Accepting this plan, Tawny Lion took Monkey Lion, Snowy Lion, Elephant-fighter and Raccoon-dog back to beside the city wall, all carrying their weapons and demanding battle amid winds and fog.
On the other side Monkey and Friar Sand jumped on the wall, where Monkey yelled abusively at the top of his voice, “Thieving damned ogres! Give me my brother Pig back this moment and I'll spare your lives. If you don't I'll smash your bones to powder and chop you all into little pieces.” With no further argument the evil spirits all charged into the attack. The Great Sage and Friar Sand had to use skill and cunning to hold the five lions at bay. This fight was very different from the one on the previous day.
As an evil wind howled across the land
Black fog blotted out the sky.
Moving stones and flying sands alarmed both gods and demons;
As the trees in the forest fell the tigers and wolves were afraid.
Fierce was the spear of steel and bright the axe,
Merciless the rod, the halberd and the brazen hammer.
They wished they could swallow Monkey up whole,
And capture Friar Sand live and kicking.
The Great Sage's As-You-Will cudgel
Could attack and defend with miraculous effect.
Friar Sand's demon-quelling staff
Had won its fame outside the Hall of Miraculous Mist.
Now that it moved with its magical powers,
It would achieve glory in the West by wiping out demons.
While the five lion spirits with coats of different colours were fighting really well with Monkey and Friar Sand the old demon flew on a black cloud straight to the wall tower, where he shook his heads, which gave the military and civil officials, Sanzang, the senior prince and the soldiers guarding the wall such a fright that they all fell off. The demon then charged into the tower, opened his mouths, took Sanzang, the senior prince and his sons in them one by one, and went back to the hollow ground, where he took Pig in another mouth, one of the nine he had in his nine heads. One mouth held the Tang Priest, one Pig, one the senior prince, one his eldest son, one the second son and one the third son.
With six mouths full of six people he still had three mouths empty and wide open as he roared, “I'm going back ahead.” The five junior lion spirits all fought more bravely than ever now that they had seen their grandfather's triumph.
As soon as Monkey heard the yells from the wall and realized he had fallen for a trick, he gave Friar Sand a quick shout to be careful then pulled all the hairs off his arms, put them in his mouth, chewed them up and spat them out as well over a thousand little Monkeys who swarmed into the attack. They knocked Monkey Lion over, took Snowy alive, captured Elephant-fighter, laid Raccoon-dog Lion low and killed Tawny Lion; but as they returned to the city wall with a great hubbub they let Greenface, Wily Freak and Freaky Wile escape. When the officers on the wall saw what had happened they opened the gates, tied up the five lion spirits with ropes and carried them into the city.
But before they could deal with them the princess appeared, sobbing and weeping, to say, “Holy teachers, His Royal Highness the prince, our sons and your master are all dead. How ever is this isolated city to survive?”
Putting his magic hairs away, Monkey bowed to her and said, “Don't upset yourself, Princess. It was only because I'd captured seven of his lion spirits that the old demon carried off my master, His Royal Highness and your sons with catching magic. I'm certain they'll come to no harm. My brother-disciple and I will go to his mountain first thing tomorrow morning, and I can guarantee that we'll catch the old demon and bring your four princes back to you.”
When the princess and her womenfolk heard this they all bowed to Monkey and said, “We pray that His Royal Highness and his sons will all be safe and that our dynasty will be secure.” When their bowing was done the womenfolk all returned to the palace in tears.
“Skin the Tawny Lion spirit we killed,” Brother Monkey instructed the officials, “and have the five who are still alive securely tied up and put under lock and key. Bring us some vegetarian food to eat before we go to sleep. Stop worrying: I promise nothing will go wrong.”
The next morning the Great Sage took Friar Sand up on an auspicious cloud. Before long they were at the top of Bamboo Mountain, and as they brought their cloud down to look they saw that it was magnificent:
Rows of jutting peaks,
Sheer and craggy ridges.
In the deep gill waters gently flow;
Flowers weave a fragrant brocade before the beetling cliff,
Where the ridges twist and double back,
Encircled by the ancient winding paths.
When the crane comes the pine has a companion,
And the rock is left alone as the cloud drifts away.
The black ape heads for brightness when looking for fruit;
The deer rejoice in the warming sun as they search for flowers.
The green phoenix sings sweetly
And the golden bird's melodies never stop.
In spring the peach blossom contends with the plum;
In summer the willow and locust trees are rivals.
In autumn are carpets of chrysanthemums,
And in winter the snow flies all around.
Here there is beauty throughout the year,
Where the scenery can compare with Yingzhou's magic land.
As the two of them were standing on the mountain admiring the view Greenface suddenly appeared in a ravine between cliffs. He was holding a short cudgel. “Where do you think you're going?” Monkey shouted. “I'm here.”
This gave the young devil such a fright that he went running and tumbling down the ravine. Monkey and Friar Sand went straight after him but could find no sign of where he had gone. When they went further and searched around they found a cave palace with double gates of mottled stone that were firmly closed. Above the gates a stone tablet was set on which was written in large block letters:
NINE-BEND TWISTY CAVE,
MIGHTY BAMBOO MOUNTAIN
Now when the junior devil ran inside the cave he had shut the gates firmly behind him. Once inside he reported to the old demon, “My lord, those two monks are outside.”
“Have your lord, Monkey Lion, Snowy Lion, Elephant-fighter and Raccoon-dog come back yet?” the old demon asked.
“I haven't seen them,” the junior demon replied.
“There were just the two monks looking around from high up on the peak. As soon as I saw them I turned and ran. As they came after me I shut the gates.”
The old demon bowed his head in silence at this news. After a while his tears began to flow as he called out, “This is terrible. My grandson Tawny Lion is dead. My grandsons Monkey Lion and the rest of them have all been captured by those monks and taken into the city. How am I to get my revenge?”
Pig was tied up nearby, crammed in together with the Tang Priest and the princes, terrified and miserable until he heard the old demon saying that his grandsons had been captured and taken into the city. At this he said with quiet delight, “Don't be afraid, Master. Cheer up, Your Royal Highness. My elder brother has won. He's captured the whole lot of the devils and he's found his way here to rescue us.”
When he had said this the old demon could be heard shouting, “Little ones, guard the place well while I go out to catch those other two monks. Then we can punish them all together.”
Watch him as he strides off without armor or weapons. When he heard Monkey shouting he threw the gates of the cave wide open and went straight for him, not deigning to answer. Monkey raised his iron cudgel to stop him with a blow to the head while Friar Sand swung his staff at him. As the demon shook his principal head the eight other heads to left and right of it all opened their mouths, with which they gently picked Monkey and Friar Sand up and carried them into the cave.