Now, Sun Wukong the Great Sage , his head aching unbearably from the tightening of the Band-Tightening Spell , hastily begged, "Master, stop reciting! Stop! I will save him!"
The elder asked, "How will you save him?"
The Pilgrim said, "I must go to the Underworld and search through the registers of the Kings of Hell to find his soul . Once I bring it back, he can be revive d."
Zhu Bajie said, "Master, don't believe him! He claimed earlier he could revive him in the world of the living without needing to go to the Underworld. That was his boast of true skill!"
Hearing Bajie's words, the elder began reciting the Band-Tightening Spell again. Wukong, panicked, quickly agreed, "I'll revive him in the world of the living! In the world of the living!"
Bajie said, "Don't stop! Keep reciting! Keep reciting!"
The Pilgrim cursed, "You fool, you're deliberately urging Master to curse me!"
Bajie rolled on the ground laughing. "Brother! Brother! You only know how to trick me; won't you let me trick you just once?"
The Pilgrim said, "Master, stop! Stop! I will revive him in the world of the living."
Tripataka asked, "How can you revive him in the world of the living?"
The Pilgrim said, "I will now perform a single somersault, shoot straight through the Southern Gate of Heaven , bypassing the Hall of the Dipper and Bull and the Hall of Divine Mists . I will go directly to the Tushita Palace in the Thirty-Third Heaven , the Realm of Separation and Hatred , and beg the Grand Supreme Elderly Lord for one pill of the Nine-Cycle Soul-Returning Elixir . I guarantee it will revive him."
Tripataka was overjoyed and said, "Go quickly and return quickly!"
The Pilgrim said, "It is already the third watch of the night. By the time I return, dawn will be breaking. But with this man lying here so cold and forlorn, it is unseemly. Someone must wail and keen beside him to make it proper."
Bajie said, "There's no need to guess; this monkey wants me to weep."
The Pilgrim said, "I'm afraid you won't weep! If you don't, I won't be able to save him!"
Bajie said, "Brother, go on your way. I will weep."
The Pilgrim said, "There are different kinds of weeping. Just opening your mouth and shouting is called 'howling.' Squeezing out a few tears is called 'sniveling.' Only when there are both tears and heartfelt sorrow can it be called 'bitter wailing and lamentation.'"
Bajie said, "Let me show you how it's done." He tore a piece of paper from somewhere, twisted it into a spill , and stuck it up his nostrils. After a few sneezes, tears and mucus streamed down his face as he began to wail, muttering incessantly, just as if he had lost a close relative. At the height of his grief, even Tang Sanzang began to shed tears.
The Pilgrim laughed and said, "Keep weeping like that, and don't you stop. You fool, if you stop the moment I'm gone, I will hear it! If you weep properly, all is well. But if you dare to pause for even a moment, I will give you twenty strokes on the shins!"
Bajie laughed and said, "Go on, go on! Once I start weeping, I can keep it up for two days and two nights."
Seeing Bajie weeping, Sha Wujing went to fetch some incense sticks to offer as a sacrifice. The Pilgrim said, "Good! Good! Good! Your sincerity gives me peace of mind to go about my business."
What a fine Great Sage! Though it was still the middle of the night, he took his leave of the three masters and disciples, mounted his somersault cloud, and shot straight through the Southern Gate of Heaven. True to his word, he did not go to the Hall of Divine Mists or the Hall of the Dipper and Bull. He rode his cloud directly to the Tushita Palace in the Thirty-Third Heaven, the Realm of Separation and Hatred. As soon as he entered, he saw the Grand Supreme Elderly Lord sitting in his elixir chamber , fanning a furnace with a palm-leaf fan alongside a few immortal boys as they refined elixirs.
Seeing the Pilgrim arrive, the Elderly Lord quickly instructed the boy tending the furnace, "Be careful, all of you! The elixir thief has come again!"
The Pilgrim bowed and laughed, "Old gentleman, don't be so stingy. Why be on guard against me? I don't do that sort of thing anymore."
