Chapter 55

The Fiend of Lust Sports Lewdly with Tripitaka Tang; the Upright Nature in Discipline Keeps an Unharmed Body

Now the Great Sage Sun and Zhu Bajie were just about to cast the spell to fix those women when they heard a rushing of wind and Sha Monk shouting; and turning quickly, they saw the Tang monk was gone. Pilgrim said: "Who was it that snatched the master away?" Sha Monk said: "A woman — she raised a whirlwind and carried him off." Pilgrim heard, gave a whistle, leaped into the clouds, shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked all about. He saw a cloud of dust rolling on the wind, going off to the northwest. He turned quickly and called: "Brothers, quick — mount the clouds and come chase the master with me." Bajie and Sha Monk slung the bags on the horse, and with a whoosh all leaped into mid-air.

The queen and ministers of Western Liang, women all, fell on their knees in the dust, all saying: "Arhats flying to heaven in broad daylight — our sovereign need not be alarmed. The imperial brother of the Tang too is a monk of the Way; we had eyes and could not see, mistook a man of the Middle Land, and wasted all this dreaming. Pray mount your chariot, sovereign, and return to the palace." The queen was ashamed; the officers in a body returned to their country — but of that no more.

Now the three brothers, the Great Sage Sun and his company, rode the sky and trod the mist, chasing straight after the whirlwind. They came to a high mountain and saw the dust settled and quiet, the wind's head scattered — and where the demon had gone, no one could tell. The brothers brought down their clouds and mist and searched about for a way, when suddenly they saw, on one side, a green stone, bright and polished, like a screen. Leading the horse, the three went around the stone screen; behind it were two stone doors, and on them six great characters: the Lute Cave of Poison-Enemy Mountain. Bajie, knowing nothing, stepped up and began to dig at the door with his rake. Pilgrim hurriedly stopped him: "Brother, not so fast. We followed the whirlwind and happened to come here, and only after all this searching found this door — and how deep it goes, who knows? If this is not the door, would we not stir up resentment? Take the horse, you two, and go back and stand before the stone screen and wait a while, while old Monkey goes in and scouts — learns whether there is anything to it — and then we can act." Sha Monk heard and was delighted: "Good, good, good — a fine touch in a rough hand, and patience at the pinching hour." And the two led the horse back.

The Great Sage Sun showed his powers: he pinched the sign, murmured a charm, shook himself, and changed into a bee — a trim little thing indeed. Look at him:

Wings thin, soft on the wind; waist slight, slender in the sun.Its tongue sweet, it has sought the hearts of flowers; its tail keen, it subdues the toad.Its honey-work is small; entering the court, its manners are meek.Now it works a cunning stratagem and dances in beneath the door.

Pilgrim slipped in through a flaw in the door and flew past the second gate. There, in the flower pavilion at the center, sat an ogress in state, with girl attendants ranked on either side in colored gowns and embroidered dress, hair in double tufts, all in high glee, deep in talk of who knew what. Pilgrim flew up softly and perched on the lattice of the flower pavilion, and had just put his ear to listen when two girls, hair in boys' knots and heads uncombed, came up to the pavilion with two steaming trays of buns: "Madam, one tray is meat buns, stuffed with human flesh; one is vegetarian, stuffed with red-bean paste." The ogress laughed: "Lads, bring out the imperial brother of the Tang." Several girl attendants in colored gowns went to the back room and helped the Tang monk out. The master's face was yellow, his lips white, his eyes red with dripping tears. Pilgrim sighed in the dark: "The master has been poisoned."

The demon came down from the pavilion, showing ten slender fingers like spring scallions, and seized the elder: "Imperial brother, set your heart at ease. Though this is not the palace of the Women's Kingdom of Western Liang, and cannot match its riches and luxury, it is truly quiet and free — just the place for chanting the Buddha's name and reading the sutras. Be my companion in the Way, and we shall be a hundred years in harmony." Tripitaka said nothing. The demon said: "Do not brood. I know that at the banquet in the Women's Kingdom you never touched food or drink. Here are two trays of buns, meat and vegetables — take some to steady your nerves." Tripitaka thought in silence: "If I say nothing and eat nothing — this demon is not like that queen: the queen was a human body and moved with propriety; this creature is a demon spirit, and may do me harm. What then? My three disciples do not know I am trapped here; if she does me harm, shall I have thrown my life away for nothing?" Heart asked heart, and found no way out; he could only summon his spirits and open his mouth: "Which is the meat? Which the vegetable?" The ogress said: "The meat buns are stuffed with human flesh; the vegetable buns with red-bean paste." Tripitaka said: "This poor monk eats vegetables." The demon laughed: "Girl, bring hot tea for your venerable grandfather, with the vegetable buns." A girl brought a cup of fragrant tea and set it before the elder. The demon split a vegetable bun and handed it to Tripitaka; Tripitaka handed a whole meat bun back to the demon. The demon laughed: "Imperial brother — why do you not split it for me?" Tripitaka joined his palms: "I am a man of religion; I dare not break a meat bun." The ogress said: "You dare not break a meat bun — how was it you drank the water-high at the Mother-and-Child River the other day, and today relish red-bean paste?" Tripitaka said: "At the Water-High the boat left in haste; in the Sunken Sand the horse moved slow."

Pilgrim, listening at the lattice as the two sparred with words, feared the master's true nature might be troubled; he could not bear it, showed his true form, drew the iron staff, and roared: "Beast of calamity, have you no manners!" The ogress, seeing him, breathed from her mouth a cloud of smoky light that mantled the flower pavilion, and called: "Lads — take the imperial brother away." Then, taking a three-pronged steel fork, she sprang out the pavilion door, cursing: "Brazen ape, you shameless thing! How dare you sneak into my house and peep at my looks? Do not run — taste your mother's fork!" The Great Sage met it with the iron staff, fighting as he fell back, and the two fought their way out of the cave. Bajie and Sha Monk were waiting before the stone screen; suddenly seeing the two locked in combat, Bajie, alarmed, led the white horse aside: "Sha Monk, watch the luggage and the horse; let old Pig go and help them." Good Idiot! Rake in both hands, he hurried up, calling: "Brother, stand back — let me strike this brazen slut." Seeing Bajie come, the demon worked her art again: with a hoot, fire spurted from her nose and smoke rose from her mouth; she shook her body once, and the three-pronged fork flew whirling to meet them. No one could tell how many hands the ogress had; she came rolling on at them head and face. Pilgrim and Bajie held her off from both sides. The demon said: "Sun Wukong, you have no notion of advance or retreat. I know you, but you do not know me. Even the Tathagata Buddha in your own Thunderclap Monastery fears me. And you two hairy men — what would you amount to there? Come on, both of you, and see how you like my blows, one by one." And how could one see the worth of this battle:

The ogress brims with menace; the Monkey King's spirit rises.The Marshal Tianpeng, vying for glory, swings his rake in wild flourishes to show his powers.That one, many-handed, fork close-pressed, wrapped in smoky light; these two, hot-blooded, weapons strong, rolling up a fog.The ogress only wants a mate; how could the monk let spill his primal essence?Yin and yang unmatched, they hold each other fast; each flaunts his prowess, bitter in the fight.The yin would rest and nurse its bloom — yet stirs and stirs; the yang draws in its breath to guard its clearness.Thus neither side will be at peace: fork, rake, and iron staff stake win and loss.The staff has power — the rake has more; the ogress's steel fork meets them point for point.Before Poison-Enemy Mountain none will yield; outside the Lute Cave both sides know no pity.That one is glad to have the Tang monk for her phoenix mate; these two will follow the elder to fetch the true scriptures.They come together in a battle that shakes heaven and earth, and fight till sun and moon lose light and the stars are changed.

