The unbearable pain caused the demon to collapse to the ground, rolling about as if he had lost his mind. The Lion Demon King’s agonized wails shook the very foundations of Lion Camel Ridge. After a while, the monster fell silent, seemingly lifeless. Everyone thought he had died.
The Lion King’s Capitulation
But to everyone’s surprise, the demon suddenly caught his breath and cried out weakly, summoning the last of his strength:
“Have mercy on me, Bodhisattva Great Sage, Equal to Heaven! It was all my fault. I beg you, Great Sage, show me compassion. Regard me as nothing more than an ant, whose only wish is to remain alive. If you grant my plea, I promise I will personally carry your master across the mountain range.”
Wukong decided to accept the monster’s pleas and, raising his voice, said:
“Very well. I spare your life. But tell me, how exactly do you intend to repay my master?”
The demon, embarrassed, replied:
“We have here neither silver, nor gold, nor pearls, nor jade, nor agate, nor coral, nor amber, nor tortoise shells, nor any precious stones to offer you. But my brothers and I solemnly pledge to carry your master through the mountains seated in a sedan chair made of aromatic grapevine wood.”
The Monkey King replied:
“If you are truly willing to do that, I ask for nothing else. Now then, if you don’t mind, open your mouth so I can come out.”
Treacherous Bite
The demon did as told, but the youngest of his brothers approached and whispered carefully into his ear:
“When he is about to leave your body, bite him with all your might. Then chew him well and swallow him again. That way, he won’t be able to harm you anymore.”
Sun Wukong heard everything. Instead of sticking out his head, he extended forward his golden-banded iron bar. The monster thought it was part of the Monkey King’s body and bit down with terrible force. A most unpleasant sound was heard, and one of his best incisors was reduced to dust.
The Monkey King then pulled back the iron bar and said:
“There’s simply no dealing with you! I just spared your life, and instead of thanking me, all you think of is biting me to death. You brought this upon yourself. Now I have no intention of coming out. I’ll torture you until you drop dead.”
The demon complained to his third brother(Roc King):
“Your advice ruined me! It would have been better to let him out, as I wished. If I hadn’t listened to you, my teeth wouldn’t hurt now, and I’d be perfectly safe.”
Psychological Warfare
Seeing that all blame fell on him, the third demon (Roc King) decided to resort to provocation and, raising his voice, said:
“Sun Wukong, we have heard so much about your exploits that they ring in my ears like thunderclaps. Everyone speaks of how you showed off your powers right at the South Gate of Heaven, how you caused chaos in the Divine Mist Hall, and how you have continued defeating monsters and demons all along the path to the Western Paradise. But I believe you’re nothing more than an ordinary monkey, a fighter of little consequence.”
The Monkey King asked:
“What do you mean by that?”
The third demon (Roc King) replied:
“As the proverb says: the brave do not hide, and thus their fame spreads to the farthest corners of the earth. You, on the contrary, have hidden inside a person’s stomach and refuse to come out and fight me. Tell me, isn’t that the behavior of a weakling warrior?”
Wukong reflected:
“It would be easy to kill this monster this way, but it would damage my reputation. Very well!”
He added aloud:
“Open your mouth, and I will come out and fight your brother. Still, I think your cave is too small for our battle. If you don’t mind, I would prefer a wider space.”
Upon hearing this, the third demon (Roc King) summoned all available little demons and managed to gather an army of more than thirty thousand fully armed warriors. He led them to the open field in front of the cave entrance and arranged them in battle formation, ordering them to attack the Monkey King the moment he appeared.
Meanwhile, the second demon(Elephant King) helped the eldest demon (Lion King) walk outside, for he still felt extremely weak.
As soon as they were outdoors, he said:
“If you are truly a real hero, leave your hiding place once and for all and fight. There is a splendid battlefield before you.”
There was no need to tell him twice. The Monkey King needed only to hear the shouts and voices to realize he was outside the cave.
The Silk Rope Gambit
He told himself:
“The situation couldn’t be more complicated. If I refuse to come out, I’ll break my word, which I have never done. If I do come out, most likely I will fall into a trap set by this monster with a human face and a beast’s heart. This isn’t the first time he has tried to deceive me. Not even ten minutes ago, he pledged to carry my master across the mountains in a palanquin, when in truth he only wanted to bite me. Now, he has even deployed his entire army before me. Well then, I think the best course is to come out and fight him—but at the same time, I will maintain my presence inside his belly.”
