Time to Settle Accounts with You

Deep in the rear courtyard, bleak winds moaned, and locks barred every way.

Sun Wukong lowered his cloud and saw that the two-story pavilion was sealed tight with a massive lock cast from molten copper.

Sun Wukong needed no key. He reached out a hairy hand and brushed the copper lock. With a crack, the sturdy lock crumbled into fine powder and sifted to the ground.

He pushed the door open and entered. A woman, sallow and thin, sat weeping beside the bed. Hearing the door, she thought the monster had returned, but when she looked up, she saw a monk with a hairy face and a thunder god's mouth. Frightened out of her wits, she was about to scream.

"Don't shout! Don't shout!"

Sun Wukong waved a hand, tucked the Golden Cudgel under his arm, and chuckled. "Your father invited me... no, my master sent me. You're Gao Cuilan?"

The woman nodded fearfully, her eyes filled with terror. She shrank into a corner of the bed, trembling, clearly scared half to death.

Sun Wukong swept his Fiery Golden Eyes over her. Though she looked somewhat haggard, her body was unharmed, and her vital essence had not been drained. Clearly, the pig demon had not actually forced himself on her, but had merely confined her here.

"Where's that pig demon?"

"He... he leaves early and returns late. At this hour, he should be back soon."

Before she finished speaking, a furious wind howled through the air outside the window, sending sand and stones flying. Even the roof tiles rattled as they were lifted.

"He's here!"

Sun Wukong chuckled, pulled over a Grand Marshal's Chair, and planted himself in the doorway, legs spread boldly. He laid the Golden Cudgel across his thighs, grabbed a pear from the table, and bit into it with a crunch.

The wind settled, revealing a demon.

He was indeed hideous: a black face covered in short bristles, a long snout, and enormous ears. He wore a woven-cloth robe of a color neither quite green nor blue, thrust out a great belly, and carried a food box in one hand. He grunted and hummed, seemingly delighted:

"Wife, Old Pig is back! I had good luck today and found some wild fruit south of the mountain, along with two hot flatbreads. I kept them tucked against my chest especially so you could taste them fresh..."

The pig demon pushed the door to enter and raised his head, brimming with joy-

Instead of his sweet, delicate wife, a spray of chewed pear hit him square in the face, followed by a voice from opposite him.

"I'm a monk passing through. My master sent me to take a look at you, a monster who's seized another man's daughter, and settle accounts with you."

"Bullshit! Fucking bullshit! A monster? I, Old Pig, am the live-in son-in-law he took into his family!" the pig demon retorted, wiping his face.

"A live-in son-in-law?"

Sun Wukong crossed one leg over the other and sneered with a chuckle:

"Now they think you're ugly, eat too much, and insist on keeping their daughter for yourself, disgracing the family. Elder Gao specifically invited my master here to subdue you."

At those words, the pig demon's enormous ears flapped, and rage blazed in his tiny eyes. He slammed the food box onto the table so hard that the soup inside spilled out.

The pig demon pointed outside and cursed:

"That old bastard! Why didn't he think I was ugly when I first came? All these years, clearing wasteland, planting crops, building bridges, paving roads-which of those wasn't done by Old Pig? I worked from dawn till dark without asking for wages, just a bite to eat and a life with my wife. Now that the family fortune's grown, he wants to slaughter the donkey once the grinding's done?!"

"And he's even hired someone to subdue me?!"

The more the pig demon spoke, the angrier he grew. He turned to glare at Sun Wukong, wanting to see which monk had such a death wish that he dared meddle in this affair.

At that closer look, the pig demon froze.

He had been too busy raging to look carefully before. Now, by lamplight, his gaze fell on the Iron Cudgel in the monkey's hands-golden bands at either end, black iron in the middle, faint patterns of stars and clouds, and a chill that made his very soul tremble.

Then he looked at the monkey again-a thunder god's mouth and jutting cheeks.

The pig demon shuddered all over, and cold sweat instantly poured down him.

"You... you..."

