#Bajie Subdues Demons 2

[the-monkey-ruler]

Bajie Subdues Demons 2 (2019) 八戒降魔2万妖之王

Director: Ge Wenzhe / Zhang Heng Starring: Li Di / Luo Jiaying / Zhang Yuenan / Xiang Bei / Zhang Ye Genre: Action / Romance / Costume Country/Region of Production: Mainland China Language: Mandarin Chinese Date: 2019-02-01 (Mainland China) Duration: 65 minutes Type: Reimanging

Summary:

After being enlightened by the goddess and awakening Zhu Bajie's true identity, Zhu Huansheng teamed up with Zhang Yulang and Li Yindao to conquer the demons. Under the guidance of the goddess, the three of them came to Xing'an Mansion. Zhu Quansheng accidentally rescued Liu Yue, who was forced to work as a worker in a foot bath shop. In order to escort Liu Yue home, Zhu Quansheng and his four friends went to Yancui Tower to help Liu Yue find her relatives. Unexpectedly, there were dangers in the building. After Zhu Quansheng broke through the illusion, he defeated the King of Demons who had occupied Yancui Tower and killed the people.

Source: https://chinesemov.com/2019/Bajie-Subdues-Demons-2

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfdJMPmW_hU&ab_channel=KennyLin

[serenhob]

Update on Jttw Au

I have decided I will write it and I have more ideas.

So for antagonists I have two options.

1. Toulong/water lizard dragon. He usurped a river and attempted to eat Tripitaka but was subdued by Sun Wukong and was taken away for an unspecified punishment (anywhere from imprisonment to execution) so maybe his water demon minions could be luring Sun Wukong using Tripitaka for a reason. Idk why they would need percy tho. Ye idk woth this one, I haven't the energy to think about it thoroughly

2. Wansheng dragon clan. They are much more promising. Essentially the Wansheng dragon king and nine headed bug (his son-in-law) stole this Sarai (can't remember why) and framed some monks for it, then the pilgrims discover the truth and Sin Wukong and Zhu Bajie pretty much murder him and his whole family. Some resentment would build up there. I have two ideas for this aswell which I'll just put both here. First is that one of Wansheng dragons ancestors is still very bitter 7 centuries later and steal tripitaka to lure Sun Wukong and attempt to kill him. But again, what about Percy? My second solution covers this. Same ancestor but they are attempting to revive the dead dragon clan (I understand samsara but I'm imaging just snatching them with their memories back into their corpses from whatever vessel they have), tripitaka both serves the purpose of being bait and a immortal turning snack once they wake up. I don't think this random dragon would be able to do necromancy on their own so im thinking maybe a witch who has it out for Percy/demigods in general could have reformed with the help of the dragon from Tartarus. So Medea. Obviously, she never met percy but in my head I could imagine the necromancy potion (which she could probs do with her whole old sheep to lamb shtick(weird word) and magic) would require the blood of the sea gods child (they are sea dragons so I'm gonna say that would revitalise them in some way and + strength cause demigod blood makes them like that, or maybe it would help with the memory thing) and Medea specifically does not like demigods so why wouldn't she be like 'oh use that one specifically. Why? Cause I said so do you wanna revive your dead great x5 grandpa or not?'. Cause Percy is the only currently living child of Posiden. So ye. And Obviously they need Sun Wukong, whether that is for a 'need a part of the murderer' voldermort core or the weapon he killed him with (the staff) and then the added benefit of Wansheng dragon taking his revenge out on Monkey king after he wakes up and eats Tripitaka.

Other random stuff:

-I can see Tripitaka just knitting or smth for the first day or two (when they are ignorant of the real reason they have been kidnapped) just calm and collected, counting stitches and mumbling sutras while Percy is having a full mental breakdown

-It would be so cute if by the end of it Tripitaka has this lumpy jumper to give to Sun Wukong like he's his grandma (tbf that's how he acts 90% of the novel, a very judgmental grandmother for all his wayward dicisples)

-I think Tripitaka would also probs try to reassure Percy like

'it's ok, they probably just want to eat you or drink your blood, nothing to worry about ' 😊🌸

Percy:😰

(Percy don't have context but this is 100% comforting in Sanzangs head)

-Also if I go with the necromancy storyline (which I like the most) im gonna need Nico to come at some point and br like 'I felt a disturbance in the force' but also I haven't finished reading the book him and will are in (got to chapter 5, put it down and forgot about it till now) so idk what they are doing in Canon currently

