“It's nothing,” Monkey replied. “Have another cut like that if you like.”
“You monkey,” the old demon said, “you don't know about this sword,”
Created in furnaces of metal and fire,
A hundred times tempered by divine craftsmanship.
Its sharp blade follows the Three Strategies,
And it is as strong as described in the Six Plans.
The point is as fine as a housefly's tail,
And supple as the body of a white dragon.
When it goes to the mountains dense clouds arise;
If it plunges into the sea the great waves roll.
It has been burnished times beyond number,
Heated and tempered many hundred times over.
Deep in the mountains it is kept in the caves;
Great is the glory it has won when in battle.
If I use it to strike at your monkish pate
I'll cut it into a pair of gourd ladles.”
“You're blind, evil spirit,” laughed the Great Sage, “if you think my head is just gourd ladles. I'll let you hack at me if you're silly enough to want to. Have another go and see what happens.”
The senior demon raised his sword for another hack, which the Great Sage moved his head forward to meet. With a loud band his head was split into two, whereupon the Great Sage rolled on the ground and gave himself a second body. The sight so alarmed the demon that he lowered his sword.
Watching all this from a distance Pig said with a laugh, “Give him a couple more hacks, old devil, then there'll be four of him.”
Pointing at Brother Monkey the senior demon said, “I'd heard that you can use self-dividing magic. Why are you showing it off to me now?”
“What self-dividing magic?” Monkey asked.
“Why was it that the first time I hacked you it made no impact, but this time I cut you in two?” the senior demon asked. “Don't worry, evil spirit,” said the Great Sage with a smile. “If you cut me ten thousand times there'll be twenty thousand of me.”
“You ape,” the demon said, “you may be able to divide yourself but you can't put yourself together again. If you can, hit me with your cudgel.”
“Don't talk nonsense,” said the Great Sage. “You asked to take three cuts at me but only took two. Now you've invited me to hit you once. I'm not Monkey if I hit you one and a half times.”
“Very well,” said the senior demon.
The splendid Great Sage hugged his two bodies together, rolled, became one body again and struck with his cudgel at the demon's head. The old demon raised his sword to parry the blow. “Damned ape,” he said, “you've got a cheek! How dare you come here attacking me with a mourner's staff like that?”
“If you ask about this cudgel of mine,” shouted the Great Sage, “everybody in heaven and earth has heard of it.”
“What's it famous for?” the senior demon asked. To this Monkey replied:
“The cudgel is made of nine-cycled wrought iron
Tempered by Lord Lao Zi himself in his furnace.
King Yu called it a divine treasure when he obtained it
To hold the eight rivers and four oceans in place.
In its middle the constellations are secretly set out,
And each end is banded with yellow gold.
Ghosts and gods are amazed at its intricate decorations,
Dragon patterns and phoenix signs.
Known as the Divine Male Cudgel,
It was inaccessibly deep in the bed of the sea.
Its shape can change and it knows how to fly,
Sending clouds of many colours drifting through the air.
Once it was mine I took it back to my mountain,
Where I discovered how its infinite changes.
When I want size it's as thick as a vat,
Or it can be as thin as an iron wire,
Huge as a mountain or small as a needle,
Adapting its length to the wishes of my heart.
Lightly I lift it and coloured clouds spring up,
Or it flies through the sky and flashes like lightning.
The cold air it gives off chills all who feel it,
And ominous mists appear in the sky.
I have carried it with me to beat dragons and tigers,
Travelling to all of the ends of the earth.
Once with this cudgel I made havoc in heaven,
And used its great might to wreck the peach banquet.
The heavenly kings were unable to beat me,
And Nezha was hard pressed to match me in combat.
With this cudgel against them the gods had no safe refuge;
A hundred thousand heavenly troops all scattered and fled.
The gods of thunder guarded the Hall of Miraculous Mist
When the cudgel attacked the Palace of Universal Brightness
All of the angels at court were flustered
And the Jade Emperor's ministers were thrown into panic.
I raised my cudgel to overturn the Palace of the Dipper,
Then turned back to shake up the South Pole Compound.
Seeing my dread cudgel at his golden gates
The Jade Emperor invited the Buddha to see me.
The soldier takes defeat and victory in his stride;
There is nothing to choose between suffering and disaster.
I stuck it out for full five hundred years
Until I was converted by the Bodhisattva Guanyin.
Then a holy monk appeared in Tang
Who swore a mighty oath to heaven,
To save the souls in the City of the Unjustly Slain
And fetch the sutras at an assembly on Vulture Mountain.
On the journey to the West are many evil monsters
Whose actions would be a great obstacle to him.
So, knowing that my cudgel is matchless in the world,
He begged me to be his companion on the journey.
When it struck down evil spirits they were sent to the Underworld,
Their flesh turned to red dust and their bones all to powder.
Evil spirits everywhere were killed by the cudgel,
In thousands upon thousands too numerous to count.
Up above it wrecked the Dipper and Bull Palace,
And below it ruined the Senluo Court in Hell.
Of the heavenly generals it routed the Nine Bright Shiners,
And it wounded all of the Underworld's judges.
Dropped from mid-air it shakes mountains and rivers;
It is stronger than the sword of an evil star.
With this cudgel alone I protect the Tang Priest
And kill all the evil monsters in the world.”
When the monster heard this he trembled, lifted his sword and struck with all his strength. Chuckling, Monkey blocked the blow with his iron cudgel. At first the two of them struggled in front of the cave, but then they both sprang up and fought in mid-air. It was a splendid battle.
The divine rod had once secured the bed of Heaven's River:
The As-You-Will cudgel is the finest in the world,
Praise of its powers enraged the demon chief,
Whose mighty cutlass was full of great magic.
When they fought outside the gates they were still open to reason,
But no mercy was shown in their battle in the sky.
One could change his appearance at will;
The other could make himself grow on the spot.
The fight was so intense that the sky filled with clouds,
And all of the plains were enveloped in mist.
One had often determined to devour the monk Sanzang;
The other used his magic to protect the Tang Priest.
All because the Lord Buddha transmitted the scriptures
Evil and good were opposed in harsh conflict.
The senior demon and the Great Sage fought over twenty rounds without either emerging the victor while Pig admired their magnificent battle from down below until, unable to restrain himself, he grabbed his rake and leapt up into the air, riding on the wind to strike at the evil monster's face. The demon panicked, not realizing that Pig had no staying power, but could only rush recklessly in and give people a fright. All the demon could see was that Pig had a long snout, big ears and a vicious way with his rake, so he abandoned the struggle, threw his sword away, turned and fled.