His voice began to shake. The finger pointing at Sun Wukong no longer obeyed him, and his feet instinctively shuffled backward:

"You're... you're that... the one who wreaked havoc in Heaven..."

Noticing his strange expression, Sun Wukong raised a brow, leaned his face closer, and grinned, baring his teeth:

"You recognize Old Sun?"

To the pig demon, that grin was even more terrifying than a death summons from the King of Hell.

"Bimawen!!!"

The pig demon let out a shriek, his voice cracking.

He no longer cared about settling accounts with his father-in-law or bringing his wife dinner. Light flashed in his palm as he drew a Nine-Toothed Rake, feinted at Sun Wukong, then turned into a furious gale and smashed through the window to flee for his life.

"Mother of mercy! How did I get mixed up with this scourge?!"

Sun Wukong had still been smiling, but the moment he heard "Bimawen," his face darkened.

That title was the untouchable reverse scale of his life. Whoever mentioned it would face his fury.

"You vile beast! I offered you courtesy, and you spat in my face!"

Enraged, Sun Wukong slapped the table and shot out like an arrow loosed from its bow.

Whoosh-!

Two streaks of light, one behind the other, burst through the pavilion and soared into the highest heavens.

Clang-!!

In midair, the Nine-Toothed Rake collided violently with the As-You-Will Golden Cudgel.

Sparks flew in every direction, and waves of force rolled outward, shaking every roof tile in Gao Village into a clattering frenzy.

The moment the pig demon traded blows with Wukong, the webbing between his thumbs and forefingers went numb, and both arms weakened. He groaned inwardly:

Damn it! This accursed monkey was pinned down for five hundred years. How is he still so strong?!

"Trying to leave? Too late! Get down there and meet my master!"

Sun Wukong, carried away by the fight, somersaulted among the clouds. The Golden Cudgel grew in the wind, becoming a jade pillar that held up the heavens, and he brought it crashing down on the pig demon's backside.

"Down you go!"

"Aaaagh-!!!"

The pig demon screamed, lost control of his body, and plummeted from the sky like a meteor, hurtling straight toward the front hall.

Inside the front hall.

Hearing the earth-shaking battle outside, Elder Gao had long since crawled beneath the table in terror. He shook like chaff in a sieve. "It's over, it's over... they're going to tear me apart too..."

Xuanzang sat upright in his chair, Prayer Beads in hand, his expression as calm as still water, as though the uproar outside had nothing to do with him.

Little White Dragon stood behind him, his expression equally unreadable.

A-Hu lay at his feet, a large head resting on paws. Suddenly, A-Hu's ears twitched, and that head lifted toward the roof.

Boom-!!!

With a deafening crash, a huge hole burst through the front hall's roof. Tiles and beams collapsed thunderously, sending dust flying.

A massive black shape slammed into the center of the hall, cracking the bluestone floor inch by inch and reducing every table, chair, and furnishing there to powder.

"Ow... my pig kidneys... broken, they're broken..."

As the dust cleared, the pig demon lay groaning in the crater, his face and head covered in grime. His woven-cloth robe had been torn into strips, leaving him utterly bedraggled.

Immediately afterward, a streak of golden light drifted lightly down.

Sun Wukong planted one foot on the pig demon's enormous, fleshy ear and pointed the Golden Cudgel at his forehead, then chuckled at Xuanzang:

"Master! This oaf actually recognized Old Sun, so his origins must be unusual. He started hurling insults the moment he saw me, then tried to run!"

Elder Gao poked half his head out from beneath the table. By lamplight, he saw the pig demon in the crater and was frightened out of his wits. Pointing into the pit, he cried in a trembling voice:

"A... a monster! Venerable monk! Subdue him! Kill him, quickly!"

With his ear pinned beneath a foot and his entire body wracked with pain, the pig demon heard his father-in-law's heartless cries. Shame, anger, hurt, and terror surged through him all at once.

He lay on the ground, panting heavily, and struggled to lift his head. Through his disheveled bristles, he stared fixedly at the young monk seated directly before him, utterly motionless.

Their eyes met.