The three fought a long while, neither side winning. The ogress gave a leap and brought out her Horse-Felling Poison Sting, and before anyone knew it pricked the Great Sage on the scalp. Pilgrim cried "Ouch!" — he could not bear it, and ran from the field hugging his pain. Bajie, seeing things go ill, dragged his rake and gave ground. The demon, victorious, put up her steel fork.

Pilgrim held his head, brows knotted, face grim: "Terrible! Terrible!" Bajie came to him: "Brother, you were fighting at the height of it — why bawl your way off the field?" Pilgrim, holding his head, only said: "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts." Sha Monk said: "Has your headache come on?" Pilgrim hopped: "No, no." Bajie said: "Brother, I never saw you wounded — why the headache?" Pilgrim groaned: "Unbearable, unbearable. We were hard at it; when I broke her fork-play, she gave a leap — some weapon or other, who knows what — and it pricked my head; the ache is past bearing, so I lost the field." Bajie laughed: "You are always boasting in quiet corners that your head was tempered in the furnace. How is it one little prick has finished you?" Pilgrim said: "Indeed. This head of mine, since I was tempered to the true and stole the immortal peaches and wine and Laozi's golden pills, was never hurt — not when the great havoc in heaven came and the Jade Emperor sent the Strongman Ghost King and the twenty-eight mansions to escort me to the Palace of the Dipper and the Ox for execution, and their gods plied blade and axe, hammer and sword, thunder and fire; not when Laozi set me in the Eight Trigrams furnace and smelted me forty-nine days. And today who knows what weapon this woman used, to wound old Monkey's head." Sha Monk said: "Let go, and let me look — is the skin broken?" Pilgrim said: "Not broken, not broken." Bajie said: "I will go beg a plaster from Western Liang and stick it on for you." Pilgrim said: "No swelling and no break — how would a plaster stick?" Bajie laughed: "Brother, I never had the sicknesses of pregnancy and childbed — but you have gone and raised a boil on your brow."

Sha Monk said: "Second brother, leave off your joking. The sky darkens now; big brother's head is hurt, and whether the master lives or dies we do not know. What is to be done?" Pilgrim groaned: "The master is safe. When I went in, I changed into a bee and flew inside, and saw the woman sitting in the flower pavilion. Presently two maids came with two trays of buns: one stuffed with human flesh, meat; one with red-bean paste, vegetable. Then two girls helped the master out to eat one and steady his nerves — and she wanted him for a companion in the Way besides. At first the master would not answer the woman, nor eat the buns. But hearing her sweet words and pretty speeches, he somehow opened his mouth and said he ate vegetables. The woman split a vegetable bun and handed it to the master; the master handed her a whole meat bun. The woman said: 'Why not split it?' The master said: 'A man of religion dare not break a meat bun.' The woman said: 'If you will not break a meat bun, how was it you drank the water-high at the Mother-and-Child River the other day, and relish red-bean paste today?' The master, not taking her meaning, answered her in two lines: 'At the Water-High the boat left in haste; in the Sunken Sand the horse moved slow.' I heard it from the lattice, and fearing the master might lose his true nature, I showed my true body and struck out with the staff. She worked her magic, breathed out smoke and fog, called 'Take the imperial brother away,' and swinging her steel fork fought me out of the cave." Sha Monk heard and bit his fingers: "This brazen slut — where did she pick up our trail? She knows everything that happened."

Bajie said: "In that case there will be no sleeping for us. Never mind dusk or midnight — let us go demand battle at her gate, raise a din and racket, keep her from her sleep, and not let her toy with our master." Pilgrim said: "My head aches; I cannot go." Sha Monk said: "No need to demand battle: first, big brother's head aches; second, our master is a true monk — beauty and void will never trouble his nature. Let us sit the night out at the foot of the slope, out of the wind, gather our strength, and see to it at daybreak." So the three brothers tethered the white horse fast, guarded the baggage, and settled down below the slope — but of that no more.

Now the ogress put off her fierceness and put on her sweet looks again, and called: "Lads, shut the gates before and behind, tight." She set two on watch against Pilgrim: any sound at the door, report at once. And she said: "Girls, make the bedroom trim and bright; light the candles, burn the incense, and bring the imperial brother of the Tang — I will take my pleasure with him." Then she had the elder led out from behind. The ogress put on all her charm, took the Tang monk's arm, and said: "The saying goes: gold is not the precious thing; ease and comfort are worth the money. Come and be my husband for a while, and let us play." The elder set his teeth and let not a sound escape. To refuse outright he feared might move her to take his life; so, trembling, he followed her into the perfumed chamber — like a man dumb and bemused. He never raised his eyes to see what bed or curtains were in the room, nor knew what chests or dressing tables it held; and her talk of rain and cloud, of love's intent, fell on him unheard. A good monk, truly:

His eyes would not look on a lewd sight; his ears would not hear a wanton voice.He held the brocade charms like dung and earth, the gold-and-pearl beauty like dust and ash.All his life he has loved only the meditation of Chan; half a step he has not stirred from the Buddha's ground.He has no skill in cherishing jade or pitying perfume; he knows only to cultivate the true and nurture the nature.The ogress, warm and quick, has spring in her without bound; the elder, cold and fixed, has his Chan always in hand.One like soft jade and warm perfume; one like dead embers, a withered tree.That one spreads the mandarin-duck quilt, her lust running hot; this one girds his patched cassock, his loyal heart burning steady.She would press breast to breast, thigh to thigh, in pairing like the phoenix; he would face the wall, return to the mountain, and seek the Patriarch Bodhidharma.The ogress slips off her robes and parades her fragrant, silken skin; the Tang monk gathers his lapels and hides his coarse flesh and rough hide.The ogress says: "My pillow is spare, my quilt idle — will you not sleep?"The Tang monk says: "My head is shorn, my garments strange — how could I keep your bed?"That one says: "I would be Liu Cuicui of the former dynasty."This one says: "This poor monk is no Monk of the Moon."The ogress says: "I am fair as Xishi, and graceful as well."The Tang monk says: "For such a beauty the King of Yue long buried his dead."The ogress says: "Imperial brother, do you remember — 'Better to die beneath the flowers; even as a ghost one is gay'?"The Tang monk says: "My true yang is my supreme treasure — how could I lightly give it to a rouged skeleton..."

So the two of them sparred on in scraps of talk, deep into the night, and the Tang elder never stirred in his thoughts. The ogress pulled and tugged and would not let go; the master only sat old and staid, and would not consent. She badgered until past midnight, till the demon was vexed through, and called: "Lads, bring the rope." Poor fellow! With one rope they bound the man she loved till he looked like a trussed lion cub, dragged him out to lie under the corridor, blew out the silver lamp, and went each to her bed. Of the night, not a word.

