After leaving Yuhua City, Tang Sanzang and his three disciples traveled for five or six days and came to a prefectural city outside the borders of India, known as Jinping Prefecture. Passing through several streets and lanes, they suddenly saw a monastery ahead called Ciyun Temple. Tang Sanzang led the others inside, intending to rest the horse, take a vegetarian meal, and then continue on their way.
When the abbot learned that the visitors had come from the Great Tang in the East, he hurried forward to receive them with proper courtesy. After the meal, Tang Sanzang urged his disciples to set out early, but the monks of the temple tried to persuade him to stay.
“The Lantern Festival is only two days away,” they said. “It will not be too late to leave after the festival.”
Their hospitality was difficult to refuse, so Tang Sanzang agreed. When the fifteenth day of the first lunar month arrived, the monks invited the four travelers to go into the city and admire the lanterns. Tang Sanzang and his disciples followed them into the bustling streets.
The city was bright with lights. Music from flutes and reed pipes mingled with singing, filling the night without pause. When they reached the entrance of Golden Lantern Bridge, they saw three golden lamps hanging from pillars, each one as large as a water vat. The oil burning in them gave off a rare and striking fragrance.
Tang Sanzang asked about it and learned that the lamps were filled with precious suhe fragrant oil. The oil in the three lamps was said to be worth more than fifty thousand taels of silver, all contributed by the people of the prefecture.
While they were speaking, a rushing wind suddenly roared through the air. The people who had come out to view the lanterns scattered in alarm, hiding wherever they could. The monks said anxiously, “The wind has come. The Buddhas are coming to view the lanterns. We must go back quickly!”
Hearing this, Tang Sanzang insisted on staying to pay homage. In the blink of an eye, three figures resembling Buddhas appeared in the wind. Tang Sanzang at once fell to his knees and bowed. But Sun Wukong looked closely and saw through the illusion: they were not Buddhas at all, but three demons.
Before Wukong could speak, a violent gust swept past. Tang Sanzang vanished instantly.
Zhu Bajie searched in a panic, looking everywhere. Sha Wujing called out in all directions, near and far. Wukong stopped them and said, “Brothers, there is no need to shout. Master has been taken by demons. You two return to the temple with the monks and guard the luggage and the horse. I’ll follow this evil wind and give chase.”
With that, he shot away after the wind.
Wukong pursued it until daybreak. At last the wind stopped. He landed on a cliff and began looking for a path when he saw four men approaching, driving three sheep before them. Using his fiery golden eyes, Wukong examined them and recognized their true identities: they were the four Duty Gods of Year, Month, Day, and Hour, transformed into human shape.
They had come specifically to inform him that the mountain was called Green Dragon Mountain, and that on it stood Xuanying Cave, home to three demons. Wukong asked for their names. The eldest was King Bihan, the second King Bishu, and the third King Bichen. Once he had learned this, he sent the four Duty Gods away.
He turned around the mountain hollow and searched until he found the demons’ cave. Not wishing to rush in recklessly, he stood outside the gate and shouted, “Demons! Bring my master out at once, or I’ll beat every one of you to death!”
The lesser demons hurried inside to report. The three demon kings came out, each carrying a weapon, surrounded by great and small bull-headed monsters. Seeing them, Wukong swung his golden cudgel and attacked. The three kings raised their weapons to meet him.
They fought until dusk. Then King Bichen waved a command flag, and the lesser demons swarmed in, surrounding Wukong and striking at him from every side. Wukong saw that it would be unwise to keep fighting on those terms, so he leapt up onto a cloud and withdrew.
Back at Ciyun Temple, he told Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing everything that had happened. The three brothers feared that the demons might harm their master that very night. After supper, under the moonlight, they rode an auspicious cloud back to Xuanying Cave.
Wukong told the others to wait outside while he slipped in to learn the situation. He transformed into a firefly and flew into the cave. Reaching Tang Sanzang, he revealed his true form and used a spell to unlock the shackles on his master’s hands. Then he led Tang Sanzang quietly toward the exit.
But on the way, they ran into a patrolling demon. Wukong killed two little demons with one blow of his staff, but a third escaped, shouting as he fled, “The hairy-faced monk has broken into the cave and is killing people!”
The three demon kings heard the cry and sprang from their beds, shouting again and again, “Catch him!”
Tang Sanzang was so frightened that his limbs went weak and he could not move. Wukong, afraid of being surrounded, had no choice but to leave his master behind and fight his way out alone. Outside, he found Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing and quickly explained what had happened.
The three listened toward the cave, but heard no movement. Worried that the demon kings might harm Tang Sanzang, Zhu Bajie lost patience. Raising his rake, he smashed at the stone gate until it shattered.
The demon kings, who had just turned back inside, heard the crash and rushed out in fury. The two sides fought fiercely, neither gaining an easy advantage. Then King Bihan gave an order, and the little demons surged forward together. They tripped up Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, bound them, and dragged them into the cave. Wukong leapt onto a cloud and escaped once more.
