The Journey to the West: Volume I

When Pilgrim cannot defeat the monster to retrieve the heavenly cassock, he asks Guanyin to help him. She agrees, but only because it will help Tripitaka. Along their way to find and defeat the monster, Pilgrim kills a priest carrying pills of the elixir of immortality. Guanyin is horrified, and she chides Pilgrim for attacking an unknown man who was not even his enemy. Pilgrim then reveals to Guanyin that he recognized the priest as the monster’s friend. Pilgrim comes up with a plan: Guanyin will transform into the priest, and Pilgrim will transform into the pills. Guanyin will present the pills as a gift, and when the monster eats the pills, Pilgrim will control the monster and make him hand over the stolen cassock—or else, Pilgrim will threaten to make a new cassock out of the monster. Guanyin agrees. Their plan works without having to kill the monster. The monster repents under Guanyin’s call to do so and begs to live, promising to be good. Guanyin sends Pilgrim back to Tripitaka and cautions him against mischief and laziness.

Pilgrim and Tripitaka arrive in Gao Village, where a monster has kidnapped the young daughter of Old Gao and forced her to be its wife for the past six months. Pilgrim frees her and assumes her form to get close to the monster. Pilgrim, as Gao’s daughter, knocks the monster off the bed and tells him that her father planned to send for the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, to come and capture the monster. The monster, hearing this, tries to flee. Pilgrim reveals his identity, and the terrified monster transforms to flee again. Pilgrim pursues the monster, threatening to follow it into the palaces of Heaven or the depths of Hell.

Pilgrim follows the pig monster to fight him, but during this pursuit, he tells the monster that he is serving Tripitaka in his quest to journey west for the scriptures. The pig monster drops his rake and reveals that Guanyin told him that he would also have to serve Tripitaka on the same journey and asks Pilgrim to take him to meet Tripitaka. Tripitaka accepts Pig as a disciple. Tripitaka, Pilgrim, dragon-horse, and Pig travel to Pagoda Mountain, where they encounter a hermit. The hermit promises Tripitaka that though his journey will be long and fraught with evil encounters, it will be successful. The hermit has a heart sutra, which can protect from these evils. Tripitaka begs to learn it, and the hermit agrees to teach him.

Halfway up a mountain, the travelers encounter a foul wind. Tripitaka and Eight Rules both warn that it is dangerous, but Pilgrim is sure that it’s not; he will catch the wind and smell it. Pilgrim thinks it smells like a tiger or monster wind, and before long, it proves to the be former. A tiger tries to attack them, and Eight Rules, who wants to surpass and outrank Pilgrim, swings his rake at the tiger. Meanwhile, Tripitaka has gone down the road to speak the heart sutra for their protection. The tiger sheds its skin onto a rock shaped like a tiger and turns back into a wind. The tiger wind then sweeps down the road and carries Tripitaka away. The tiger brings Tripitaka to his master and suggests they eat him. After learning that Tripitaka has disciples, the tiger’s master decides against it because the disciples might come looking for Tripitaka after he’s been devoured. Eight Rules panics after Tripitaka is taken away, but Pilgrim tells him to be calm and that they should look for Tripitaka. They find Tripitaka and threaten to hurt the monsters if Tripitaka is not released.