When the two met they were well matched indeed.
And they parried and lunged at each other without end.
The sinister cudgel, Infinitely murderous,
Could whirl round your waist as quick as the wind,
The spear-catching staff,
Never yielding an opening,
Was irresistible, parrying to right and left.
On the one side the flags and banners fly,
On the other the camel drums roll.
Ten thousand heavenly generals in multiple encirclement;
A cave of monkey devils densely packed together.
Monstrous fogs and evil clouds cover the earth,
While the smoke of deadly battle rises to the sky.
Yesterday's fighting was bad enough;
Today's struggle is even worse.
The admirable skills of the Monkey King
Put Moksa to flight, utterly defeated.
After they had fought some fifty or sixty rounds, Huian's arm and shoulders were numbed and aching, and he could resist the Great Sage no longer. Waving his staff in a feint, he turned away and ran. The Great Sage then withdrew his monkey soldiers and encamped outside the gates of the cave.
The big and little heavenly soldiers at the gates of the other camp received Huian and let him go straight to the headquarters, where he gasped and panted for breath as he said to the Four Heavenly Kings, Li the Pagoda-bearer, and his brother Prince Nezha, “What a Great Sage! What a Great Sage! His magic powers are too much for me. He beat me.” Startled by this news, Heavenly King Li had a request for reinforcements written and sent the Strong-arm Devil King and Prince Moksa up to Heaven to submit.
Not daring to waste a moment, the two messengers rushed out through the heaven-and-earth nets and mounted their propitious clouds. A moment later they arrived outside the Hall of Universal Brightness, where they greeted the Four Heavenly Teachers, who led them to the Hall of Miraculous Mist and handed up their memorial. Prince Moksa, or Huian, did homage to the Bodhisattva, who asked him what he had found out.
“As you instructed me, I went to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit,” reported Huian, “asked them to open the gates of the heaven-and-earth net, saw my father, and told him of the orders you had given me. His Majesty my father said that they fought against the Monkey King yesterday but did not capture a single monkey spirit-only tigers, leopards, lions, elephants and so on. While he was telling me this the Monkey King demanded battle again, so your disciple fought some fifty or sixty rounds against him with my iron staff, but I was no match for him. He beat me, and drove me back to the camp. This is why my father has sent me and the Strong-arm Devil King up to Heaven to ask for reinforcements.” The Bodhisattva lowered her head in deep thought.
The Jade Emperor opened the memorial and saw that it contained a request for help. “This intolerable monkey spirit has enough tricks to fight off a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers,” he observed with a smile. “Heavenly King Li has asked for reinforcements. Which heavenly soldiers should I send him?”
Before the words were out of his mouth, Guanyin put her hands together and said, “Do not worry, You Majesty. I can recommend a god to capture this monkey.”
“Which god?” the Jade Emperor asked, and the Bodhisattva replied, “Your Majesty's nephew, the Illustrious Sage and True Lord Erlang, who is now living at Guanjiangkou in Guanzhou, enjoying the incense that the lower beings burn to him. In the past he exterminated the Six Bogies. He has the Brothers of Plum Hill and the twelve hundred straw-headed gods, and his magical powers are enormous. He will agree to be sent though he would not obey a summons to come here, so Your Majesty might like to issue a decree ordering him to take his troops to the rescue.” The Jade Emperor then issued such a decree and sent the Strong-arm Devil King to deliver it.
The devil king took the decree, mounted his cloud, and went straight to Guanjiangkou. He reached the temple of the True Lord within an hour. When the demon judges guarding the gates went in to report that there was an envoy from heaven standing outside with an imperial decree, Erlang went with the brothers to receive the decree outside the gates, and incense was burned as he read.
The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the monkey fiend of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, has rebelled. Because he stole peaches, wine and pills while in Heaven and wrecked the Peach Banquet, we have despatched a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and eighteen heaven-and-earth nets to surround the mountain and force him to submit, but we have not yet succeeded. We do now therefore especially appoint our worthy nephew and his sworn brothers to go to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit and give their help in eliminating him. When you succeed, large rewards and high office shall be yours.
Erlang was delighted. He told the envoy from Heaven to go back and report that the would be putting his sword to the Emperor's service. We need not describe how the devil king reported back to Heaven.
The True Lord Erlang called the six sworn brothers of Plum Hill-Marshals Kang, Zhang, Yao, and Li, and Generals Quo Shen and Zhi Jian-together before the hall. “The Jade Emperor has just ordered us to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit to subdue a monkey fiend,” he said. “You are all coming with me.”
The brothers were all eager to go, and mustering their divine troops they unleashed a gale wind. In an instant they had crossed the Eastern Ocean, riding eagles and leading dogs, pulling their bows and drawing their crossbows, and had reached the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit.
Finding that the many layers of heaven-earth nets were impenetrable, Erlang shouted, “Listen, all you generals in charge of the heaven-and-earth nets. I am the True Lord and the Illustrious Sage Erlang, and I have been sent here by the Jade Emperor to capture the monkey fiend. Open the gates of the camp and let me in at once.” Each line of gods forming the nets let them through, and the four other Heavenly Kings and Heavenly King Li all came to welcome him outside the headquarters. When the introductions were over he asked how the fighting had gone, and the Heavenly Kings gave him a full account of what had happened.
“Now that I, the Little Sage, have come here I shall have to match a few transformations with him,” said Erlang with a smile. “I hope that all you gentlemen will maintain a close cordon with your heaven-and-earth nets, but don't screen off the top of the mountain; then I'll be able to fight him. If he beats me I shan't need the help of you gentlemen, as I have my brothers to support me; and if I beat him I won't have to trouble you to tie him up as my brothers can do it. I would just like to ask Heavenly King Li to stand in the sky and operate this fiend-detecting mirror. I'm worried that if he's beaten he may go and hide somewhere, so you will have to give me a clear view of him and not let him get away.” The Heavenly Kings stayed in the four quarters, and all the heavenly soldiers were drawn up in their battle positions.
The True Lord Erlang went out at the head of the four marshals and the two generals-making seven sworn brothers with himself included-to challenge the enemy to battle; and he ordered his other officers to defend the camp firmly and keep the eagles and dogs under control. All the straw-headed gods acknowledged the order. Erlang then went to the outside of the Water Curtain Cave, where he saw the monkey hordes neatly drawn up in a coiled-dragon battle line; in the middle of the central corps stood a pole with a banner on it reading “Great Sage Equaling Heaven.”
“What business has that loathsome fiend to call himself the equal of Heaven?” Erlang asked; and the six sworn brothers of Plum Hill replied, “Stop admiring him and challenge him to battle.” When the junior monkeys at the gate of their camp saw the True Lord Erlang they rushed back to report, whereupon the Monkey King took his gold-banded cudgel, adjusted his golden armour, put on his cloud-walking shoes, felt his golden helmet, and leapt out through the gates of the camp. He saw at first sight how cool and remarkable Erlang looked, and how elegantly he was dressed. Indeed: