The journey to the West was never an easy one, but as Tang Sanzang and his disciples—Sun Wukong the Monkey King, Zhu Bajie the gluttonous pig, and Sha Wujing the stoic monk—approached the region of Turpan, the air began to shimmy and warp with an intensity that defied nature. The ground beneath their feet turned a scorched, angry red, and the horizon was dominated by the Flaming Mountains. These mountains, as local legends whispered, were not merely hot; they were a wall of eternal fire that barred any traveler from reaching the western lands. The heat was so oppressive that even the hardy white horse could barely walk, and the monk’s robes were soaked in sweat before they even reached the foothills. Sun Wukong, ever the strategist, realized that no amount of physical strength could leap over a heat that vaporized the very air. To continue their holy mission, they needed the Banana Leaf Fan, a mystical treasure held by the Princess Iron Fan in her jade-cool cave on Mount Cuiyun.
Princess Iron Fan, also known as Rakshasi, was no ordinary deity. She was the wife of the powerful Bull Demon King and the mother of the Red Boy, a child-demon whom Sun Wukong had recently defeated and sent to serve the Bodhisattva Guanyin. Because of this, she harbored a deep, burning resentment toward the Monkey King. When Wukong arrived at her cave, humble and seeking assistance for his master, he was met not with hospitality, but with a torrent of curses. The Princess, wielding her magical fan, did not even wait for a formal greeting. With a single, graceful swipe of the giant leaf, she unleashed a gust of wind so powerful that it sent the Monkey King hurtling through the sky for thousands of miles. Only his incredible weight and magical abilities allowed him to eventually regain his footing on a distant peak, but the message was clear: she would never help him willingly.
Undeterred, the Monkey King consulted with the Lingji Bodhisattva, who gifted him a Wind-Fixing Pill. This pearl-like object granted the holder total immunity to magical gales. Returning to the Flaming Mountains, Wukong once again stood before the Princess. She laughed, thinking to blow him away a second time, but as she fanned him with all her might, he stood as immovable as a mountain. Realizing her fan was useless against his physical form, she retreated into her cave and slammed the stone doors shut. Wukong knew that a frontal assault on a grieving mother and a powerful immortal would be messy and time-consuming. Instead, he decided to utilize the most versatile of his 72 transformations. In a flicker of golden light, the great Sage Equal to Heaven shrunk his form. His golden chain mail vanished into thin scales, his staff became a microscopic splinter, and he grew a pair of transparent, buzzing wings. He had become a common gnat, small enough to pass through the tiniest crevice in the mountain rock.
Wukong buzzed through a hairline fracture in the cave's entrance and found the Princess within, fuming with rage and exhaustion. She called for her maidservants to bring her a bowl of fragrant, cooling tea to soothe her nerves. As the servant poured the liquid, Wukong saw his opportunity. He dived into the steam, landing softly on the surface of the tea, floating like a speck of dust. The Princess, in her haste and anger, did not notice the tiny intruder. With one long draught, she swallowed the tea, and Sun Wukong was carried down the dark, wet tunnel of her throat. Once he reached the cavern of her stomach, he resumed his natural consciousness, though he remained tiny to avoid causing immediate death. He began to stretch, his limbs expanding slightly against the walls of her interior. He began to perform a series of somersaults and shadow-boxing maneuvers, each movement sending a jolt of excruciating pain through the Princess's body.