-It has just occurred to me that both Frank and Sun wukong are shapeshifters which is so fun

Please tell me what you think , anything I could add or stuff I got wrong and again if you want to write this story please tag me so I can read it 🙏

[fgodump]

Connections to “The Poppy War”

The setting and characters to The Poppy War has derived a lot of inspiration from historical events and myths alike. This is meant to discuss which characters have a relation to those preexisting. Of course, you do not need to know this information to enjoy the books, but I think knowing them will elevate your reading experience. None of this information is official. This is just the conclusions I came to while reading. Feel free to make comments

MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL BOOKS

Locations

Nikara: Qing Dynasty. 

Mugen: Japan (Meiji Period)

Hesperia: Britain

The Hinterlands: Mongolia (unsure)

Murui: Yellow River

Tianshan: Kunlun

The different provinces were based off the Chinese Zodiac

The Poppy Wars: the Opium wars, as they have the heavy involvement of foreign invaders

Fang Runin: Rin’s character does not seem to take from a specific person, however the wiki stats that she was inspired by multiple people, such as Azula from ATLA and Mao Zedong

Chen Kitay: It's pretty obvious his character is inspired by Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three kingdoms. In actual history, he wasn't that much, but in the book, Zhuge was a monster at strategy. 

In the first book, Irjah proposes a question, which Kitay replies “to bait the enemy into giving them arrows by rolling out a boat of strawmen”. This is something that Zhuge did as well.

Sring Venka: Honestly I'm blanking on Venka. I think perhaps Venka isnt supposed to represent a character at all, but instead all the comfort women and victims of the Rape of Nanking, based on what happened to her during Golyn niis. 

Yang Souji: He and his group the “Iron Wolves” remind me so much of the Shinsengumi. He even shares a name with Okita Souji, the captain of the first unit. 

The Shinsungumi were also nicknamed “The wolves of Mibu”

I know the glaring problem with this is that the Shisungumi are Japanese, and should have been Mugini in this book, but I think these parallels are pretty cool in any case.

Chiang Moag- Ching Shih. Woah, as soon as I heard Lady Pirate, it was undeniable who Moag is. Ching Shih, the most famous pirate in China perhaps, and she was a woman.

Their backstories share similarities too. Ching shih was a prostitute, just like rumors around Moag. 

The Cike: During the Zhou Dynasty, Wu Zetian (China’s only female emperor) had a secret police force that assassinated everyone she needed. This sounds incredibly similar to the way Daji used the Cike. 

Altan Trengsin: I believe that Altan is like Rin; either an amalgamation of many characters or simply someone Kuang made for the sake of the story.

Ramsa: I believe him to be Nikara’s representation of the creation of fireworks. Not based off a person, but instead one of the Four great inventions of China. Or maybe I’m looking too far into it lol, since he doesn't strike me as being inspired from a myth, since he is not a shaman

Baji: Zhu Bajie of Journey to the West. Based on his description and his name, I had him guessed before they even said anything about pig.

His weapon is even the same as Bajie’s, a nine-toothed rake. 

He also shares his desires, both of them being lusty for beautiful women

Suni: Sun Wukong. I had him guessed by his name as well. Although I believe the connection to be true, I cannot help but feel disappointed that the avatar of Sun Wukong was killed off so easily

The traits that these two characters share are pretty different, much more different than Baji had Bajie. 

For one, Suni is generally calm when he is not being taken over by his god, and is pretty gentle and nice actually. This is very unlike Sun Wukong, and also the reason why I think Suni was a bad body for Wukong to take over, since I think their desires do not match up like Rin and Phoenix

Aratasha: The last in the trio, Sha Wujing. I was confused at first, since Aratasha is no fighter, but I realized his name sounds incredibly similar to Sha Wujing. Wujing was a sand river demon in JTTW, so I don’t think it was a stretch to believe that Aratasha was based off of him (his god is a river god, after all)

Plus, Aratasha died before Baji and Suni did. Wujing in JTTW was weaker than both of his companions. 

Chaghan and Qara Suren: This may be a stretch, but I think Chaghan was inspired from Genghis khan. Gengis Kahn united the Mongols, like Chaghan united the Ketreids and Naimads. Even though the time period would be centuries apart (Genghis 1206, Qing Dynasty 1644-1912), it is the most likely option. It is unrecorded whether Gengis had any sisters, so I believe that Qara was made for the sake of plot (anchor). 

