ridge;
up is the cliff, deep is the gorge;
clear is the spring, bright are the flowers.
The peak rises straight into the blue sky;
the ravine below seems to show the netherworld itself.
Before the mountain stand great white clouds and strange standing stones,
and there is no end to the thousand- and ten-thousand-foot cliffs that seem to cut the soul.
Behind the crags lie twisting dragon caves,
and within them drip-drip the water falls from the rocks.
There are horned deer moving crookedly through the paths,
ignorant gazelles staring dumbly at men,
coiled black-scaled pythons,
and frolicsome white-faced apes.
Toward evening tigers search the mountains for their lairs;
at dawn dragons rise from the waves and come out of the water.
The cave gate rattles with a roar.
Birds burst from the grass in a clatter,
and beasts of the forest scurry away.
Suddenly a pack of wolves and insects swept by,
and men could not help but quake with fear.
This is the mountain where caves topple into caves, and caves topple again into caves;
blue ridges are dyed into a thousand-foot jade,
and the green gauze of cloud covers ten thousand heaps of mist.

The master slowed his silver steed; the Great Sage let the clouds lag; Bajie dragged the luggage and went at a slow pace. While they were looking at the mountain, a whirlwind suddenly rose. Tripitaka, still in the saddle, was startled and said, "Wukong, the wind has come up."

Wukong said, "What is there to fear about wind? It is only one of Heaven's four-season breaths."

Tripitaka said, "This wind is vicious. It is not like ordinary heavenly wind."

Wukong said, "How do you know it is not like heavenly wind?"

Tripitaka said:

Grand and sweeping, it comes whistling on,
vast and dim, and out of the blue void.
Crossing a ridge, it makes a thousand trees roar;
entering the forest, it stirs a hundred thousand stalks.
Along the bank it shakes the willows from their roots;
in the garden it blows blossoms and leaves away.
Fishermen gather in their nets and lash their boats tight;
travelers drop their sails and throw down anchor.
On the road, the peddler loses his way;
in the mountains, the woodcutter can hardly carry his load.
Monkeys scatter through the orchards of immortal fruit;
deer flee from the strange flowers in the thickets.
In the cliffs, cypresses and junipers are all blown over;
in the ravines, pines and bamboo shed leaf after leaf.
Dust is flung up everywhere, and sand flies in bursts;
the river is churned, the sea is lashed to foam.

Bajie stepped forward and grabbed Wukong by the sleeve. "Senior Brother, the wind is too strong. Let us hide for a bit and be safe."

Wukong laughed. "Brother, you are useless. If the wind is strong, you hide. What will you do if you come face to face with a monster?"

Bajie said, "Brother, have you never heard the saying, 'Avoid desire as you would an enemy; avoid wind as you would arrows'? We would do no harm to anyone if we just hid for a bit."

Wukong said, "Say no more. Let me catch a handful of that wind and smell it."

Bajie laughed. "Senior Brother, now you are telling a barefaced lie. How can wind be caught and smelled? Even if you could catch it, it would have blown away already."

Wukong said, "Brother, you do not know that Old Sun has a wind-catching method."

The Great Sage let the wind face pass and caught the tail of it to smell. There was a fishy odor. He said, "Indeed it is no good wind. This smell is not tiger wind. It must be monster wind, and there is certainly something strange about it."

He had barely finished speaking when a striped tiger sprang down the slope, tail lashing and paws flying. Tripitaka was so frightened that he could not sit steady in the saddle and tumbled head over heels off the white horse, landing crookedly by the roadside, his soul nearly gone from his body.

Bajie threw down the luggage, snatched up his rake, and would not let Wukong get ahead of him. He shouted, "You evil beast, where do you think you are going?" and rushed up to strike at once.

The tiger stood straight up, raised its left forepaw, and clawed its own chest. With a ripping sound, it peeled off its own skin and stood there by the road. Look at that hideous shape! Blood-red flesh laid bare, red and twisting legs, the hair on its temples standing up like flame, the brows bristling hard and straight, four white steel teeth, and a pair of shining golden eyes. He drew a breath and bellowed like thunder:

"Wait, wait. I am not some common beast. I am the front-line vanguard under the Yellow Wind Demon, sent by order to patrol the mountain and seize a few mortals for a meal. Where do you monks come from, and how dare you swing weapons at me?"

Bajie cursed him. "You stripped-skinned brute! You do not know who we are. We are not passing mortals. We are disciples of Tripitaka, the imperial brother of Great Tang, sent by imperial command to the West to worship the Buddha and seek the scriptures. Get out of the way and keep your distance. Do not frighten my master, and I may spare your life. If you act up again, my rake will show you no mercy."

The demon would not let him finish. He rushed in close, threw a feint, and reached toward Bajie with clawed hands. Bajie dodged and swung the rake. The creature had no weapon, so he turned and ran. Bajie chased after him. When the demon reached the loose rocks below the slope, he drew out two red-copper blades and turned back to meet him. The two of them fought and surged back and forth along the slope.

Sun Wukong helped Tripitaka to his feet and said, "Master, do not be afraid. Sit still a moment while I go help Bajie beat that creature down so we can travel on."

