Monkey then bowed again and said, “I beg the Bodhisattva for further instructions. Please tell your disciple whom I should go to see to ask for help.”
“Go to the Palace of Light inside the Eastern Gate of Heaven and look for the Star Officer of the Pleiades. He will be able to subdue her.” Having spoken she turned into a beam of golden light and went straight back to the Southern Ocean.
The Great Sage Monkey then brought down his cloud and said to Pig and Friar Sand, “Don't worry, brothers. Our master has a star to save him.”
“Where?” Friar Sand asked.
“The Bodhisattva has just told me to ask the help of the Star Officer of the Pleiades,” Monkey said. “I'm off.”
“Brother,” groaned Pig, his hand still on his mouth, “please ask the star lord for some ointment to stop this pain.”
“You don't need any ointment,” laughed Monkey. “After a night's pain it'll get better, just as mine did last night.”
“Stop all that talk,” said Friar Sand, “and get there as fast as you can.”
The splendid Monkey set off at once on his somersault cloud and was outside the Eastern Gate of Heaven in an instant. The Heavenly King Virudhaka suddenly appeared to greet him courteously and ask, “Where are you going, Great Sage?”
“I want to go to the Palace of Light to see the Star Lord of the Pleiades because the Tang Priest I'm escorting to the West to fetch the scriptures is being pestered by a devil,” Monkey said. Then the four marshals Tao, Zhang, Xin and Deng appeared to ask Monkey where he was going.
“I'm looking for the Star Officer of the Pleiades to subdue a demon and rescue my master,” he said.
To this they answered, “The star officer has gone on an inspection to the Star-viewing Tower today at the Jade Emperor's command.”
“Is that true?” Monkey asked.
“We left the Dipper and Bull Palace with him,” Heavenly Lord Xin said, “and we would not dare lie about it.”
“He has been gone for a long time,” Heavenly Lord Tao said, “so he may be back by now. Great Sage, you would do best to go to the Palace of Light first, and if he is not back, go on to the Star-viewing Tower.”
This delighted the Great Sage, who took his leave of them and went to the gate of the Palace of Light. Finding that the star officer was indeed not there he was just about to leave when he noticed a column of soldiers outside. Behind them was the star lord returning in his court dress sewn with golden thread. This is how he looked:
The Five Peak pins in his hat gleamed gold;
The mountain and river tablet he held was of the finest jade.
The Seven Stars hung from his waist amid clouds and mist;
Bright were the rings of jade on his Eight-pole sash.
His pendants chimed with a rhythmical sound;
The wind rushing past made a noise like bells.
The Star Officer of the Pleiades came holding his kingfisher fan;
While clouds of heavenly incense filled the hall.
When the soldiers in the front ranks saw Monkey standing outside the Palace of Light they hurried back to report, “My lord, the Great Sage Sun is here.” The star officer put away his clouds and tidied his court dress, then when the attendants carrying his insignia of office stood aside to left and right he stepped forward to greet Monkey courteously and ask, “Why are you here, Great Sage?”
“I have come especially to pay my respects and beg you to rescue my master from disaster,” Brother Monkey replied.
“What disaster, and where?” the star officer asked.
“He is in the Pipa Cave on Deadly Foe Mountain in Western Liang,” Monkey replied.
“What evil monster is there in the cave that you should need to send for me?” asked the star officer.
“The Bodhisattva Guanyin appeared to us just now,” Monkey said, “and told us that she is a scorpion spirit. She specially mentioned you, sir, as the only person who would be able to control her. That is why I have come here to ask your help.”
“I would have preferred to submit a memorial to the Jade Emperor,” the star officer replied, “but as you have come here, Great Sage, and as I am much obliged to the Bodhisattva for recommending me I would not like to lose any more time. Excuse me if I don't offer you tea: let's go down to subdue the demon. I can report back to His Majesty on my return.”
At that the Great Sage went out with the star officer through the Eastern Gate of Heaven and straight back to Western Liang. Seeing Deadly Foe Mountain not far off, Monkey Pointed to it and said, “That's the mountain.” The star lord brought his cloud down and went with Monkey to the slope in front of the stone screen.
“Get up, brother,” said Friar Sand to Pig on seeing them. “Brother Monkey is back with the star officer.”
“Forgive me,” said the idiot, his hand still pressed over his mouth, “forgive me, but I'm too ill to pay you all the courtesies.”
“But you are one who cultivates his conduct,” the star lord said. “How can you be ill?”
“The she-devil jabbed me in the lip when I was fighting her,” Pig replied, and it still hurts.”
“Come here,” said the star lord, “and I'll cure it for you.”
Only then did the idiot put his hands down as he groaned, “Please, please cure it for me. I'll pay you well when it's better.” The star lord then touched his lip and blew on it, at which the pain stopped. A delighted Pig went down on his knees and kowtowed to the star lord. “Wonderful, wonderful,” he said.
“Will you touch my head too?” asked Monkey with a smile.
“Why?” the star lord asked. “You weren't jabbed with the poison.”
“I was yesterday,” said Monkey, “and it only stopped hurting after last night. It's still rather numb and itchy and may be bad again when the weather turns overcast, which is why I would like you to cure it.” The star officer then touched and blew on his head too, thus removing the remaining poison and stopping the numbness and itching.
“Brother,” said a wrathful Pig, “let's go and fight that vicious creature.”
“Yes, yes,” the star lord said, “you two call her out so that I can put her in her place.”
Monkey and Pig leapt up the slope and went round the stone screen once more. Yelling insults the idiot used his hands like picks and hit with his rake to clear a way through the wall of stones that had been built outside the mouth of the cave. Once through these outer defenses he struck again with his rake to smash the inner doors to sawdust, giving the little devils behind them such a shock that they ran inside to report, “Madam, those two hideous men have smashed the inner doors now.” The she-devil had just had the Tang Priest untied and sent for some vegetarian breakfast for him when she heard the inner doors being smashed. Leaping out of her flower pavilion she thrust at Pig with her trident. He parried with his rake while Monkey joined in the fight from the side. The she-devil went right up to them and was just going to use her vicious trick when the two of them, who now knew what she was about, turned and fled.
As soon as the two of them were round the rock Monkey shorted, “Where are you, star lord?” The star lord stood up at once on the mountainside in his original form as a giant rooster with twin combs. When he raised his head he was six or seven feet tall, and as soon as he crowed the monster reverted to her true appearance as a scorpion spirit the size of a pipa mandolin. When the star officer crowed again the monster's whole body crumbled in death. There is a poem as evidence that goes,