#demon kings of lion-camel ridge

[sketching-shark]

Who are your favorite jttw artists? I've been looking for more content lately and you seem to be dependable on these kinds of things >.>

Hi there @thebeastandthehedgegrowth! Many thanks for your vote of confidence :)

So I would say that my current definite favorite JTTW artist would be Dongzi Liu, who's created some phenomenal Xiyouji-based pieces. Here's a small sampling that I yoinked off of his twitter:

The Pilgrims:

A close-up of Sun Wukong:

And just check out these kings of Lion-Camel Ridge!

Another artist I very much like is Chen Huiguan, who's created some really endearing presentations of the pilgrimage. Irwen Wong has a really good collection of them as part of his extremely helpful summary of Journey to the West. Here's a small sampling of the work:

The stone monkey leaving Mt. Huaguoshan in the quest for immortality:

Sun Wukong feeling the full effects of the headache spell for the first time:

Zhu Bajie trying to convince the Monkey King to return after his first banishment:

Cartoonist Chaiko Tsai has also recently come out with a lovely graphic novel version of Journey to the West, and while other people have posted some really adorable images from it I'll give some samplings of the art that I found online:

Zhu Bajie, Tang Sanzang, Bai Longma, and Sun Wukong looking apprehensive near a body of water:

A student Sun Wukong learning how to fly:

Those are the professional artists that come to mind, but if you're interested in something a little "closer to home" as it were (i.e. hobby artists on tumblr), then I'd say that the best JTTW artists would be @antidotefortheawkward-art, @archrui, @lavaflowe, @sixteenthchapel, @kaijufluffs, and @sunny-days-and-warm-mournings

These are the artists that first come to mind, and as you can see there's some really amazing styles present! I hope you enjoy all this art as much as I do, and it goes without saying that everyone should feel free to reblog with their own favorite JTTW-inspired artists.

[mysticmonkiebusiness]

Happy 5th Anniversary!

[monkeepow]

You know, I love the Brotherhood! Specially Wukong, Macaque, DBK, Azure, Yellowtusk, and Peng. Not to be confused with the Camel Ridge Trio, consisting of just the last three. But while on the topic of the three, it reminds me that they're said to be from the Celestial Realm. Presumably, all ex-celestial guards like Azure.

Which leads me to the first three. All from the Mortal Realm. Two OP demon kings and one guy who just so happens to be friends with one of them.

"AND?"

You may ask.

Well, I don't know. What if I came up with an AU where Wukong keeps on heading up to the Celestial Realm to cause mischief, but instead of Nezha chasing after him, it's Azure? This becomes routine for a while, but then Wukong drags DBK and Macaque into this. And of course, with TWO more troublemakers on the loose, himself and a couple of guards ain't gonna cut it. So this is where Peng and Yellowtusk get involved. And maybe JUST MAYBE these enemies can become... lovers in the process????

[lego-loving-loser]

Ask Blog Request List/Rules

Heya! My name is Scarlett, and I am the one running this blog! Here is the list of characters you can ask as well as my rules! :3

Characters:

Monkie Kids 🐵

MK

Mei

Sandy

Tang

Pigsy

Immortals☁️

Li Jing

Nezha

Wukong

Macaque

Chang’e

DBK Family 💨🐂🔥

Demon Bull King

Princess Iron Fan

Red Son

Camel Ridge Trio 🦁🦅🐘

Azure Lion

Peng

Yellowtusk

Rules! I will not answer any asks that have to do with:

discrimination of any kind

I will not answer anything that would stir up any drama

I WILL NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT HAVE SHIPPING INVOLVED!!!

I will not answer anything involving gore or body horror

If people fight in the inbox, I won't be answering those asks

I will not answer anything NSFW/18+ 

No OC's

You are allowed to simp and flirt with the characters, just keep it SFW

NEZHA IS NOT A MINOR IN ANY OF MY POSTS, TAKE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE IF YOU WANNA ARGUE!!

Magic Anon asks are now permanently allowed! I as the blog owner have the right to not answer any magic anon requests if I do not wish to.

ASK BOX: OPEN <3

Anon List:

🪀 Anon

🧅 Anon

🌙 Anon

🌺 Anon

☕️Anon

⭐Anon

🏹Anon

🌻Anon

🐍Anon

🥭Anon

[lmk-aus-galore]

Slice-of-life AU where the Brotherhood actually quit while they were ahead.

Like,the Camel Ridge Trio were like ‘Actually killing the Jade Emperor is not worth it, let’s change the world in our own way’ (Plus that plan was half-baked) DBK didn’t do world domination and is actually a good father and Macaque and Wukong make up while he’s still on the Journey.

Slice-of-life because we get to see them hangout normally.

[the-monkey-ruler]

Sun Wukong Raids the Lion Camel Ridge (2022) 孙悟空大闹狮驼岭

Director: Guo Yulong Starring: Miu Tse / En Jing / Li Faguang Genre: Action / Fantasy Country/Region of Production: Mainland China Language: Mandarin Duration: 90 minutes Type: Retelling

Summary:

In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong occupied the top of the mountain, became a demon king, made havoc in the underworld, changed life and death, fought against the heavenly soldiers, and disturbed the heavenly court. Sun Wukong has never been afraid of all kinds of anti-sky behaviors in the past. However, when he passed Lion Camel Ridge on his way to protect Tang Seng to learn scriptures in the West, Sun Wukong was afraid, and here, he even cried twice in a row. So, how terrifying is Lion Camel Ridge? How could Sun Wukong be so scared?

Lion Camel Ridge is a personal hell, and it is even worse than the bloody scenes of the 18th hell in the underworld. In addition, all the people living in Lion Camel Ridge Country were ordinary people, but the three demons in Lion Camel Ridge ate up all the people in the city, which led to the terrifying scene where the city was full of monsters. The strength of the Three Demons of Lion Camel Ridge is even more terrifying;

The three demons of Lion Camel Ridge are the Azure Lion Spirit, the White Elephant Spirit, and the Golden-Winged Roc. Among them, the Azure Lion Spirit, like Sun Wukong, once made troubles in the heavenly palace and swallowed hundreds of thousands of heavenly soldiers in one gulp; the nose of the White Elephant can make a person with an iron back and a bronze body immediately lose their souls; the Golden-Winged Roc's fighting speed is extremely fast. Relying on its own speed advantage, the Roc once beat Sun Wukong in seconds, and he also has a magic weapon "yin and yang two gas cylinders" that can turn people into pus and blood. It was because Sun Wukong was taken by this magic weapon that he was burned in pain by three fire dragons in the bottle, so he cried in the bottle. And this is also the first time Sun Wukong cried at the level of Lion Camel Ridge.

