Early the next morning, when the Emperor’s court opened, the first to present themselves at the imperial courtyard were Marshal Zhang leading the Imperial Stablemaster and Deputy Stablemaster. “Long live your majesty.1 The new Horses’ Fortune, having objections to the low rank of his position, returned to the Lower Realms yesterday.” As they were speaking, Lord Zengzhang and his regiment arrived with his own report. “For reasons unknown to us, the Horses’ Fortune has left through the Heavenly Gate.”
“The generals may return to their posts,” the Jade Emperor decreed. “We will dispatch our heavenly forces to capture this monster.”
The Pagoda-Bearing King, Lord Li, and his third son Prince Nezha2 stepped forward. They bowed to the Emperor. “Your majesty,” said Lord Li, “please allow this humble servant3 to perform the duty of capturing the monster.”
The Emperor was pleased at this suggestion, and designated Lord Li as the grand marshal in charge of subduing the monster and Prince Nezha as the general in charge of assembling troops,4 and ordered them to immediately begin preparations and marshal forces for the expedition to the Lower Realms.
Lord Li and Prince Nezha took their leave and retired to their palace to marshal the troops for the expedition. They selected the Immortal of Colossal Spirit to be the advance guard and General Yudu as the rear guard. General Yaksha was to be the field commander. They left through the South Heavenly Gate and arrived at Huaguo Mountain. They found a plateau upon which to set up camp and the Immortal of Colossal Spirit was sent forth to battle. The Colossal Spirit readied himself, and swinging his Axe of Unfurling, arrived outside of Shuilian Cave. Outside the cave he a great hubbub of small yao engaged in mock battle wielding pitchforks, spears, and swords. “Wretched beasts! Go and tell the Horses’ Fortune that I, a general of Heaven, by order of the Jade Emperor, have come to arrest him. Tell him to surrender at once, lest harm come to all who live on this mountain!”
The little imps and demons rushed into the cave, yelling, “Trouble! Trouble! There’s a general of Heaven outside who says he’s a high-ranking immortal, who’s been sent here to capture you on the Jade Emperor’s orders! He says if you surrender he’ll spare the rest of our lives!”
“Bring me my armor!” the Monkey King said. In his purple-gold helm trailing phoenix feathers, his golden plated armor, the cloud-walking shoes, and with his Gold-Banded Staff in his hand, he led the small yao out of the cave in battle formation.
The gold on his helm, armor, and gold-banded staff raised high glowed as the Monkey King emerged from the cave. The lotus-silk boots suited him perfectly. His eyes shone like two stars with strange light; his earlobes hung past his shoulders; his teeth were bared in that pointed mouth.5
The Colossal Spirit watched this mesmerizing figure emerge, standing proud and not at all afraid. “Barbaric monkey!” he called out. “Do you know who I am?”
The Great Sage6 replied in a voice that rang out like chimes: “What manner of immortal are you? Old Sun has certainly never heard of you. State your name!”
“Lying monkey!” thundered the Colossal Spirit. “How dare you say you don’t know me!7 I am the advance guard of the honorable Pagoda-Bearing King, Lord Li, the Immortal of Colossal Spirit! Under the Jade Emperor’s orders, I have come to arrest you. Lay down your arms and submit yourself to the mercy of Heaven, lest all of the wretches of this mountain be sentenced to death! If even half a word of resistance comes out of your mouth, I will reduce you to ash!”
The Monkey King was furious. “Give your wagging tongue a rest, you bungling immortal. I could kill you easily with one swing of my staff, but then there would be no one to carry a report. I will spare your life this time. Go back and tell the Jade Emperor he doesn’t see talent when it’s in front of his face. Old Sun’s power are limitless, and he wants me to be his stable boy? Look here at my banner. If he will promote me to a rank equal to what’s written on this banner, I won’t raise my hand and army against you, and there will be peace in Heaven and on earth. But if he refuses, my troops will march on Lingxiao Palace until he doesn’t have a place to lay his head!”
The Colossal Spirit looked around and saw the tall pole erected outside of the cave mouth. Upon the pole was indeed a banner, upon which was written four words: “Great Sage Equaling Heaven.” The Spirit sneered and said, “Such insolence! This foolish monkey knows nothing of the ways of the world. So you want to be a Great Sage Equaling Heaven? Have a taste of my axe!” He swung down in a great headsplitting strike. The Monkey King raised his staff and blocked the axe swing with ease.
The Colossal Spirit was oblivious to his opponent’s power. The Staff Will-Abiding and the Axe Unfurling clashed again and and again, one keeping its mysteries demurely hidden, the other boldly proclaiming its power. The staff moved like water under a dragon’s command, the axe danced like a phoenix through the undergrowth. The two combatants belched fog and spewed clouds. Dust and sand flew at the wave of their hands. The Heavenly General was familiar with the Way, but the Monkey King’s transformations have no limit. Although the Colossal Spirit’s prowess is known throughout the world, in the end he was no match for his opponent.
The Great Sage spun his iron staff lightly in his hands. The Colossal Spirit found that he could not keep up, and as the Monkey King swung his staff toward his head, he raised his axe up to block the swing. With a loud crack! the axe handle broke in two. The blow landed – one blow – and he felt his whole body go numb. The Colossal Spirit quickly withdrew, defeated, and fled for his life.
“Good for nothing weakling!” the Monkey King laughed. “I’ll spare you this time. Go back and report! Go on!”
The Immortal of Colossal Spirit fled to the encampment and prostrated himself before the Pagoda-Bearing King, Lord Li: “The Horses’ Fortune possesses great magical powers. This lowly general is unable to defeat him, and begs your forgiveness.”
Lord Li was furious. “This man is a hindrance to our victory! Take him out and execute him!”8
Prince Nezha stepped forward and bowed to his father. “My lord father, may your fury cease. Please pardon the Colossal Spirit’s shortcomings. Allow your son to take the troops that we may assess this monster’s strength.” Lord Li acquiesced to his son’s suggestion and ordered the Colossal Spirit to instead return to the camp to await his judgement.
1 One of the ways to address the Emperor literally means ‘ten-thousand years old.’ ↩
2 Lord Li and Nezha are almost as famous as Sun Wukong within Chinese mythology. I grew up watching the cartoon The Legend of Nezha along with Journey to the West. ↩
3 English has too much self-respect to fully translate how Lord Li is debasing himself in this statement. In Chinese it doesn’t sound like he has no self-respect. That’s just how you talk to the Emperor. ↩
4 It’s unclear if the Emperor gave them new titles or if it’s just the name of the role for this mission. No capitalization in Chinese to delineate proper nouns. ↩
5 In the original narration style, this poem is the Colossal Spirit’s first impression of Wukong. ↩
6 This is Wukong’s newest title. From this point on, characters who have a long history with him and respect him often address him as Great Sage. Certain other characters never stop calling him Horses’ Fortune. ↩
7 You might have been thinking that Wukong is super arrogant, but in reality, they’re all like that. ↩
8 Wow. Harsh. ↩
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