The Elderly Lord said, "You monkey, five hundred years ago you caused havoc in Heaven and stole and ate countless of my sacred elixirs. I had to send Erlang Shen to capture you and put you in my furnace to be refined for forty-nine days, wasting who knows how much charcoal. Now that you have finally escaped and taken refuge with Buddhism to protect Tang Sanzang on his journey to the West to fetch scriptures, you still played tricks on me at Flat-Top Mountain , refusing to return my treasures. What are you here for today?"
The Pilgrim said, "That matter from a few days ago—I have already returned all five of your treasures. Why do you still suspect me?"
The Elderly Lord said, "If you are not on your journey, why have you secretly entered my palace?"
The Pilgrim said, "After taking my leave of you, we traveled westward and came upon a kingdom called the Black Chicken Kingdom. The king there was murdered by a demon disguised as a Taoist priest . The demon then transformed into the king's likeness and now sits on the throne in the Golden Hall . My master was reciting sutras last night at the Temple of the Precious Forest when the ghost of the king came to visit him, begging me to subdue the demon. I could find no evidence, so Bajie and I went last night into the imperial garden, broke open the octagonal crystal well , and fished out the king's corpse. His appearance was perfectly preserved. My master, in his compassion, ordered me to revive him, but forbade me from seeking his soul in the Underworld. I must revive him in the world of the living. I could think of no other way, so I have come specifically to beg you. I beseech you, take pity and lend me a thousand pills of the Nine-Cycle Soul-Returning Elixir to save his life."
The Elderly Lord said, "You monkey, you're talking nonsense! A thousand pills, two thousand pills! Do you take them for a meal? Are these elixirs rolled out of dust like mud? Do you think they are so easy to come by? Be gone! I have none!"
The Pilgrim laughed and said, "A hundred or so pills will do."
The Elderly Lord said, "I have none of those either."
The Pilgrim said, "Surely you have ten or so?"
The Elderly Lord said angrily, "You insolent monkey, you are truly persistent! I have none! None! Out! Out!"
The Pilgrim laughed and said, "If you truly have none, then I will go seek elsewhere."
The Elderly Lord shouted, "Go! Go! Go!"
The Great Sage turned to leave, but the Elderly Lord suddenly thought, "This monkey has light fingers. If I say 'go,' he might sneak back in to steal." So he told the immortal boy to call the Pilgrim back. "You monkey, you have dishonest hands. I will give you one of these Soul-Returning Elixirs."
The Pilgrim said, "Old gentleman, since you know my skills, hurry up and bring out the sacred elixir. Let us split it sixty-forty, and you will count yourself fortunate. Otherwise, I will swipe every last pill you have here!"
The Elderly Lord took his gourd, tipped it over, and shook out a single pill. He handed it to the Pilgrim and said, "This is the only one I have. Take it! Take it! This one pill I give you will revive the king and count as your merit."
The Pilgrim took the sacred elixir and said, "Wait, let me taste it first to see if it is real. I don't want to be tricked by you." He then tossed it into his mouth. The Elderly Lord, panicked, rushed forward and grabbed him, seizing him by the hair and clenching his fist as he cursed, "You insolent monkey, if you swallow that pill, I will beat you to death!"
The Pilgrim laughed and said, "Look at how stingy you are! Who would want to eat your pill? What is it worth? All bluster. Look, the pill is right here!" It turned out that the monkey had a pouch under his chin, and he had hidden the sacred elixir in that pouch.
The Elderly Lord pinched his pouch and said, "Go! Go! Go! Don't bother me again!"
The Great Sage thanked the Elderly Lord and left the Tushita Palace. Around him, a thousand auspicious vapors swirled as he departed the immortal palace, and ten thousand beams of blessed light descended toward the mortal world. In no time at all, he had descended from the Southern Gate of Heaven and returned to the East, just as the sun was about to rise. He lowered his cloud and arrived at the gate of the Temple of the Precious Forest, where he could still hear Bajie weeping.
The Pilgrim approached and called out, "Master."
Tripataka said happily, "Wukong, you've returned. Did you get the elixir?"
The Pilgrim said, "I did."
