Now, after Wukong learned the whole story, he invited Ao Run, the Dragon King of the Western Sea, to go and persuade him to surrender.
The two rode the clouds, and before long arrived at the Flowing Sand River.
Wukong said, “We’re here, old Dragon King. Go down and meet your nephew!”
Ao Run, Dragon King of the Western Sea, looked at the river, then at the boundary stele beside the bank. He seemed about to speak, yet held back. But with Wukong urging him on, he still entered the river.
Tiger Vanguard was patrolling the shallows. Seeing Ao Run come in, he hurried down to report, “My King, your uncle, the old lord, has arrived!”
When Ao Tu heard this, he immediately went out to receive him.
Upon seeing Ao Run, he asked, “Uncle, did we not agree to cease all contact? Why have you come again?”
Ao Run then told Ao Tu, one by one, how Sun Wukong had gone to the Dragon Palace to seek them out.
After hearing this, Ao Tu shook his head and sighed. “That monkey.”
Ao Run then asked Ao Tu why he had turned this place into the Blackwater River.
Avoiding Sha Seng, Ao Tu briefly told Ao Run how he had transformed the Flowing Sand River into the Blackwater River and obstructed Tang Seng and his disciples on their journey to obtain the scriptures.
After hearing him out, Ao Run earnestly advised, “My dear nephew, our dragon clan is in decline. We cannot contend with them! Since you have such talent, why not cultivate in peace? Would that not be better?”
Cultivate in peace?
Ao Tu laughed and shook his head. “Enough, Uncle. Say no more of that. This time, I’ll have to wrong you a little!”
With that, Ao Tu cast a spell and bound Ao Run, tying him together with Tang Seng and Bajie at the bottom of the river.
Outside, Wukong waited on the bank.
Before long, waves surged and billows rolled as Ao Tu emerged from the water.
Wukong smiled. “You little dragon, have you thought it through?”
Ao Tu said, “You monkey, inviting my uncle to come and make me submit—truly, you do not understand the Dharma.”
Wukong asked in puzzlement, “How does inviting your uncle mean I do not understand the Dharma?”
Ao Tu laughed. “Do you not know? I am of the Buddhist order. I once served beneath the Buddha as keeper of the bell. All monks and followers of our Buddhism sever emotion and cut off love, recognizing no kin. That old dragon of the Western Sea has now been locked by me at the bottom of the river, keeping your master company!”
Wukong could hear that Ao Tu was slandering Buddhism, and almost could not help laughing. Forcing himself to hold it in, he said:
“You damned demon dragon, how dare you be so insolent? Release my master at once, or don’t blame Old Sun for being merciless!”
Ao Tu said, “Sun Wukong, I have heard of your abilities, and I admire your sense of loyalty. I can release your master, but now it is the depths of winter and not suitable for travel. In twenty-four days, it will be the Start of Spring solar term. I guarantee I will send your master out then.”
Hearing this, Wukong frowned and said:
“You demon dragon, what trick are you playing? If you mean to release my master, then release him early. Why wait until Start of Spring? Don’t tell me that even as a demon, you have to consult the almanac and read feng shui?”
Ao Tu said:
“Monkey, if you can trust me, then agree to it. When the time comes, I will certainly release your master, and I will never break my promise! You still don’t know, but earlier I asked for a month’s leave on your behalf. Take this time to go home and have a look!”
Wukong listened, thought for a moment, and said:
“Fine. Seeing as you are also one who keeps faith and honors promises, I will agree. But you must serve my master well, with three teas and six meals each day, not lacking a thing. If he grows even a little thinner, I will surely hold you to account!”
Ao Tu laughed. “I’ll move a crystal palace over to look after him!”
Thus the agreement was made.
Wukong went east, heading straight for the Eastern Victorious Divine Continent, the Kingdom of Aolai, and Mount Huaguo.
Ao Tu returned to the water and indeed kept his promise. He cast a spell to create a palace and invited Tang Seng to live there. He also spent money to hire several old monks from outside to accompany Tang Seng in seated meditation and scripture recitation. He ordered Tiger Vanguard to enter the mountains each day and gather delicacies and wild vegetables—mushrooms, fragrant fungi, bamboo shoots, wood ear, daylilies, agar-agar, yams, Solomon’s seal, and the like—to prepare vegetarian meals for Tang Seng to enjoy.
On the other side, Wukong rode his cloud, and soon caught sight of the Eastern Ocean and the range of Mount Huaguo. He sighed with endless emotion and said, “I have not taken this road for five hundred years!”
He saw: misty waves stretching far and wide, vast billows rolling on and on. The tide surged in, flooding bays and inlets. Wild fowl came and went as they pleased; shorebirds sank and floated at will. Waves rolled up a thousand years of snow, and the wind brought forth the chill of winter.
He lowered his cloud and opened his eyes to look.