Yin Family: The entire Yin family was taken from the story of Nezha. You can read more about the original story by searching his name in Wikipedia. R F Kuang kept a lot of things from the original tale, and these notes are what I have noticed

Yin Vaisra- Li Jing. Li Jing was also a great general, and in other stories, he was the head general in the Jade Emperor's Heavenly Army. If you know about “Journey to the West”, it was him who attempted to subdue Sun Wukong. 

Yin Saikhara- Lady Yin

*its interesting how Kuang decided to make the mother’s name the family name for the Yins. Originally, I would have thought it was Li instead.

Muzha and Jinzha’s name were lifted directly from the source material

Mingzha is a character Kuang added, for Li Jing only had three sons (or 2 sons and a daughter in this case). There is no source material for how Muzha and Jinzha’s characters are; even in adaptations we rarely get to see any exploration of them.

Yin Nezha- Nezha:

Yin Nezha, like his original counterpart, was the third child of his father. Since Muzha was changed to a female, he is actually the second son. 

He has the powers of the Dragon of the Western river (TBG 392), likely referring to the White Dragon in myths, who is the dragon ruler of the western sea. 

Like the Nezha in the myth, Yin Nezha had an occurrence with a dragon that changed his life. 

At the first battle between Nezha and Rin in TBG, it is stated he wears golden rings around his wrists and ankles. Guanyin bodhisattva did this to Nezha in Journey to the West, in order to placate him. 

The Trifecta: All of the figures in the Trifecta were based on the Fengshen Yanyi (AKA the Investire of the Gods).

Jiang Ziya: His name was directly taken from the novel. 

Su Daji: Her name was directly taken from the novel, as well as some of her penchants for murder. Daji, in both history and the novel, was infamous for her torture methods. 

Jingzha being delivered back to his father in a dumpling holder would qualify as a toruture method. I applaud Kaung for being creative.

Yin Riga: I do not know if Riga is meant to be King Zhou or Ji Fa (the man who overthrew Zhou). Perhaps he was inspired by both of them, or neither. 

Since Kuang did not go into depth into which gods were in the pantheon, I will make a list to who I think is there

Gods mentioned in the books:

Erlang Shen

Sanshengmu 

Sun Wukong *implied through Suni

Zhu Bajie *implied through Baji

Huxian *implied through Unegen, and also Daji

Phoenix

Nuwa

Fuxi

The Four Dragon Kings (Yin Riga was likely the Dragon of the East) *There is no confirmation that there are multiple dragons, but I believe it was strongly implied

Chang’e

Xi Wang Mu, Queen Mother of the West

Zhenniao *implied through Pipaji

The Four Guardians (Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise) *implied through Dulin, who summoned the Black Tortoise

Wong Tai sen *implied through Lianhua (Actually I am not sure, but I could not think of any other healer god in Chinese myths)

Gods not mentioned but I believe are in the Pantheon: 

Yudi: Usually depicted as the husband of Xiwangmu

Hou Yi (Since Chang’e is there. However, there is a possibility that he is in Chuulu Korikh as punishment for killing the sons of Yudi)

Shennong: He exists between Nuwa and Fuxi as the “human”

The Eight Deities

Guanyin: (Since Wukong is implied to be a god) showed up in JTTW

Yanwang: (Since Wukong is implied to be a god) showed up in JTTW

Other tidbits:

Arlong’s name may have been the combination of “Azure” and the chinese word for dragon “Long”. 

Aquebus are guns, but they shoot very slow. This aint a AK 47

The Red emperor could have been based off of Qin Shi Huang, or even the Jade Emperor himself.