The cock crew three times before they knew it. Below the slope the Great Sage Sun raised himself: "My head ached a while — but now it neither aches nor stings, only itches somewhat." Bajie laughed: "Itching? Then have her prick it again — how about it?" Pilgrim spat: "Shut up, shut up, shut up." Bajie laughed again: "Shut up, shut up — and our master, this night, was frisky, frisky, frisky." Sha Monk said: "No more squabbling. Day is breaking — quick, up and catch the demon early." Pilgrim said: "Brother, stay here and mind the horse, and do not stir. Bajie comes with me."

The Idiot shook out his spirits, tightened his black silk cassock, and followed Pilgrim, each with his weapon, up the cliff and straight to below the stone screen. Pilgrim said: "Wait here. The demon may have harmed the master in the night; first let me go in and scout. If she has beguiled him and he has lost his primal yang — the virtue truly lost — then we are done and all is over; but if his nature stands and his Chan heart has not stirred, then we can press the fight, beat the fiend to death, and rescue the master for the west." Bajie said: "How dense you are! The saying goes: can a dried fish make the cat a pillow? Even if it never came to that — even if it never came to that — there would be claw marks somewhere." Pilgrim said: "No crooked suspicions and no loose talk. Wait and see."

Good Great Sage! Around the stone screen, taking leave of Bajie, he shook himself, turned back into a bee, and flew in the gate. He saw two maids inside the gate, heads on their watch-clappers, fast asleep. He came to the flower pavilion and looked: the fiends had played all night and were weary; one and all, oblivious of dawn, still slept. Pilgrim flew around behind and dimly heard the Tang monk moaning. Looking up, he saw the master bound under the corridor, hands and feet lashed together. Pilgrim settled softly on the Tang monk's head and called: "Master." The Tang monk knew the voice: "Wukong has come? Quick — save my life." Pilgrim said: "And how went last night's good business?" The Tang monk said through his teeth: "I would die first — I would never consent to it." Pilgrim said: "Yesterday I saw her minded to tend and love you — how does she misuse you so today?" The Tang monk said: "She pestered me half the night. Never did I loose my sash, never did my body touch the bed. Seeing I would not consent, she had me bound here. Save me by all means, that I may go for the scriptures."

As master and disciple spoke, they woke the fiend. The demon, fierce as she was, still had a lingering fondness; turning over from a dream she caught the one phrase — "go for the scriptures" — tumbled out of bed, and called at the top of her voice: "Refusing to be good husband and wife — and off to fetch what scriptures?"

Pilgrim, alarmed, left the master, spread his wings in haste, flew out, showed his true form, and called: "Bajie." The Idiot came round the stone screen: "Did the thing come off?" Pilgrim laughed: "No, no. She fondled the old master and he would not have it, so in her vexation she bound him there. He was just telling me all that had passed when the fiend woke with a start, and I flew out in a fright." Bajie said: "And what did the master say?" Pilgrim said: "Only that he never loosed his sash nor touched her bed." Bajie laughed: "Good, good, good — a true monk after all! Let us go save him."

The Idiot was rough and ready: without one word he raised the rake, put his whole strength into one dig at the stone door, and smashed it into several pieces with a crash. The maids who slept on the watch-clappers were terrified and ran to the second gate, crying: "Open! The two ugly men of yesterday have broken the front door!" The ogress was just coming out of her room when four or five maids ran in to report: "Madam, those two ugly men of yesterday have smashed the front door again." The demon heard and hastily called: "Lads — heat water, wash my face, do my hair." And: "Carry the imperial brother, rope and all, to the back room and stash him there. I will go fight them."

Good fiend! Out she came, three-pronged fork raised, cursing: "Brazen ape! Wild boar! The height of ignorance. How dare you break my door?" Bajie cursed: "You lewd, cheap creature! You trapped my master — and you still have the gall to be sassy. My master you beguiled here to make your husband: hand him out quickly and I spare you; dare say one more 'no,' and one round of my rake will knock your very mountain flat." The fiend would brook no words: she shook out her frame, worked her art as before — smoke from nose and mouth, fire spitting out — and thrust the steel fork at Bajie. Bajie swung aside, and dug at her with the rake; the Great Sage Sun brought the iron staff to help with all his might. The demon worked her magic again — no telling how many hands — warding left and right. They traded three or five rounds, and no one knew what weapon it was that pricked Bajie on the lip. The Idiot dragged his rake, clapped hand to mouth, and fled for his life. Pilgrim too had some fear of her now: he dealt an empty blow and ran from the field. The demon returned in triumph and had her lads pile stones to wall up the front door — but of that no more.

Now Sha Monk was grazing the horse before the slope when he heard pig-grunts somewhere. Looking up, he saw Bajie coming, hand to mouth, groaning. Sha Monk said: "What happened?" The Idiot groaned: "Unbearable, unbearable — it hurts, it hurts." Before the words were done Pilgrim too was beside him, laughing: "Fine Idiot! Yesterday you swore I had a boil on my brow — today you have brewed a plague-mouth of your own." Bajie groaned: "Past bearing, past bearing — the pain is fierce, terrible, terrible."

While the three were at a loss, they saw an old mother coming down the South Mountain road with a green bamboo basket in her left hand, carrying vegetables. Sha Monk said: "Big brother, the old mother is near now. Let me ask her for news — what fiend this may be, what weapon, to wound men so?" Pilgrim said: "Wait — old Monkey will ask her." Pilgrim looked quickly with open eyes and saw above her head an auspicious cloud for a canopy, and about her a fragrant mist wrapping her body. Pilgrim knew her and cried at once: "Brothers, come and kowtow quickly — the old mother is the Bodhisattva come!" Bajie bore his pain and bowed in haste; Sha Monk led the horse and bent his body; the Great Sage Sun joined his palms and knelt, calling: "Homage to the Bodhisattva Guanyin of the Inspiring Response, of great mercy and great pity, who saves from suffering and sorrow!"

The Bodhisattva, seeing they knew her hidden radiance, trod her auspicious cloud, rose into mid-air, and showed her true image — the image of her with the fish basket. Pilgrim hastened up into the air and made his plea: "Bodhisattva, forgive your disciple's fault in failing to meet you. We have been striving to save our master, and did not know the Bodhisattva had come down. Now we have met a calamity we cannot master — I beg the Bodhisattva, save us, save us." The Bodhisattva said: "This fiend is terrible indeed. Her three-pronged fork is the pair of pincers she was born with; what pricks so sharply is the hook on her tail, called the Horse-Felling Sting. In her own body she is a scorpion spirit. Once she was in the Thunderclap Monastery listening to the Buddha preach, and the Tathagata, seeing her, unwarily pushed her with his hand; she turned her hook and stung him on the thumb of his left hand. The Tathagata too could not bear the pain, and ordered the vajras to seize her — but here she is. If the Tang monk is to be saved, you must go petition another; even I cannot come near her." Pilgrim bowed again: "I beg the Bodhisattva to tell me — whom else should we petition? I will go ask him at once." The Bodhisattva said: "Go in through the Eastern Gate of Heaven to the Palace of Light, and beg the Star Officer of the Mao constellation — only he can subdue her." With that she turned into a stream of golden light and went straight back to the South Sea.

