Now, Wukong swung his staff at the White Bone Spirit.
The White Bone Spirit escaped in her true form, leaving a real corpse behind.
Wukong said the woman was a demon, but how could Tang Sanzang believe him?
Bajie added fuel to the fire from the sidelines:
"Master, this woman was a local farmer's wife. She was taking a meal to the fields when she met us and kindly offered us food. Senior Brother struck too hard and killed her, then falsely accused her of being a demon. Since these are wild mountains far from any settlement, no one would know he killed someone, and he needn't fear a lawsuit. But what a pity to waste such a fine meal!"
As he spoke, Bajie picked up the basket, gathered the steamed buns that had fallen on the ground, and blew the dust off them. Then he scooped the clean top layer of rice from the shattered earthenware pot into his alms bowl and said:
"Master, when that woman offered you food just now, you wouldn't eat it. Now look-she's dead. If you'd eaten sooner, perhaps she'd still be alive."
Hearing this, Tang Sanzang grew even angrier. He formed a hand seal and began reciting the spell.
Wukong's head throbbed. "Stop chanting! Stop chanting! If you have something to say, say it!"
"What is there to say?" Tang Sanzang demanded. "A monk must keep kindness in his heart at every moment, fearing to harm an ant when he sweeps the floor and covering his lamp with gauze to spare the moths. Yet you commit violence at every turn! What use is fetching the scriptures if you kill an innocent woman? Go back!"
"Master, where would you have me go back to?" Wukong asked.
"I no longer want you as my disciple," Tang Sanzang said.
"If you don't want me as your disciple, I fear you'll never reach the Western Heaven," Wukong said.
"My life rests with Heaven," Tang Sanzang replied. "If some demon is destined to steam or boil me, that is none of your concern!"
"Master, I could go back," Wukong said, "but I have yet to repay your great kindness."
"What kindness have I shown you?" Tang Sanzang asked.
At this, Wukong knelt and kowtowed.
"After I wreaked havoc in Heaven, the Buddha imprisoned me beneath Five Elements Mountain. Fortunately, Guanyin Bodhisattva brought me under the discipline of the precepts, and you, Master, rescued me from my plight. If I did not accompany you to the Western Heaven, would I not be failing to repay a kindness I knew I owed?"
Tang Sanzang was a compassionate man. Seeing Wukong's heartfelt pleas as he knelt and begged, and remembering that Guanyin Bodhisattva had guided him to the path, he relented.
"Since that is so, I shall forgive you this once. If you harm anyone again, I shall recite the spell twenty times!"
"You may recite it thirty times if you like," Wukong said. "I won't strike anyone again."
He then helped Tang Sanzang onto his horse and attentively offered him the peaches he had picked.
Tang Sanzang ate a few to stave off his hunger for the time being.
The master and his three disciples continued on their way.
After they had traveled some distance, a burly man emerged from the woods ahead. He looked like a hunter, with a woodcutting knife in his hand and a hunting bow on his back. Seeing Tang Sanzang and the others, he called out:
"Masters, have you seen my younger sister?"
Bajie exclaimed in alarm, "Master, this is bad! Her family has come looking for her!"
"Looking for whom?" Tang Sanzang asked.
"It must be the woman Senior Brother killed," Bajie said. "Don't admit it, or they'll demand our lives in payment!"
With his Fiery Golden Eyes, Wukong recognized Tiger Vanguard the moment the man appeared. "Master, don't listen to that fool's nonsense. This is plainly a demon. Let me give him a blow with my staff first!"
"Do not indulge in violence!" Tang Sanzang said. "If you hurt anyone again, I certainly shall not forgive you!"
Wukong could only restrain himself, an indistinct sense of foreboding stirring in his heart.
He knew this demon followed Ao Tu. More trouble, he thought.
Ao Tu was bent on preventing Tang Sanzang from fetching the scriptures. Though Wukong had some personal friendship with him, his determination to protect Tang Sanzang on the Journey to the West was equally sincere. Seeing that another calamity was about to befall his master, he could not help growing anxious.
Tiger Vanguard came up to Tang Sanzang and his three disciples, bowed, and asked:
"Masters, since you've come through the mountains, have you seen my younger sister?"
Tang Sanzang returned his greeting and asked, "Benefactor, where are you from? Why have you come here looking for someone?"