Chuulu Korikh’s origin, although explained, has ties in Chinese myths. It was the mountain that encased Sun Wukong before he was broken out by Xuanzang. This means that the mountain was put there by the big B, Buddha. (Actually I can't remember if Kuang said who put the mountain down, but if she didnt specify this is what I think happened) 

I am more familiar with Chinese history and myths, rather than Japanese ones, so if im missing something feel free to correct

[dorkshadows]

When I said that anything can be an adaptation of Journey to the West, I meant it unironically. And in this essay, I will use Hellsing by Kouta Hirano as an example: even though its story springboards off Dracula by Bram Stoker (and Gothic literature, a typically western genre) and its adaptations, the execution of the plot’s framework is fundamentally eastern and would never have come into being if written by a western author. Adaptations of Dracula usually 1) stick to canon wherein the main characters are pure beings of light vs Dracula and his army of evil 2) reverse canon wherein Dracula and co. are misunderstood and justified in their crimes vs Van Helsing and co, who are ineffectual at best 3) Anything that straddles that line is either catering to literal children or created in Japan

Hellsing is adaptation type 3, sub-type B. Abraham Van Hel(l)sing is a key character to the entire series, but we never see him outside of flashbacks, and yet that’s enough. He functions in the same way as Tathagata Buddha and Erlang Shen in JTTW; he was the first to subdue and (forcefully) humble the protagonist, and the rest of the Monkey King’s journey leads to a reunion with Buddha (much like how Alucard spent so much time looking for a foe to replace Abraham as friend/teacher). Alucard himself can be read as the Sun Wukong figure; Hirano glances over the events of Dracula, but from what’s presented, we know that Count Dracula threw everything he had at Van Helsing, and ultimately lost it all. Like Sun Wukong, his primarily selfish motives were his undoing (and the undoing of his minions), and instead of dying, was punished for his hubris. 

This punishment, however, does lead to a redemption. Tang Sanzang frees Sun Wukong from Buddha’s mountain, as prophesied by the Bodhisattva, and in return, Pilgrim Sun will protect him on his journey to the enlightenment. We learn in Hellsing that Integra’s father advised her to go the family dungeon should she ever be in trouble- fulfilling this prophecy, Integra enters the “mountain” and frees Dracula (Alucard), who swears devotion to her (the descendant of his captors and enemies) and her cause ever since. Just as Sun Wukong, a monkey demon, spends the journey west fighting/killing other demons, Alucard, “the vampire king” does the same to any vampire that stands in Integra’s way. They’re eventually joined by Pip Bernadette (the lecherous Zhu Bajie) and Seras Victoria (who while not correlating as strongly to the original pilgrims, is less of a badass ingenue and more of a developed Sha Wujing). 

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

[earl-of-221b]

Alright here is the full plot of TV Lotus Lantern ‘05 adaption 

Sanseng Mu marries Liu Yanchang, they have Chen Xiang. Erlang Shen and his posse come down and beat her under a mountain, but not before Sanseng Mu could fight all of them at once and use magic to send Yanchang and baby Chen Xiang away.

16 years pass.

Chen Xiang starts to show celestial powers, which gets him noticed by Erlang Shen. Erlang Shen is all ‘I knew your mother.....u can call me Uncle’ and Chen Xiang is so happy to find family. Is very sad because no mum.

Meanwhile, the heavenly peach banquet is about to happen in Heaven. Erlang Shen the fairly new Upholder of Heavenly Law (its a job title) gets contacted by Queen Mother about his sister. She tells him to summon Sanseng Mu to do the banquet arrangements.

Erlang Shen goes to Sanseng Mu’s underground mountain prison and tells her “renounce ur family and I will let you out without telling anyone lol.” The reality is that Erlang Shen was never ordered to trap Sanseng Mu at all - he just did it...cos he did it....like sure it was the law but he was NEVER coerced into it. He did it. (Queen Mother and the rest of the court finds out very soon and is like ‘lmao keep her in prison. They had no idea about any of this until Erlang Shen slipped up and told them.)

Chen Xiang finds out what Erlang Shen really did through-

1) his dad

2) Fourth Dragon Princess of the Eastern Sea, friend of his mother, whom he calls “Auntie,” who visits him every birthday. Also, it’s Chen Xiang’s birthday.

Chen Xiang, after some shenanigans involving running away from Xiao Tian Quan (played by both an actor and a real dog) and getting captured by Bull Demon (plot relevant later I guess???????maybe??) he is cornered by Erlang Shen who wants to murder him after some disappointed feelings about being unable to control him keep him in his village. But yes he attempts to murder him once or twice. Or in the very least “capture” him.

So down comes some other of  Sanseng Mu’s friends - the “Hundred Flower Goddesses” 百花仙子. They are only able to fight off Erlang Shen because they have this juicy af gossip that they can tell on him about, which will get him fired.