Only then did the Great Sage Sun bring down his cloud, and say to Bajie and Sha Monk: "Brothers, be of good heart — there is rescue for the master." Sha Monk said: "Rescue from where?" Pilgrim said: "Just now the Bodhisattva directed me to petition the Star Officer of the Mao constellation. Old Monkey is off." Bajie, holding his mouth, groaned: "Brother — ask the star officer for some pain-killing medicine too." Pilgrim laughed: "No medicine needed — it was only after one night that the pain passed." Sha Monk said: "No more chatter — go quickly."

Good Pilgrim! In haste he mounted the somersault cloud and in a moment was outside the Eastern Gate of Heaven. Suddenly he saw the Heavenly King of Growth facing him with a salute: "Great Sage, where away?" Pilgrim said: "I am guarding the Tang monk west for the scriptures; a demon meshes us in the road, and I am bound for the Palace of Light to see the Star Officer of the Mao constellation." Suddenly he saw the four great marshals Tao, Zhang, Xin, and Deng, who asked too where he was going. Pilgrim said: "To find the Star Officer of the Mao constellation, to subdue a fiend and save my master." The four marshals said: "The star officer took the Jade Emperor's edict this morning and went to the Star-Gazing Terrace on patrol." Pilgrim said: "Is that so?" The Heavenly Lord Xin said: "We came down with him from the Palace of the Dipper and the Ox — would we lie?" The Heavenly Lord Tao said: "He has been gone a long while now; he may be back. Go first to the Palace of Light, Great Sage, and if he has not returned, go on to the Star-Gazing Terrace."

The Great Sage was glad, took leave of them, and came to the gate of the Palace of Light. Truly no one was there; he was turning to go when he saw a file of soldiers drawn up on that side, and behind them the star officer coming. The star officer still wore his court robes of audience, all golden thread. See him:

His cap is pinned with the Five Peaks in gold and splendor; in his hand the tablet of hills and rivers, jade-pure and rare.His robe hangs with the Seven Stars under drifting cloud; his girdle circles the eight limits, its precious rings a-light.His pendants chime like verses struck; his wind goes by like shaken bells.The kingfisher-feather fan opens on the Mao mansion; heaven's perfume floats and fills the courtyard.

The soldiers in front saw Pilgrim standing outside the Palace of Light and hurried back to report: "My lord, the Great Sage Sun is here." The star officer gathered in his clouds and mist, set his court robes to rights, halted his retinue, parted his attendants left and right, came up, saluted, and said: "Great Sage, what brings you?" Pilgrim said: "Solely to beg your aid in freeing my master from one tribulation." The star officer said: "What tribulation? In what place?" Pilgrim said: "In the Lute Cave on Poison-Enemy Mountain in the Kingdom of Western Liang." The star officer said: "What fiend keeps that cave, that he should call on this poor god?" Pilgrim said: "The Bodhisattva Guanyin just now showed herself and said it is a scorpion spirit, and named you alone as the one who could master it — and so I have come to ask you." The star officer said: "I meant to report back to the Jade Emperor, but the Great Sage is here, and the Bodhisattva's recommendation moves me besides; I fear the delay would spoil the business. This poor god dares not ask you in for tea — let us go subdue the fiend, and I will report to the throne afterward."

The Great Sage heard and went out the Eastern Gate with him, straight to the Kingdom of Western Liang; soon they could see Poison-Enemy Mountain was not far. Pilgrim pointed: "This is the mountain." The star officer brought down his cloud, and with Pilgrim came to below the slope before the stone screen. Sha Monk saw them: "Second brother, get up — big brother has fetched the star officer." The Idiot, still holding his mouth, said: "Forgive me, forgive me — I am sick and cannot bow." The star officer said: "You are a man of cultivation — what sickness have you?" Bajie said: "This morning, fighting the fiend, I was pricked on the lip, and it aches still." The star officer said: "Come up here and I will doctor you." The Idiot let go his mouth, groaning and whimpering: "Do cure me — and when I am well I will thank you." The star officer passed his hand once over the lip, blew one breath on it, and the pain was gone. The Idiot bowed in delight: "Wonderful! Wonderful!" Pilgrim laughed: "I trouble the star officer to rub my head too." The star officer said: "You were not stung — why rub it?" Pilgrim said: "I was stung yesterday; only after a night did the pain pass. There is still some numbness and itching, and I fear it may flare when the weather turns — I beg you cure it too." The star officer truly passed his hand once over his head, blew a breath, and the last of the venom was dissolved — no more numbness, no more itching. Bajie, fierce again: "Brother — away, and beat that brazen slut." The star officer said: "Just so, just so. You two call her out, and I will subdue her."

Pilgrim and Bajie leaped up the slope and came again behind the stone screen. The Idiot, cursing "hook-fingered hussy" and the like, dug with his rake and scraped away the stones piled before the cave door. He burst through the first gate, and another blow of the rake smashed the second to pieces. The imps inside flew in to report in terror: "Madam, the two ugly men have broken the second gate too." The fiend was just having the Tang monk untied and asking for vegetarian tea and food for him. Hearing the second gate smashed, she sprang out of the flower pavilion at once, whirled her fork, and stabbed at Bajie; Bajie met her with the rake; Pilgrim at the side struck in with the iron staff. The demon pressed in close to work her venom; but Pilgrim and Bajie knew her trick now, and turned and ran.

When the fiend had chased them past the stone screen, Pilgrim called: "Star of the Mao, where are you?" And there stood the star officer on the slope above; he showed his true form — a great cock with a double comb; raising his head, some six or seven feet tall, he crowed once at the fiend. The fiend showed her true form on the spot — a scorpion spirit the size of a pipa lute. The star officer crowed again; the fiend went limp through all her body and lay dead before the slope. There is a poem to prove it. The poem says:

A flowered comb, an embroidered neck, like a knotted tassel; claws hard, spurs long, eyes blazing.Leaping in mighty valor, he fulfills the five virtues; towering in strength, all envy his three crowings.No common barnyard bird crying at a thatched hut — he is a star of heaven bearing a sage's name.The venomous scorpion cultivated the human way in vain: back to her root, her true form is seen.

Bajie stepped up, set one foot on the creature's back and breast, and said: "Beast of calamity — no more Horse-Felling Sting for you!" The fiend never stirred; the Idiot dug with the rake till she was one mash of pulp. The star officer gathered his golden light again and rode away on a cloud. Pilgrim, Bajie, and Sha Monk bowed toward the sky with joined hands in thanks: "We have put you to trouble, put you to trouble. Another day we will call at your palace and repay you."

Their thanks done, they gathered the luggage and the horse and went into the cave, where the maids great and small knelt in two rows and bowed: "Sirs, we are no fiends — we are women of the Kingdom of Western Liang, carried off by this demon long ago. Your master sits in the perfumed chamber at the back, weeping." Pilgrim heard and looked carefully — truly not a breath of demon air about them. He went to the back and called: "Master." The Tang monk, seeing them all come, was overjoyed: "Worthy disciples, I have troubled you. And the woman?" Bajie said: "The creature was a great mother scorpion all along. Happily the Bodhisattva Guanyin pointed the way, and big brother went to heaven and brought down the Star Officer of the Mao constellation, who subdued her. Then old Pig dug her into mud, and we dared come in deep and look upon your face." The Tang monk thanked them without end. They found some vegetarian rice and noodles, prepared a meal, and ate. They drove the carried-off women down the mountain and showed them the road home. They lit a fire and burned the few rooms of the house to the ground. They helped the Tang monk into the saddle and took the high road west. Truly:

Severing the ties of dust, he left the realm of form; the golden sea wrung dry, he woke to the Chan heart.

