The three disciples of Tang Monk crossed the Yellow Wind Ridge and were very careful along the way. They traveled by day and rested by night, and this went on for a year. One day, they came to a vast and turbulent river. Wukong jumped into the air and saw that this river was at least eight hundred miles wide. He could not see any ferry boats, nor any people.
Suddenly, Bajie shouted: “Brother, come here quickly!” There was a stone tablet by the shore. They walked closer and saw that the tablet had three big characters “Flowing Sand River” carved on it. On the back of the tablet, there were four lines of small characters “Eight hundred realms of flowing sand, three thousand fathoms of weak water, goose feathers cannot float, reed flowers sink to the bottom”. Tang Monk gasped and said: “What can we do?” Suddenly, there was a loud noise, and a monster emerged from the river.
The monster pounced at Tang Monk. Wukong hurriedly protected his master, while Bajie swung his rake and fought with the monster on the shore. They fought for half a day and still could not decide the winner. Wukong leaped up and raised his staff to hit the monster. The monster blocked with his rod, but felt his arms numb and his mouth bleeding.
The monster quickly jumped into the river and dived into the water. Wukong wanted to chase after him, but was stopped by Tang Monk. The two disciples discussed how to cross the river. Wukong said: “This demon must live in this river, and he must have a way to cross it. As long as we subdue him, we can cross the river!” Bajie immediately said: “I used to be the Marshal of Heavenly River, so let me deal with him since I know how to swim!”