Bajie said, "How could he not get it? He would steal some if he had to!"
The Pilgrim laughed and said, "Brother, you can stop now. I have no more use for you. Wipe your tears and go weep somewhere else." Then he said to Sha Wujing, "Sha Monk, fetch me some water."
Sha Wujing quickly went to the well in the back courtyard, used a convenient bucket to draw half a bowl of water, and handed it to the Pilgrim. The Pilgrim took the water, spat the sacred elixir from his mouth, and placed it on the king's lips. With both hands, he pried open the king's teeth and used a mouthful of clear water to wash the sacred elixir down into the king's stomach.
After half an hour, they heard a rumbling sound from the king's stomach, but his body remained motionless. The Pilgrim said, "Master, you have set me up! The sacred elixir cannot revive him. This is making me look bad!"
Tripataka said, "How can it not revive him? For someone who has been dead this long to be able to swallow water is already the immortal power of the sacred elixir. The rumbling in his stomach after the elixir entered indicates that his blood and energy are stirring. It is only that his breath has ceased, preventing him from waking. Never mind that he has been soaking in the well for three years—even solid iron would have rusted. It is simply that his primordial energy is exhausted. Someone must breathe a breath of life into him."
Bajie stepped forward to breathe life into him, but Tripataka grabbed him and said, "No! Let Wukong do it." The master had a reason: Zhu Bajie, since childhood, had harmed and eaten people, so his breath was tainted. Only the Pilgrim, who had cultivated since childhood, eating pine nuts, cypress seeds, peaches, and fruits, had pure breath.
The Great Sage stepped forward, put his Thunder God mouth against the king's lips, and blew a breath of air. The breath traveled down the king's throat, past the Chonglou and Mingtang, all the way to his Dantian, then returned from the Yongquan acupoint to the Niyuan Palace. With a sudden gasp, the king drew in a breath, opened his eyes, turned over, clenched his fists, and stretched his legs. He cried out, "Master!" Then, falling to his knees, he said, "I remember last night my ghost came to pay my respects to you. I never imagined I would be revived by dawn!"
Tripataka quickly helped him up and said, "Your Majesty, this is not my doing. You should thank my disciple."
The Pilgrim laughed and said, "Master, what are you saying? As the saying goes, 'A household cannot have two masters.' It is not improper for him to bow to you."
Tripataka, feeling quite uncomfortable, helped the king into the meditation hall. The king then bowed to Bajie, the Pilgrim, and Sha Wujing before they all sat down.
At this time, the monks of the temple had prepared the morning meal and were about to bring it in. When they saw the king alive again, still wearing his wet clothes, they were all shocked and bewildered. Sun Wukong jumped out and said, "Monks, don't be alarmed. This is the true king of the Black Chicken Kingdom. He was murdered by a demon three years ago, and I revived him tonight. We are now going into the city to distinguish the true from the false. If you have any vegetarian food, bring it quickly. We will eat and then be on our way."
The monks quickly brought water for the king to wash his face and found him a change of clothes. They took off his ochre-yellow robe, and the abbot of the temple brought two cloth robes for him to wear. They untied his Blue Field belt and replaced it with a yellow silk sash. They removed his Carefree boots and put on a pair of old monk's shoes. After everyone had eaten their morning meal, they prepared the horses.
The Pilgrim asked, "Bajie, how heavy is your luggage?"
Bajie said, "Brother, I carry this luggage every day, but I've never actually weighed it."
The Pilgrim said, "Divide this load of luggage into two loads. You carry one, and let this king carry the other. We will go into the city early to settle matters."
Bajie said happily, "Excellent! Excellent! I put so much effort into carrying him here last night. Now that he is revived, he can be my substitute to carry the luggage."
The fool deliberately played a trick. When dividing the luggage, he kept the lighter load for himself and gave the heavier one to the king. The Pilgrim laughed and said, "Your Majesty, having you dress like this and carry a load with us—is this not an indignity for you?"
The king quickly knelt down and said, "Master, you are my second father. Let alone carrying a load, if you asked me to lead your horse or hold your stirrups and serve you all the way to the Western Heaven, I would do it willingly."