"Master, I was a hunter," Tiger Vanguard said. "After misfortune struck my family, I came to White Tiger Ridge to seek shelter with my sworn elder brother. His home lies due west of the slope ahead. This morning, he and his wife went to work in the fields. At noon, my younger sister went to bring them their meal, but she still hasn't returned, so I came out to look for her. Did any of you masters happen to see her as you passed along the road ahead?"
Tang Sanzang could hardly bring himself to answer. He stammered, unable to get the words out.
"We didn't see her, we didn't see her," Bajie said. "All we've passed through are wild mountains. There wasn't a soul in sight!"
Hearing this, Tiger Vanguard turned toward Bajie. At the sight of the basket in his arms, he cried out:
"Isn't that the basket my younger sister took the meal in? Yet you claim you haven't seen her! Could she have fallen victim to your murderous hands?"
Tang Sanzang sighed. "Amitabha Buddha. Benefactor, please bear your grief. It is all this poor monk's fault for failing to discipline his disciple and allowing this wretched pupil to take your family member's life."
"You wild monks!" Tiger Vanguard roared. "You dress yourselves up as men of the cloth, but you're really highway robbers! My poor younger sister was so young, yet she met such a cruel death at your hands!"
Unable to defend himself, Tang Sanzang could only keep reciting sutras.
"Demon!" Wukong said. "Others may not recognize you, but I do. What new trick are you playing to deceive my master? Take this!"
He drew his staff and struck. Tiger Vanguard shifted his body aside and thrust out a leg to take the blow head-on. In an instant, skin and flesh split open, exposing jagged white bone.
Tang Sanzang was too frightened to open his eyes.
Enduring the pain, Tiger Vanguard dragged his injured leg as he fled backward, crying:
"Help! Help! The monks are killing me to silence me!"
Wukong was just about to pursue him.
Without listening to a word, Tang Sanzang began reciting the Tight-Fillet Spell, chanting it a full twenty times.
Poor Wukong's head was squeezed until it resembled a gourd. Even his adamantine body could not bear the pain. He hurled himself into the air and smashed an entire mountain to the south with his head, yet gained not the slightest relief. Rolling back, he pleaded:
"Master, stop chanting! Whatever you have to say, just say it!"
"What more is there to say?" Tang Sanzang demanded. "A monk must heed good counsel lest he fall into hell. I have admonished you so, yet you still commit violence! Killing one person wasn't enough-you wanted to kill another to silence him?"
"He's a demon," Wukong said.
"Nonsense!" Tang Sanzang said. "How could there be so many demons? You are plainly bent on evil and determined to kill! Go back! I will not have you as my disciple!"
"Master, you're sending me back again?" Wukong asked. "Then I'll go, but there is one thing you must agree to first. Otherwise, I cannot leave."
"What is it?" Tang Sanzang asked.
"Master, he wants his share of the baggage," Bajie said. "He's been a monk under you for so long that he can't go home empty-handed. Give him a couple of those old clothes and worn-out hats in the bundle."
At this, Wukong flared up in anger. "You long-snouted blockhead! I have always observed the teachings
of the Buddhist order, without the slightest greed or attachment. When did I ever ask for a share of the baggage? I think you're begging for a beating!"
Bajie hastily begged for mercy. "Don't hit me, Senior Brother! Old Pig was only joking!"
"If you have no greed or attachment, why won't you leave?" Tang Sanzang asked.
"To tell you the truth, Master," Wukong said, "five hundred years ago, I lived in Water Curtain Cave on Flower-Fruit Mountain and called myself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. I wore the Purple-Gold Crown on my head and an ocher-yellow robe on my body. If I went back now wearing this Golden Fillet, I would truly be too ashamed to face my old friends.
"If you really mean to send me back, Master, please recite a Loosening-Fillet Spell and remove this fillet. Let that at least count for the time I spent following you."
Tang Sanzang exclaimed in dismay, "Wukong, the Bodhisattva secretly taught me only a scroll containing the Tight-Fillet Spell. Where would I get a Loosening-Fillet Spell?"
"If there is no Loosening-Fillet Spell, then let me keep accompanying you to the Western Heaven," Wukong said.
Left with no choice, Tang Sanzang said, "Very well. I shall forgive you once more."
Meanwhile, Ao Tu had Tiger Vanguard lie on a bed and instructed him to pretend shortly that he was crippled and unable to move at all, so they could extort Tang Sanzang.
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