For days, Sanzang and Wukong journeyed beneath a midwinter sky hardened by frost.
A bitter wind howled ceaselessly, ice daggers glinting everywhere. They climbed serpentine paths through cliffs and ravines, scaling the towering peaks of a mountain range.
The Dragon devours the white horse
Tripitaka, mounted on horseback, suddenly heard the distant roar of a torrent, the Eagle Grief Stream.
As monk and monkey peered at the waters, a dragon surged forth like an arrow, lunging at the Tang Monk. Swiftly, the Monkey King flung down their baggage, dragged his master uphill, and evaded the attack. The dragon, thwarted, swallowed the horse—harness and all—before retreating into the depths.
Shielding his eyes, the Monkey King scanned the terrain with fiery gaze but found no trace of the steed.
Wukong declared:
“Nowhere is the horse seen—devoured by that dragon, no doubt.”
“How shall I continue without a mount?” lamented Tripitaka.
“Thousands of peaks and rivers lie between these mountains and the Western Lands! I’ll never reach them on foot!”
He wept openly.
The Monkey King, incensed by his tears, rebuked him:
“Stop weeping like a child! Stay here—I’ll demand that beast return our horse!”
“Where will you search?” cried Sanzang, clutching him.
“What if it returns while you’re gone? I’d lose not just the horse but my life!”
Enraged, Wukong thundered:
“You’re a coward—a true coward! You crave the horse yet forbid me to seek it. Will you guard this baggage till you rot?”
The Monkey King’s duel with the Dragon
Gripping his iron rod, Wukong stormed toward the rapids.
Upon reaching the shore, Wukong mounted a cloud and hovered above the waters, shouting:
“Faithless lizard! Return my horse at once!”
The dragon lay at the torrent’s depths, but hearing such insults, pride compelled him to surface.
“Who dares insult me thus?”
“Return the horse now!” roared the Monkey King, swinging his iron rod at the beast’s head. The dragon dodged and counterattacked with claws and fangs.
Their battle raged until the dragon, exhausted, dove back into the torrent, deaf to Wukong’s curses.
Enraged, the Monkey King invoked river-shaking magic, churning the Eagle Grief Torrent’s clear waters into Yellow River mud. The dragon writhed in discomfort, finally bursting forth:
“What monster are you, and from where?”
“That’s none of your concern,” retorted the Pilgrim. “Return the horse, and I spare your life.”
“Impossible!” scoffed the dragon. “It’s already digested!”
Their clash resumed until the dragon transformed into a watersnake and vanished.
Bodhisattva summons the Dragon Prince
As Wukong stood helpless, Guanyin Bodhisattva appeared.
The dragon emerged, took human form, and bowed:
“My gratitude for sparing me. I’ve long awaited the Tang Monk.”
“This dragon is Ao Run’s son from the Western Ocean,” declared Guanyin. ” He burned his father’s pearl-filled palace and faced execution, but I persuaded the Jade Emperor to spare him for Tang Monk’s pilgrimage. How reach Vulture Peak with a common horse? Only a dragon-turned-steed suffices!”
Guanyin removed his pearl necklace, dipped a willow twig in her dew vase, and sprinkled him. With a breath, she commanded:
“Transform!”
Instantly, he became a steed identical to the devoured one.
“Strive to overcome all obstacles,” she admonished. “Persevere, and you’ll transcend dragonhood to become a Buddha.”
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