The Pilgrim said, "There is no need for you to go to the Western Heaven. There is a reason for this. You only need to carry this load for forty miles into the city. Once we have captured the demon, you will resume your kingship, and we will continue on our journey to fetch the scriptures."
Hearing this, Bajie said, "So that means he only carries it for forty miles, while old Zhu remains a permanent laborer!"
The Pilgrim said, "Brother, don't talk nonsense. Hurry up and lead the way."
Bajie truly did lead the king ahead. Sha Wujing helped the master onto his horse, and the Pilgrim followed behind. The five hundred monks of the temple lined up neatly, playing music and making a din, as they escorted them to the temple gate. The Pilgrim laughed and said, "Monks, there is no need to see us off any further. If the officials see you, it might leak our plans. Go back! Go back! Pack up the king's original clothes and headdress neatly and bring them to the city tonight or tomorrow morning. I will reward you with some bounty."
Hearing this, the monks all returned. The Pilgrim strode forward to catch up with his master, and they all headed toward the city. Truly, this is a testament to the saying: "In the Western Land, a true path can be found; Metal and Wood unite to refine the spirit. The Elixir Mother vainly harbors muddled dreams; The Infant forever laments its worthless form. One must seek the true lord from the well's depths, And also bow to the Elderly Lord in Heaven. Awakening to form and emptiness, one returns to one's true nature; Truly, the Buddha saves those with karmic affinity."
The masters and disciples had not traveled far when the city walls came into view. Tripataka said, "Wukong, ahead should be the Black Chicken Kingdom."
The Pilgrim said, "Yes, let us hurry into the city to settle matters."
The masters and disciples entered the city. The streets were bustling with people, and the scene was one of great liveliness. They saw magnificent palaces of great splendor. A poem describes the scene: "The palace towers beyond the seas rival the capital; The songs and dances of the mortal world recall the former Tang. Flowers greet jeweled fans as red clouds swirl; Sunlight shines on bright robes like emerald mist. Peacock screens part as fragrant vapors emerge; Pearl curtains roll up as colorful banners unfurl. This scene of peace and prosperity is truly worthy of celebration; Silent rows of officials have no memorials to present."
Tripataka dismounted and said, "Disciple, let us go straight to court to exchange our travel documents. It will save us the trouble of visiting other government offices."
The Pilgrim said, "You are right. Let us all go in together. There is strength in numbers."
Tang Sanzang said, "Let us all enter, but do not be rash. First, we must perform the rites of ruler and subject, and then state our business."
The Pilgrim said, "Performing the rites of ruler and subject means we have to kneel."
Tripataka said, "Yes, we must perform the great rite of five bows and three kowtows."
The Pilgrim laughed and said, "Master, you are truly useless. To bow to him would be most unwise. Let me go in first. I have my own plan. When he speaks, I will respond. If I bow, you bow. If I squat, you squat."
Look at this troublemaking Monkey King! He led the group to the palace gate and said to the gatekeeper, "We are envoys from the Great Tang in the East, sent to the Western Heaven to pay homage to the Buddha and request the scriptures. We have come to exchange our travel documents. I beg you, sir, to announce us. Do not delay our good work."
The gatekeeper immediately entered the End Gate, knelt on the steps before the throne, and reported, "Outside the court gate are five monks. They claim to be imperial envoys from the Great Tang in the East, on their way to the Western Heaven to pay homage to the Buddha and request the scriptures. They have come to exchange their travel documents. Not daring to enter without permission, they await your summons outside the gate."
The false king immediately ordered them to be summoned into court.
Tang Sanzang and his group all entered the court gate, and the revived king followed along. As he walked, the king could not help but shed tears, thinking to himself, "Alas, my rivers and mountains, my kingdom! Who would have thought it would be stolen from me in secret!"
The Pilgrim said, "Your Majesty, do not grieve. Be careful not to let anything slip. The golden-banded staff in my ear is already itching to leap out. Today, I am determined to achieve merit, kill the demon, and cleanse this evil. Your kingdom will be returned to you soon."
