“I’ve had enough! Every time I kill a demon, you tell me that I’m wrong and do that stupid chant. Do you know how many times I’ve saved you from these creatures?” Wu Kong ranted.
Everyone stared at him.
“I’m done. You can go and fetch the scriptures yourself,” he declared. After which, he conjured a somersault cloud, hopped on it, and scooted off into the distance.
Everyone in our party looked at one another and didn’t know what to do. Even I didn’t know what to do. This immortal was our older brother with all of his powers guiding us. His eyes allowed him to see a demon’s true nature and he could shapeshift into any form. Blah blah blah, so on and so forth. Since he was gone, I had to take care of everyone.
We walked for aaaaaages and I was starving. My stomach grumbled to no end and I tried not to complain so much. I saw that my master was upset and regretted scolding him—he was sharper with us, and lost patience with our shenanigans more easily than he usually did. His face wore a tight, pinched look as well. Wu Jing’s body seemed to sag down as well while carrying the luggage, but maybe I was imagining things.
At last, we came to a small hut in the middle of the woods. Outside, a beautiful woman was trying to chop firewood. I knew what this was—a trap.
And of course, my heart started beating faster. I mean, she was a gorgeous woman, after all. From all of our experiences, gorgeous women were usually demons, so I had to have my guard up.
I rushed over to help her chop the wood.
“What a big, strong…man you are,” she smiled and batted her eyelashes at me. Oh no. I wasn’t going to fall for this one.
“Madam, thank you for the flattery, but I am a monk. In exchange for our services, may we sleep here for the night?”
I gestured towards my crew.
“But of course!” she grinned. I was right because I saw her silhouette flicker and it resembled an… insect? Or maybe it was my imagination. Anyway, it was evening and we all settled in for the night.
At the dinner table, she talked to us. My master, ever the naïve one, started telling her about our long journey to the west to fetch the scriptures and how we lost a disciple, the Monkey King. Now I knew how Wu Kong felt—our master really was naïve. Of course, he thought everyone was good and gave everyone the benefit of the doubt.
Except Wu Kong.
I knew she was a demon but I had to keep calm. Wu Kong’s approach didn’t work on her, so I acted as though I didn’t suspect anything. Like the good monks we were, we helped her clear the dishes and plates. She took out some sleeping mats and we slept on them.
In the middle of the night, she struck. I wasn’t really asleep, of course—now I understood why Older Brother was so cranky all the time—and saw that she was grinning above me. Her robes hung loosely around her, revealing her bare shoulders. Normally, I would lust after her, but now, I was the older brother.
“You can’t fool me,” was all I said.
“Oh well, it was worth a shot,” she shrugged.
In the next minute, she changed. She’d morphed into an insect. The change was almost instantaneous—she was now brown in colour and her six hairy legs twitched. I tried to reach out for my rake at the foot of the bed but she’d knocked it out of my reach as soon as I stole a glance at it.
There was a kind of screeching noise that filled the room and Wu Jing and my Shifu got up. Their eyes widened and they froze in fear. Like me, Wu Jing tried to reach for his crescent-shaped staff, but was interrupted with a hissing noise as she—it—knocked it over. Its underbelly loomed before me and we were about to be eaten.
I hurled myself into her body. Hard.
There was a squelching sound and blood spurted out. I heard her wheezing, sputtering and dying. As for me? I was soaked in a pool of blood.
“Hurry, let’s go!” Shifu said. We grabbed our horse from the hut and rode until it was daylight.
Later, when the sun rose and we were rid of the nightmare, my Shifu merely told me, “You did well. Good job.”
And that was enough for me.