On the mountain, all flowers and grasses were gone, and every trace of rosy mist had vanished. Peaks and crags had collapsed; forests and trees were scorched and withered.
Wukong gazed at this ruined mountain and desolate scene. His mind went blank, and his sorrow deepened all the more.
There is a poem that says:
Looking back on the immortal mountain, twin tears fell;
Facing the mountain’s misery, grief cut deeper still.
Back then he only thought the mountain unharmed;
Only today did he know the earth itself had lost.
The rosy mists that filled the sky had all dispersed;
The winds and clouds across the land were scattered thin.
On the eastern ridge, no striped tiger’s roar was heard;
On the western hill, where was the white ape’s cry?
Green stone had burned into a thousand clods of earth;
Jade sand had turned into a single heap of mud.
Where had the birds of former days flown off to now?
To what mountains had the beasts of those times fled?
As Wukong was grieving, he suddenly saw seven or eight little monkeys leap out from a grassy slope and a hollow in the mountain. They rushed forward in a crowd, surrounded him, and kowtowed, crying loudly, “Great Sage Grandfather! Have you come home today?”
Wukong said, “Why are you not playing and frolicking? Why are you all hiding yourselves away?”
When the troop of monkeys heard this, each of them shed tears and reported:
“Ever since the Great Sage was captured and taken to the upper realm, we have suffered bitterly under hunters, truly more than we can bear! How could we withstand their hard crossbows and strong bows, their yellow hawks and vicious hounds, their nets, snares, spears, and hooks? For this reason, each of us cherishes our life and dares not come out to play. We only hide deep in caves and keep far from our nests. When hungry, we steal grass to eat before the slope; when thirsty, we drink clear spring water below the ravine. Just now, when we heard the Great Sage Grandfather’s voice, we came especially to welcome you.”
Hearing these words, Wukong grew even more sorrowful. He then asked, “How many of you are still on this mountain?”
The monkeys said, “Old and young together, only about a thousand.”
Wukong said, “Back then, I had a total of forty-seven thousand troops of demons. Where have they all gone now?”
The monkeys said, “Ever since the Great Sage Grandfather left, more than half of us were burned and slaughtered by the heavenly generals filling the sky. Of those who survived by chance, most have been seized by hunters over these years.”
Wukong said, “What do they seize you for?”
The monkeys said, “Those among us struck by arrows, pierced by spears, poisoned, or beaten to death, they take away to skin and debone, to stew in sauce and steam with vinegar, to fry in oil and stir-fry with salt, eating us as dishes with their meals. Those caught in nets or snares, they take away to jump through hoops and perform tricks, to turn somersaults, stand on our hands, beat gongs and drums, and play in the streets.”
Hearing this, Wukong was furious. “Who is in charge in the cave?”
The demons said, “There are still the two marshals Ma and Liu, and the two generals Beng and Ba managing things.”
Wukong said, “Go report to them that I have come.”
Those little demons rushed into the gate and reported, “Great Sage Grandfather has come home!”
When Ma, Liu, Beng, and Ba heard the report, they hurried out the gate, kowtowed, and welcomed Wukong into the cave.
Wukong sat in the middle, and the crowd of monsters bowed before him in rows.
They offered fruit and coconut wine to welcome Wukong back.
Wukong said, “Do not drink for now. Let me ask you: when do those hunters come to my mountain?”
Ma and Liu said, “At any time, without pattern. They often come to harass us.”
As they were speaking, a little monkey came to report, “Those hunters have come.”
Wukong went up to the mountaintop and saw, on the southern half, drums booming dong-dong and gongs clanging dang-dang. More than a thousand men and horses emerged, all with hawks and hounds, holding blades and spears.
These were all hunters from nearby countries, gathered together to hunt here.
Seeing this, Wukong was enraged. But because he had entered the Buddhist order, he restrained his conduct and did not attack directly. He merely formed a hand seal, stirred up a wild gale, and blew all those people five hundred li away, so they could never return.
After getting rid of these people, Wukong again used his magic power to repair the mountain range. He went to the Four Seas and borrowed some sweet rain, ordering the monkeys to plant elms, willows, pines, and cedars, peaches, plums, dates, and plums, restoring it to its former appearance.
Then Mount Huaguo was seen: green as carved jade, high as if brushing the clouds. Running water murmured; ravine springs dripped. From dawn to dusk, cliffs, peaks, and sheer walls stood amid new trees and fresh blossoms covering the mountain.
The monkeys were overjoyed and could not help asking, “Great Sage Grandfather, now that you have returned home, will you still leave?”
Wukong said, “I still have to go west. I will stay here only twenty-four days.”
Reluctantly, the monkeys said, “Why stay only twenty-some days? Why not stay for several more years?”
Wukong laughed. “These twenty-four days were already not easy to come by. I still have to thank that dragon brother of mine!”