The Hot Goss:

Erlang Shen loves Chang’e, went to creep on her at her Moon Palace. Overheard Chang’e say she didn’t like him at all, only has heart for dead husband. So in a rage he punches a tree. Not kidding. This tree, however, was some kind of heavenly treasure (the jade tree that was made from one of the eye lashes of Pangu the earth-sky separator). So he’s in deep trouble. And Chang’e told the hot goss to the Hundred Flower Goddesses.

Now Chen Xiang is safe because his Aunts have the Hot Goss. So Erlang Shen, an absolute thot, thinks up this crazy plan in order to catch Chen Xiang. (Not clear what he wants to do with Chen Xiang in the end - he wants to stop him from saving his mother.) He gets into cahoots with Bull Demon and coerces him into imprisoning the Hundred Flower Goddesses. So Bull Demon does this because he is intimidated by Erlang Shen. Also the Mei bros are here.

Shenanigans happen and Chen Xiang, with his Aunts all captured and Dad floundering, is free to roam the earth. He meets Love Interest 1, Xiaoyu, who is a fox demon. (Subplot: Fox demon’s Aunt has been conditioning her to master the Sky Splitting Final Move and fulfil her life’s purpose: Avenge her murdered demon parents.)

Chen Xiang also meets his inner friend group: Eighth Prince of the Eastern Sea AoChun and Love Interest 2: human girl sharing a character of his name, Ding Xiang. (Sub plot: Chen Xiang’s parents set up an arranged marriage for their baby (????????) and she’s Ding Xiang. Ding Xiang wants this arranged marriage to go ahead, falls in love with CX. CX loves fox demon Xiaoyu however. Love triangle time.) Also hangs out with Nezha for a while.

More shenanigans happen and everyone on CX’s side minus CX (powerless) gets into a big fight - culminates in Erlang Shen KILLING Fourth Dragon Princess, Chen Xiang’s Aunt. Straight up splits her soul from her body. Things are very very sad. Can’t remember all the details but CX also hides out with Zhu Bajie for a while.

Meanwhile, fox demon Xiaoyu’s Aunt pressures Xiaoyu into stealing and eating the core of the Lotus Lantern. So now Chen Xiang has no lantern. (Demon Aunt dies via Mei Bro #6) Xiaoyu’s gotta focus on revenge.

At one point, Liu Yanchang is also at Zhu Bajie’s and Erlang Shen’s posse try to catch him. The Eldest Mei Bro, Kang the boss, surprises everyone by taking Liu Yanchang out the back and giving him money to escape. He is very worried about what he’s seeing in Erlang Shen, hunting down his nephew like a dog, imprisoning his sister, lying to the court, breaking Chang’es tree, killing fourth princess, blackmailing Bull Demon King, lying to his sister etc etc etc. Kang thinks he has lost his honour. He warns Bro #6 as well, but Bro #6 and the others are too loyal to Erlang Shen. (Actually a good plot line about the Mei bros, though very small.)

Zhu Bajie, ofc, knows where to find the mvp: Sun Wukong. Skipping lots of stuff - Sun Wukong is in Heaven, Jade Emperor makes a bet with him and tricks him into hating Chen Xiang. Chen Xiang arrives at Sun Wukong’s and Sun Wukong’s like ‘nah.’ He’s got to convince Sun Wukong to teach him or Erlang Shen will murder him and his dad.

Too late, cos Erlang Shen has already killed his dad via torture. (Also he has a torture chamber at his place just fyi.) He throws Liu Yanchang into hell and pays the King of Hell Yanwang to CONTINUE TORTURING HIM. Also, he tosses his body back to earth lol.

In addition to this, Erlang Shen goes to Sanseng Mu’s prison and tells her this wild lie about Sun Wukong wanting to kill Chen Xiang because he accidentally killed a monkey on his mountain. L I E S. Now Sanseng Mu gives some Plot: she helped Sun Wukong subdue monsters on the journey, he should spare her son because of it. Erlang Shen is all like ‘he doesn’t care he gonna kill him. Gimme the Lotus Lantern password.’ So she does. Now Erlang Shen has the Lotus Lantern password :( (yea you need a password to activate it.)

Now Sun Wukong realises Chen Xiang was a lot like him in his wild young days so he decides to teach him. Meanwhile, the love interests are just at home being sad and maybe doing some training. Erlang Shen is mercilessly staking out the mountain Sun Wukong and CX is at (got orders not to go on monkey turf), and also hunting down Xiaoyu who ate the Lantern core, so he can use her blood to light the lantern and be undefeatable.