Of course, Sun Wukong listened to the rumor that Tang Seng was dead when he had nothing to do with the three demons of Lion Camel Ridge, so he ran to the Tathagata Buddha and cried loudly. This was the second time he cried in Shituoling. From the two cries of Sun Wukong, it can be seen that he is scared. The first time he cried was because he was afraid that he would die in the "two cylinders of yin and yang"; plus listening to rumors that's why he cried again. The Tathagata Buddha saw that Sun Wukong was in such a mess, so he led the strongest lineup on Lingshan to the Lion Camel Ridgeto to subdue the demons. The Lion Camel Ridge are not only powerful, but also have a powerful background behind them. The Lion and the White Elephant are the mounts of Manjusri and Puxian Bodhisattva, and the Roc is the uncle of the Tathagata Buddha. It can be said that the background behind the three monsters of the lion camel mountain is more terrifying than their own strength. Facing such a powerful opponent, Sun Wukong's defeat is a reasonable thing.

Even though Shituoling is terrifying, but as high-level figures in Lingshan, Tathagata, Manjusri, and Puxian indulged their subordinates to go to Lion Camel Ridge to cause disaster, and even created such a terrifying scene, this should be the level of Lion Camel Ridge Scariest thing ever.

Source: http://chinesemov.com/2022/Sun-Wukong-Raids-the-Lion-Camel-Ridge.html

Link: N/A

[quitealotofsodapop]

Hilarious idea regarding the Tiger Monk au:

We don't know when exactly Azure managed to slip away from Manjusri after the "King of Wuji"-incident, but considering he was only acting under his bodhisattva's orders with that one (the king did drown what he thought was a harmless monk in a sewer), Azure probably only got a slap on the wrist for it. Manjusri is a typical cat-parent.

So our poor human-turned-into-a-tiger-demon monk could have a very determined admirer almost immediately after the Pilgrims "defeat" the false king!

(*The pilgrims are all sitting down at a rest stop. Wukong is helping his master comb out his fur*)

Wujing, does a headcount: "Did we gain another travel companion?"

Bajie, not paying attention: "Not since we fished you up. Why?"

Wujing: "The Lion-Lynx demon has been following us the last couple of miles."

All Pilgrims: (*turn heads to see Azure, observing them from a distance. He waves awkwardly at them*)

Bajie: "What's he want?"

Ao Lie: "Maybe he had a change of heart, like the Black Wind Bear spirit did, and wants to do good by us!"

Tripitaka: "It would certainly be nice to have someone more versed in the life of big cats aid me in this form."

Azure, overhearing: (*blushes excitedly! May have misunderstood the intent of the monk's words*)

Wukong, suspicious: "He can keep his distance, that's what!"

Azure manages to convey an apology to the Pilgrims for the trouble he caused them in Wuji, and that he hopes to host them whenever they find themselves at Camel Ridge. The gang are surprised by the pleasantry.

And each Pilgrim *except* Tripitaka notices that the lion's eyes are fixed firmly on the tiger monk the entire time.

Tripitaka himself is overjoyed to make a new ally after encountering so many murderous bandits and demons. He forgets his manners when he grasps Azure's hands in his own, glad to accept his friendship. Azure can't stop his tail from swaying like a tomcat ready to pounce.

Bajie and Wujing notice the bigger cat's reaction, and silently agree to make sure he and their master aren't left alone too long.

Wukong senses that something has changed in how Azure addresses him, chalking some of it to time lost in those 500 years. Perhaps guilt? Regret from being unable to free the Monkey King from punishment? But theres something else different...

In the coming months; Azure would happen upon the Pilgrims at different stops in their Journey - with the excuse that he hìmself was on his way home to Camel Ridge (Wukong 100% smells bs cus he knows Azure is a fast traveller like him, but he lets it cook). The Lion is quite cordial during his visits; exchanging knowledge of the world and friends that have changed in the last 500 years with his former Brother, and sharing what his own Master has taught him to the others.

Azure's focus still seems to gravitate towards Tripitaka, the shy monk unsure of how to react to such attention.

However, seemingly everytime they try speak alone, Tripitaka finds himself surrounded by four guard-diciples! And like with attack dogs, the smallest is the most vicious! XD

Tripitaka, holding back Wukong by the collar: "I'm so sorry, he's normally never like this!"

Azure, keeping safe distance: "Him yes, the other monkey however..."

Macaque: (*shakes head disapprovingly from the shadows*)

After a particularlly... close encounter shared between the two big cats, Wukong finds himself having to explain "The Demonic Birds and the Bees" to a frankly horrified Tripitaka. XD

[starsfic]

prompt: The Lion Camel Ridge Trii participate in the Samadhi Fire removal ritual (maybe Wukong got them a plea bargain, maybe they declared a temporary truce for their ex brother DBK?)

Azure Lion hated this.

He stood back from the ritual with Peng and the pilgrims Wukong had referred to as "brothers." He bit back a comment about the lack of Demon Bull King's "princess" and the celestial soldiers surrounding the site.

He hated everything about this.

"Ready?" the monk called. The answer was a cackle from the baby, gleaming red with such vicious power. He seemed to take it as a proper answer, beginning to chant. Around them, the sigils and marks Wukong had made glowed with power.

For a moment, Azure's breath caught in his throat at the sight of Wukong, dressed in fine armor, gleaming in the sight of red and gold. His focus returned to the issue as the child continued to cackle, the sound growing more maniac and desperate, probably feeling his power leak from him.

The next few seconds felt like an eternity, with chanting and glowing and each member of the circle holding on. Azure found himself holding his breath. Yellowtusk had warned that it would be dangerous. If one slipped up, that could bring the whole world in danger.

Then it happened.

Wukong begin to slip, just a bit. Azure found himself taking a step forward, praying that it was okay. Wukong gritted his teeth, bearing his teeth in a feral grin.

Azure relaxed.

Then Nezha slipped.

The next few seconds seemed to drag down like the ones before. Wukong's eyes grew wide as a piece of the fire sailed through the air and slammed into him.

Azure's memory would forever burn with the scream Wukong let out.

