With him he carries six divine weapons;
Endless his transformations as he soars through the air.
Now he has received an edict from the Jade Emperor's mouth,
Making him Commander of the Three Temples of the Masses.
Sun Wukong went up to him and asked, “Whose little boy are you then? What do you mean, charging up to my door?”
“Stinking monkey fiend,” shouted Prince Nezha, “don't you know who I am? I am Nezha, the third son of the pagoda-bearing Heavenly King, and I have been commanded by the Jade Emperor to come here and arrest you.”
“You do talk big, don't you, little prince,” said Sun Wukong, laughing at him. “But as you've still got all your milk teeth and are still wet behind the ears I'll spare your life and I won't hit you. Do you see what it says on my standard? Go and tell the Jade Emperor that if he gives me that title I'll call off my armies and submit to him once more. But if he doesn't do what I want him to, I'll surely attack the Hall of Miraculous Mist.” Nezha looked up and saw the words “Great Sage Equaling Heaven.”
“You wicked monkey! How dare you give yourself a title like that, whatever your magic powers may be! Don't worry, all you're getting is my sword.”
“Give me a few swipes, then,” replied Sun Wukong, “I won't move.”
“Change,” yelled Nezha in a passion, and at once he had three heads and six arms, which made him look most ferocious. In his hands he held six weapons, a demon-beheading sword, a demon-hacking cutlass, a demon-binding rope, a demon-quelling pestle, an embroidered ball, and a fire-wheel-and wielding all these he rushed straight at Sun Wukong.
At the sight of him Sun Wukong exclaimed with astonishment, “Well, my boy, you certainly know a trick or two. But just behave yourself and watch what I can do.” Our dear Great Sage shouted “Change,” and he too had three heads and six arms. He shook his gold-banded cudgel, and it turned into three cudgels, which he gripped with his six hands to ward off Nezha's blows. It was a great fight, and it made the earth shake and the mountains tremble:
Six-armed Prince Nezha
Heaven-born Monkey King:
Well-matched opponents,
Both in the same class.
One sent down to the lower world on a mission,
The other priding himself as a fighting bull.
Fast moves the point of the demon-beheading sword,
And evil spirits fear the demon-hacking cutlass,
The demon-binding rope flies like a dragon,
While the demon-quelling pestle has the head of a wolf,
The fire-wheel flashes with lightning,
And the embroidered ball shoots everywhere.
The Great Sage's three As-You-Will cudgels
Block and parry with consummate skill.
Though many hard-fought rounds prove inconclusive,
The prince refuses to call the battle off;
Making his six weapons multiply in number,
He throws them in their millions at the Monkey King's head,
But the Monkey King, fearless, roars with laughter
As his iron clubs whirl and think for themselves.
One becomes a thousand; one thousand, ten;
Their wild dance fills the sky as if with dragons.
All the demon kings shut their gates in terror;
Every goblin on the mountain finds some place to hide.
Cloud-black, the anger of the heavenly troops;
Whistling like the wind, the gold-banded cudgels.
On the one side,
The blood-curdling war-cries of the heavenly host.
On the other,
The spine-chilling banners of the monkey fiends.
Both parties are equal in fighting courage;
Neither could be said to be the winner.
Prince Nezha and Sun Wukong both used their divine powers to the full as they fought thirty rounds. When the six weapons of the prince turned into thousands and tens of thousands, so did Sun Wukong's gold-banded cudgel. The air was filled as if with drops of rain or shooting stars, and there was no way of telling who was winning. As Sun Wukong was deft of hand and quick of eye, he plucked one of the hairs from his body in the midst of the fray and shouted “Change!” It changed into his own double to mislead Nezha while his real self leapt round till he was behind Nezha and struck at his left shoulder. Nezha was in the middle of performing a spell when he heard the whistle of the cudgel through the air and twisted away as fast as he could. But he was unable to avoid the blow and had to flee wounded. He brought his magic to an end, put his six weapons away, reverted to his true appearance, and abandoned the field of battle in defeat.
This had all been observed by Heavenly King Li, who was on the point of sending reinforcements when his son appeared before him and reported in fear and trembling, “Father, the Protector of the Horses is very powerful. My magic was outclassed and he has wounded me in the shoulder.”
The color drained from the face of the horror-struck Heavenly King as he said, “If the creature has magic powers like that, how are we going to defeat him?”
“Outside the gates of the cave,” the prince went on to report, “there is a banner on a pole that reads 'Great Sage Equaling Heaven'. He bragged that if the Jade Emperor gave him this title he would call everything off; otherwise he said he would attack the Hall of Miraculous Mist.”
“In that case,” said the Heavenly King, “we'll disengage now, go back to Heaven, and request that more heavenly troops be sent to capture this wretch. There is plenty of time.” The prince, in pain and unable to go on fighting, went back to Heaven with the Heavenly King and put in this request, but of that no more for the moment.
Watch as the Monkey King returns to the mountain in triumph to receive the congratulations of the seventy-two kings of the monsters and his six sworn brothers. There was great drinking and singing in the cave paradise. Sun Wukong said to his six sworn brothers, “As I've called myself Great Sage Equaling Heaven, you can all call yourselves great sages too.”
“Honorable brother, you're right,” roared the Bull Demon King. “I shall call myself the Great Sage Matching Heaven.”
“I'll be the Great Sage Overturning the Sea,” said the Salamander Demon King.
“I'll be the Great Sage Throwing Heaven into Confusion,” said the Roc Demon King.
“I'll be the Great Sage Who Moves Mountains,” said the Camel Demon King.
“I'll be the Great Sage Who Travels with the Wind,” said the Macaque King.
“And I'll be the Great Sage Who Drives Away Gods,” said the Lion King. The seven great sages then did just as they pleased and gave themselves the titles they chose, and after enjoying themselves all day they went home.
Heavenly King Li and Prince Nezha led their forces straight to the Palace of Miraculous Mist and made this request: “We, your subjects, took our forces down to the lower world, under your Divine Edict, to subdue the immortal fiend Sun Wukong. But to our surprise we found that his magical powers were too far-reaching for us to be able to defeat him. We therefore hope that Your Imperial Majesty will send more troops to exterminate him.”
“How could a mere monkey goblin have such great powers that you actually need more troops?” asked the Jade Emperor.
Prince Nezha then came forward and memorialized, “We beg Your Majesty to spare us the deaths we deserve. That monkey fiend has an iron cudgel that he used to defeat the Mighty Miracle God and wounded me on the shoulder. He has set a banner up outside the entrance to his cave that reads 'Great Sage Equaling Heaven,' and he says that if you give him this office he will stop fighting and submit; otherwise he will attack the Hall of Miraculous Mist.”
When the Jade Emperor heard this he asked in horror, “How dare that monkey fiend talk so wildly? Send all the generals to execute him at once.”