Tripitaka had only just managed to sit up when he began to chant the Heart Sutra with shaking lips, and for the present nothing more need be said of him.

Wukong drew his iron staff and shouted, "Take him!"

By this time Bajie had gathered his spirit and was fighting full force, and the demon was losing ground. Wukong said, "Do not spare him. Make sure you stay on him."

The two of them raised rake and staff and chased the creature down the mountain.

The demon, seeing he could not hold his ground, used a trick of the golden cicada and shed his shell. He rolled once and showed his true form again, which was indeed a fierce tiger. Wukong and Bajie were not willing to let him go and chased after him, determined to root him out. But the demon saw them close on his heels, clawed at his own chest, and peeled off his tiger skin, covering the prone tiger stone with it. Then he slipped out of his true body, turned into a blast of wind, and went straight back to the road.

There he suddenly found Tripitaka chanting the Heart Sutra and grabbed him at once, riding the long wind and carrying him off.

Alas for Tripitaka: the river of flowing dust had already been marked for hardship, and in the gate of stillness and extinction his practice was not easy to complete.

The demon took Tripitaka to the mouth of the cave and, still holding the whirlwind in check, told the gatekeeper, "Go report to the Great King that the frontline tiger vanguard has captured a monk and is waiting outside for orders."

The cave master gave the command to bring him in. The tiger vanguard, with two red-copper blades tucked at his waist, held Tripitaka in both hands and knelt before the master.

"Great King," he said, "this unworthy one was sent by your order to patrol the mountain. I happened to meet a monk. He is the imperial brother Tripitaka from Great Tang, sent west to worship the Buddha and seek the scriptures. I have captured him and bring him here as a small offering for a meal."

The cave master was startled. "I have heard it said before that Tripitaka is a divine monk sent on imperial command to fetch the scriptures, and that under him there is a disciple named Sun Wukong, with great supernatural power and sharp intelligence. How could you have captured him?"

The vanguard said, "He has two disciples. One arrived first and uses a nine-toothed rake. He has a long mouth and big ears. The other uses a Golden-Hooped Rod and has fiery eyes and golden pupils. While they were busy fighting over me, I used a golden cicada shell trick, slipped away, and brought this monk here to offer your Majesty as a dish."

The cave master said, "Do not eat him yet."

The vanguard said, "Great King, if there is food and you do not eat it, is that not a poor way to live?"

The cave master said, "You do not understand. It would not matter much if we ate him, except that his two disciples would surely come banging at the door and making trouble. That would not be safe.

"Bind him instead to the Wind-Settling Post in the back garden. If those two do not come to disturb us for three or five days, then we can first have the pleasure of his clean body and avoid any argument with our mouths. We can stew him, steam him, fry him, or saute him at our leisure. Would that not suit us better?"

The vanguard was delighted. "Great King, you are farsighted indeed. Well said."

He called out, "Take him away."

Seven or eight binding hands crowded up from the side and carried Tripitaka off, winding ropes around him as though an eagle had seized a swallow.

This is the sorrow of the man from the River of Flowing Sands, who thought of Wukong in his hour of trouble and of Wuneng in his distress. He cried out, "Disciples! I do not know on what mountain you have seized your monster, or in what place you have subdued your demon, and I am already taken here by the devil's head and suffering this abuse. When shall I see you again? How bitter this is! If you had come a little sooner, you might still have saved my life. If you come too late, I will certainly not be spared." He sighed and wept as if the rain had fallen from his eyes.

Now Wukong and Bajie had chased the tiger down the slope and saw him collapse by the cliff face. Wukong struck with all his strength, only to hurt his own hand. Bajie struck again with the rake and chipped the tines.

It turned out to be only a tiger skin laid over the prone tiger stone.

Wukong cried out in alarm, "Bad news! Bad news! He has tricked us."

Bajie asked, "What trick?"

Wukong said, "This is called the golden cicada sheds its shell. He covered this place with the tiger skin and slipped away. Let us go back and see Master. Do not let him suffer any harm."

The two of them rushed back, only to find Tripitaka already gone.

Wukong shouted like thunder. "What now? Master has already been taken."

Bajie took the horse by the rein, tears dropping from his eyes. "Heaven above, heaven above! Where are we supposed to find him?"

Wukong lifted his head and said, "Do not cry. If you cry, you lose your edge. If we look hard enough, he is sure to be somewhere in this mountain. Let us search."

So the two of them truly rushed into the mountain, crossing ridges and climbing ravines. After a long while they saw, below a stone cliff, a cave dwelling rising up. They stopped and looked, and it was truly perilous.

You could see:

Layered peaks and sharp ridges, an ancient road winding back around the mountains.
Blue pines and green bamboo swaying gently; green willows and dark paulownias rising slowly.
Before the cliff stood strange stones in pairs; within the forest, wild birds called to one another.
Ravines carried water far off against the rock wall, and mountain springs dripped in fine threads over the sandy bank.
Wild clouds drifted in patches, and fairy grasses stood in soft ranks.
Foxes and rabbits darted about in confusion; horned deer and fragrant gazelles all strained to show their courage.
Thousand-year vines hung slantwise from split cliffs; ten-thousand-year cypresses half hung over deep ravines.
The mountain lord was grand enough to shame Mount Hua; falling flowers and crying birds rivaled Tiantai.

