Silver Horned King is the younger of the two demon rulers of Lotus Cave at Flat-Top Mountain in Journey to the West. He and Gold Horned King know that eating Tang Seng offers extraordinary longevity, so they prepare carefully rather than rush into a simple fight. Silver Horn goes out to test the road himself, changes appearance, and studies how to separate Sun Wukong from the rest of the pilgrim party.
His greatest display comes when he summons Mount Sumeru, Mount Emei, and Mount Tai in succession and pins Wukong beneath their weight. With the chief protector trapped, the demons seize Tang Seng, Bajie, and their companions for Lotus Cave. Silver Horn bears the Seven-Star Sword, while the brothers also rely on a group of treasures taken from Taishang Laojun: the Purple-Gold Red Gourd, Suet-Jade Flask, Golden Rope, and Plantain Fan. Calling a person’s true name can allow the vessels to draw the answerer inside.
Wukong escapes through endurance and divine help, then answers treasure with trickery. He changes identities, steals or exchanges the objects, deceives the demons’ old mother, and repeatedly turns their own rules against them. When the brothers are finally drawn into the vessels, Taishang Laojun arrives and explains that they are his gold- and silver-horned furnace attendants, sent down with the treasures during the pilgrims’ ordained trial. Silver Horn is therefore no minor cave follower: his three-mountain feat temporarily removes Wukong, and only deception, borrowed aid, and the return of his celestial master end the danger.
