“You must be off your head, talking such nonsense,” the Taoist priests replied. “All those Buddhist monks were presented to us by His Majesty. Even if we released just one or two of them we'd have to cover up by handing in sick notes for them to our masters then filling out death certificates. We couldn't possibly release the whole lot of them. It would be outrageous, quite outrageous. We'd have no servants and the king would be very angry with us. The ward head is always sending officials to check up, and sometimes the king even comes to count them himself. We couldn't possibly let them go.”
“You couldn't?” said Monkey.
“No,” the priests replied. By the time he had asked this and been given the same answer three times he was in a terrible rage. He produced his iron cudgel from his ear, created a spell with his hands, made it as thick as a rice bowl, swung it, and brought it down on the Taoists' faces. The poor Taoists
Fell to the ground with their blood gushing out and their heads split open,
Wounds that were gaping wide, brains scattered everywhere, both necks broken.
When the Buddhist monks faraway on the strand saw Monkey kill the two Taoists they abandoned their cart and came running over saying, “This is awful, this is awful. You've killed the king's relations.”
“Who are the king's relations?” Monkey asked.
The monks fenced him in with their earth-moving baskets and said, “Their masters don't have to greet the king when they enter the throne hall or take leave of him when they go. The king addresses them as 'Elder Brother Teacher'. Why did you have to come here to get us into this terrible trouble. It was nothing to do with you that their disciples came to supervise the work. What's to become of us now that they've been killed? We'll have to take you into town to report their deaths.”
“Do stop that yelling, gentlemen,” said Monkey with a smile. “I'm not really a wandering Quanzhen Taoist. I'm here to rescue you.”
“But by killing them you've only made things worse for us,” they said. “How can you say you're here to rescue us?”
“I'm Sun Wukong the Novice,” Monkey replied, “the disciple of the holy priest from the Great Tang, and I've come here specially to save you.”
“No, you're not,” the monk said. “We know what that great lord looks like.”
“But how could you?” Monkey asked. “You've never met him.”
“We've seen an old man in a dream who told us he was the Great White Planet. He told us what Sun the Novice, or Monkey, looks like so that we wouldn't confuse him with anyone else.”
“How did the Planet describe him to you?” Monkey asked him.
To this the Buddhist monk replied, “He told us that the Great Sage has
A brow that seems split open, two flashing of eyes of gold,
A head that's round, a hairy face, and sunken cheeks, we're told.
Out of a pointed muzzle sharp little teeth protrude;
He looks much like a thunder god, and his Conduct's very crude.
He wields a cudgel of iron with ends banded in gold
With which he smashed the Heavenly gates as a rebel in times of old.
Now he has seen the light of the faith he's escorting his master,
And saves whoever he can from death and disaster.”
Monkey was both angry and pleased to hear this. He was pleased that his fame had been spread, but thought angrily, “That old rascal, telling these ordinary mortals what I really look like.”
Then he found himself speaking aloud and saying, “Gentlemen, you're quite right that I'm not Sun the Novice. I'm only a servant of his who's come here to fool around and practice making trouble. But Sun the Novice is coming-look over there!” He pointed East, tricking all the monks into turning away while he resumed his true appearance.
Only then did they realize who he really was, and fell to the ground to kowtow and say, “My lord, because we have only mortal eyes we failed to recognize you in your disguise. We beg you to go into the city, subdue evil, and save and avenge us.”
“Come with me then,” said Monkey, and the monks followed him closely.
The Great Sage went straight to the sandbank and used magic to make the cart go through the two gates and along the ridge then lift itself right up and smash itself to smithereens. The bricks, tiles and timber all went tumbling down the slope. “Scatter,” he told the monks, “and keep away from me until I've seen the king and wiped out those Taoists tomorrow.”
“But, my lord,” the Buddhist monk said, “we dare not go far. We're frightened of being arrested by officials and brought back here to be flogged and punished in other ways. It would only make things worse for us.”
“In that case I'll give you some magical protection,” said Monkey. The splendid Great Sage then pulled out a handful of hairs and chewed them into little pieces, one of which he gave to each of the monks. “Keep it inside the nail of your third finger, bunch you fingers together, and just keep walking,” he told them. “Nothing will happen unless somebody tries to arrest you. If anyone does, clench your fist and shout, 'Great Sage Equaling Heaven.' Then I'll come and protect you.”
“But, my lord,” the monk said, “what if you're far away and out of sight? What if you don't come when we call? Whatever shall we do?”
“Don't worry yourselves,” said Monkey. “I'll keep you completely safe even if I'm thousands of miles away.”
One of the bolder spirits among the monks clenched his fist and said “Great Sage Equaling Heaven” under his breath. A figure like a thunder god holding an iron cudgel appeared before him, so terrifying that not even a huge army would not have dared to approach him. Then over a hundred of the monks called out, and over a hundred Great Sages appeared to protect them.
“Truly a miracle, my lord,” the monks all said, kowtowing.
Monkey then told them to say “Quiet” for their protectors to disappear again. They then all said “Quiet,” and the pieces of hair were once more tucked behind their fingernails. Only then were the monks all happy to disperse and make their escapes.
“Don't go too far,” said Brother Monkey, “and keep your ears open for news of me. If a notice is issued recalling Buddhist monks, come to the city and return my hair.” The five hundred monks then scattered in all directions; some went away and some stayed where they were.
The story switches back to Sanzang, who gave up waiting beside the track for Monkey to report back and told Pig to lead the horse Westward. They met monks hurrying away, and when they were close to the city wall they found Monkey with a dozen or so monks who had not yet gone. “Wukong,” said Sanzang, reining in his horse, “why did it take you so long to get back from investigating that noise?” Monkey led the dozen or so monks in performing obeisances before Sanzang's horse and then told him everything that happened. Sanzang was horrified: “What are we to do if that's the way it is?”
“Please don't worry, my lord,” said the dozen or so monks. “His Honour the Great Sage Monkey is a god down from Heaven whose divine powers are tremendous. He will most certainly be able to protect you. We are monks from the Deep Wisdom Monastery, a royal foundation in the city. Because our monastery was founded by the great-grandfather of the present king and there is a statue of him there, the monastery has not been demolished, although all the others in the city, big and small alike, have been torn down. We would like to invite you to come straight into town to stay in our humble monastery. The Great Sage Monkey is bound to find some way of coping at court tomorrow morning.”
“You are right,” said Monkey. “Very well then, let us go into the city without further delay.”