The king dared not disobey. He wiped away his tears and, steeling himself, followed along until they reached the Golden Hall.
There they saw the two rows of civil and military officials, over four hundred ministers, each one dignified and imposing. The Pilgrim led Tang Sanzang to stand before the white jade steps, standing straight and unmoving. The officials below were all terrified and said, "This monk is utterly ignorant of propriety! He sees the king and does not bow, nor does he speak to offer greetings. He does not even make a salutation. What audacity!"
As they spoke, the false king opened his mouth and asked, "Where are you monks from?"
The Pilgrim raised his head and replied, "We are from the Great Tang Empire in the Southern Continent of Jambudvipa. By imperial command, we are going to the Great Thunderclap Monastery in the Heavenly Kingdom of the Western Region to pay homage to the Living Buddha and seek the true scriptures. Having arrived here, we dare not cross your border without permission, and have come specifically to exchange our travel documents."
Hearing this, the false king grew angry and said, "What does the Great Tang of the East matter! I have never sent you tribute nor had any dealings with you. You see me and dare not bow, yet you still argue with me?"
The Pilgrim laughed and said, "Our Eastern Land has been a great celestial empire since ancient times, while you are a small border kingdom. As the saying goes, 'The emperor of the superior state is father and lord; the emperor of the inferior state is minister and son.' You did not even come out to welcome us, yet you dare to say we do not bow to you?"
The false king flew into a rage and said to his civil and military officials, "Arrest this wild monk!" At the command "Arrest," all the officials rushed forward.
The Pilgrim let out a great shout and pointed his finger, saying, "Stop!" With this gesture, he cast a Binding Spell. All the officials were frozen in place, unable to move. They stood like wooden puppets before the steps, and the generals on the hall became like clay statues.
Seeing that the Pilgrim had immobilized all his officials, the false king leaped down from his dragon throne and came personally to seize the Pilgrim. The Monkey King was secretly delighted and thought, "Excellent! Just what I wanted! Even if your head were made of solid iron, one blow from my staff would punch a hole through it!" Just as he was about to strike, a "saving star" suddenly appeared from the side. Who was it? It was none other than the crown prince of the Black Chicken Kingdom, who rushed forward and grabbed the false king's court robe, kneeling on the ground as he said, "Father King, calm your anger!"
The demon asked, "My child, what do you have to say?"
The crown prince said, "I beg to report, Father King. Three years ago, we heard that the Great Tang of the East had dispatched an imperial envoy, a holy monk, to go to the Western Heaven to pay homage to the Buddha and request the scriptures. I never imagined that he would only now arrive in our kingdom. Father King, your temper is too fierce. If you were to have this monk arrested and killed, and if the Great Tang were to hear of this, they would surely be enraged. Consider this: that Li Shimin, having become emperor and unified the land, is still not satisfied. He has even sent troops across the seas to wage war. If he were to learn that his imperial brother, the holy monk, had been killed by you, he would certainly send troops to attack us. Our soldiers are few and our generals weak. By then, it would be too late for regrets. Father King, listen to my advice. First, question these four monks about their origins. Charge them with the crime of not bowing to the sovereign. Then punish them later."
In truth, the crown prince was being cautious, afraid that the demon might harm Tang Sanzang. He deliberately tried to delay the demon, not knowing that the Pilgrim was about to act. The false king actually believed the crown prince's words. He stood before his dragon throne and shouted, "You monks, when did you leave the Eastern Land? For what reason did the Tang emperor send you to request the scriptures?"