At this time, he has stolen the coreless Lotus Lantern and Xiao Tian Quan who’s nose and tracking ability has been destroyed by Sun Wukong (when they attempted to catch Chen Xiang right in front of him) is sad. So Xiao Tian throws the useless Lantern down. Erlang Shen goes into a rage and kicks his dog who has worked for him for literally thousands of years back to earth, now powerless. Xiao Tian has to scrape a living as a real dog, ends up being rescued by Love Interest 2, Ding Xiang.

Sun Wukong takes Chen Xiang on a heavenly pill splurge and now Chen Xiang has better powers. Chen Xiang is like ‘thanks, I’m ready to fight now bye” and leaves. Love Interest 1 hangs around the mountain that Chen Xiang’s mother is under.

Meanwhile, the peach banquet is getting very close and Queen Mother is like ‘where tf are the Hundred Flower Goddesses when I need them?’

Ding Xiang also comes across the Lotus Lantern that has been tossed back to earth. Xiao Tian Quan sees it, commits suicide, and goes back to Erlang Shen.

tbc

I will write up part 2 if anyone is actually interested in knowing the TVLL plot without watching it. Does this interest you?

[852recordstores]

The Monkey King

Director Cheang Pou Soi 〈The Monkey King〉series Cast Donnie Yen 〈Ip Man〉series Chow Yun Fat 〈Cold War II〉 Aaron Kwok Fu Shing 〈The Monkey King 2〉〈The Monkey King 3〉 Synopsis Since the beginning of time, there existed in the world three clans; human, god and demon. As everything was destroyed during the great battle, Nuwa (Goddess of Works) used 36,500 magic boulders to repair Heaven. One of them fell accidentally down onto Earth and landed on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits on an island far across the Eastern Sea. Over thousands of years, the magic boulder absorbed the energies of Heaven and Earth and the sacred lights of the Sun and Moon. A godly creature was nurtured inside the stone-egg and a full-grown monkey burst out from it one day. When the Patriarch Subodhi passed by on his way to collect herbs in the Mountain, he came upon the monkey. Impressed by his exceptional wit and godly airs, he took the monkey back to the Divine Cave of Three Stars in Mountain Mi to teach him the Way and called him Sun Wukong…

The Monkey King 2

Director Cheang Pou Soi 〈The Monkey King〉series Cast Aaron Kwok Fu Shing 〈The Monkey King〉〈The Monkey King 3〉 Gong Li 〈Coming Home〉〈What Women Want〉 William Feng Shao Feng　 〈The Monkey King 3〉〈The Continent〉 Xiao Shen Yang 〈The Monkey King 3〉〈Detective Chinatown〉 Him Law Chung Him 〈The Monkey King 3〉〈The Seventh Lie〉 Synopsis 500 years after the havoc in heaven, Xuanzang, the Tang Priest, is appointed by the Buddha to go to the West to fetch the Buddhist scriptures. By accident, Xuangzang undoes the Buddha’s spell on Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. Wukong brought under control by a gold hoop given by the Mercy Goddess. He has no choice but to accept the mission to escort Xuanzang to the West. Despite his reluctance, Wukong cuts paths all the way and dutifully helps to subdue Bajie and Sha. But the hoop on this head, effective with his master’s restrictive incantation, always remains a vexation for Wukong.

Lady White Bone Spirit from the White Tiger Ridge aims to kill and eat Xuanzang’s golden body for evading her doom of reincarnation from a demon to any other creature. After dealing with the four, White Bone Spirit has an insight into the barrier between Wukong and Xuanzang. So she designs traps to foment discord between them. Humiliated mistakenly, Wukong still fights on with both strength and wit. But Xuanzand can’t see through the real identity of White Bone, and their relationship is thus broken off as she planned...