Quickly pulling out a hair from his tail, he blew a puff of divine breath over it and shouted:
“Transform!”
Instantly, it became a rope as thin as a single hair, yet nearly 400-foot long.
The amazing thing, however, was that the rope could grow even longer once it came into contact with air. Sun Wukong tied one end around the demon’s heart but left the knot loose enough so as not to cause any immediate pain. Holding the other end in his hand, he smiled and said to himself:
“If he dares to attack me again, I won’t even need to fight back. All I must do is give this rope a little tug.”
Instead of the mouth, the Monkey King decided to come out from his nose. In this way, the monster can’t cut the rope with his sharp teeth.
He secured the rope around his wrist and continued climbing up until he reached the nasal passages. He tickled them a bit, and the monster suddenly let out a tremendous sneeze, shooting the Monkey King right out of his body.
As soon as he was outside, Wukong twisted his waist slightly and instantly grew to over ten meters tall, holding the rope in one hand and his iron bar in the other.
The eldest demon(Lion King), without thinking twice, grabbed his scimitar and swung a mighty blow straight toward the face of his opponent.
Wukong blocked the strike with his iron rod at the very same moment the other two demons, wielding a spear and a double-edged axe respectively, charged forward, ready to chop him into pieces.
With no choice left, he had to retreat from the battlefield. Letting go of some rope, Wukong soared over the mountaintop.
At first, he hadn’t intended to fly away, but then realized that if the lesser demons surrounded him, he wouldn’t be able to proceed with his plan.
Final Submission
Once he stood on solid ground, he grabbed the rope with both hands and pulled hard. The demon was struck by unbearable pain in his chest. In an attempt to relieve the agony, the monster also rose into the air, but the Monkey King gave the rope another tug.
Seeing what was happening, the lesser demons shouted in alarm:
“Stop tormenting him, sirs! Just let him go already! This monkey doesn’t know anything about festivals. The Tomb-Sweeping Day hasn’t even arrived yet, and he’s already flying a kite!”
The other two monsters were so terrified that they leapt down from the clouds and rushed to grab the rope.
Kneeling before him, they said:
“We thought you were a compassionate immortal, Great Sage, but now we see you’re nothing more than a slippery rogue. We were ready to face you fairly in battle. How could you tie this rope around our brother’s heart?”
Sun Wukong laughed loudly and shouted:
“Curse you, band of monsters! How deceitful you are! The first time, you tried to bite me the moment I agreed to come out. Now you’ve deployed your entire army, throwing thousands of experienced soldiers against me. Is it fair for all your battalions to gang up on just one person? You have no right to speak of generosity! Whether you like it or not, I’m going to drag you all to where my master is.”
“Treat me mercifully, Great Sage!” pleaded the eldest demon (Lion King), prostrating himself face-down on the ground and banging his forehead against the earth, followed quickly by his brothers.
“If you spare my life, I promise to carry your master across the mountain range.”
Smiling, the Monkey King exclaimed:
“What’s all this fuss about? You know, if you want to stay alive, all you have to do is cut the rope with a knife.”
The demon replied:
“If I do that, there will still be a piece tied around my heart. Plus, it’s rubbing against my throat, making me feel like vomiting.”
The Monkey King concluded:
“In that case, open your mouth and I’ll go right back in to untie it.”
The demon cried out in fear:
“No, no! You’ll refuse to come out again, and that would make things even worse.”
Admitting this, the Monkey King said:
“I can untie the rope without entering your body again. But if I do that, are you willing to keep your promise and carry my master safely across the mountain range?”
The demon answered:
“I swear I will do it immediately, without delay. This time, I won’t try to deceive you—I give you my word!”
Once certain the demon was telling the truth, the Monkey King shook his body slightly and retrieved the hair from his tail. Instantly, the pain in the demon’s heart vanished.
Then, the three demons approached the Monkey King, thanked him, and said:
“While we go get the sedan chair to carry your master, you should go ahead and tell him to start packing his belongings.”
At once, the lesser demons laid down their weapons and returned to the cave.
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