Leaving Xuanying Cave, Wukong flew straight up through the layers of heaven to seek reinforcements. At the Western Gate of Heaven he met Taibai Jinxing. After hearing Wukong’s account, Taibai Jinxing said that the three demons were rhinoceros spirits. To subdue them, the Four Wood Star Officers would need to descend to the mortal realm.
Taibai Jinxing then took Wukong to the Hall of Miraculous Mist, where the matter was reported to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor sent Master Xu together with Wukong to the Douniu Palace to summon the Four Wood Star Officers.
The four officers—Jiao Mu Jiao, Dou Mu Xie, Kui Mu Lang, and Jing Mu An—received the imperial order and rode the clouds with Wukong down to Green Dragon Mountain, above Xuanying Cave.
The Four Wood Star Officers said, “Great Sage, go first and challenge the three demons. Draw them out, and we will act.”
Wukong went to the cave entrance and hurled insults until the three demon kings, enraged, led their followers out. They formed a circular battle formation and trapped Wukong in the middle. At that moment, the Four Wood Star Officers descended from the sky, each raising his weapon and shouting, “Wicked beasts, do not move!”
As soon as the large and small demons saw the Four Wood Star Officers, they revealed their original forms and scattered all over the mountain. The three demon kings also showed what they truly were: three rhinoceros spirits. They fled toward the northeast.
Wukong, Jing Mu An, and Jiao Mu Jiao pursued them closely. Meanwhile, Dou Mu Xie and Kui Mu Lang swept through the valleys and peaks, capturing or killing the remaining bull spirits. Then they entered the cave and rescued Tang Sanzang, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing.
Dou Mu Xie and Kui Mu Lang then went to help Wukong chase the demon kings. After seeing them off, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing searched the cave and found a load of cloth, silk, gold, and silver. They carried it outside, helped their master sit safely on a cliff, and then Zhu Bajie set a great fire that burned Xuanying Cave to ashes. Only after that did the three slowly find their way back toward Ciyun Temple.
Dou Mu Xie and Kui Mu Lang rode their clouds in pursuit until they reached the Western Ocean. From far away they saw Wukong shouting over the surface of the sea and descended to meet him. The demons had already dived into the water. Jing Mu An and Jiao Mu Jiao had followed them beneath the waves, while Wukong stayed above to guard the surface and prevent their escape.
Now that more help had arrived, Wukong asked them to block the sea above while he recited a water-avoidance spell and plunged down to join the battle below.
At the bottom of the sea, Wukong found Jing Mu An and Jiao Mu Jiao locked in fierce combat with the three demons. He immediately raised his cudgel and joined in. The three demons were already exhausted; seeing Wukong arrive, they became frightened and fled deeper toward the middle of the sea.
A night patrolling yaksha saw the commotion and rushed back to the Crystal Palace to report to the Dragon King. The old Dragon King ordered Prince Mo’ang to lead troops out to assist.
Prince Mo’ang marched from the Crystal Palace with turtle generals, soft-shelled turtle commanders, shrimp soldiers, and crab troops, cutting off the rhinoceros spirits’ path. Caught between pursuers and blockers, the rhinoceros spirits panicked and tried to flee in all directions.
King Bichen was knocked down by Prince Mo’ang’s soldiers, who seized his four hooves and tied them together. Jing Mu An, enraged, revealed his original form and bit through King Bihan’s neck. At the same time, Jiao Mu Jiao seized King Bishu.
They returned to the Crystal Palace, where King Bihan’s horns were sawed off. Wukong took them with him. Then, together with the Four Wood Star Officers, he escorted the captured King Bishu and King Bichen away, took leave of the Dragon King, and rode the clouds back to Jinping Prefecture.
From the air, Wukong called out to the soldiers and common people below, announcing that the heavenly gods had subdued the rhinoceros spirits that had done evil for many years. From then on, the people would no longer need to offer suhe fragrant oil for the golden lamps.
Hearing Wukong’s cry, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing leapt up into the clouds. They said, “Push these two monsters down so the local officials, soldiers, and people can see them. Let the four Star Lords also descend for a while.”
The Four Wood Star Officers stepped down on a cluster of colored clouds and landed at the prefectural hall. When the officials of the prefecture and county, along with the soldiers and common people, saw them, they hurriedly set out incense tables and bowed in worship to the heavenly beings.
Zhu Bajie’s temper rose. Taking a monk’s knife, he cut off the heads of King Bichen and King Bishu, then sawed off four horns. Wukong said, “Honored Star Officers, please take these four rhinoceros horns to the upper realm and present them to the Jade Emperor when you report the completion of your order.”
Of the two horns he carried himself, Wukong left one in the prefectural hall and kept the other to take to Spirit Mountain as an offering to the Buddha.
The four Star Officers accepted the rhinoceros horns, said farewell to Wukong, and returned to Heaven on colored clouds. Following Wukong’s instructions, the county magistrate of Jinping Prefecture posted a notice forbidding the lighting of the golden lamps the next year. He also had a temple built to honor the Four Stars who had subdued the demons, and established shrines for Tang Sanzang and his three disciples while they were still alive. A stone stele was set up and inscribed so the event would be remembered by later generations.