Drifting gently down from the sky.
A vast expanse of whiteness
In which nothing can be seen;
A blanket of obscurity
That hides one's way in an instant.
The woodcutter loses his mate when gathering firewood;
The young Taoist gathering herbs cannot see his home.
The fine grains blow in the wind like flour,
The coarse ones roll like sesame seeds.
The world is lost to sight, the mountain peaks are dark,
And sunshine from the sky is blotted out.
This is not the dust kicked up by horses
Nor like the softness of a fragrant carriage.
This cinnabar sand is a merciless thing
Covering heaven and earth and capturing all demons.
Only because the monster attacked the true Way
Were the arhats commanded to show off its splendor.
In their hands they were holding pearls of brilliance
To shine with dazzling brightness at the right time.
When the demon was being blinded by the flying sand he bent down to see that it was already three feet deep on the ground. In his alarm he sprang up at once to the level above it, but before he had steadied himself it was already over two feet deeper. Now desperate, he pulled his feet free, took out his ring, and threw it up in the air with a shout of “Catch them!” As it came whistling down it caught all eighteen grains of golden cinnabar sand. The monster went back into his cave.
The empty-handed arhats stopped their clouds. “Why have you stopped dropping your sand, arhats?” asked Monkey as he came towards them.
“There was a noise just now and all our golden cinnabar sand disappeared,” they replied.
“That thing must have caught it too,” said Monkey with a laugh.
“If he's as invincible as this however are we going to capture him?” the Heavenly King and the rest of them said. “When will we ever go back to Heaven, and how will we be able to face the Jade Emperor?”
Then the two arhats Dragon-subduer and Tiger-queller said to Monkey, “Wukong, do you know why we two were late setting out?”
“I was cross because I thought you were skulking somewhere and not coming,” said Monkey. “I didn't know you were having a conversation.”
“The Tathagata Buddha gave us these instructions,” the arhats replied. “He said, 'That fiend has very great magic powers. If you lose your golden cinnabar sand tell Sun Wukong to go to Lord Lao Zi's Tushita Palace in the Lihen Heaven to find out about the fiend's background. If he does that he may be able to capture the monster easily.'”
“What a horrible thing to do,” said Monkey. “The Buddha's tricked me again. He should have told me before and spared you this long journey.”
“As those are the Buddha's clear instructions you should be on your way as soon as possible,” said Heavenly King Li.
Splendid Monkey. Saying, “I'm off!” he sent his somersault cloud straight in through the Southern Gate of Heaven, where the four marshals raised their hands in greeting and asked how the capture of the demon was going. “I haven't got him yet,” said Monkey without stopping, “but I now know where to find out about his background.” Not daring to delay him, the four marshals let him pass through. He did not go to the Hall of Miraculous Mist or the Palace of the Dipper and the Bull, but went straight to the gates of the Tushita Palace in the Lihen Heaven that lies beyond the thirty-three heavens, where he saw two immortal boys standing in attendance. Monkey did not report his name but rushed straight in, to the consternation of the boys who grabbed him.
“Who are you?” they asked, “and where are you going?”
“I am the Great Sage Equaling Heaven,” Monkey replied, “and I'm here to see Lord Lao Zi.”
“How could you be so ill-mannered?” the boys said. “Just wait there while we make a report.” Allowing no further discussion Monkey shouted at them and went straight in, colliding with Lord Lao Zi who was coming out to meet him.
“Haven't seen you for ages, old fellow,” said Monkey after bowing and uttering a respectful “re-e-er.”
“Why are you here, you little monkey, instead of going to fetch scriptures?” asked Lord Lao Zi with a smile. To this Monkey replied,
“To fetch the holy scriptures
I toil day and night,
And now that I'm in trouble
To see you would be right.”
“What have your troubles on the road to the Western Heaven to do with me?” Lord Lao Zi asked. Monkey's answer was:
“Of the Buddha's West Heaven
Please don't talk today.
It's to follow a trail
That I've come up this way.”
“But this is a Supreme Immortals' palace,” Lord Lao Zi replied, “so how can you be following anyone's trail up here?”
Monkey went into the palace and looked about him with great concentration. When he had gone along a number of covered walkways he noticed a boy sleeping by the buffalo pen, from which the water-buffalo was missing. “Old man,” shouted Monkey, “your buffalo's escaped, your buffalo's escaped.”
“When did that wicked beast get away?” asked Lord Lao Zi with horror. The noise woke up the boy, who knelt before Lord Lao Zi and said, “My lord, I was asleep. I don't know when it went.”
“When did you go to sleep, you little wretch?” asked Lord Lao Zi angrily.
“I picked up an elixir pill in the elixir laboratory and ate it,” replied the boy with kowtows, “then went to sleep here.”
“I suppose you ate one of the seven-fired elixir tablets that must have been dropped when I refined them the other day, damn you,” said Lord Lao Zi. “One of those tablets would make you sleep for seven days. The evil beast took the chance to escape and go down to the mortal world when you went to sleep and left it unguarded. That must have been seven days ago.” He then ordered an inspection to find out if it had stolen any treasures.
“It doesn't have any treasures, only a terrible ring,” said Monkey.
When Lord Lao Zi made an urgent check he found that nothing was missing except a diamond jade bangle. “The evil beast must have stolen my Diamond Jade Bangle,” said Lord Lao Zi.
“So that's what his treasure is,” said Monkey, “that's what he fought me with. Goodness only knows how many of our weapons he's caught with that now he's rampaging around in the mortal would.”
“Where is that wicked beast now?” Lord Lao Zi asked.
“In the Jindou Cave on Mount Jindou, where he's holding the Tang Priest and has captured my gold-banded cudgel. I asked for the help of heavenly soldiers, and he took Prince Nezha's magic weapons. When I invited the Star Lord of Fire to come his fire-raising equipment and creatures were taken. Although the Earl of the Yellow River couldn't drown him, at least his gear wasn't taken. Then when I asked the Buddha to send his arhats to scatter their golden cinnabar sand the demon took all that too. It looks as though you are guilty of a very serious crime in allowing a thieving and murderous monster to get away.”
“That Diamond Jade Bangle is a treasure I refined and created after I went out through the Han Pass to convert the foreigners. Nothing can get anywhere near it, not weapons, fire or water. But if my Plantain Fan had been stolen not even I would have been able to do anything about it”
Monkey was feeling very pleased as he accompanied Lord Lao Zi, who was carrying his Plantain Fan, out of the palace by auspicious cloud. Once they were through the Southern Gate of Heaven they brought the cloud straight down to Mount Jindou, where Lord Lao Zi greeted the eighteen arhats, the thunder gods, the Earl of the Yellow River, the Star Lord of Fire, Heavenly King Li and Prince Nezha, who told him all about what had happened. “For me to catch him Sun Wukong will have to go down to lure him out once more,” Lord Lao Zi said.