This gave the young devil such a fright that he went running and tumbling down the ravine. Monkey and Friar Sand went straight after him but could find no sign of where he had gone. When they went further and searched around they found a cave palace with double gates of mottled stone that were firmly closed. Above the gates a stone tablet was set on which was written in large block letters:
NINE-BEND TWISTY CAVE,
MIGHTY BAMBOO MOUNTAIN
Now when the junior devil ran inside the cave he had shut the gates firmly behind him. Once inside he reported to the old demon, “My lord, those two monks are outside.”
“Have your lord, Monkey Lion, Snowy Lion, Elephant-fighter and Raccoon-dog come back yet?” the old demon asked.
“I haven't seen them,” the junior demon replied.
“There were just the two monks looking around from high up on the peak. As soon as I saw them I turned and ran. As they came after me I shut the gates.”
The old demon bowed his head in silence at this news. After a while his tears began to flow as he called out, “This is terrible. My grandson Tawny Lion is dead. My grandsons Monkey Lion and the rest of them have all been captured by those monks and taken into the city. How am I to get my revenge?”
Pig was tied up nearby, crammed in together with the Tang Priest and the princes, terrified and miserable until he heard the old demon saying that his grandsons had been captured and taken into the city. At this he said with quiet delight, “Don't be afraid, Master. Cheer up, Your Royal Highness. My elder brother has won. He's captured the whole lot of the devils and he's found his way here to rescue us.”
When he had said this the old demon could be heard shouting, “Little ones, guard the place well while I go out to catch those other two monks. Then we can punish them all together.”
Watch him as he strides off without armor or weapons. When he heard Monkey shouting he threw the gates of the cave wide open and went straight for him, not deigning to answer. Monkey raised his iron cudgel to stop him with a blow to the head while Friar Sand swung his staff at him. As the demon shook his principal head the eight other heads to left and right of it all opened their mouths, with which they gently picked Monkey and Friar Sand up and carried them into the cave.
“Fetch rope,” he ordered; and Wily Freak, Freaky Wile and Greenface, who had come back after their escape the previous night, brought two ropes with which they tied the two of them up very securely. “Impudent ape,” said the old demon, “you captured my seven grandsons. But now I've caught you four monks and the four princes I've got enough to ransom them with. Little ones, get some thorns and willow rods and beat this ape for me to avenge my grandson Tawny Lion.”
The three junior devils then beat Monkey with willow rods, but Monkey's body had been so toughened that all the rods could do was to scratch his itches. He made no sound and was not in the least bothered, no matter how hard they hit him. The sight of it, however, made Pig, the Tang Priest and the princes all feel their hair standing on end. Before long the rods started to break up, but the demons kept on till evening, keeping no count of the number of strokes.
Friar Sand was most upset to see Monkey being given so long a flogging, so he said, “Let me take a hundred or so for him.”
“Don't be so impatient,” the old demon replied, “you'll get your beating tomorrow. You'll all be done in turn.”
“That means it'll be me the day after tomorrow,” said Pig with alarm. The beating continued for a while as night slowly fell.
“Little ones,” the old demon called, “stop for now. Light the lamp and go for something to eat and drink. I'm off to my Brocade Cloud Den for a little shut-eye. You three have all had a hard time, so keep a close watch on them. We'll carry on with the beatings tomorrow.” The three junior devils moved a lamp over and hit Monkey some more on the top of his head with their willow rods, tic-tic-toc, toc-toc-tic, like the rhythm of a wooden clapper, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. By then it was very late and they all fell asleep.
Monkey now used escaping magic to shrink himself, wriggled out of his bonds, shook his fur, straightened up his clothes, took the cudgel out of his ear and shook it till it was as thick as a well-bucket and about twenty feet long.
Then he said to the three junior devils, “You animals, you hit me an awful lot of times, and now I'm going to return the compliment. I'll just shove this at you and see how you like it.” One gentle push from the cudgels turned the three devils into three lumps of minced pork. Monkey then turned up the lamp and released Friar Sand.
Pig, who was feeling desperate about being tied up, could not stop himself from yelling at the top of his voice, “My hands and feet are tied up so tight they're swollen. Why don't you come and free me?”
The idiot's shout at once woke up the old demon, who rolled straight out of bed and called out, “Who's setting them free?” The moment Monkey heard this he blew out the lamp, smashed his way through several sets of doors with his cudgel and fled, not bothering about Friar Sand and the rest of them, while the old demon went into the main hall shouting, “Little ones, why's there no light? Don't let them get away!” He shouted once without getting an answer, then again, and still no answer.
When he fetched a lantern and looked all he could see were three gory lumps of minced meat on the floor. The prince, his sons, the Tang Priest and Pig were still there, but Monkey and Friar Sand had disappeared. He lit a torch, searched the front and the back and could find only Friar Sand, who was still standing pressed against the wall of a corridor. The demon knocked him down, tied him up as before, and carried on looking for Monkey. Seeing that pair after pair of his doors had been smashed down, he realized that Monkey had destroyed them in his flight. Instead of giving chase he patched up and blockaded the doors and guarded his home.
The story now tells how Monkey left the Nine-bend Twisty Cave and rode by auspicious cloud straight back to the city of Yuhua, where all the local deities and spirits as well as the god of the city could be seen bowing in mid-air to greet him.
“Why have you only come to see me today?” Monkey asked. “When we knew that the worthy prince was entertaining you in Yuhua, Great Sage,” they replied, “we did not venture to greet you. But now that the princes have been captured by ogres and you have subdued those monsters we have come to welcome you with kowtows.” While Monkey was abusing them the Gold-headed Protector and the Six Ding and Six Jia generals escorted a local deity in and made him kneel on the ground.
“Great Sage,” they said, “we've arrested this ground devil.”
“What are you making a noise here for instead of guarding my master on Bamboo Mountain?” Monkey yelled.
“Great Sage,” the Ding and Jia gods replied, “the evil spirit caught the Curtain-raising General and tied him up again after you escaped. As we could see how great his magic powers are we've brought the local deity of Bamboo Mountain here. He knows all about that evil spirit's background, so we beg you to question him, Great Sage, and find out how best to deal with him and deliver the holy monks and worthy princes from their suffering.” When Monkey heard this he was delighted.
“The old demon came down to Bamboo Mountain the year before last,” the local deity said, shivering and shaking as he kowtowed. “The Nine-bend Twisty Cave used to be the den of six lions. Once the old demon came the six lions all took him as their grandfather. He is a nine-headed lion called the Primal Sage of Ninefold Numinosity. If you want to deal with him you must go to the Wonderful Crag Palace in the uttermost East and fetch his master here to subdue him. Nobody else can possibly do it.”