The Vermilion Kingdom

The Pulse from a Silk Thread

Wukong diagnoses a king by thread and rescues the queen from the demon of Qilin Mountain.

The king of the Vermilion Kingdom falls gravely ill from longing after the demon Sai Tai Sui carries his queen, the Golden Sage, away to Qilin Mountain. Sun Wukong tears down the royal notice, enters the palace and takes the king’s pulse through a silk thread stretched across the room, pronouncing the illness of two parted birds. He then rides to Qilin Mountain, tricks the demon out of his deadly golden bells and fights him to a standstill until Guanyin arrives to reclaim her runaway mount, the golden-haired hou beast. Queen and king are reunited, the realm recovers, and the pilgrims — bearing a letter of thanks — take the road west again.