The Monkey King 3

Director Cheang Pou Soi 〈The Monkey King〉〈The Monkey King 2〉 Cast Aaron Kwok Fu Shing 〈The Monkey King 2〉〈Peace Breaker〉 William Feng Shao Feng　 〈The Monkey King 2〉〈The Continent〉 Zanilia Zhao Li Ying 〈Duckweed〉〈Crazy New Year's Eve〉 Xiao Shen Yang 〈The Monkey King 2〉〈Detective Chinatown〉 Him Law Chung Him 〈The Monkey King 2〉〈The Seventh Lie〉 Lin Chi Ling 〈This is Not What I Expected〉〈Red Cliff〉 Gigi Leung Wing Kei 〈Sisterhood〉〈7 Assassins〉 Tamia Liu Tao 〈Peace Breaker〉〈The Foreigner〉

Synopsis On the conflict-packed journey to the West for the scriptures, escorted by Sun Wukong (by Aaron Kwok), Bajie (by Xiao Shenyang) and Sha (by Him Law), Xuanzang (by Feng Shaofeng), the Tang Priest, accidentally enters the Womanland of Western Liang, a mysterious nation where no men has ever been existed. The Queen (by Zhao Liying) falls for Xuanzang at first sight, without knowing what love is, thinking she could be terminally ill with incurable lovesickness. The Preceptor (by Gigi Leung) warns her that men are all poisonous creatures and orders to kill Xuanzang and his disciples. With the help of the Queen, the four flee the execution site, but later Xuanzang, Bajie and Sha carelessly drink the water from the Motherhood River that makes them pregnant rapidly.

Wukong tries to save the three with his almighty transforming sorcery, when Xuanzang gradually loses his stand to falls in love with the Queen. The trespass of the four outsiders also agitates the God of River Oblivion (by Lin Chi-Ling), who completely breaks the peace of the Womanland. The River God floods the whole nation in a fury and puts it at risk of total destruction. What decision would Xuanzang make between loving an individual or all sentient beings? How could the Monkey King fight to subdue the River God and rescue his master and brothers out of their trouble of love? What could the Queen and the Preceptor do to save their people from this crisis?

Director: Cheang Pou Soi Cast: Donnie Yen, Chow Yun Fat, Aaron Kwok Fu Shing, Gong Li, William Feng Shao Feng, Xiao Shen Yang, Him Law Chung Him, Zanilia Zhao Li Ying, Lin Chi Ling, Gigi Leung Wing Kei, Tamia Liu Tao Language: Cantonese, Mandarin Subtitles: English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese Region Code: A Release Date: 15 June 2018

[the-monkey-ruler]

Magic Westward Journey 2: Subduing the Demons (2017) 魔幻西游2之伏魔篇

Director: Yi Zi Starring: Gao Xuanming / Xiong Yilan / Su Delun / Ma Dehua / Huang Yifei Genre: Fantasy Country/Region of Production: Mainland China Type: Crossover

Summary:

Sun Tianlei, the successor of Fudo Overlord Fist, neglects his duties every day and is framed by his rival through a beautiful trap. The heartbroken Sun Tianlei fell into a coma and found that he was mistaken for Sun Wukong by everyone, and was being held hostage to save his master. However, Sun Tianlei, who was greedy for life and feared death, refused to fight demons, so he had to use various methods to escape. But fate played a big joke on him, and his life full of emotions, hatred, and longing could never escape the cycle of reincarnation. Faced with a couple who has been looking for hundreds of years for love and hatred, a senior brother and a destined person with the mark of his father, how will he choose? Is everything real or illusory?

Source: https://movie.douban.com/subject/27607345/

Link: https://nunuyingyuan.com/movie/207726

[the-monkey-ruler]

When and how many times did Sanzang kick Wukong out of the group?

I've talked about this but it was just two times. And agains I do hate that these are seen as such huge examples in the novel as "common" despite being examples of when the group is at its lowest points. These are just 2 arcs out of 33 other arcs that show how the team learns from their mistakes and tries to build each other up rather than a group that is continuously fighting each other. This is a group that continuously grows and changes and as such there are falls backs but this is far from the norm as the rest of the novel shows.

The first was about a year into the journey with White Bone Demon, the first demon they all faced together as a group. We plan to make the group fall apart due to their lack of teamwork worked very well as they have not built a foundation of trust, especially after the Ginseng Fruit arc and the Guanyin Abbey arc. Wukong at this point had killed and threatened more humans than demons in this point in the journey thus making his reliability shaking at best and creating a lot of conflict within the group. Bajie's lack of knowledge of the head-tightening fillet (as it has not been used in front of Bajie or Wujing and thus they doubted its credibility) wanted to get Wukong in trouble but rather it lead to Sanzang telling Wukong to leave as he wouldn't stop killing humans. While Wukong is right in this case that the "humans" he was attacking were a demon he had no proof other than his word and deductive reasoning. He was in the right but in the end, the demon HADN'T done anything yet which made the conflict of "Should people be punished for a crime they hadn't committed yet" comes into play as Sanzang was willing to believe Wukong if not for Bajie's influence but he was still firm that they were not attacked and no harm was done so there was no need to harm others first. Wukong's mind was focused on self-preservation while Sanzang was focused on trusting others and seeing good in everyone.