Wukong said, "Brother, leave the luggage in the wind-sheltered hollow and let the horse graze. Do not show yourself. I will go to his gate and fight him. We must capture the demon before we can save Master."

Bajie said, "No need to tell me twice. Go quickly."

Wukong straightened his robe, tightened his tiger-skin skirt, gripped his staff, and went straight to the gate. There on the gate were six large characters: Yellow Wind Ridge Yellow Wind Cave.

He planted his feet, raised his staff, and shouted, "Demon, send my master out at once, and save me the trouble of turning your nest upside down and trampling your house flat."

The little monsters heard him and were scared out of their wits. They ran inside trembling to report, "Great King, disaster!"

The Yellow Wind Demon, who was sitting in the hall, asked, "What is it?"

The little monster said, "Outside the cave there is a monkey-faced monk with a thunder-god's mouth, holding a huge iron staff and demanding his master."

The cave master was startled and called the Tiger Vanguard at once. "I sent you to patrol the mountain. You should have caught only mountain cattle, wild boars, fat deer, and scrub sheep. Instead you brought back that Tripitaka, and now his disciple has come here to make a racket. What are we to do?"

The vanguard said, "Do not worry, Great King. Leave it to me. I am not good for much, but I am willing to lead fifty little soldiers out and catch that Sun Wukong to go with the rest."

The cave master said, "I have five or six hundred little soldiers besides my officers, so choose as many as you like. Only capture Wukong, and we will eat the monk at our leisure. If you do that, I will gladly become your sworn brother. But if you fail and get yourself hurt, do not blame me afterward."

The tiger demon said, "Do not worry. I am going at once."

So he selected fifty strong little monsters, beat drums, waved flags, strapped on his two red-copper blades, and came rolling out of the gate. He shouted, "Where did this monkey monk come from, and why are you bawling so here?"

Wukong cursed him. "You peeled-skin beast! You used some shell-shedding trick to take away my master, and now you dare question me? Send my master back at once, and I may spare your life."

The tiger demon said, "Your master is with my Great King, and he is to be made into dinner. If you know what is good for you, go back. If not, I will catch you too and make a meal of the whole lot of you. Would that not be buying one and getting one free?"

Wukong's anger surged at the words. His steel teeth ground together, his fiery eyes widened, and he drew his iron staff with a shout. "What kind of tricks do you have that make you speak such bold nonsense? Do not run. Taste my staff."

The vanguard quickly raised his blades to meet him.

This fight was no small matter. The two of them displayed their full powers. Truly, it was a murderous scene:

The demon was a true hen's egg; Wukong was a stone egg.
Red-copper blades met the Handsome Monkey King, like eggs piled to smash against rock.
How can sparrows fight phoenixes, or doves contend with hawks?
The demon breathed wind and gray dust filled the mountain; Wukong spat mist and clouds hid the sun.
After three or five rounds, the vanguard's waist went soft and he had no strength left.
Turning his body to flee, he ran only into Wukong's relentless pursuit.

The tiger demon could not hold him off and turned to run. He had boasted before the cave master and did not dare go back to the cave, so he fled toward the mountainside. Wukong was not willing to let him go. With his staff in hand he chased and shouted without pause, and at last he came to the hollow where Bajie was guarding the horses.

Bajie heard the shouting, turned to look, and saw Wukong chasing the defeated tiger demon. He dropped the horse, raised his rake, and brought it down at an angle from the side. Poor vanguard! He had tried to jump out of the golden mesh only to meet the net-catcher at the same moment. Bajie's rake opened nine bloody holes in him, and all his brain matter ran out dry.

A verse says:

Three or five years ago I returned to the right school,
kept the fast and lived on plain fare, and awakened to true emptiness.
With a sincere heart I meant to protect Tang Sanzang,
and first took up the monk's path to win this merit.

Bajie planted one foot on the demon's back and swung the rake again and again. Wukong was delighted when he saw it. "Brother, that is exactly right. He led several dozen little monsters and dared to fight with Old Sun. I beat him down, and he ran not back to the cave but here to seek death.

"If you had not caught him, he might have escaped again. Was it he who used wind to carry off Master?"

Wukong said, "That was he indeed."

Bajie said, "Did you ask him where Master was?"

Wukong said, "That creature took Master into the cave to make him into dinner for that bull-headed Great King. I grew angry and fought him here, and then you took his life. Brother, this credit is yours. Keep watch over the horse and the baggage while I drag this dead monster away. Then I will go back to the cave gate and fight again. We must capture the old demon before we can save Master."

Bajie said, "Brother, well spoken. Go ahead. If you beat the old demon, come back here and I will cut him off at the pass for you."

Wukong, excellent as ever, held the iron staff in one hand and dragged the dead tiger with the other, going straight to the cave mouth. This is the tale: when the master is in trouble he meets a monster, and when heart and nature are in harmony they subdue the chaos demon. But whether he can conquer the demon and rescue Tripitaka from this place, that must wait for the next chapter.