But how many years would pass before the truth was won? Listen to the next chapter to find out.

The demon of lust wantons with Tripitaka Tang; The true nature holds its discipline, the body unharmed

The Great Sage Sun and Zhu Bajie were just about to fix the women with a spell when they heard the whistle of wind where Sha Monk was shouting. They turned quickly: the Tang monk was gone. Pilgrim said: "Who snatched the master away?" Sha Monk said: "A woman spun up a whirlwind and carried him off." Hearing this, Pilgrim whistled, leaped into the clouds, shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked all around. He saw a swirl of gray dust rolling away to the northwest. He turned quickly and called: "Brothers, quick, ride the clouds with me and chase after the master!" Bajie and Sha Monk slung the bags on the horse and, with a whoosh, jumped into midair.

The queen and the women of her court in West Liang, terrified, knelt in the dust and said: "Arhats rising to heaven in broad daylight! Our sovereign need not be alarmed. The royal brother of Tang is a monk of the Way as well. We all had eyes and could not see; we mistook this man of China and wasted all this scheming. Let our sovereign mount her carriage and return to court." The queen felt ashamed, and the officials all went back to the palace together—and no more of that.

The Great Sage Sun and his two brothers rode the sky and trod the mist, chasing straight after that whirlwind. They came to a high mountain, where the dust had settled and the wind had scattered, and where the demon had gone they could not tell. The brothers pressed down the clouds and mist and searched for a way. Suddenly they saw, on one side, a stretch of shining blue stone shaped like a screen. The three led the horse around the stone screen; behind it were two stone doors, and on the doors were six big characters: Poison-Enemy Mountain, Pipa Cave. Bajie, knowing no better, went up and battered the door with his rake. Pilgrim stopped him quickly: "Brother, not so fast. We followed the whirlwind and got here, and we searched a while before we found these doors, and we do not know how deep it goes. If these are not the right doors, would we not stir up trouble? You two lead the horse back and wait in front of the stone screen a while. Let Old Sun go in and ask around, see what is true and what is not; then we can act." Sha Monk, hearing this, was delighted: "Good, good, good! Careful inside the rough work, and easy just when things are urgent." The two led the horse back around.

The Great Sage Sun showed his power: he pressed his fingers into the sign, murmured a spell, shook himself, and changed into a bee, truly light and nimble. See him:

Wings thin and soft on the wind; waist slim and slender in the sun.Sweet of mouth, once a seeker of flower hearts; sharp of tail, a good tamer of toads.Its honey-making work is no small thing; returning to its court, it is meek in its manners.Now, to carry out a clever plan, it flies and dances in under the door eaves.

Pilgrim slipped in through a crack in the door and flew inside past the second door. There, sitting upright in the flower pavilion at the center, was a woman demon, with several girls in colored, embroidered dresses, their hair in two tufts, ranged on either side, all merry and glad, talking about who knows what. Pilgrim flew up lightly, perched on the lattice of the flower pavilion, and listened; then he saw two girls with loose hair and knotted tufts come up with two plates of steaming buns and say: "Granny, one plate is meat buns with human-meat filling, one is vegetarian buns with sweet-bean filling." The woman demon laughed: "Lasses, bring out the royal brother of Tang." Several girls in colored, embroidered dresses went to the back room and helped the Tang monk out. The master's face was yellow, his lips white, his eyes red and dripping tears. Pilgrim sighed in the dark: "The master has been poisoned."

The demon came down from the pavilion, her ten green-onion fingers slim and fine, took the elder by the hand, and said: "Royal brother, set your mind at rest. Though this is not the palace of the Women's Kingdom of West Liang, with none of its wealth and luxury, it is quiet and free here, just right for chanting the Buddha's name and reading the sutras. Be my companion in the Way, and we will live in harmony to a hundred years." Tripitaka said nothing. The demon said: "Do not sulk. I know you had no food or drink at the banquet in the Women's Kingdom. Here are two plates of buns, meat and vegetarian; help yourself to some and calm your nerves." Tripitaka thought hard to himself: "If I say nothing and eat nothing—but this monster is not like that queen. The queen was still a human being and moved by courtesy; this monster is a demon spirit, and I fear she means me harm. What can I do? My three disciples do not know I am trapped here. If she harms me, would I not throw my life away for nothing?" He asked his own heart, found no way out, and had to rouse himself and speak: "Which is the meat one? Which the vegetarian?" The demon said: "The meat ones are filled with human flesh; the vegetarian ones with sweet bean paste." Tripitaka said: "This poor monk eats vegetarian." The demon laughed: "Lasses, bring hot tea for your grandfather here, the master, to eat with his vegetarian buns." A girl did bring a cup of fragrant tea and set it before the elder. The demon split a vegetarian bun and handed it to Tripitaka, and Tripitaka handed the demon a whole meat bun. The demon laughed: "Royal brother, why do you not split it for me?" Tripitaka pressed his palms together: "I have left the world; I dare not break open meat." The demon said: "You dare not break open meat? Then how was it that the other day by the Mother-and-Child River you enjoyed the high water, and today you enjoy sweet bean filling?" Tripitaka said: "The water rose and the boat went fast; the sand gave way and the horse moved slow."

Pilgrim, listening through the lattice to their banter, feared the master would lose his true nature. He could not bear it, showed his true form, drew the iron staff, and shouted: "Beast, no manners!" The woman demon, seeing him, spewed a veil of smoky light from her mouth that covered the flower pavilion, and called: "Lasses, take the royal brother away." She took up a three-pronged steel fork, sprang out the pavilion door, and cursed: "Brazen, shameless monkey! How dare you sneak into my home and peep at my beauty? Do not run—take this old lady's fork!" The Great Sage met it with the iron staff, fighting and backing off at once, until the two had fought their way out of the cave. Bajie and Sha Monk were waiting in front of the stone screen; suddenly seeing the two locked in battle, Bajie, alarmed, led the white horse aside and said: "Sha Monk, you watch the luggage and the horses. Let this old pig go help with the fight." Good Idiot! He raised the rake in both hands, rushed up, and called: "Big brother, get behind me. Let me beat this brazen slut." Seeing Bajie come, the demon used another trick: with a snort, fire came from her nose and smoke from her mouth; she shook her body, and the three-pronged fork went dancing out to meet them. Who knows how many hands that woman demon had—she came rolling at them, head and face. Pilgrim and Bajie pressed her from both sides. The demon said: "Sun Wukong, you do not know when to advance or retreat. I know you, but you do not know me. Even the Buddha in your Thunderclap Monastery fears me. Do you think two hairy fellows like you could ever get there? Come up, both of you, one at a time, and take a good look at my beating." How do we know this battle was fine? The poem tells:

The woman demon's fury rises high; the Monkey King's spirits lift.Marshal Tianpeng, hungering for merit, wildly swings his rake to show his skill.The one has many hands, a tight fork, and smoke-light all around her; these two are hot-blooded, their weapons strong, their mist rising.The woman demon wants only a mate; how could the monk give up his vital essence?Yin and yang, mismatched, hold each other at bay; each shows his prowess and fights bitterly.Yin, calm, would nurse her health and longs for motion; yang, gathered in, guards its breath and loves its purity.So there is no peace between them: fork, rake, and iron staff stake the win and the loss.This one's staff is strong; the rake is stronger; the woman demon's steel fork meets it point to point.Before Poison-Enemy Mountain neither yields an inch; outside Pipa Cave both are without feeling.The one is glad to have the Tang monk for her phoenix mate; these two will follow the elder to fetch the true scriptures.They come to battle, shaking heaven and earth, and fight until the sun and moon lose their light and the stars change places.