The rings clattered to the ground and DBK caught his feral child. Azure paid no attention to that. "WUKONG!" he yelled, seeing green flash by him.

The monkey writhed on the ground in pain, the symbol of the fire burning on his chest. "GET SOME WATER!" the dragon ordered, transforming into his human form to cup Wukong's head in his robes. "WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING!"

Yellowtusk, the river demon and the monk all rushed up, the last's face drawn and pale. "I have the healing kit," the demon said, pulling out a small chest. "Hopefully we have something-!"

Azure hated it, but he stopped in place.

Wukong was fine.

Nezha was very pale and DBK protectively cradled his child as he turned his eyes to them.

Them, on the other hand...

[violetjedisylveon]

Dad Macaque AU, how does Demon Bull King + his family react to learning that Macaque has an adopted daughter, named Bai He?

What if Macaque tried to warn Spider Queen, about the Lady Bone Demon... but LBD silently places a sword near her own throat (which is Bai He's throat), so Macaque zips his lips...

Would LBD + Fake Mayor mock Macaque, for being willing to destroy the world, to protect his daughter?

How would Azure Lion + Yellow Tusk + Peng react to Macaque, being a father?

How would Nine-Headed Demon react to Macaque, being a father? 😈

DBK is the best uncle ever, and Iron Fan is the coolest auntie!

Red Son's the gay cousin

They all love and adore Macaque's little shade, if anyone hurts her, they no longer exist. Nobody hurts their little lily.

Spider Queen seeing a child threaten to kill herself when said child's monkey servant tried to warn her be like

She definitely treads with significantly more caution after seeing that.

LBD and the fake Mayor wouldn't mock him for it, his dedication and love for his daughter is what allows them to accomplish their goals and keep him under their control. LBD finds it almost admirable how much he cares, but it's more useful than anything else.

None of the brotherhood expected meek Macaque to be the badass single father of a very spicy child, Yellow Tusk is happy that Macaque took in a wayward soul once he finds out about the adoption. Peng can't believe a "coward" like Macaque would have what it takes to raise a child. And gets chomped by said kid.

Azure is also surprised, he tries to use the same manipulation he uses with MK against Bai He... she doesn't believe the bullshit cause Macaque told her what they really did at Camel Ridge. So he gets chomped too for also talking bad about her dad!

And for taking the guy who makes her baba happy away! She doesn't like Wukong yet but she likes seeing her baba smile like that, she's slowly warming up to him. 🥰

Thanks for asking!

Quick edit cause I forgot about Snake Boi, he don't care, Bai He isn't very useful to him in this AU so he doesn't really care that she's Macaque's kid.

[qingyingpocketlirary]

Tea Collection 8; Macaque Peppermint (A herbal tea)

He’d known it would hurt, his future self had warned that they’d not like what they found, and he’d hoped, with meditation, reading the book and the promise he would see the memories within the Orb through without pause so he had every answer he could find, he’d thought he could handle it…

When he’d finally pulled himself from the Orb’s hold and the whispers of doubt came from his past self, that surely, it couldn't have been- Macaque had ‘borrowed’ the copy of Journey To The West from Tang, and while it was censored and edited to remove much of the truth, Chang’e had briefly touched upon the closeness between the Handsome Monkey King and the Six Eared Macaque, she’d only used brotherhood in reference to the two monkeys and Demon Bull King’s union, and the union of Azure, Yellow Tuck and Peng, but she’d made it clear that while Azure wanted there to be a Brotherhood between the two trios, Wukong had never seen it as a true brotherhood.

She’d left clues, but nothing more, and unable to bear the idea that he had missed anything, Macaque lost himself in the clear and set words of the past as tears rained down his cheeks.

The truths he found mended his heart then broke it all over again.

Wukong had never trusted Azure Lion, not the way he did Macaque, and he’d never seen the lion as a true brother the way he had Demon Bull King. Something about the lion had just never clicked right, no matter how friendly and close Azure tried to become with him, but having heard Azure’s story and seen the injuries on Peng and Yellow Tusk, Wukong had worried that Heaven would strike out at him again, and so he had allowed the Camel Ridge trio to remain close to them. 

A favor for a favor agreement, the oldest and most simple trade between demons, that was all Wukong had ever seen their friendship as, and for all that Azure had tried in those long five years, Wukong had never taken the step to properly initiate the bond of a brotherhood between Azure and himself, going so far as to tell Azure that until the lion could prove his loyalty the way Demon Bull King and Macaque had, he would only be a brother by name, not by bond.

Before the attack, Wukong had been considering cutting Azure off. The scream Macaque heard himself unleash at that realisation echoed into the void and faded into its farthest reaches. Azure had pushed too much, he’d tried to sway Wukong one last time even after the revelations Chi Yue had pointed out to them and It had been the last straw for Wukong.

But then Heaven had attacked the little ones, and in their anger, all reasonable thought was lost to Wukong, Macaque and Demon Bull King. 

When the battle turned against them, Wukong hadn’t thought of glory or power, nor fame. No, his thoughts had been on them, on Macaque and Demon Bull King and their homes. Wukong could endure whatever came in return for the attack, with his name removed from the Book of the Dead, he couldn’t die to the Immortal Killing Blade, only sleep for a very long time to heal. The Peach of Immortality meant he couldn’t die to the weapons of the Celestial armies. Demon Bull King and Macaque couldn’t and with Chi Yue’s words echoing in his ears, Wukong knew he had to make a choice.

So, he turned his back on the Jade Emperor and called out, using the language of the Monkeys to tell Macaque to go, to get everyone out and protect their mountain home.

The torture, the pellets and molten copper, the furnace, and then the challenge from the Buddha and his imprisonment neath that mountain. Wukong took it all, determined and assured that as long as he suffered, they would be safe. The only joy Wukong had known in those five hundred years were the fifty years Macaque came to him, brief and short as they were, they were the only things Wukong found any comfort in, and when they’d argued, when Macaque had left and never gone back, ignoring the screams and calls that drifted in the winds, Wukong had wept.

Wukong had never stopped hoping he’d come back. Even after Guanyin’s visit, the way Wukong had refused to go and explained why, only to be given no choice, the beginning of the journey and his first encounter with the Lady Bone Demon, his banishment and his return to Flower and Fruit Mountain. The hope he’d allowed himself to feel, that just maybe now they could talk and reason it all out, only to find Macaque was gone and Beng was all alone, trying to keep things going as his extended life continued despite his frail age. 

