Volume One, Chapter 6: The Journey West, Part 4

Amidst the mountains, a river eight hundred miles wide severed communication between the two banks. The current was turbulent, and due to the accumulation of sand and gravel over the years, the water appeared a murky yellow.

Before the river, a small, solitary figure knelt on the bank. In his hands, he cradled a celadon glaze lamp with painstaking care, his eyes filled with fervent excitement. This man was none other than the Curtain-Lifting General, who had been banished to the mortal realm for breaking the glaze lamp.

His hands trembled as he held the vessel. For hundreds of years, he had endured the agonizing pain of a blade piercing his heart forty-nine times each day while searching for the shards of this lamp. Through relentless effort, he had finally gathered every single piece.

Channeling his immortal essence, a tiny fragment drifted from beside him and settled slowly into the final gap of the lamp.

Click.

As the pieces locked together, the sound of the collision echoed. The Curtain-Lifting General could no longer hold back; the hundreds of years of suffering dissolved into tears of joy. He held the lamp up toward the sky as if offering a precious treasure, looking upward as he cried out:

"Your Majesty, I have found them all! Your Majesty, I have repaired the glaze lamp! You promised that if I gathered the fragments, you would end this heart-piercing torment and allow me to return to the Celestial Realm. I have gathered them, Your Majesty!"

The more he spoke, the more excited he became, his face twisting into a grotesque expression from the sheer intensity of his fervor.

However, minutes passed, and there was no response from the heavens. Tens of minutes passed, and still, there was nothing.

The Curtain-Lifting General paid it no mind. He kept the lamp held high, staring at the sky, thinking that since a day in heaven is a year on earth, perhaps the time elapsed was too short for the Jade Emperor to notice. He believed that in a little while, he would surely be seen.

Thus, he held the lamp aloft for seven days and seven nights. He did not move for those seven days and nights; his eyes were bloodshot, yet his face remained wreathed in a smile. In his heart, he held steadfast faith in the Jade Emperor and the salvation promised by the heavens. Clinging to this hope, he waited for days, until forty-nine days had passed, failing even to notice the arrival of Tang Xuanzang and his disciples.

Tang Xuanzang gazed with pity at the Curtain-Lifting General kneeling before the Flowing Sand River. Just as he moved to step forward, Sun Wukong stopped him. Sun Wukong looked at the monk and said:

"Do not go near him. He has already devoured nine incarnations of yours. If you go now, you might lose your life. Let me handle this."

Before Tang Xuanzang could reply, Sun Wukong strode toward Sha Wujing. The latter blinked in confusion. Sun Wukong’s figure blocked the light filtering through the dark clouds, and his eyes, unblinking for so long, struggled to make out the visitor:

"Is... is it you, Your Majesty? Look, I fixed it! I repaired the glaze lamp! Can I return to the Celestial Court now?"

The Curtain-Lifting General held the lamp out toward Sun Wukong. The latter shook his head helplessly, took the lamp, and said:

"Curtain-Lifting General, I am not the Old Jade Emperor. Look closely at who I am."

Hearing this voice—both familiar and alien—the General’s pupils constricted. He rubbed his eyes frantically, and upon seeing who it was, his face filled with rage:

"The Great Sage Equal to Heaven! It is you!"

Though furious, he suppressed the urge to strike. After all, the lamp he had struggled so hard to reassemble was now in Sun Wukong's hands; he dared not act rashly. While he watched Sun Wukong, trying to devise a strategy, the latter unexpectedly returned the lamp—his only bargaining chip—and spoke in a profound, earnest tone:

"How long have you been waiting here?"

"What is that to you?"

The General took back the lamp and wiped it carefully, as if it were a precious jewel, terrified of leaving even a speck of dust upon it. Seeing this, a flicker of sympathy crossed Sun Wukong’s eyes. He spoke softly:

"After all this time, surely you can see it? The Old Jade Emperor never intended for you to return."

Upon hearing this, the General stopped his frantic polishing and glared at Sun Wukong:

"No, that is impossible! He simply hasn't noticed yet. A day in heaven is a year on earth. I am certain that if I wait a little longer, he will see me, and I will be able to go back. I will go back!"