The three fought a long time with no winner. The woman demon gave a spring, used her horse-toppling poison sting, and before anyone knew it had stung the Great Sage on the scalp. Pilgrim cried "Aiya!", could not bear it, and fled the field bearing the pain. Bajie, seeing things going badly, dragged his rake away and pulled back. The demon, victorious, put away her steel fork.

Pilgrim held his head, brows knitted, face grim, and cried: "Terrible! Terrible!" Bajie came up and asked: "Brother, you were in the middle of a good fight—why run off wailing?" Pilgrim, holding his head, kept saying: "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts." Sha Monk said: "Perhaps your old headache has flared up?" Pilgrim jumped: "No, no." Bajie said: "Brother, I never saw you wounded, and now you have a headache. Why?" Pilgrim, groaning, said: "It is too much, too much. We were fighting when she saw me break her fork play; she gave a spring, and with some weapon or other she stung my head. That is why it hurts so I can bear nothing, and that is why I lost the field." Bajie laughed: "Here you are, forever boasting in quiet places that your head was tempered by cultivation. How is it you cannot bear one little sting?" Pilgrim said: "True. Since I reached perfection and stole the immortal peaches and wine and Laozi's golden pills, and made my uproar in the Heavenly Palace, the Jade Emperor sent the strong ghost king and the Twenty-Eight Mansions to drag me to the Palace of the Dipper and the Ox to be cut to pieces. Those gods used blades, axes, mallets, and swords, thunder and fire; and Laozi put me in the Eight Trigrams furnace and baked me forty-nine days: none of it hurt me. Today I do not know what weapon this woman used, but it wounded Old Sun's head." Sha Monk said: "Let go, and let me look—is it broken?" Pilgrim said: "Not broken, not broken." Bajie said: "I will go beg a plaster from West Liang and stick it on for you." Pilgrim said: "No swelling, no wound—how would a plaster stick?" Bajie laughed: "Brother, I never had the sicknesses before and after childbirth, but you have gone and got yourself a boil on the brow."

Sha Monk said: "Second brother, no joking. It is getting late. Big brother has a wounded head, and we do not know if the master lives. What is to be done?" Pilgrim groaned: "The master is all right. When I went in, I changed into a bee and flew inside, and saw the woman sitting in the flower pavilion. Soon two maids brought in two plates of buns: one filled with human flesh, the meat kind; one filled with sweet bean paste, the vegetarian kind. Then two girls helped the master out, to eat one and calm his nerves, and she wanted to make him her companion in the Way. At first the master would not speak to the woman or eat the buns. But then, at her sweet words—I do not know how—he opened his mouth, and said he ate vegetarian. The woman split a vegetarian one and handed it to the master, and the master handed her a whole meat one. The woman said: 'Why not split it?' The master said: 'I have left the world; I dare not break open meat.' The woman said: 'If you dare not break meat, how was it that the other day by the Mother-and-Child River you drank the high water, and today you enjoy sweet bean filling?' The master did not catch her meaning and answered her: 'The water rose and the boat went fast; the sand gave way and the horse moved slow.' I heard it from the lattice and, fearing the master would lose his true nature, showed my true form and drew my staff to strike. She used her power too, spewed out smoke and mist, called 'Take the royal brother away,' swung her steel fork, and Old Sun fought her out of the cave." Sha Monk heard this and bit his fingers: "That brazen slut—who knows from where she came following us, to know all these things?"

Bajie said: "If that is how it is, we get no rest. Never mind dusk or midnight—let us go demand battle at her door, and make such a noise that she cannot sleep, so she cannot toy with our master." Pilgrim said: "My head aches; I cannot go." Sha Monk said: "No need to demand battle. First, big brother's head aches; second, our master is a true monk and will never let beauty and the world disorder his nature. Let us sit the night here below the slope, out of the wind, rest our spirits, and settle things at daybreak." So the three brothers tethered the white horse tight, guarded the bags, and settled down below the slope—and no more of that.

The woman demon put away her cruel thoughts, put on a happy face again, and called: "Lasses, shut the front and back doors tight." She set two on watch against Pilgrim, with orders to report the moment the door made a sound. Then she said: "Lasses, make the bedroom neat, light the candles, burn the incense, and bring the royal brother of Tang to me, that I may take my pleasure with him." They led the elder out from the back. The demon played up all her charms, took the Tang monk firmly by the hand, and said: "As the saying goes, 'Gold is not the treasure; peace and ease are worth much money.' Come and play at being husband and wife with me a while." The elder set his teeth and did not let a sound escape. Not to go—he feared she would turn to killing him; so, trembling, he followed her step by step into the perfumed chamber. There he sat like a man entranced or struck dumb; he would not lift his head or raise his eyes, did not see what bed or curtains the room held, did not know what chests or dressing tables stood there. Her talk of rain and clouds, of love and longing, fell on him like silence. A fine monk, truly:

His eyes would not look on a wanton sight; his ears would not hear a lustful sound.He held her embroidered, charming face as dung, her gold-and-pearl beauty as dust.All his life he loved only the practice of meditation; not half a step would he stray from the Buddha's ground.He knew nothing of treasuring jade or pitying perfume; he knew only cultivating the truth and keeping his nature.The woman demon was alive and springing, spring without limit; the elder was stiff as a post, and his meditation held.One was like soft jade and warm perfume; the other like dead ashes and withered wood.The one spread the mandarin-duck quilt, thick with desire; the other bound his narrow robe, his loyal heart shining.The one wanted to press chest to chest and thigh to thigh, like luan and phoenix; the other wanted to face the wall, return to the mountain, and seek Bodhidharma.The demon undressed and showed off her fragrant, smooth skin; the Tang monk gathered his robes and hid his coarse flesh and rough hide.The demon said: "My pillow is spare and my quilt idle—why not sleep?"The Tang monk said: "My head is shaved and my garb is strange—how could I keep you company?"The one said: "I would be Liu Cuicui of the former dynasty."The other said: "This poor monk is no priest of the Moon."The demon said: "I am as beautiful as Xishi, and graceful too."The Tang monk said: "For a beauty like that, the king lay long in his grave."The demon said: "Royal brother, do you remember: 'Better to die beneath the flowers and be a gay ghost'?"The Tang monk said: "My true essence is my greatest treasure. How could I hand it lightly to a powdered skeleton like you…"

The two of them kept up their scattered words and broken phrases, sparring on into the deepest night, and the Tang elder never stirred in his thoughts. The demon pulled and tugged and would not let go; the master just sat stiff and proper and would not yield. The wrangling went on till about midnight, till the demon lost all patience, and she called: "Lasses, bring the rope." Poor soul—her own beloved, tied up with one rope like a crouching lion. She had him dragged down under the eaves of the corridor, blew out the silver lamp, and went to bed. Nothing more happened that night.