The Pilgrim raised his head and replied, "My master is the imperial brother of the Tang emperor. His Buddhist name is Sanzang. It came about because the Tang emperor had a prime minister named Wei Zheng, who, by heavenly decree, beheaded the Jinghe Dragon King in a dream. As a result, the Tang emperor traveled in a dream to the Underworld. After his return, he held a great Water and Land Assembly to release the souls of the wronged. My master, through his preaching of sutras and his great compassion, was guided by the Bodhisattva Guanyin of the Southern Sea to seek scriptures in the Western Heaven. My master made a great vow, willingly offering his service to his country. The Tang emperor also bestowed upon him a travel document. We left the Eastern Land on the thirteenth day of the ninth month of the thirteenth year of the Zhenguan reign of the Great Tang. At Two Realms Mountain, my master accepted me as his senior disciple. My surname is Sun, and my name is Wukong. Later, at Gao Laozhuang in the Kingdom of Usra, he accepted his second disciple, whose surname is Zhu, given name Wuneng, and style name Bajie. At the Flowing Sands River, he accepted his third disciple, whose surname is Sha, given name Wujing. A few days ago, at the Temple of the Precious Forest, we also took on a new porter, a young acolyte."
Hearing this, the false king could find no fault with Tang Sanzang. He decided to try to trip up the Pilgrim with a trick. Staring wide-eyed, he asked, "Monk, you began your journey alone, leaving the Eastern Land, and later took on four companions. The three monks are plausible enough, but this acolyte is suspicious! This young porter must be someone you have abducted. What is his name? Does he have an official certificate of ordination? Bring him forward for questioning!"
These words made the true king tremble with fear. He said, "Master! What am I to say?"
Sun Wukong secretly pinched him and said, "Do not be afraid. I will answer for you."
What a fine Great Sage! He stepped forward and, facing the demon, cried out in a stern voice, "Your Majesty, this old Taoist is both deaf and mute, and somewhat hard of hearing. However, he traveled to the Western Heaven in his youth and knows the way. I know his entire history. I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness and ask that I be allowed to speak on his behalf."
The false king said, "Speak the truth on his behalf quickly, or you will suffer!"
So the Pilgrim began to recite a confession: "The culprit, though young in years, is aged in suffering—deaf, mute, and foolish, his family fortune ruined. His ancestors were originally from this very land, but five years ago, disaster struck. Heaven sent no rain, the people were afflicted, and both the king and his subjects fasted and prayed. They burned incense and bathed, begging the Lord of Heaven, but for ten thousand miles, not a single cloud appeared. The people starved, hanging as if upside down, until suddenly a Quanzhen monster descended from Zhongnan. He could summon wind and rain, displaying his divine powers, but then secretly took the king's life. He pushed him into the garden well, and the dragon throne was usurped by darkness, a mystery to all. Fortunately, I arrived, with great merit, and raised the dead without any hindrance. He willingly converted to be a young porter, to accompany the monk on his pilgrimage to the West. The false king is a Taoist; the Taoist is the true king in disguise."
When the false king heard this confession from the throne, his heart pounded like a frightened deer, and his face flushed red. He quickly rose to flee, but he had no weapon. Turning his head, he saw a palace-guarding general with a precious saber hanging at his waist—a general long since frozen by the Pilgrim's Binding Spell, standing stiff as a blockhead. The demon rushed forward, drew the saber, mounted a cloud, and fled into the sky.
Sha Wujing was hopping with rage, and Zhu Bajie was shouting, blaming the Pilgrim. "You impatient monkey! If you had spoken more slowly, you could have kept him here! Now he has mounted a cloud and fled. Where are we to find him?"
The Pilgrim laughed and said, "Brothers, do not argue. Let us first call the crown prince down to pay his respects to his father, and the consorts to come out and pay their respects to their husband." Then he recited a spell to release the Binding Spell. "Let the officials awaken and pay homage to the true king. Then they will know who the real emperor is. When they have clarified the past events and understood the truth, I will go after the demon."
What a fine Great Sage! He instructed Bajie and Sha Wujing, "Protect the king, the crown prince, the consorts, and my master well!" With the word "Go," he vanished from sight.
He had leaped into the clouds above the Ninth Heaven. Opening his fiery eyes, he scanned the surroundings, searching for the demon. He saw the demon, having indeed escaped with his life, flying northeast. The Pilgrim drew near and shouted, "Demon, where do you think you're going! Old Sun is here!"
The demon quickly turned his head, drew his precious saber, and cried out in a loud voice, "Sun the Pilgrim, you are far too meddlesome! I have seized another's throne. What business is it of yours? Why do you come interfering, exposing my secret!"