The second time was at the start of the Six-Eared Macaque arc, about 6 years into the journey, not quite halfway there but close! It was when Wukong and gang were attacked by bandits and while Wukong let Sanzang get away, Sanzang asked Bajie to go back and make sure that Wukong subdued the bandits rather than kill them all. Rather Wukong killed their leader and made them scatter still to Sanzang's dismay as they stopped to bury the bodies and pray for their soul as Wukong mocked the dead. They stopped by a local's house whose son was one of the bandits who came home and planned to kill the gang in revenge for their leader. The gang left that night but the bandits followed them and Wukong thought that this man has been given MORE than enough chances to not start a fight and stop being a disgrace to his family (Wukong even offered to kill their son to end their shame but they said he was their only son and THAT is the only reason they said no) went back despite Sanzang asking Wukong to spare them at least. Wukong rather killed them, beheaded the bandit-son, and brought his head back as a trophy. Sanzang was not happy about this and rather as Bajie said to make this guy's garv (his head at least) Sanzang told Wukong to leave after he STILL hasn't learned not to kill humans. He sends him away where Wukong goes to Guanyin and even she asks why Wukong INSISTS on attacking humans when he has the power otherwise. Guanyin of course conveys this in a better way for Wukong to reflect on his actions while Sanzang cools off and realizes he was acting rashly to give up on Wukong so fast. Then Six Ears shows up and that has to be fast-tracked.

Wukong does start to subdue humans, using clever and other tactics to make them see the error of their ways or having them arrested properly rather than executing them himself. We see this at the Ruler of the Kingdom of Miefa as he shaved the entire kingdom's heads to teach them a lesson and with the bandits in with Squire Kou and his household, freezing them with his magic and trying them up while they were frozen. Wukong has immeasurable magic powers and so much strength that he can easily overcome humans without breaking a sweat it is very clear from the start he does not kill humans because he has to but rather because he really thinks that they deserve to die and he should be the one to kill them. It takes him a long time to learn that empathy and start to show that empathy other to his monkeys and his own party of pilgrims and while these moments are where the group is the most divided this also highlights how the group finally becomes one in mind and goal as for the second half of the journey is more focused on their building of teamwork and trust.

[the-monkey-ruler]

The Grow 2 (2015) 金箍棒传奇2：沙僧的逆袭

Director: Ha Lei Screenwriter: Wang Bing / Ha Lei / Ma Hua / Tong Jinjing Starring: Yu Li / Wu Tianhao / Rong Rong / Zhang Yuan Genre: Comedy / Animation / Adventure Country/Region of Production: Mainland China Language: Mandarin Chinese Date: 2015-05-29 (Mainland China) Duration: 91 minutes Also known as: 金箍棒传奇2 / The Legend of the Golden Hoop 2 / 夺宝幸运星大电影之金箍棒传奇2 / Happy Journey to the West 2 / 开心西游记2 / The Grow 2 Type: Retelling

Summary:

Tang Seng was captured by monsters, but the remaining Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing argued endlessly because of a crisis of trust. The situation was very critical for a while. It turns out that Sha Wujing was once a half-demon who went astray, but at a critical moment, he was enlightened by the Arhat who subdued the dragon and subdued the tiger, and returned to the right path. The Tathagata Buddha entrusted Sha Wujing with a very important task, which was to secretly help Sun Wukong, the stone monkey who is the star of the journey to the west.

After some twists and turns, the three brothers finally cleared up their misunderstanding and followed the clues to a different space. Here, what awaited them were the powerful Four Heavenly Kings of the Netherworld. Only by breaking through the palace of the four evil spirits guarded by them, can the barrier be broken and Tang Seng be rescued. However, Sha Wujing and others who fought bravely to save Master did not know that they had fallen into a trap carefully set by the leader of the Tai Sui Special Forces

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grow_2

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQWJAlYkvxk&ab_channel=LiWeiChiu