Praying for Rain

Upon hearing this, the king said to his servants, "Go and tell them that it will rain soon."

After saying this, the king looked at Tang Xuanzang and the three national teachers and said:

"The reason why the monks of the Tang Dynasty, even though I like Daoism and destroyed Buddhism, is because when it rained that year, none of the monks here received any rain. Fortunately, the Imperial Preceptor came and saved the people from this suffering."

"You have come from afar today and offended the Imperial Preceptor. I should punish you, but for the sake of this matter, I will spare you for now."

"Do you dare to ask my royal advisor for rain? If you can bring rain, I will forgive your crime and let you go. If not, I will behead you and display your head to the public."

Sun Wukong immediately agreed upon hearing this.

"We know these little tricks."

Upon hearing this, the king immediately ordered his servants to clean the area. The king then said:

"Now, I want to go up and see for myself."

Upon hearing this, the officials followed the king upstairs. Tang Xuanzang, Sha Wujing, and Sun Wukong Zhu Bajie stood downstairs, while three Daoist priests accompanied the king. After a short while, an official rode up on horseback to report:

"The venue has been cleaned and everything is ready. Please go up."

Great Immortal Tiger Power bowed to the king and immediately dismounted. Upon seeing this, Sun Wukong asked the immortal, "Where are you going?"

Upon hearing this Great Immortal Tiger Power scratched his head and said to Sun Wukong, "Of course I'm here to pray for rain. Do you expect me to just stand here and wait for you to criticize me?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong scratched his monkey fur and said to them:

"Aren't you being far too self-important? We are monks who have come from afar, why won't you let us go first? And if the rain comes late, who will be responsible for the rain, you or us?"

The king was overjoyed upon hearing this.

"This monk has a rather interesting way of speaking."

Upon hearing this, Sha Wujing laughed and said, "If it doesn't make sense, why would Brother Monkey even say it? It's like casting pearls before swine."

Upon hearing this, Great Immortal Tiger Power asked Sun Wukong, "Then tell me, how exactly do you want to compete?"

After thinking about it seriously for a long time, Sun Wukong said to Great Immortal Tiger Power:

"How about this: you and my master both go up onto the platform, and then everyone prays for rain."

Great Immortal Tiger Power nodded upon hearing this, then jumped onto the platform and said:

"Let's use my token as the signal. One ring of the token, two rings for the wind, three rings for the clouds, four rings for thunder and lightning, five rings for the rain, and the clouds will disperse and the rain will stop. How about that?"

Sun Wukong smiled and said upon hearing this:

"That's a good idea. Nobody here uses this technique. You go first."

Then Tang Xuanzang followed closely behind Great Immortal Tiger Power and slowly ascended the high platform, which was four zhang high and had the flags of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions planted on it.

On the platform sits a table with an incense burner. Wisps of smoke rise from the burner. On either side are candlesticks with brightly burning candles. Beside the burner is a gold plaque engraved with the name of the God of Thunder God.

After Great Immortal Tiger Power went up, he showed no humility whatsoever. He stood upright on the high platform, next to a young Daoist priest who handed him several paper books with talismans on them and a precious sword.

After a short while, Great Immortal Tiger Power gave a command, and a gentle breeze slowly blew by. Upon seeing this, Zhu Bajie muttered to himself:

"Brother Monkey, this is bad! This Daoist priest is indeed quite capable; the moment the token touched the ground, a gust of wind started blowing."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong quickly covered Zhu Bajie's mouth and said to Zhu Bajie:

"Don't say anything more. Just protect Master. I'll be right back."

Just as Sun Wukong finished speaking, he plucked a hair from his head, blew on it with a breath of immortal energy, and it transformed into a fake Sun Wukong, standing beside Tang Xuanzang. Meanwhile, Sun Wukong's true form had already flown into the air, shouting loudly:

"Who was controlling the wind just now?"

The Wind Granny quickly covered her pocket and stepped forward to bow to Sun Wukong, saying:

"Reporting to the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, it is indeed I."

Upon hearing this and seeing the Wind Granny, Sun Wukong felt a surge of anger and grabbed Wind Granny, saying:

"I was protecting Tang Xuanzang on his journey to the Western Heaven to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures. We passed through the Chechi Kingdom and got into a rain-gambling contest with those monsters. Why didn't you help me? Instead, you helped that Daoist priest. I'll spare you for now, but you'd better stop the wind now."

"If there's even a slight breeze, each person will receive twenty strokes of the rod."

Upon hearing this, the Wind Granny immediately lost all her temper, and after a short while, the wind gradually stopped.

Just then, Zhu Bajie couldn't help but laugh from below:

"So much time has passed, how come there's not a single word? Come down, let us go up."

The Daoist priest ignored Zhu Bajie's words, and simply picked up the token and tapped it a few times. After a short while, dark clouds gathered in the sky again, and Sun Wukong King immediately shouted:

"Who's releasing those dark clouds? Quickly remove them, or you'll end up like that deity."

Upon hearing this, Wu Yun and the boy quickly retrieved the dark cloud, and Sun Wukong nodded in satisfaction.

Then the Daoist priest became anxious, took his sword, and struck down the token with a spell. Just then, the Duke of Thunder Mother of Lightning arrived in the air and bowed to Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong told the Thunder God and Duke of Thunder Mother of Lightning what had happened.

Upon hearing this, the Duke of Thunder God and Lightning Mother of Lightning immediately understood.

Meanwhile, the Daoist priest became even more flustered and continued burning incense, talismans, chanting incantations, and striking the token.

A short while later, the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas of the Seas arrived together from mid-air. Upon seeing this, Sun Wukong roared loudly. The Dragon Kings of the Four Seas immediately came to Sun Wukong's side and said:

"I wonder what business the Great Sage has with us?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong recounted the entire incident to the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas. The Dragon Kings of the Four Seas, upon hearing this, quickly bowed to Sun Wukong and said:

"So that's how it is. Oh, by the way, that monster from Great Sage then is still imprisoned in our jail. We haven't done anything to him; we're just leaving him to your fate."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong quickly waved his hand and said:

"Let's leave the matter of the monsters for now. In a moment, you'll all follow my orders. If I point this stick upwards once, the wind will blow; if I do it twice, clouds will gather; three times, lightning and thunder will strike; and four times, it will rain."

Upon hearing this, the gods quickly nodded to Sun Wukong then jumped down from the clouds and with a flick of his hair, retrieved it onto his body.

Those around him were just ordinary mortals, unaware of the scheme Sun Wukong had just devised.