Wukong put everything away and spent the following two years waiting for Macaque. He renounced his place as King, his palace, his authority, everything he’d earnt and built and offered it to Macaque, promising he’d do whatever Macaque asked of him. Every night he waited for an answer that never came and every night, Wukong’s heart broke a little more.

He’d never known Macaque had been taken by Azure. Never knew that the reason Macaque never answered was because he was gagged, blind and chained in that accursed cell at Camel Ridge. Wukong had only agreed to go back to the Monk, to see him safely to the end of his journey only so that he could learn answers about the attack on the little ones that lead to their assault on Heaven. He’d only agreed to see it to the end because he’d come to believe Macaque would never respond to him again, that he had built a life all of his own, far away from Wukong and was choosing to stay away.

Never once had Wukong’s heart strayed. Not to Azure, not to Ao Lie, Not to anyone. Always, his heart as held out only for Macaque, and when they’d met on the road, when Macaque had pushed, and pushed and finally broken Wukong’s resolve and brought the old Wukong back, hearing those truthful words had stung so much more because Wukong had no idea how much Macaque had misunderstood for so long…

Macaque cursed himself as he wailed into the void. So many truths he’d never dared to listen for before now came to him with a clarity he couldn’t deny, he’d learnt years ago that what had passed couldn’t be changed, once it's said it can’t be unsaid, once it's done it can’t be undone. 

If he had just listened-  We were angry and we never listen when we are angry. His future self reminded sadly. He can’t still- surely not. After all we’ve done, he couldn’t… He questioned himself. We know the answer to that, even if we deny it. His future self whispered.

It was all too much, truths and facts he’d let himself believe for so long now laid broken and cracked like the lies they always had been and Macaque couldn’t bear looking at his own reflection anymore in those broken fragments.

He drifted in the void of shadows, Orb returned to the table in the Demon Bull Family home and the book dropped into Tang’s room while he clung to Ànyǐng dēnglóng like a child clutching a favoured toy, trying to ground himself as the truth’s he’d learnt tore apart the lies of what he’d once believed and reshaped everything he thought he knew into the correct view points.

He didn’t fight when two pairs of small hands pulled at one of his own, guiding his aimless drifting towards something, nor did he fight when those same small hands tugged him out of a shadow portal and into a nest of soft blankets and plush pillows. He didn’t argue when they pulled the cape from his shoulders and wrestled the fabric of his shirt off, leaving him bear and exposed to the slight chill for just a moment before a scent, familiar but distant, caught his nose. It wasn’t Demon Bull King, or Princess Iron Fan or Red Son. 

It wasn’t MK, Mei, Minglou, Sandy, Chi Yue or anyone of the larger group he’d come to call his troop mates- friends. It wasn’t Wukong either. No, this was someone else, someone Macaque hadn’t seen in many years, and believed them to be sleeping. But before he could call out, an awful cough wretched itself from his throat and he curled tightly into himself, wheezing and coughing harshly.

“Oh? It seems the little ones have brought me quite the terrible sounding Celestial Monkey. What a sight you are to see.” His voice was aged, but still held that familiar growling tone that came from the days before they’d all started learning the human language.

“Beng?” he asked once his voice allowed.

Numbly, he watched as the old monkey Rumble and Savage had brought him too came into view, his once sandy blond fur now near platinum with age, save a few small patches of sun bleached yellow along his tail and his mask, once an auburn shade oval now a very deep red that frames twin pools of green that shone with live even as he leaned heavily on a smoothed wooden cane, slow with age and frail but alive. 

“Old Beng now,” the old one corrected softly. “Aye me, look at you, silly little six-ears.” He said, and at the old nickname, more tears spilled from Macaque’s eyes. With a soft huff, the old one approached, softly petting the two little monkeys before putting a hand to Ànyǐng dēnglóng. “May I offer this dear lady a more suitable placement on a firmer surface? I recall a time when she much preferred a steady table top or sill to rest upon rather than a bed.” 

Macaque let his grip on the lantern of shadows go slack and Ànyǐng dēnglóng allowed herself to be gently pulled from his hands, Old Beng set down on the low table close by with a shallow cup beside her. A cup was set before Macaque, steam drifting from within its hollow with the scent of peppermint tea, and then frail hands, gentle and familiar began to slowly pick through the fur on his back, soft humming and gentle coos coaxed the smaller ones away, and Macaque felt them curl up nearby, waiting for their turn while picking and grooming his tail fur.

Eventually, he found the strength to move, slow with aches and pains from being curled up for so long, and took the cup in shaking hands, slowly bringing it to his lips to drink. It brought him warmth and soothed his sore throat. He didn’t fight as Old Beng gently pushed him to lay down and tucked a thick blanket over him.

“Get some rest, little six-ears, we’ll talk when you’re a little better.” The old one assured, gently tucking Savage and Rumble into the same warm blanket with soft nuzzles to both of them before lighting a candle so Macaque wasn’t in total darkness before he stepped out of the room.

When Macaque stirred, he found himself wrapped in warm blankets, a soft pillow under his head while Rumble and Savage dozed beside him. His hearing was muffled, like someone had put cotton in each ear and he felt somehow lighter than he had before…

“Beng?”

“Old Beng.” The old Monkey’s voice corrected, muffled but close, and then a warm hand against his forehead. “You’ve got a nasty fever, but beyond that, you’re alright.” he scolded softly as something warm was pressed to his lips. “Drink this down, slowly. It will help wash away the taste of the medicine I gave you.”

“You, gave me?” he asked and then winced at the awful taste that rose in his mouth, bitter and foul. “Irk.”

“Drink.” the elder instructed and Macaque obeyed, drinking deeply the fresh peppermint liquid to rid himself of the bitter aftertaste of the medicine.

“Thank you, Old Beng.” he bid, rubbing at his eyes.

“Such a mess you’re in. Tell me, what has put you in such a state, little six-ears?” The old one asked as Macaque sat up and took the cup for himself.

“Really?” Macaque questioned, letting the warmth of the tea cup seep into his hands. “After all I did… all I’ve done, you’re still using that old nickname?”

“You were emotional, Macaque, as is reasonable given your youthful age at the time. And while I don’t agree with what you did and what was done between you both while Wukong was under the thumb of the Heavens, I knew better than to try and get between you.” The old one says, taking the cup away gently and handing Macaque a warm wash rag for his face. “Wash your face, little brother. You’ll feel better for it.”

