Volume 3: A Long Journey Chapter 211: Capturing Zhu Bajie Wukong was eager for Zhu Bajie to take action. Compared to Tian Peng in his past life, Zhu Bajie seemed much more reckless and impulsive, appearing harmless on the surface—perhaps his nature had changed after reincarnation. Looking at Zhu Bajie, Wukong remembered the pig in the netherworld devoid of its spirit of lust and chaos, a spirit that induced lust and indulgence. This spirit had attached itself to Marshal Tian Peng, who was reborn as Zhu Bajie, with the pig’s spirit still causing trouble within him. Wukong wondered what changes had taken place during reincarnation. In his view, after becoming a pig, Zhu Bajie seemed even more lustful than when he was Marshal Tian Peng. Perhaps, having been repressed in heaven for so long, he now showed more of his true nature in the mortal world. Zhu Bajie swung his rake at Wukong. In his mind, Wukong was still the same one who had attacked Flower-Fruit Mountain—stronger than himself, but not by an enormous margin. He thought he could simply fight a few moves and then escape, letting the monkey vent his anger. But the blow he received was incredibly powerful. In just one exchange, Zhu Bajie’s hand cracked, his rake slipped from his grasp, and he plummeted from the clouds. Wukong circled in the air, caught Zhu Bajie, and turned one of his hairs into a rope to tie him tightly. Zhu Bajie groaned in pain and said, “My lord, there’s no deep grudge between us—why go to such extremes?” Wukong sneered, “I ask you instead: How did you end up like this?” Pretending not to know about Tian Peng, he wanted to see what Zhu Bajie would say. Hearing Wukong’s question, Zhu Bajie looked distressed, almost on the verge of crying, and said, “It’s a long story. I got drunk at the Peach Banquet and accidentally entered Chang’e’s Moon Palace, which angered the Jade Emperor greatly, leading to my expulsion. Who would have thought that the heavenly generals would use some useless trick to send me to a pigsty… Since then, I’ve been living in the Cloud Stack Cave on Fuling Mountain to the south.” Wukong laughed heartily, “What a Jade Emperor, what a Tian Peng…” After laughing for a while, he grabbed Zhu Bajie’s ear and asked, “Fuling Mountain is so far away—what are you doing here?” Zhu Bajie replied, “To be honest, I had a sweetheart in that cave, named Luan Erjie. But she died last year, so I found another match and am now living in this village.” His lies sounded so convincing that he even believed them himself. Then he raised his chin and retorted, “Am I not allowed to visit family?”
Wukong heard that Bajie indeed said Sister Egg Two was dead, so he pretended not to know and avoided mentioning it. Instead, he tightened his grip and spat, saying, “Which family visits relatives in the middle of the night without telling the truth? If not, I’ll bury you!”
Bajie gasped in pain and said, “Bury me if you must, but please loosen your grip!”
Wukong deliberately wanted to punish Bajie. He took out his iron rod and transformed it into a black, soft whip, saying, “Still daring to talk nonsense? Let me whip your rough flesh to pieces!”
Bajie somehow mustered some strength and stuck out his neck, shouting, “Dare you hit me? I’m appointed by the Buddha—” Before he could finish, Wukong whipped him. This whip was transformed from the Ruyi Tianji Stick, weighing tens of thousands of jin. Even without using much force, a shallow groove appeared on Bajie’s thigh, and blood flowed profusely.
Bajie was quite tough; as long as his ears weren’t pulled, he wouldn’t complain about the pain. He shouted again, “It was Guanyin Bodhisattva who told me to wait here—”
“Still daring to shout?” Wukong whipped him three or four more times.
Seeing one of his thighs covered in blood and flesh, Bajie finally begged for mercy, “Grandpa, stop hitting me. I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you.”
Wukong sneered, “If you had known this, why bother holding on?”
Bajie said, “I couldn’t stand the loneliness, so I forced the daughter of the Gao family to be my wife. But it’s really hard here, and I dare not leave even for a moment.”
Wukong asked, “The world is so vast—where else could you go? Why must you stay here?”
Bajie replied, “It was Guanyin Bodhisattva who told me to wait here for the pilgrims. How dare I leave?”
Wukong pretended to be surprised and said, “Pilgrims? Are you referring to those who go from the Eastern Land to the Western Heaven on a pilgrimage?”
Bajie was naturally surprised and said, “That’s right! How did you know?”
Wukong laughed heartily again and said, “Why didn’t you say so earlier? That would have saved us a lot of arguing!” Then he used a magic trick to retract the whip and set Bajie free.
Bajie grumbled to himself, “You damned monkey! I kept trying to talk, but you kept whipping me back.”
Seeing Bajie’s miserable state, Wukong thought, “These whips are a way to avenge Hou Yi. You caused that couple to be separated—whipping you a few times is still too lenient.”
Bajie got up and adjusted his clothes, sighing, “What a fine robe, ruined just like that.” Wukong laughed and said, “I’ll find your cheap father-in-law and have him make you a new one.”
Bajie replied, “My father-in-law doesn’t like me. He won’t bother with this. If only I were good-looking, hardworking, and considerate—there would be so many women—”
Hearing this fool’s nonsense, Wukong slapped him and said, “Shut up! Stop talking nonsense.”
Only then did Bajie recall the mission to obtain the scriptures, and he asked, “Just now you mentioned those people on the mission—do they have any connection with you?”
Wukong replied, “Not only do they have a connection, I’m actually quite similar to them. Right now, I am the eldest disciple of those people on the mission, tasked with protecting them as they journey to the West to obtain the scriptures.”
