Peeping
After hearing what the Land God said, Sun Wukong pondered for a long time, trying to come up with a plan. After a short while, he said to the Land God, "You should go back now. I'll go and capture them myself."
After Sun Wukong finished speaking, the Land God kowtowed to Sun Wukong and returned to his dwelling with trepidation.
However, Sun Wukong transformed himself into a fly and waited on a leaf by the tree.
After a short while, the outline of a village appeared, and the seven monsters arrived at the pond, chatting and laughing, saying:
"What incredible luck today! I suddenly caught a monk. I'm so tired of eating men's flesh. Today I can finally have a change."
"That's right! I heard this monk came from the Great Tang of the Eastern Lands and was on his way to the Western Heaven Paradise to obtain Buddhist scriptures. If that's the case, wouldn't eating his flesh grant Changsheng?"
One of the monsters burst into laughter after saying this, and the monsters around him joined in the laughter.
Seeing this, Sun Wukong laughed and said:
"It seems Master's luck is still pretty good. No wonder he came here to beg for alms himself; it turns out there were seven women. If they had kept my master here, he would have died in two days."
After a short while, Sun Wukong arrived at the side of the monsters, and heard them continue speaking:
"Sisters, let's cook and eat that fat monk after we finish our showers."
Sun Wukong was greatly surprised upon hearing this, and then looked at the bathing pool, which was extremely large, about several hundred meters long.
The water was crystal clear, with several holes around it bubbling and steam rising from the surface. After a short while, Sun Wukong noticed some clothes hangers nearby, which made Sun Wukong very happy.
Sun Wukong went to the clothes rack and took all the clothes with him.
After a short while, Sun Wukong flew to Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing's side and said to Sun Wukong:
"You two, stop chatting there and come over here to see what I'm holding!"
Seeing this, Zhu Bajie laughed and said, "So Master went to that clothing store to get some clothes."
Upon hearing this, Sha Wujing looked bewildered and asked Zhu Bajie, "Why would you say that? Has something happened?"
Zhu Bajie laughed and said to Sha Wujing, "Didn't you see that Sun Wukong has already taken all those clothes back?"
After hearing what Zhu Bajie said, Sun Wukong slapped Zhu Bajie on the ear, causing him to howl in pain. After a short while, Sun Wukong spoke:
"Zhu Bajie, what on earth are you thinking? These clothes belong to demons."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Bajie was immediately astonished and said to Sun Wukong, "Why are these demons all wearing so many clothes? They're wrapped up like dumplings. Don't they get hot?"
After hearing what Zhu Bajie said, Sun Wukong was speechless and said to Zhu Bajie:
"There are seven demons ahead, all of them female. The demons from the cave ahead, called the Webbed Silk Cave, have captured our master. Now they're bathing in the pond behind; they're going to cook and eat him."
"When I got there, I saw that they had already taken off all their clothes. I wanted to beat them to death with a stick, but I was afraid of defiling the stick and lowering my reputation."
"So it turned into an eagle and took all their clothes. They are now so ashamed that they dare not show their faces and are squatting in the water. Let's hurry and rescue our master."
After hearing what Sun Wukong said, Zhu Bajie smiled and said:
"Brother Monkey, you didn't handle this matter well. After seeing the demon, you didn't kill him, but instead tried to save Master first."
"But even though she doesn't come out during the day, those demons will definitely come out at night. If those demons go back to their homes and put on some old clothes, they will definitely come after us."
Even if they can't catch up, she'll definitely stay here. We'll have to return via this route after we finish our journey, and she'll definitely come to capture us then.
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong pondered seriously. After a short while, Sun Wukong said to Zhu Bajie, "So what exactly are you trying to say? You'd better tell me your whole purpose."
Zhu Bajie patted Sun Wukong on the shoulder and mocked Sun Wukong, "Brother Monkey, I suggest we kill the demon first, then go rescue Master. That's what you call 'cutting the weeds at the root'."
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong said to Zhu Bajie, "I don't fight those demons at all. If you want to fight them, then you go ahead and fight them."
Having said that, Zhu Bajie immediately perked up, roused his spirits, and happily strode off with his Nine-Toothed Rake in hand, heading straight for the monsters' lair. Suddenly, he pushed open the door and saw seven women squatting in the water, cursing:
"It's all that eagle's fault! It snatched all our clothes. What are we going to do now?"
Meanwhile, Zhu Bajie, who was eavesdropping nearby, was overjoyed upon hearing this and couldn't help but chuckle, saying, "The female bodhisattvas are all bathing there, why don't we take me along for a bath too? What do you think?"
Upon hearing this, the demons became very angry and said to Zhu Bajie, "You are a monk, and we are all women. Why do you insist on bathing with us?"
After saying this, Zhu Bajie grinned lewdly and said, "It's so hot, and I can't stand it anymore. Why don't you take me with you to wash? Why waste so much time talking?"
After saying this, Zhu Bajie dropped his Nine-Toothed Rake without further ado, took off his clothes, and jumped into the water.
The monsters were very agitated, so they all attacked and beat Zhu Bajie severely. However, Zhu Bajie used the water's force to transform into a fish.
When the monsters saw Zhu Bajie's transformation, they were immediately astonished and hurriedly tried to catch fish in the water.
A short while later, Zhu Bajie, carried away by his triumph, jumped ashore, revealed his true form, put on his clothes, and, wielding his Nine-Toothed Rake, loudly proclaimed:
"You demons are treating me like one; you're just like the thief crying 'stop thief!'"