Pilgrim fights the wind demon for many rounds. He uses his favorite transformative trick: He plucks out hairs, blows on them, and commands them to change; they each change into doppelgängers of himself. To counter this, the demon summons a hurricane that takes control of all the little monkeys and flings them around. There is only one who can subdue the demon: a bodhisattva named Lingji of Sumeru. Lingji defeats the demon, who reverts to its true form: a brown marten. Pilgrim is about to vanquish the brown marten when Lingji stops him and explains that Tathāgata must see the little rodent. The creature had stolen pure oil and fled because he feared he would get in trouble, and then turned into a demon. Pilgrim and Eight Rules can then rescue Tripitaka.

The travelers reach the Flowing-Sand River, where another monster attacks them. Pilgrim can’t fight the monster because he can’t fight in the water. Eight Rules is also having trouble fighting the monster, so Pilgrim cloud-somersaults to ask Guanyin for help in gaining safe passage for Tripitaka. This is the third monster that Guanyin had told to protect Tripitaka, and she tells Pilgrim this.