“Even now, when I’ve attacked Wukong and MK, you see me as a brother?” The dark furred monkey asked after rubbing the cloth over his face, washing away the itchiness from his earlier tears and the sweat from the fever.

“You weren’t yourself the second time you attacked, Wukong told me all about the ice that was creeping up your arm when the children dragged him to me for the frost bite on his back he’d tried to hide from everyone. And as for the stunt you pulled with the young boy,” Old Beng’s tail, soft as silk and warm as a summer’s day, came up and slapped roughly against Macaque’s nose. “There. You’ve been scolded.”

Macaque blinked for a moment, then a wave of fresh tears came out, sobs mixed with laughter as the simplicity and familiarity of the reprimand forced him to stop thinking and torturing himself long enough to breathe again. He let himself fall back into the pillow, covering his eyes with one arm, trying to hide the tears that did manage to slip free, even though he knew it was pointless.

Old Beng let him feel what he needed to feel, gently working an oil into his chest to help him breathe clearly while Rumble and Savage slept peacefully. It was dark out, but judging by the soft scent of soap from the two little ones, a whole day had passed that Macaque had missed while trying to sleep through the fever he’d given himself while in the void.

“You’re too kind.” Macaque finally said as Old Beng gently coaxed him to sit up again and gently washed his face for him with a fresh cloth.

“The boy is forgiving, even when he shouldn’t be. He sees you as a friend and so, I have no issues with you in that matter.” Old Beng said. “Besides, you were my little brother long before he was my nephew, so you get at least one pass for being a bully.”

“You’ve met him?” Macaque questioned.

“Wukong woke me so that I could take over the boy’s training while Wukong was away. Damn fool even said he was sorry for waking me, can you believe that?” Old Beng asked and poured a fresh cup of tea for Macaque. “Granted, it was not easy to train the boy, my body is frail even if my will is still young, but he learnt well and together we managed. I had intended to go back to sleep after the matter with the Lady Bone Demon was done with, but with how unstable Wukong’s been and this more recent debacle with all the emotions Azure’s return stirred up, I told him I’m staying awake, just to keep an eye on him while familiarising myself with the trade and documents again.”

“What do you mean, unstable?” Macaque asked. “He’s never unstable.”

Old Beng huffed and shook his head. “Don’t be willfully blind, Macaque. Even with MK and his new found friends, Wukong feels alone. I can’t change that, no matter what I say or do, he feels he has no one.”

“He has everyone.” Macaque said. “MK, Mei, Red Son, Demon Bull King, even Sandy and that fuzzball of his, and-”

“Six Eared Macaque.” Old Beng said and the black furred Monkey flinched at the tone. “You know damn well what I’m talking about.”

He did, he’d witnessed the memories of the Orb, seen and felt everything as Wukong had, heard it for himself when he’d listened to the past. Wukong had never known what it was to be alone before he’d met Macaque because he’d never understood that there could be anyone like him somewhere else in the world. But upon meeting Macaque, living with him, growing with him and loving him, Wukong had found something irreplaceable and precious in life that brought him comfort and balance.

Losing Macaque had robbed him of that and without it, Wukong had lost sight of any future dreams he’d once had. He’d stopped hoping that one day, he’d have children of his own to teach, not just the little ones of the troop, stopped attending anything but the most important Demon King Gatherings, and even then, he only stayed to hear and speak of the most important matters. Beyond that? Wukong spent his days tending the little monkeys, guarding his home and meditating.

He’d lost his desire to explore, his desire to learn, and while he did train MK, he wasn’t even using a tenth of his power for that… 

“Why does it worry you?” Macaque asked. “Wukong’s lonely, but he’s not stupid.”

“He is the stupidest intelligent person I know,” Old Beng answered and after a moment, he sighed heavily. “When he woke me, I noticed a nest had been added to the back of the chamber of sleep.”

The chamber of sleep wasn’t just a comfy room to sleep in, sleep didn’t mean the same thing to them as it did humans. To them, it was deeper and longer than any meditation, and if they didn’t consciously hold a limit in their mind, a time by which they were to wake up again, they’d never wake up.

Macaque felt ice chill his veins as a horrid realization clicked into his mind as a harsh cough rattled his lungs.

He wouldn’t, would he? He questioned his future self. … Future!? …He could… Very easily, in fact.

“Why?” The dark furred Monkey asked.

“He believed it was best for everyone that he wasn’t awake amore.” Old Beng said, offering Macaque more tea, which he drank deeply, trying to calm his racing heart. “That’s what he told me when I asked. His only remaining brother was distant from him, his fellow pilgrims died or missing, the Monk he called Master ascended and lived well in the Heavens and you, the one who brought any joy in his life were gone and never coming back. What did he have to stay awake for?”

Nothing. In Wukong’s mind, he had nothing left in the world, his elder brother was busy with his own family and life, his few friends were moving on or missing, and the desire to keep going, to stay awake and see the coming centuries just wasn’t there anymore, if he’d gone to sleep he wouldn’t set that limit for himself. He’d only have been woken if something dire happened to his Mountain, and if there was no reason to wake up, Wukong would let himself revert back to the Stone egg from which he had once hatched. He’d have let himself be reduced to nothing all over again.

“Honestly, with all that’s happened, I think that when MK is trained and ready, Wukong plans to ask him to take the reins here with me as advisor so he can sleep.” Old Beng admitted.

“What?” Macaque questioned in shock, almost dropping the teacup.

MK was just a kid, barely even a child by their own definition of the word! Yes, he was learning quickly and yes he was good, but to take over for Wukong?! It wasn’t possible! The workload alone would be too much for the boy even if he had help. There was no way Wukong would just…

He would. He’s that selfish. His past self sneered harshly, still wearing the hurt, anger and betrayal like a comfortable armour. It isn’t selfish to want to rest. If it meant we could escape the pain, we would have done the same long ago. His future self whispered delicately, soft and relieved that the weight of the past was finally beginning to shift.

“You’ve seen him Macaque, I know you have. He doesn’t smile anymore, not really, even with all the efforts that child makes to try and help him, his eyes are dull and his body is slow. He is tired, all he wants is to sleep, to forget the weight of it all and be done with it, even if just for a short while.”

