“Your Majesty,” said the demon king, “is this permanent or just for a month?”
“Neither,” said Monkey. “It's called 'thunder vegetarianism'. You do it for four days each month.”
“Which four?” the demon asked.
“The three days each month with Xin in their names, and the sixth day too. Today is the day Xin You, so that means I ought to be on vegetarian food. Besides, You days are not good for having visitors. But tomorrow I could be back to scrub, wash and steam him myself, and enjoy him with you, my boy.”
This all made the demon king think, “My father usually lives on human flesh, and he's already lived to be over a thousand. How come he's now thinking about a vegetarian diet? When you consider all the evil things he's done, three or four days of vegetarian food a month could never make up for them. There's something wrong here. It's very suspicious.” He withdrew and went out through the inner gates, sent for the six warriors, and asked them, “Where was His Senior Majesty when you gave him that invitation?”
“Halfway here,” the little devils replied.
“I thought you were quick,” said the demon king. “Didn't you go to his place?”
“No,” said the little devils, “we didn't.”
“This is bad,” said the demon king. “I've been fooled. It's not His Senior Majesty.”
The little devils all knelt before him and asked, “Your Majesty, can't you recognize your own father?”
“He looks and moves just like my father,” said the demon king, “but what he says doesn't fit. I'm afraid I've been taken in and beaten by one of his transformations. I want you all to be very careful. The swordsmen among you must draw your swords, the spearmen sharpen your spears, and those of you who can use staves and ropes get ready to do so. I'm going to question him again and watch what he says. If he really is His Senior Majesty then it doesn't matter whether we have the feast today, tomorrow or in a month's time. But if what he says is wrong, then the moment I give a hum you're all to attack at once.”
When the little devils had all been given their orders the demon king turned on his heels, went back inside and bowed to Monkey, who said, “No need for all that formality within the family, my boy. Don't bow. Just say whatever it is you have to say.”
The demon king prostrated himself before Monkey and replied, “Your foolish son actually invited you for two reasons. One was to present you with Tang Priest meat, and the other was to ask you something. When I was out for a spin on my auspicious light the other day I went right up to the ninth level of clouds and bumped into the Taoist Master Zhang Daoling.”
“Do you mean Zhang Daoling the Taoist pope?” Monkey asked.
“Yes,” the demon king replied. “What did he say to you?” Monkey asked.
“Seeing that your son is complete in all his organs and that the spacing between my forehead, nose and chin is auspiciously even,” the demon king replied, “he asked me the hour, day, month and year of my birth. Your child is too young to remember all that properly. Master Zhang is a brilliant astrologer, and he offered to cast my horoscope. That is what I wanted to inquire about, Your Majesty, so that I can ask him to cast my horoscope next time I meet him.”
This made Monkey chuckle to himself: “What a magnificent demon. I've captured quite a few since I became a Buddhist and started escorting the Tang Priest on this journey, but none of them was as sharp as this one. He's asking me all trivial family details, and I'll just have to fake up my answers. How could I possibly know when he was born?” The splendid Monkey King was extremely crafty.
He continued to sit in majesty in the central position, showing not a trace of fear as he replied with his face wreathed in smiles, “Please get up, dear boy. I'm getting so old now that nothing goes the way I want it to any more. I can't remember just now exactly when you were born. I'll ask your mother when I go home tomorrow.”
“But Your Majesty is always reeling off the details of my birth-time,” the demon king said, “and telling me I'll live as long as Heaven. You can't have forgotten now. It's outrageous. You're a fake.” He then hummed the signal and all the demons rushed on Monkey and stabbed at him with their swords and spears.
The Great Sage parried their thrusts with his cudgel, went back to looking like himself again, and said to the evil spirit, “You're the outrageous one, dear boy. It can't possibly be right for a son to attack his own father.” The demon king was so overwhelmed with shame that he dared not return Monkey's look. Brother Monkey then turned into a golden glow and left the cave.
“Your Majesty, Sun the Novice has gone,” the little devils reported.
“Oh well, that's that,” said the demon king. “Good riddance. He beat me this time. Shut the gates and say nothing to him. Let's clean, cook and eat the Tang Priest.”
Laughing aloud as he brandished his cudgel, Monkey went back across the ravine. Hearing this, Friar Sand hurried out of the woods to say to him, “Brother, you've been ages. Why are you laughing? I hope it's because you've rescued the master.”
“No, brother,” Monkey replied. “But although I haven't rescued him yet, I won this time.”
“How?” Friar Sand asked.
“The fiend disguised himself as Guanyin to lure Pig back here and hang him up in a leather bag. I was just trying to work out how to rescue Pig when the demon sent his six so-called warriors to invite the Old King to a meal of the master's flesh. I reckoned that the Old King was bound to be the Bull Demon King, so I turned myself into his double, went inside, and took the place of honour. He called me 'Your Majesty' and 'father,' and I replied; and when he kowtowed I sat up straight. It was lovely. I really did win.”
“But while you've been scoring easy points the master's life is in terrible danger,” said Friar Sand.
“Don't worry about it,” said Monkey. “I'm off to ask the Bodhisattva here.”
“But your back's still aching,” said Friar Sand.
“Now it isn't,” said Monkey. “As the old saying goes, when things go well they raise the spirits. Look after the horse and the luggage. I'm off.”
“You've made such an enemy of him,” said Friar Sand, “that I'm scared he'll murder the master. Be as quick as you can.”
“I'll be quick,” said Monkey. “I'll be back in the time it takes to eat a meal.”
Even as he was still speaking, the splendid Great Sage left Friar Sand and set off on the somersault cloud that took him straight towards the Southern Ocean. He had been flying for less than an hour when Potaraka Island came into view. He landed his cloud in an instant and went straight to Raka Crag, where the twenty-four devas asked him as he walked solemnly towards them, “Great Sage, where are you going?”
After Monkey had exchanged courtesies with them he replied, “I would like to see the Bodhisattva.”
“Please wait for a moment while we report to her,” the devas said. Hariti and the other devas went to the entrance of the Tide Cave to report, “Bodhisattva, Sun Wukong has come for an audience.” The Bodhisattva asked for him to be brought in.
The Great Sage tidied his clothes and obediently walked inside at a respectful pace. When he saw the Bodhisattva he prostrated himself before her. “Wukong,” she said, “why are you here instead of taking Master Golden Cicada to the West to fetch the scriptures?”
“Bodhisattva,” Monkey replied, “your disciple humbly reports that while escorting the Tang Priest on his journey he has reached the Fire-cloud Cave in the Withered Pine Ravine on Mount Hao. An evil spirit called the Red Boy whose title is Sage Boy King has snatched my master. I and Pig found our way to his gates and fought him, but he started a True Samadhi Fire. This makes it impossible for us to beat him and rescue the master. I hurried to the Eastern Sea and asked the dragon kings of the four seas to make rain, but it couldn't control the flames, and I was badly hurt by the smoke, which all but killed me.”