The Pilgrim laughed heartily and said, "You audacious demon! Do you think just anyone can be an emperor? Since you know I am Old Sun, you should have fled far away. Instead, you dared to harass my master and demand a confession! Was that confession I just recited correct or not? Do not run! If you have the nerve, take a blow from my staff!"
The demon dodged to the side and swung his saber in a frontal attack. The two clashed. This was a fierce battle: "The Monkey King was fierce, the demon king was strong; The saber met the staff, both dared to match. Mist and clouds filled the Three Realms for a day, All because a new emperor was to be crowned."
After a few rounds, the demon realized he could not defeat the Pilgrim. He quickly turned and fled back along the same path, crashing into the crowd of civil and military officials in the Golden Hall. With a shake of his body, he transformed into the likeness of Tang Sanzang. He then stepped forward, took the real Tang Sanzang by the hand, and stood together with him before the steps.
The Pilgrim pursued him and was about to raise his staff to strike, when the false Tang Sanzang said, "Disciple, do not strike! It is I!" The Pilgrim was about to strike the real Tang Sanzang, when the real one also said, "Disciple, do not strike! It is I!" The two Tang Sanzangs were identical, impossible to distinguish. The Pilgrim thought to himself, "If I kill the demon disguised as Tang Sanzang, it is well and good. But if I kill my real master, it will be a disaster!" So he stopped and asked Bajie and Sha Wujing, "Which one is the demon and which is my master? Point him out to me so I can strike him."
Bajie said, "While you were fighting and shouting up in the sky, in the blink of an eye, we saw two masters. We have no way of knowing which is real and which is false."
The Pilgrim was displeased. Seeing Bajie smirking on the side, he became furious and said, "You fool, what are you laughing at! Now there are two masters. You have two people to call 'Master,' two to answer you, and two to serve. You must be overjoyed!"
Bajie laughed and said, "Brother, you call me a fool, but you are even more foolish than I am! Since you cannot tell the masters apart, why exert yourself? Bear with the pain in your head for a moment and let my master recite the Band-Tightening Spell. Sha Wujing and I will each support one of them and listen. The one who cannot recite the spell is surely the demon. What is so difficult about that?"
The Pilgrim said, "Brother, you have had a brilliant idea! Yes, that spell is known only to the three of us. It was passed down from the Tathagata Buddha to the Bodhisattva Guanyin, and then to my master. No one else knows it. Very well, Master, recite it."
Tang Sanzang truly began to recite the Band-Tightening Spell. The demon, who had no idea how to recite it, could only mumble nonsense. Bajie said, "The one who is mumbling is surely the demon!" He then released his hold, raised his nine-pronged rake, and struck. The demon leaped up, mounted a cloud, and tried to flee again.
What a fine Bajie! With a great shout, he also mounted a cloud and gave chase. Sha Wujing quickly let go of Tang Sanzang, drew his demon-quelling staff, and also joined the attack. Tang Sanzang then stopped reciting the spell. Sun Wukong the Great Sage, enduring the pain in his head, clenched his golden-banded staff and also flew into the sky to pursue the demon. Look at this scene: three formidable monks surrounded a single vile demon and were beating him. The demon, caught between Bajie's rake and Sha Wujing's staff, could not escape.
The Pilgrim laughed and said, "If I go to face him directly, he is a bit afraid of me and will probably try to flee again. Let me leap high into the air and give him a 'pounding-garlic' blow. One strike will finish him!"
The Great Sage mounted his auspicious cloud and leaped to the highest heavens. Just as he was about to strike, he suddenly heard a stern voice from a patch of colorful clouds in the northeast, "Sun Wukong, do not strike!"
The Pilgrim turned his head and saw that it was the Bodhisattva Manjushri. He quickly put away his staff and stepped forward to bow. "Bodhisattva, where are you going?"
Manjushri said, "I have come to subdue this demon for you."
The Pilgrim thanked him and said, "I trouble you, Bodhisattva."
The Bodhisattva took a Demon-Reflecting Mirror from his sleeve and shone it on the demon,