Journey to the West

⋇⊰ Chapter 7 ⊱⋇

The Great Sage Equaling Heaven was escorted by the hosts of heavenly soldiers to the Demon−beheading Tower and tied to the Demon−subduing Pillar. They hacked at him with sabers, sliced at him with axes, lunged at him with spears, and cut at him with swords, but they were unable to inflict a single wound on him. The Southern Dipper angrily ordered all the gods of the Department of Fire to set him alight and burn him up, but he would not ignite. He told the gods of the Department of Thunder to nail splinters of thunder into him, but however hard they tried they could not harm a hair of his body. The strong−arm Demon King and the rest of them then reported this to the throne.

"Your Majesty," they said, "this Great Sage has learned somewhere or other how to protect himself by magic. Although your subjects have hacked at him with sabers, sliced at him with axes, struck at him with thunder, and tried to burn him with fire, we have not been able to harm a hair of his body. What are we to do?"

"How can we deal with a wretch like this?" the Jade Emperor asked.

"That monkey has eaten the peaches of immortality, drunk the imperial liquor, and stolen the pills of elixir. He swallowed those five gourds of pills of mine, fresh ones and mature ones alike. Now we have used the fire of samadhi on him, which has tempered his body and made it a diamond one that cannot be harmed. The best course would be to let me take him and put him in my Eight Trigrams Furnace, where I can refine out my elixir with the civil and martial fire and reduce him to ashes at the same time," replied Lord Lao Zi.

The Jade Emperor then ordered the Six Dings and the Six Jias to untie him and hand him over to Lord Lao Zi, who took him away in obedience to the imperial decree. At the same time, the Jade Emperor summoned the Illustrious Sage Erlang to his presence and rewarded him with 100 golden flowers, 100 jars of imperial liquor, 100 pills of elixir, rare jewels, lustrous pearls, brocade, embroidery, and other gifts to share with his sworn brothers. The True Lord Erlang thanked him for his bounty and returned to Guanjiangkou.

When he reached the Tushita Palace, Lord Lao Zi had the Great Sage untied, took the hook from his collarbone, pushed him into the Eight Trigrams Furnace, and ordered the priests in charge of it and the fire−boys to fan the fire up to refine him. The furnace was made up of the Eight Trigrams−−Qian, Kan, Gen, Zhen, Sun, Li, Kun, and Dui−−so he squeezed himself into the "Palace of Sun," as Sun was the wind, and where there was wind there could be no fire. All that happened was that the wind stirred up the smoke, which made both his eyes red and left him somewhat blind with the illness called "fire eyes with golden pupils."

Time soon passed, and without him realizing it, the 49 days had passed, and Lord Lao Zi's fire had reached the required temperature and burned for long enough. One day the furnace was opened for the elixir to be taken out. The Great Sage, who was shielding his eyes with both hands and wiping away his tears, heard a noise at the top of the furnace. He looked hard and saw daylight; and, unable to stand being in there a moment longer, leaped out of the furnace, kicked it over with a crash, and was off. In the ensuing chaos, the fire−boys, the keepers of the furnace, the Dings, and the Jias all tried to grab him, but he knocked them all down. He was like a white−browed tiger gone berserk, a single−horned dragon raving mad.

Lord Lao Zi rushed up to seize him but was thrown head over heels as the Great Sage freed himself. He took the As−You−Will cudgel from his ear, shook it in the wind till it was thick as a bowl, and once more created total chaos in the Palace of Heaven, not caring in the least what he did. He laid about him to such effect that the Nine Bright Shiners shut their windows and doors, and not a sign was to be seen of the Four Heavenly Kings.

This time the Monkey King made no distinctions between high and humble as he laid about him to East and West with his iron club. Not a single god opposed him. He fought his way into the Hall of Universal Brightness outside the Hall of Miraculous Mist, where the Kingly Spirit Officer, the lieutenant of the Helpful Sage, and True Lord, fortunately, was on duty. When he saw the Great Sage charging around he took up his golden mace and went forward to resist him.