It is said that during the Yuanhe era of the Tang dynasty, a case came before the authorities in Chang'an. The monk Xuanzang of Hongfu Temple was the son of Chen Guangrui, a scholar from the previous dynasty. While traveling to take up his official post, Chen Guangrui had been knocked into the river by the boatman Liu Hong, who stole his credentials and seized his wife. Xuanzang was eighteen before he finally found his mother, reported the crime, and had the villain arrested. At the Jiangzhou ferry, he cut out the criminal's heart and liver with his own hands to offer them in sacrifice to his late father.
Though this act showed great filial devotion, it was still murder. Out of respect for his father's loyalty, the court spared Xuanzang the death penalty but stripped him of his monastic status and sent him to the western frontier to obtain a travel permit. The journey would take him through lofty mountains and distant lands, where bandits and mountain outlaws lurked along the roads. The court therefore issued a nationwide arrest warrant and selected three death-row prisoners convicted of murder to serve as porters and attendants. They were branded and ordered to escort Xuanzang west.
The three prisoners were known as “Iron-Headed Monkey,” Sun Xingzhe; “Curly-Haired Taisui,” Zhu Wuneng; and “Red-Haired Fiend,” Sha Wujing. As the saying goes: He stood up for the wronged, and brought the storms of the Jianghu upon himself.