“He can’t be done with it!” Macaque snarled, lips curled back to show his fangs. “He can’t just sleep because he doesn’t like the way things are!”

“Yes, he can.” Old Beng said, suddenly harsh in his tone. “And why should you care what he does?”

“I-” he winced, his ears fluttering as his own voice yelled two different things at him at once.

If you say it again there's no going back! He hurt us! We shouldn’t still- His past self snarled in fury, loud and harsh as the unchangeable choices made before. Just admit it! We all know it's true so say it. Say it and maybe we can help him! His future self pleaded, hope and the chance that just maybe they could undo some of that pain making them louder than before.

“You walked away from him, pushed him to the point he had no choice when all he wanted was to explain, and even now you’re back, you’ve made it very clear you aren’t willing to talk to him on the matter, to the point that Rumble and Savage had to bring you to me, of all people, just to help calm you down from whatever you’ve gotten yourself worked up about in the void.” The elder continued, seemingly unaware of the internal argument.

“I…” Macaque tried to say again, only to be cut off as his own voice yelled again, one louder than the other this time.

Don’t say it! Past snapped. Admit it. Future commanded.

“He is done, Macaque, and now that he has someone who can keep his kingdom safe in his stead, why can’t he be allowed to sleep for a few years?” Old Beng asked.

“I still…” He tried to say, his upper ears ringing from the sudden loudness of what could come to be rather than the lower ears ringing from the loudness of the confirmed past screaming at him.

Don’t you dare say- Past begged. SAY! IT!! Future demanded.

“You still what, Near-Omnipotent Six Eared Macaque?” Old Beng pressed and the use of his true title seemed to be the kick he needed to silence his future and past voices and speak clearly for himself in the present at last.

“I still love him!” Macaque declared and both his middle and upper ears shone brightly as he spoke words that had once been only a possibility. “Despite everything I said and did, everything I ruined between us, I still love him and I still need him! He is everything I can never be alone and everything that makes me whole! He can’t just leave me!he isn’t allowed to just be done, he isn’t allowed to go anywhere without me! He-”

“He thinks you hate him.” Old Beng said, cutting the words off easily with a calm and steady tone. “He thinks you and everyone else will be happier without him around to keep dragging you all into the aftermath of his mistakes.”

“He doesn’t get to decide that for us. He isn’t allowed to take the blame for everything just because he feels like he has to!” Macaque snarled. “Stupid, peach brained, stone egg born idiot!”

“You both came from an egg.” Old Beng stated and again Macaque’s nose was slapped by the elders tail. “Be nice about your brother.”

“He isn’t my brother, he is my other half. My Sun. My Hero. My-” Macaque proclaimed for the first time in so many years, and stars, how it made his heart ache, knowing all that he did now, to think of how long Wukong had believed the opposite. “My Mate.”

“Then for the stars above us, tell him that, Macaque.” Old Beng commanded as Macaque fell into a harsh coughing fit again, clutching his chest as his body rattled with the force of the coughs. “He’s stood alone in the face of everything that could be a threat for centuries now, because he believes no one will come to even if he did call out for help. He is ready to lay down and sleep, just to forget for a few years that he’s lost everything and everyone he cares about.”

“He isn’t allowed to sleep, without me.” Macaque said between heavy pants as Old Beng gently coaxed him to lay down again. “He isn't allowed to leave me again.”

“He never left you, Macaque.” Old Beng reminded, softly tucking the blanket back over the younger monkey. “Rest now, use this time to think about what you are going to do when you speak to him next.”

… Are we sure this is what we want? Past whispered, suddenly meek and afraid. Our heart wants him, why should we keep ignoring that now we know the truth? Future asked, soft and tender with fondness.

It would take a lot of work and a lot of time to heal what had been hurt, but just maybe… Macaque didn’t let himself dream too far just yet, he had made the first step to admit his feelings to himself and Old Beng. But that was nothing compared to actually talking to Wukong himself.

Let that be my problem. Future whispered as sleep tugged at Macaque's mind once more.

He didn't argue or fight it and allowed himself to surrender to sleep’s embrace once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you've read my Jttw lore posts, you all know who Old Beng is, if not then just know he is a very old monkey.

Peppermint is good for a lot of things, but the biggest one is it helps with symtems of cold and flu.

[semisolidmind]

“he won't say it aloud, but...had it been him who'd been found and tended to by reader, azure couldn't be sure he wouldn't have made the same choice as his brothers.”

…Semi, could I persuade you to make a little something (art, fic, headcanons, whatever you wish) for this concept? Please?

If you’d rather not, totally fine. Please feel free to delete this. No worries!

(this got longer than expected:))

he'd try to persuade her, at first.

after she found him in her backyard, in a crater of his own making having fallen from battle, battered and bleeding, after she brought him into her home and cared for him...

...he'd gotten attached.

the two became close, and as azure got stronger he began to realize that he'd have to go home eventually. he and his brotherhood had a job to do, and he couldn't abandon it to play house. but— but he'd become so used to waking up with reader by his side. he'd learned so much about mortal life while living with her, and his sympathies towards humans had grown.

noone had ever treated him as gently as reader had. even knowing what he is, the potential threat he posed to her, she still saved him. he's eternally grateful for her help. azure doesn't want to leave her behind.

the night he decides to leave, he asks her to leave with him, to go with him to his home in camel ridge.

she declines.

she's fine here, she says. it's a very kind offer, but she doesn't mind her work or her employers, and– and what would a handsome demon lord like him want with a human like her, anyway? he should go and be with his brothers, she says (reader internally panics, she'd hoped this wouldn't happen, she'd hoped those stories about demons kidnapping women were fake, she really really hoped she wasn't about to be stolen and potentially eaten—).

azure pauses, standing silent before her. what he wants with her? he can't give a proper answer to that (at least not in polite company), but he wants to show his gratitude. he wants to at least reward reader for her kindness. please, just go with him, he'll give her a good life, he promises.

but reader declines again, stepping back from him. her eyes betray her growing fear.

azure is silent. the gentle, pleading expression has dissapeared from his face, replaced by a cold dissatisfaction.

he didn't want to do it this way.

but he is a demon. and demons are inherently selfish creatures, no matter what noble lies they choose to live by.

azure steps forward. reader steps back.

please don't, she begs, voice wavering. he doesn't respond.

reader doesn't have time to even scream before azure seizes her by the waist, putting her over one broad shoulder. she beats her fists on his back, kicks wildly against the paw holding down her thighs, begs him please, please don't do this. azure solemnly opens a portal gate with his regained powers, stepping through it, carrying reader back to his home.