Listening to this deranged babbling, Zhu Bajie and the others wanted to step forward to console him, but Sun Wukong stopped them. Gazing at the General’s manic appearance, his own eyes flashed with golden light. He grabbed the man by the collar, hoisted him up, and snarled:

"Boy, why deceive yourself? You spent time in the Celestial Court; do you not know? If he wanted you back, he would have let you return long ago. Why wait until now?"

"No, that is not it! He just hasn't seen me! He just hasn't seen me!"

Sun Wukong threw him toward the group of disciples and pointed at the sky:

"Look up! Why would he banish a general like you for a mere glaze lamp? They only want fewer people to share in the essence of all living things, and the punishment of your heart-piercing torment was merely to satisfy their own twisted whims! You think they care about this lamp? Stop dreaming! Open your eyes!"

"No! You are spreading demonic lies! When I return to the Celestial Court, I will surely report you to His Majesty. Great Sage Equal to Heaven, do not think that just because I cannot defeat you, you may slander the Celestial Court in my presence!"

The General spoke with a twisted face, failing to notice he was now standing in the shadow of Tang Xuanzang and his disciples. When he finally realized this and turned, he saw Tang Xuanzang bowing to him. Clinging to this as a final straw, he crawled to the monk's feet and tugged at the corner of his cassock:

"Master Jin Chanzi, please help me. Tell His Majesty I have found the pieces of the lamp. Beg him to forgive my suffering and let me return to the Celestial Court."

"Amitabha, donor. I am afraid you cannot go back."

"Cannot go back? Why? Is His Majesty away? I can wait."

A glimmer of hope still shone in his eyes, but Tang Xuanzang’s next words shattered the final shackles of his mind:

"I mean that what the Great Sage Equal to Heaven says is the truth. Donor, come with us instead—to save the common people."

"No, there must be a way. Master, go and plead for me! Let me return, even if only as a lowly Stable Keeper. Please, just ask for me!"

He knelt, kowtowing repeatedly against the pebbles until his forehead bled, yet he continued to strike the ground. Tang Xuanzang could not bear the sight, but Sun Wukong gestured for him to ignore it. The monk could only close his eyes and recite scriptures to dilute the pity in his heart.

"Enough."

Sun Wukong spoke, drawing the Golden-Hooped Rod from his ear and pointing it at the sky:

"I shall prove it to you."

With that, he vanished from the bank of the Flowing Sand River. Upon his return, he held an elderly man in white robes, whom he tossed before the Curtain-Lifting General:

"Ask him. He is the one who manages the crystal ball that watches the mortal world from the Celestial Court."

Hearing this, the General rushed to the old man:

"Immortal, take me back! I have gathered the lamp! His Majesty promised that if I gathered them, I could return!"

The General’s face was a mask of blood and gore, yet a flicker of desperate hope still burned in his eyes. The old man looked at him with an expression of pained reluctance. At that moment, the General’s inner world collapsed, and a profound sense of helplessness and hatred flooded his soul:

"Why? Why? I have served you so diligently to satisfy your whims—why must you discard me in the end? Your Majesty, why?"

He wailed in agony, like a child suffering a total mental breakdown. Seeing this, Sun Wukong signaled for the old man to leave. He walked to the General’s side and gently patted his shoulder:

"The Celestial Court has always been this way; you were merely useful at the time. The former Marshal Tianpeng, who commanded a hundred thousand naval troops and held great power, turned his back on the court to fight alongside me. You may not understand it yet, but come with us. Let us overturn their rule, and I will show you what the true Celestial Court is."

The Curtain-Lifting General said nothing. Yet, in that instant, the daily heart-piercing pain he had endured for so long vanished—he had broken free of the Jade Emperor's punishment himself.

The four disciples were finally united. After a brief rest, a black cloud descended from the sky, forming a circular portal before them. One by one, they stepped into it.

"I was banished to the Flowing Sand River. Now that my spirit is shattered, I seek only a pure land of peace to realize the truth. Henceforth, I shall be named: Sha Wujing."

This concludes Chen Yan’s memory regarding the Journey to the West.