Bajie slapped his thigh—only to hit a sore spot—but he endured it and said, “This is like the flood destroying the Dragon King’s temple! Where is our master? Take me to see him right away!”
Wukong said, “It’s the middle of the night; our master is resting. If you want to see him, we can talk about it tomorrow morning.”
Bajie quickly apologized with a smile, “My elder brother is right, absolutely right.”
Seeing fear in Bajie’s eyes, Wukong thought to himself, It’s our first meeting today; it’s not appropriate to be too harsh. If you act unruly in the future and keep sowing discord, I will surely punish you again.
The two found places to sit on clouds outside the village, each lost in their own thoughts. Bajie was naturally worried about joining the mission. He had only heard from the Bodhisattva that he wasn’t the only one protecting Tang Seng on his journey to the West, but he never expected someone as powerful as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven from Flower Fruit Mountain to join them. This was indeed a tricky situation.
The Jade Emperor had secretly ordered him to infiltrate the mission, seemingly intending to recall him to heaven. With heaven on one side and the West on the other, it was hard to tell which of these two forces was better at this point. He would have to act according to the situation and adapt as needed to secure his own future.
Although Wukong didn’t know what Bajie was thinking, he knew that with three people traveling together, there would surely be many problems. Before this, Tang Seng had focused solely on heading west, ignoring everything else. As long as Wukong didn’t kill or speak recklessly, everything was fine. But with Bajie joining, he would surely try to flatter Tang Seng, who was easily influenced. Thinking of this, Wukong wondered if his initial demonstration of power had been too mild.
Before they knew it, dawn arrived. The two entered Gao Laozhuang and Gao Taigong’s courtyard. Gao Cai was feeding the horses in the stable when he saw Bajie and Wukong enter side by side. He dropped the fodder in his hands and ran inside, shouting, “Those two monsters are in cahoots!”
His cries alarmed Tang Seng and Gao Taigong, who were eating in the hall, and they came out to see what was happening. Wukong said, “Our master is right here. Why don’t you kneel and pay your respects?”
Bajie immediately bowed, saying, “Master, your humble disciple failed to greet you properly!”
Gao Taigong interjected, “Elder, this is the demon who forced my daughter away!” It turned out that earlier that morning, Gao Taigong couldn’t keep it a secret and had already told Tang Seng about Gao Cuilian.
Tang Seng asked, “Wukong, what exactly is going on? I’m not quite sure.” Wukong replied, “He’s just like me—he was persuaded by a Bodhisattva to do good and is waiting here for the master to escort you to the West. Don’t be fooled by his ugly pig-like appearance; he was once a celestial being in heaven and possesses great magical powers… though not as much as mine.”
Tang Seng said, “As a monk, don’t boast.” Then he turned to Bajie and asked, “Since you’ve embraced the path of goodness, shall I give you a Dharma name?” Bajie replied, “Master, the Bodhisattva has already ordained me. My Dharma name is Zhu Neng.”
Tang Seng smiled and said, “Good. Your elder brother is called Wukong, and you’re Neng—quite a fitting pair.” After pondering for a while, he added, “I see that you have a gluttonous appearance. But once you enter our Buddhist sect, you must give up meat and other forbidden foods. How about I give you another name—Bajie?”
Bajie said, “Whatever precepts the master sets, I’ll follow them!”
Gao Taigong was overjoyed that Tang Seng had taken Bajie under his care. He prepared vegetarian meals to entertain Tang Seng. Bajie grabbed Gao Taigong and said, “From today on, I’m going to the West to worship Buddha. I don’t know when I’ll return. Please let my wife come out to see me!”
Wukong shook Bajie’s hand away and said, “Don’t talk nonsense in front of the master. As a monk, don’t bring up past matters or old relationships. Come, eat quickly and set off early!” Bajie had no choice but to obey and sat down to eat.
After the meal, Gao Taigong stood up and said to Tang Seng, “It’s not that I don’t want to keep you, but my monstrous son-in-law is too frightening. If he stays here even one day, the neighbors will surely gossip.” So Gao Taigong ordered Gao Cai to bring out several hundred taels of gold and silver, saying, “Use this money for the elder’s expenses on the journey.”
Tang Seng declined, saying, “Gold, silver, and wealth are of no use to us. Along the way, we’ll beg for food when hungry and seek shelter when tired—there’s really no need for it.”
Bajie said, “Father-in-law, at least give me some clothes. My robe was torn by my elder brother last night.” Gao Taigong then gave him three cotton shirts and three pairs of shoes to replace his torn clothes.
Once everything was ready, Wukong packed their belongings into a load and told Bajie to carry it. Before Bajie could say anything else, Wukong stopped him and headed straight for the road to the west.
As Bajie left, he kept shouting, “Father-in-law, take good care of my daughter. I’ll come back for her after I finish my pilgrimage!” Gao Taigong was too scared to respond. Wukong laughed and said, “Don’t worry, old man. If he dares to come back, I’ll break his legs.” Hearing Wukong’s words, Gao Taigong felt a little reassured.
They set off, with Wukong leading the white horse and Bajie carrying the load, heading straight west.
The journey proceeded smoothly for a month before they finally left the territory of Utsang. Looking up, they saw a tall mountain ahead. Sanzang said, “Wukong, slow down a bit; there’s a high mountain ahead.”
Zigzei replied, “Master, don’t worry. This mountain is called Futu Mountain. There’s a sage living in it named Master Wuchao. He has been practicing here for a long time and once asked me to join him in his practices.”
Upon hearing the name of Master Wuchao, Wukong felt ashamed. If not for Zigzei’s reminder, he might have forgotten about this mysterious figure.