–––

some time passes.

once reader has better settled into her role as azure lion's..."companion" ("captive" is more fitting, she thinks. or perhaps "pet"), the demon decides to bring her along to a council meeting at the home of the demon army's leader, the monkey king. azure is unsure what his simian comrade will think of reader, but if his closest brothers could come to accept her place at his side, then perhaps wukong could be convinced as well.

the first meeting goes smoothly. perhaps too smoothly, azure thinks with slight bitterness.

he saw the way wukong looked at his human companion throughout the council. he didn't say much beyond asking her name and purpose, but his interest was clear. azure wrote it off as a simple fascination with a mortal companion; it is fairly uncommon for high-ranking demons to keep humans for much beyond servants or food.

azure continued to bring reader along to their council meetings (unable to leave her at home unsupervised), and the monkey king began to speak with her more and more (occasionally running off with her when he wanted to show her some orchard or village on the mountain, to meet his people... the two would be gone for a while). azure didn't think much of it at first beyond a light sense of caution. however, every time reader laughed at wukongs antics, or followed him away from the group...there was a sting in the lion's chest he would hesitate to identify.

he wasn't sure if the king's friendliness was a ploy to harm reader in some way. wukong was known to dislike humans, having dealt with hunters attempting to capture and kill his ilk more than once. so to see him take an avid interest in reader, to seek out her company after the meetings were over and the brotherhood took time for leisure ... azure wasn't sure what to make of it. the infamous monkey king, known for his cruelty, determination, and bloodlust— befriending a human woman.

it sounded ridiculous, even as azure watched it happen before him.

however, when wukong himself approached the lion demon to none-too-subtley ask that he give reader up, the absolute madness of it all struck him.

wukong, in his winding roundabout way, suggests that azure allow reader to stay on flower fruit mountain. see, she and wukong have been talking; she obviously loves it here, she's here all the time during meetings anyways, and she's clearly gotten attached to the monkey citizens... sooooo why not just let her stay? not like there's much for her on camel ridge, he says flippantly.

oh, and not to mention the fact that reader doesn't seem to be all that attached to azure anyway. oh she's his friend, maybe, but that's it. just following him around, speaking when spoken to. she's clearly dissatisfied with her placement. at least wukong plans on wooing her properly; he'll make her his queen, not just a glorified pet.

azure has to restrain the thunderous growl that wants to escape his grit fangs at this absolutely ludicrous suggestion. the jealousy that's been bubbling in his chest begins to seep through to his words. wukong can't just, just—demand reader from him! he hates that he has to word it this way, but he took reader fair and square. finders keepers, by demonic rule. the answer is a resounding no, and a "polite" request that the monkey never bring it up again.

a moment of silence, the two demons staring each other down—before wukong seemingly shrugs it off. oh well, he sighs. so be it.

wukong walks away, calm as can be, not even an aggravated twitch of his tail to indicate his true feelings.

but azure's hackles are raised. he knows wukong well enough to know that he hasn't actually dropped this.

the monkey king is simply biding his time.

---

after azure's vehement refusal, wukong rolls his shoulders and sighs. he tried asking nicely, but if azure won't play fair, then neither will the monkey king.

besides, he's more of a "ask for forgiveness, not permission" kinda guy anyways (and he doesn't expect forgiveness). later on that evening, he signals to macaque (who has also grown quite fond of reader, though more secretively) that it's time to roll out plan b.

because y'know, wukong's been thinkin.' maybe his and azure's interests haven't exactly been lining up lately, and not just in the reader department. the monkey king has noticed that azure and his allies have been changing their minds about this whole conquesting on earth business. they want to pool their forces and take on heaven.

now, wukong knows a thing or two about that, and he knows that even with all the might of the demon armies at their disposal, azure and the gang stand about three quarters of a chance. it doesn't help that the original brotherhood members (namely peng and yellowtusk) have been getting kinda uppity lately.

so, why not hit two birds with one stone? or in this case...one bird, one elephant, and one lion.

wukong has macaque take a lil' trip down to the underworld to steal the scroll of memory, an artifact that allows one to trap anyone in a hell of their own making. the darker-furred demon makes quick work of the assignment.

the monkey king and the six-eared macaque then pay the lords of camel ridge a little visit to announce their...severance from the demon alliance.

---

reader wakes up in an unfamiliar bed.

or rather, an unfamiliar...pile of pillows and blankets? in a pit? in the floor? it's surprisingly comfortable all things considered.

however, a drowsy look around the room tells her this is most definitely not the den of her feline captor, and she certainly isn't in her chambers at the palace in camel ridge; the presence of greenery inside the room clued her in there. her nerves began to rise. where is she?

her question is partially answered by wukong pushing his way inside the room, macaque in tow (both are dressed far more casually than normal, wearing simple pants and robes that she's never seen them in). reader startles, scooting back as they move closer. the boys step into the pit and sit across from her. the two simian demons wish reader good morning and ask how she slept.

reader is too stunned to answer.

macaque laughs at the expression on her face, a fond look overcoming his own as he takes in her sleep-disheveled appearance. you're in the royal chambers in the stone palace, to answer your question, he says. he's sure she wants answers about how she came to be here, and he's about to speak when wukong excitedly talks over him.

something has happened to azure and his brothers, he says. it must have, because the king and the general found reader knocked out in a peach grove not far from the entrance to water curtain cave. they brought her inside, of course, but were unable to wake her. perhaps a sleep spell, macaque suggests.

when the monkeys went to investigate camel ridge, they could find no sign of the brotherhood. the warlords admit they have no idea what could have become of their allies, but insist that reader must stay with them until this mystery is solved. she doesn't mind, right? she'll be well taken care of here, and she's more than welcome to stay in the royal chambers (she'll want the two monkey demons to keep her warm, after all the stone palace can get so cold at night—). the monkey citizens will be excited to see her, they'll be glad to hear she's staying. it'll be great! wukong happily assures.

reader admittedly isn't... unhappy about this arrangement. she doesn't want to be rude, but flower fruit mountain is much more hospitable than the lifeless sandstone of camel ridge. quite frankly she's come to prefer the company of wukong and macaque over her once captor, and the friendly mountain residents over two impassive demon lords.

if reader had to choose into whose hands her chain and collar would be placed—she could think of many worse than these two.