The rooster crowed three times before they knew it. Below the slope the Great Sage Sun stretched himself: "My head ached for a while, but now it neither aches nor throbs; it only itches a little." Bajie laughed: "It itches? Then have her sting you again. How about it?" Pilgrim spat: "Stop it, stop it, stop it." Bajie laughed again: "Stop it, stop it—and I suppose our master spent the night frisking too." Sha Monk said: "No sparring. It is daylight. Let us hurry and catch the monster early." Pilgrim said: "Brother, stay here and watch the horse; do not stir. Bajie comes with me."

The Idiot shook out his spirits, tightened his black damask robe, and followed Pilgrim, each carrying his weapon, up the cliff and to the foot of the stone screen. Pilgrim said: "Wait here. The monster may have hurt the master in the night; first let me go in and find out. If he was tricked and lost his essence, his virtue is truly ruined, and we all break up the pilgrimage; but if his nature held and his meditation never stirred, then we can fight on with good heart, beat the spirit to death, and take the master west." Bajie said: "How gullible you are. As the saying goes, 'Can a dried fish sleep safe as the cat's pillow?' Even if nothing happened, even if nothing happened, you would still give him a few scratches." Pilgrim said: "No idle suspicions and no silly talk. Let me go see."

Good Great Sage! He went around the stone screen, left Bajie, shook himself back into a bee, and flew in through the door. Inside the door he saw two maids asleep, their heads on their watch-clappers and bells. He came to the flower pavilion and looked: the demon had played all night, and they were all worn out, every one asleep, not knowing day had broken. Pilgrim flew to the back, where he dimly heard the Tang monk moaning. Looking up, he saw the master trussed under the corridor, arms and legs bound together. Pilgrim lighted gently on the Tang monk's head and called: "Master." The Tang monk knew his voice: "Wukong has come? Save my life, quickly." Pilgrim said: "How were last night's sweet affairs?" Tripitaka, through his teeth: "I would die first." Pilgrim said: "Yesterday I saw she felt fond of you—why has she used you so roughly today?" Tripitaka said: "She plagued me half the night. I never loosened my sash, and my body never touched the bed. Seeing I would not yield to her, she tied me up here. Save me by all means, and let me go fetch the scriptures."

As master and disciple spoke, the demon woke. However cruel she was, she still had a lingering tenderness. She rolled over in her sleep, caught just the one phrase—"to fetch the scriptures"—tumbled out of bed, and called at the top of her voice: "Not be good man and wife, and go off fetching scriptures instead!"

Pilgrim, alarmed, left the master, spread his wings, flew out, showed his true form, and called: "Bajie!" The Idiot came around the stone screen: "Did the business come off?" Pilgrim laughed: "No, no. Our master would not be petted by her, and she lost her temper and tied him up. He was just telling me the whole story when the demon woke, and I flew out in a fright." Bajie said: "And what did the master say?" Pilgrim said: "Only that he never loosened his sash and never touched her bed." Bajie laughed: "Good, good, good—still a true monk! Let us go save him."

The Idiot was rough and would hear no argument: he raised his rake and brought it down on the stone door with all his might, smashing it into several pieces. The maids who had slept on their clappers ran to the second door and cried: "Open up! The front door has been smashed by those two ugly men from yesterday!" The woman demon was just coming out of her room when four or five maids ran in and reported: "Granny, those two ugly men from yesterday have come again and smashed the front door!" Hearing this, the demon called at once: "Lasses, heat water, wash my face, do my hair." And: "Carry the royal brother, rope and all, into the back room and stow him. I will go beat them."

Good monster! Out she came, three-pronged fork in hand, cursing: "Brazen monkey! Wild pig! Utterly without sense! How dare you smash my door?" Bajie cursed back: "Filthy, lewd trash! You trap my master, and still you have the gall to be stubborn. My master is the husband you tricked here. Hand him out quickly and I spare you. Say one more word of 'no,' and this old pig's rake will knock your mountain down on your head." The demon would hear nothing: she shook her body, played her old trick, spewed smoke and fire from nose and mouth, and stabbed at Bajie with the steel fork. Bajie dodged aside and struck back with the rake, and the Great Sage Sun joined in with the iron staff. The demon used her power again—who knows how many hands she had—warding off left and right. After three or five rounds of blows, with some weapon or other she stung Bajie on the lip. The Idiot dragged his rake, covered his mouth, and fled howling. Pilgrim, wary of her now, made a show with his staff and fled the field. The demon went back in triumph and had her lads pile stones up against the front door—and no more of that.

Sha Monk was grazing the horse before the slope when he heard pig-grunts somewhere. Looking up, he saw Bajie coming, mouth in hand, grunting. Sha Monk said: "What happened?" The Idiot grunted: "It is too much, too much. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts." Before he was done, Pilgrim too came up, laughing: "Fine Idiot! Yesterday it was I with the boil on the brow; today you are the plague of the swollen lip." Bajie groaned: "Unbearable, unbearable. It hurts horribly. Terrible, terrible."

The three were at their wits' end when an old mother came along the South Mountain road with a blue bamboo basket in her left hand, carrying vegetables. Sha Monk said: "Big brother, the old mother is close now. Let me ask her for news—what monster this is, what weapon, that wounds so?" Pilgrim said: "Wait. Let Old Sun question her." Pilgrim looked quickly with open eyes and saw above her head the sheen of auspicious clouds and about her body a mist of perfume. He knew her and called at once: "Brothers, come and bow! That old mother is the Bodhisattva!" Zhu Bajie, forgetting his pain, threw himself down; Sha Monk bowed, holding the horse; the Great Sage Sun pressed his palms and knelt, calling: "Homage to the Bodhisattva Guanyin, of great mercy and great pity, who saves from suffering and answers prayers!"

Seeing that they recognized her light, the Bodhisattva stepped onto the auspicious clouds, rose into midair, and showed her true image: it was the image of the fish basket. Pilgrim rushed up into the air, bowed, and said: "Bodhisattva, forgive your disciple for failing to meet you. We have been striving to save our master and did not know you had come down. Now we have met a calamity we cannot master; we beg you, Bodhisattva, save us, save us." The Bodhisattva said: "That monster is very dangerous. Her three-pronged fork is a pair of pincers she was born with. What stings so is the hook on her tail, called the horse-toppling poison. She is a scorpion spirit by nature. Once she was at the Thunderclap Monastery listening to the Buddha preach, and the Tathagata, seeing her, unwisely pushed her with his hand; she swung her hook around and stung the Tathagata on the thumb of his left hand. The Tathagata too could not bear the pain, and sent vajra-warriors to seize her; she fled here. If you want to save the Tang monk, you must go ask help of someone else; even I cannot get near her." Pilgrim bowed again: "Tell me, Bodhisattva, whom should we ask? Your disciple will go invite him at once." The Bodhisattva said: "Go in through the East Gate of Heaven to the Palace of Light and beg the Star Officer of the Pleiades; only he can subdue her." With that she turned into a streak of golden light and went straight back to the Southern Sea.

The Great Sage Sun pressed down his cloud and said to Bajie and Sha Monk: "Brothers, be at ease. The master has a savior." Sha Monk said: "Who is the savior?" Pilgrim said: "The Bodhisattva has just told me to ask the Star Officer of the Pleiades. Old Sun is off." Bajie, holding his lip, groaned: "Brother, ask the star officer for some pain-killing medicine while you are at it." Pilgrim laughed: "No need for medicine. It passed for me after one night, as you see." Sha Monk said: "No more chatter. Go quickly."

