“Keep up with the times, ape,” said the demon. “He may be a master to you, but to me he's something to eat with my drinks. You might as well forget about him.” These words threw Monkey into a fury. He raised his gold-banded cudgel and struck at the monster's head. The demon quickly parried the blow with his fire-tipped spear. This fight was not like the one before:
A furious evil demon,
An enraged Monkey King.
One set on saving the pilgrim priest,
Whom the other intended to devour.
When the heart changes kinship disappears;
No concessions are made in the absence of feeling.
One would gladly have skinned his foe alive;
The other wanted his enemy pickled in sauce.
Such heroism,
What ferocity!
Spear parried cudgel in the struggle for mastery;
Cudgel blocked spear in the battle to win.
After twenty rounds of combat
Both sides were on equal terms.
When the demon king had fought twenty rounds with Monkey and could see that neither of them was going to win he feinted, pulled back, clenched his fist, punched himself twice on the nose, and started breathing out fire again. Flames roared from the carts in front of the entrance, and his mouth and eyes were full of the blaze. Monkey looked back to shout, “Where are you, dragon kings?” The dragon king brothers then led their watery hosts in spurting rain on the demon's fire. It was a splendid rainstorm,
Mighty,
Heavy.
Mighty as stars falling from the heavens,
Heavy like waves crashing on the shore.
At first the drops are the size of fists,
Then each is a bowl of water upturned.
Flowing across the land, making duck's necks green;
Washing the mountainside to show it deep blue.
The waters in the ravine are a thousand fathoms of jade,
The spring stream swells to a myriad strands of silver.
Soon the crossroads is flooded,
And the meandering river flows straight.
The dragons help the Tang Priest in his trouble,
Making the Heavenly River overflow.
But heavy though it was, the downpour could not stop the demon's fire. Dragon king's private rain can only put out ordinary fires, not this demon's Samadhi Fire. The rain was like oil poured on the flames: the more there was, the fiercer the blaze. “I'll make a hand-spell and plunge into the fire,” said Monkey, who went after the demon, swinging his cudgel. Seeing Monkey coming, the demon blew a cloud of smoke straight into his face. Turn away though he did, Monkey's eyes smarted terribly, and he could not stop the tears from pouring down. Although not bothered by fire, the Great Sage was vulnerable to smoke. Back at the time when he had made havoc in Heaven and been refined by Lord Lao Zi in the Eight Trigram Furnace he had saved himself from being burnt up by staying in the part of the furnace controlled by the Wind Trigram Xun. But the wind had blown smoke at him, and he had been so thoroughly cooked that his eyes turned fiery and his pupils golden. That was why he was still vulnerable to smoke. When the demon blew another cloud of smoke at him it was more than he could bear, and so he made off on his cloud. The demon king then had the fire-raising equipment put away and went back into the cave.
The flames and the smoke had made the Great Sage unbearably hot, so he plunged straight into the stream to put out the flames, not realizing that the shock of the cold water would make the fire attack his heart, driving his three souls out of him. Alas,
When breathing stopped, cold went his mouth and tongue;
All his souls scattered and his life was done.
In their horror the dragon kings of the four seas who were watching from mid-air stopped making rain and shouted, “Marshal Tian Peng, Curtain-raising General, stop hiding in the woods. Go and find your brother.”
Hearing their divine shouts Pig and Friar Sand immediately untied the horse, put the luggage-pole on their shoulders, and rushed out of the wood. They searched for Monkey along the stream, not caring about getting wet and muddy. Upstream they could see someone being carried by the rushing torrent and tossed around in the waves. The moment Friar Sand spotted this he leapt fully clothed into the water and hauled him to the bank. It was the body of the Great Sage. Alas! He was curled up, unable to stretch any of his limbs and as cold as ice all over. “Poor brother,” said Friar Sand. “You who were once going to be immortal are now had your life cut short as a traveler.”
“Stop crying, brother,” laughed Pig. “The ape's just shamming dead to give us a fright. Feel his chest and see if it's still warm.”
“He's cold all over,” said Friar Sand, “with only a touch of warmth. How are we going to revive him?”
“He knows how to do seventy-two transformations,” said Pig, “and that means seventy-two lives. You grab his feet and I'll manipulate him. So Friar Sand pulled at Monkey's feet while Pig supported his head. They straightened him out, stood him up, then made him sit cross-legged. Pig warmed Monkey up by rubbing vigorously with the palms of his hands, covered his seven orifices, and gave him a dhyana massage. The shock of the cold water had blocked the breath in Monkey's abdomen, leaving him unable to speak. Thanks to Pig's massage and rubbing, the breath in Monkey's body soon flowed through the Three Passes again, circulated in his Bright Hall, and came out through his orifices with a shout of “Master.”
“Brother,” said Friar Sand, “you live for the master, and his name is on your lips even when you're dying. Wake up. We're here.”
Monkey opened his eyes and asked, “Brothers, are you here? I've lost.”
“You passed out just now,” said Pig with a laugh, “and if I hadn't saved you you'd have been done for. You owe me some thanks.”
Only then did Monkey get to his feet, look up and say, “Where are you, Ao brothers?”
“We humble dragons are in attendance up here,” the dragon kings of the four oceans replied from mid-air.
“I've given you the trouble of this long journey for nothing,” said Monkey. “Would you like to go back now? I'll come to thank you another day.” We will say no more about the dragon kings as they led their watery tribes home in majesty.
Friar Sand helped Monkey back into the woods, where they both sat down. Before long Monkey had recovered and was breathing normally as the tears poured down his cheeks. “Master,” he cried,
“I remember when you left Great Tang,
And saved me from my torture in the cliff.
Demons have plagued you at each mount and stream;
Your heart was torn by countless pains and woes.
Sometimes you have eaten well and sometimes not;
You've spent your nights in forests or in farms.
Your heart was always set on the Achievement;
Who knows what agonies you suffer now?”
“Don't upset yourself so, brother,” said Friar Sand. “We'll work out a plan to get reinforcements and rescue the master.”
“Where from?” Monkey asked.
“Long ago, when the Bodhisattva ordered us to protect the Tang Priest, she promised us that if we called on Heaven or earth for help there would always be a response,” replied Friar Sand. “Where shall we turn now?”
“I remember that when I made havoc in Heaven,” said Monkey, “the Heavenly soldiers were no match for me. That evil spirit has tremendous magic. Only someone with more powers than I have will be able to subdue him. As the gods of Heaven and earth are useless the only way to catch the monster will be by going to ask the Bodhisattva Guanyin for her help. But I can't ride my somersault cloud: my skin is much too sore and my body is aching. How are we going to get her help?”
“Tell me what to say,” said Pig, “and I'll go to ask her.”
“All right,” said Monkey with a laugh, “you go. If the Bodhisattva receives you, you mustn't look her in the face. Keep your head down and bow to her respectfully. When she asks you, tell her what this place and the demon are called, then ask her to save the master. If she agrees to come she'll certainly capture the demon.” Pig set off South on his cloud.