After Tang Sanzang and his disciples passed through Chechi Kingdom, they traveled along the main road in the depths of winter, with a fierce north wind blowing.
Bajie had wrapped both his palm-leaf-fan-sized ears in cotton cloth to keep them from catching the wind and freezing.
Tang Sanzang, walking ahead, heard the sound of waves and water and said:
"Disciples, there's a Yellow River ahead. I wonder how wide it is? Is there a bridge? Is there a ferry?"
Bajie said, "Master, how do you know there's a Yellow River ahead?"
Tang Sanzang said, "I heard water just now. That was how I knew."
Bajie said, "Master, where is this sound of water? How come Old Pig hasn't heard it?"
Sha Wujing said, "Second Brother, I heard it too."
Bajie said, "You heard it too?"
Wukong laughed. "Idiot, we all heard it. You're the only one who didn't. With your ears wrapped up like that, what could you hear? You wouldn't even know if a demon came. Hurry up and take those wrappings off."
Bajie held his ears and said, "I can't. Old Pig's ears are big and catch the wind. If I take the wrappings off, this cold wind will freeze them."
Wukong laughed. "You idiot, and to think you were Marshal Tianpeng!"
The master and his three disciples continued onward for a while, and sure enough, they saw a great river. This was the river they beheld:
Its vast waters swallowed Mount Hua; its long current threaded a hundred streams.
Boundless as the sea, it stretched beyond the eye's reach.
Tang Sanzang said at the sight, "Disciples, another great river. Who knows how many li wide it is, or whether there are demons in it?"
Wukong laughed. "Master, what are you afraid of? Whatever demons or water monsters