Good Pilgrim! He leaped on the somersault cloud at once and in a moment was outside the East Gate of Heaven. The Heavenly King of Growth met him with a bow: "Where to, Great Sage?" Pilgrim said: "Protecting the Tang monk on his way to fetch the scriptures from the west, we met a demon in our path. I am going to the Palace of Light to see the Star Officer of the Pleiades." Then the four great marshals Tao, Zhang, Xin, and Deng also asked where he was going. Pilgrim said: "To find the Star Officer of the Pleiades, to subdue the demon and save my master." The four marshals said: "This morning the star officer took the Jade Emperor's edict and went up to the Star-Gazing Terrace to make his rounds." Pilgrim said: "Is that certain?" The Heavenly Lord Xin said: "We small generals came down with him from the Palace of the Dipper and the Ox. Dare we lie?" The Heavenly Lord Tao said: "It has been a long while now; he may be back. Great Sage, go first to the Palace of Light; if he has not returned, go on to the Star-Gazing Terrace."

The Great Sage was glad, took leave of them, and came to the gate of the Palace of Light. No one was there; he turned to go, and saw a rank of soldiers standing drawn up, and behind them the star officer coming. The star officer still wore his court robes for an audience, all gold thread. See him:

His cap is pinned with the Five Peaks in glittering gold; in his hand the tablet of hills and rivers, jade-colored and bright.His robe hangs with the Seven Stars in cloud-heavy folds; at his waist the Eight Limits circle in a bright ring of treasure.His pendants tinkle like struck chimes; his swift wind sounds like swinging bells.The kingfisher-feather fan opens—the star of the Pleiades has come; heavenly perfume drifts and fills the whole courtyard.

The soldiers in front saw Pilgrim standing outside the Palace of Light and turned quickly to report: "My lord, the Great Sage Sun is here." The star officer gathered in his clouds and mist, straightened his court robes, set down his insignia, parted his attendants, came up, bowed, and said: "What brings the Great Sage?" Pilgrim said: "I come specially to beg you to save my master from a calamity." The star officer said: "What calamity? Where?" Pilgrim said: "At Pipa Cave on Poison-Enemy Mountain in the Kingdom of West Liang." The star officer said: "What monster is in that cave, that it should send for this small god?" Pilgrim said: "The Bodhisattva Guanyin just now showed herself and said it is a scorpion spirit, and named you, sir, as the only one who can deal with it. That is why I have come to ask you." The star officer said: "I ought to report back to the Jade Emperor first. But the Great Sage has come in person, and the Bodhisattva has recommended me; delay might spoil the business. This small god will not even stop for tea: let us go subdue the monster, and I will report afterward."

The Great Sage heard and went out with him through the East Gate of Heaven, straight to the Kingdom of West Liang. From afar they saw Poison-Enemy Mountain, not far off, and Pilgrim pointed: "That is the mountain." The star officer pressed down his cloud and came with Pilgrim to below the slope, before the stone screen. Sha Monk saw them: "Second brother, get up! Big brother has brought the star officer." The Idiot still held his lip: "Forgive me, forgive me. I am ill and cannot make my bows." The star officer said: "You are a man of cultivation. What illness have you?" Bajie said: "This morning, in the fight with the monster, she stung me on the lip, and it still hurts." The star officer said: "Come up here, and I will treat you." The Idiot let go his mouth at last, moaning and groaning: "Please cure me, please. When I am well I will thank you." The star officer stroked his lip with his hand, blew one breath, and the pain was gone. The Idiot, delighted, bowed: "Wonderful! Wonderful!" Pilgrim laughed: "Please stroke my head too, star officer." The star officer said: "You were not poisoned. Why stroke it?" Pilgrim said: "I was stung yesterday too, but it passed in the night. It is still a little numb and itchy; if the weather turns I fear it may flare up. Please treat it too." The star officer really did stroke his head and blow a breath, and the last of the poison was gone—no more numbness, no more itching. Bajie said fiercely: "Brother, let us go beat that brazen slut." The star officer said: "Exactly, exactly. You two call her out, and I will subdue her."

Pilgrim and Bajie jumped up the slope and came again behind the stone screen. The Idiot cursed and raged, and with a burst of his rake tore away the stones piled outside the cave door. He broke through the first door, and one more stroke of the rake smashed the second door to pieces. The little demons inside, panicked, ran flying to report: "Granny, those two ugly men have smashed the second door too!" The demon was just then having the Tang monk untied and asking for vegetarian tea and food for him. Hearing the second door broken, she sprang out of the flower pavilion at once, swung her fork, and stabbed at Bajie; Bajie met it with his rake; Pilgrim, at the side, came in with the iron staff. The demon pressed in close, meaning to use her sting; Pilgrim and Bajie knew her trick, turned, and ran.

The monster chased them past the stone screen, and Pilgrim called: "Star of the Pleiades, where are you?" The star officer stood on the slope above, showed his true form—it was a great rooster with a double comb—and, head held high, some six or seven feet tall, gave one crow at the monster. The monster showed her true form at once: a scorpion spirit about the size of a pipa lute. The star officer crowed again; the monster went limp all over and died before the slope. There is a poem to prove it. The poem says:

Flower crest and embroidered neck, like a round tassel; claws hard, spurs long, eyes blazing.Leaping with heroic might, it fulfills the five virtues; towering in strength, it is envied for its three crowings.No common barnyard bird crying at a thatched hut, but a star of Heaven showing its holy name.The venomous scorpion cultivated the human path in vain; returned to root and origin, her true shape is seen.

Bajie stepped up, pinned the monster's chest and back with one foot, and said: "Beast! No more horse-toppling sting for you now." The monster never stirred; the Idiot's rake hammered her into a mash. The star officer gathered his golden light again and rode off on his cloud. Pilgrim, Bajie, and Sha Monk bowed toward the sky and thanked him: "We have troubled you, troubled you. Another day we will come to your palace and repay you."

The three, their thanks done, packed the luggage, readied the horse, and went into the cave. The maids big and small knelt on both sides and begged: "Sirs, we are no demons. We are women of the Kingdom of West Liang, carried off by this monster. Your master sits in the perfumed room at the back, weeping." Pilgrim looked carefully and, sure enough, found no demon air in them. He went to the back and called: "Master." The Tang monk, seeing them all there, was overjoyed: "Good disciples, I have troubled you. And what of the woman?" Bajie said: "That thing was a big mother scorpion. Luckily the Bodhisattva Guanyin told us what to do, and big brother went up to the heavenly palace and fetched down the Star Officer of the Pleiades, who subdued her. This old pig pounded her to mud before we dared come in so far and see your face, Master." The Tang monk's thanks were endless. They found some vegetarian rice and noodles, prepared a meal, and ate. They drove the carried-off women down the mountain and showed them the road home. They lit a fire and burned the buildings to the last roof. They set the Tang monk on his horse and took to the high road west. Truly:

The ties of dust cut through, away from the world of form;the sea of gold drained dry, the heart of meditation awake.

But in what year they would reach perfection, who can say—listen to the next chapter to find out.