“Yes,” the warriors replied.
“Go tonight to invite His Majesty the Old King here. Tell him that I've caught a Tang Priest who I'm going to cook for him, and that this will make him live for another thousand ages.” The six monsters slouched around as they went out with their orders. Monkey flew down from the bag with a buzz and followed the six demons as they left the cave.
If you don't know how the Old King was invited there, listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 42
The Great Sage Reverently Visits the Southern Sea
Guanyin in Her Mercy Binds the Red Boy
The story tells how the six warriors left the cave and headed Southwest. Monkey thought, “They are going to invite the Old King to eat our master. I'm sure he must be the Bull Demon King. In the old days we got on very well and were the best of friends, but now I've gone straight and he's still an evil monster. Although it's a long time since I last saw him, I remember what he looks like. I think I'll turn myself into a Bull Demon King, try to fool them, and see how it goes.” Splendid Monkey gave the six little demons the slip, spread his wings, flew about a dozen miles ahead of them, shook himself, and turned into a Bull Demon King. He pulled out some hairs, shouted, “Change,” and turned them into little devils with dogs, falcons, bows and crossbows as if they were a hunting party in the mountain valley. He then waited for the six warriors.
As the six warriors were making their way sloppily along they suddenly noticed that the Bull Demon King was sitting in their midst. Heater and Cooker fell to their knees in a panic and said, “Your Majesty, you're here already.”
Mist in the Clouds, Clouds in the Mist, Fire-fast and Wind-speedy were also all common mortals with fleshly eyes, unable to tell the true from the false, and they too fell to their knees, kowtowed and said, “Your Majesty, we've been sent by the Sage Boy King of the Fire-cloud Cave to invite Your Senior Majesty to a meal of Tang Priest meat that will lengthen your life by a thousand ages.”
“Get up, children,” said Monkey, “and come back to my cave with me while I change.”
“There will be no need for all that trouble, Your Majesty,” said the little devils, still kowtowing. “You needn't go back. It's a long way, and I'm sure that our king would be angry with us if you did. Please come with us.”
“What good children,” said Monkey. “Very well then, lead the way. I'm coming with you.” The six little devils pulled themselves together and shouted to clear the way for the Great Sage, who was following them.
They were soon back at the cave. Wind-fast and Fire-speedy rushed in to report, “Your Majesty, His Senior Majesty is here.”
“You're capable lads to be back so soon,” said the demon king with delight. He then ordered all his commanders to parade his forces with their banners and drums to greet the Old King. All the demon in the cave obediently went out on parade. Monkey threw out his chest and acted very haughtily, braced himself, took back all the hairs he had turned into falconers and huntsmen, then strode straight in through the gates and took the central seat facing South as a monarch.
The Red Boy knelt and kowtowed to him, saying, “Your Majesty, your son pays obeisance.”
“No need for that,” said Monkey. After making four sets of kowtows the demon king stood below his father.
“What have you asked me here for, boy?” Monkey asked.
“Your stupid son,” said the demon with a bow, “caught someone yesterday-a priest from the Great Tang in the East. I've often heard tell that he is someone who has cultivated his conduct for ten lives, and that if you eat a piece of his flesh you'll live as long as an immortal from Penglai or Yingzhou. I did not dare to eat him by myself, which is why I asked Your Majesty to share the Tang Priest's flesh and extend your life by a thousand ages.”
At this Monkey looked shocked and asked, “Which Tang Priest, my boy?”
“The one going to fetch scriptures in the Western Heaven,” the demon king replied.
“But isn't he the master of Sun the Novice?” Monkey asked.
“Yes,” said the demon king.
Monkey waved his hand, shook his head and said, “Don't start trouble with him. Pick a fight with anyone else you like, but not with him. My dear boy, don't you know what sort of person he is? That ape has vast magic powers and can do all sorts of transformations. When he made havoc in Heaven the Jade Emperor sent a hundred thousand Heavenly soldiers to spread out Heaven-and-earth nets, but they could not catch him. How could you have the nerve to eat his master? Send the priest out his moment, and don't start trouble with that monkey. If he heard that you'd eaten his master he wouldn't even need to fight you. He'd just have to poke a hole in the mountainside with that gold-banded cudgel of his to bring the whole mountain tumbling down. Then where would you be able to live, my boy, and who would there be to support me in my old age?”
“What things to say, Your Majesty,” said the demon king. “You're bolstering him and making me look small. That Monkey and a couple of his fellow disciples were crossing my mountains when I did a transformation and carried his master off. He and Pig traced me to the gates here and talked some nonsense about kinship. I got into such a raging fury that we fought a few rounds. That was all there was to it. He wasn't anything very special. Then Pig came charging in so I breathed out my True Samadhi Fire and routed him. Monkey was so desperate that he went to ask the dragon kings of the four seas for rain, but they couldn't put out my True Samadhi Fire. I burnt him so badly that he passed out, then sent Pig off in a great hurry to ask the Bodhisattva Guanyin of the Southern Seas to come. I turned myself into a Guanyin and tricked Pig into coming here: he's now hanging up in the As-You-Will bag, and I'm going to steam him as a treat for all the underlings. That Monkey was back shouting at our gates again this morning. I ordered his arrest, and it threw him into such a panic that he dropped his bundle and fled. It was only then that I invited Your Majesty over to see what the Tang Priest looked like in life before we have him steamed for you to eat and become immortal.”
“My dear boy,” laughed Monkey, “you're only aware of how you beat him with your True Samadhi Fire. What you forget is that he can do seventy-two transformations.”
“No matter what he turns himself into I can always spot him,” said the demon king, “and I'm sure he won't dare try another attack here.”
“My son,” said Monkey, “you may be able to recognize him sometimes, but he won't turn into something big like a wolf, an orangutan or an elephant. If he did he wouldn't be able to get inside the cave. You'd find it hard to recognize him if he turned into something small.”
“No matter how small he made himself we have four or five little devils on every door. He'll never be able to get in.”
“You don't realize that he can turn himself into a fly, or a mosquito, or a flea, or a bee, or a butterfly, or the tiniest of insects. He could even make himself look just like me. You wouldn't possibly be able to tell.”
“Don't worry,” said the demon king. “Even if he had guts of iron and a bronze heart he'd never dare come anywhere near here.”
“In that case, dear son,” said Monkey, “what powers do you have that make you more than a match for him, so that you could invite me here today to eat the flesh of the Tang Priest? All the same, I don't think I'll have any today.”
“Why not?” the demon king said.
“I'm getting old,” said Monkey, “and your mother keeps nagging at me to do some good works. The only good deed I'm interested in is eating vegetarian food.”