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West Chapter 74

Wukong when he kills a bunch of minion demons and feels bad about it for a whole 2 seconds:

Welcome back to this week's chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest. This week, we get to have some fun with the often overlooked, and underappreciated minion demon's of the world. So let's get into it shall we?

The pilgrimage is able to continue west until autumn without incident, until they reach yet another tall mountain. And as we know, mountains are prime demon real estate in this book, and this mountain is no exception. And sure enough, as they travel up the mountain path, they run into an old man shouting useful exposition about how this mountain is full of demons. This of course frightens Tripitaka into falling off his horse. Monkey tries to comfort, Tripitaka, or at least stop him rolling around the dirt in despair, and says he'll go ask the old man more about it. Tripitaka is mostly fine with this plan, but is concerned that Monkey might frighten the old man away with his... everything.

So Monkey transforms into a young priest, and after receiving Tripitaka's seal of approval, goes to question the old man. The old man tells him that these demon's don't only posses powerful magic powers, but they are also rather important, having friends in high places, like the four Ocean Dragons, and the nine kings of the underworld. They kind of remind me of Sun Wukong himself. Either way, Wukong brags that he isn't intimidated, and brags to the old man that he is the great Sun Wukong, and after a little goading, he reveals his true form to the old man, which does indeed frighten him out of his wits. Which has the unfortunate side effect of putting this interrogation to an abrupt end.

So Monkey tries to go back to Tripitaka to get him moving again by saying the demon's here are no big deal, but Tripitaka isn't satisfied with the amount of information he got. So this time Pigsy volunteers to do the questioning. Which doesn't help since the old man calm down, since Pigsy doesn't even bother putting on a disguise at all before approaching him. Anyways eventually Pigsy is able to calm him down enough to gain a bit more information. The old man tells him that this place is called Lion-Camel Ridge, and Lion-Camel Cave is the home to three Demon Kings. Which works works out perfectly, since three demon's means there's one for each disciple to take out!

Before Pigsy can get to happy about this however, the man continues on to tell him that these three demons rule an army over forty eight thousand strong. Which personally I still don't think is a concern, since when have minion demons ever once presented a real problem? Pigsy on the other hand is intimidated, and goes running scared back to the others to tell them what he learned. While Pigsy and Tripitaka are freaking out however, Wukong just points out that to clear the whole mountain of demons all he'll have to do is just grow his staff really big, and crush everything on the mountain to death all at once. This assurance is enough to get Tripitaka moving again, but as they start to continue they notice the old man has disappeared.

So Monkey decides to track the old man down, only to find out that the old man was actually our favorite exposition giver, the Gold Star of Venus. Turns out he stopped by in disguise in order to warn Monkey that these demons really are no joke. So Monkey decides to take some precautions and asks the Gold Star of Venus to go fetch some celestial warriors for him to borrow. The Gold Star of Venus agrees to get them ready, and Monkey heads back to Tripitaka to tell him the real identity of the old man. Tripitaka asks if there is any sort of detour they can take, but Monkey informs him that this mountain is eight hundred miles across, which causes Tripitaka to cry in despair.

Monkey tries to stop Tripitaka from crying, because once he starts he becomes completely useless, and tells him to wait here with Pigsy and Sandy while Monkey does a little recon. He'll take care of the demon's one way or another ahead of time, so they can continue their journey without one of Tripitaka's weekly kidnappings.

So Monkey travels the mountain for a while without seeing anything, and just when he's starting to think that the Gold Star of Venus was just pranking him, he finally see's a minion demon carrying a banner. So Monkey transforms into a fly and lands on the demon to eaves drop, only to hear the demon remarking that they have to be on guard against Sun Wukong, who knows how to change into a fly! This makes Wukong wonder if he had seen him, and if this pathetic little minion demon can do that, maybe his bosses really are bad news.

Turns out the demon hadn't actually seen Wukong, and was just repeating what his bosses told him, however Wukong decides to question the little fiend anyways. So Monkey transforms into a similar looking demon, with an identical banner, and calls out for the demon to wait for him. The Demon questions who he is, and Monkey claims that he is one of the demon's the usually tends to the fires. The demon is suspicious of this however, since the minions of this mountain always keep the same jobs, so a fire tender would never be asked to patrol the mountain.

So Monkey just says that he was just so gosh dang good at tending the fires that the kings decided to promote him to mountain patrolling. So the demon asks to see his name plate, since of course all the minion demon's have one. Monkey however has no idea what their name plates are supposed to look like, so he asks to see the demon's first. The fiend takes his out and Wukong see's that the demon is called 'Little Wind Cutter'. Wukong assuming that all the demon's must have the name 'Wind Cutter' transforms one of his hairs into a plate that names him 'Chief Wind Cutter'. This confuses the fiend since all of them are supposed to be named Little Wind Cutter.

Once again thinking on his feet, Monkey claims that the Demon Kings promoted him all the way up to Patrol Commander, which is why his nameplate is different. The fiend instantly believes Monkey, and takes him to the meet the rest of the platoon. So Monkey tells the Platoon that he was sent by the Kings, to be on the look out for Sun Wukong, who has the power to transform into a little Wind Cutter to walk among them and spy on them, so he's here to make sure they are all the real deal by asking them a few questions.

First Monkey asks them what powers the great kings have. One of the Wind Cutters says that the first king once swallowed a hundred thousand celestial warriors. Monkey tries to call bullshit on this, but the little fiend insists that it's true. The King posses the ability of size transformation, and once when he wasn't invited to the Immortal Peach festival, he went to party crash anyways. Only to be greeted by a hundred thousand celestial warriors instead. So the Great King transformed into an enormous size, until his mouth was the size of the city gate and charged at them.

That does sound plausible to Monkey, who could do the same thing if he wanted, so he moves on to asking about the second king. The Fiends describe the second king as a grand elephant with a might trunk, where if he gets a hold of an enemy with it, that enemy will surely perish. The third king meanwhile is said to possess a treasured vase, that can turn a trapped victim into a puddle of goo within one and three quarters of an hour. Sounds familiar.

Anyways, Monkey moves on to asking which of the demon king's want to devour Tripitaka. So the Wind Cutters explain that while the first and second kings have always lived here, the third king actually came from a nearby kingdom, and heard about the Tang Monk and that if you eat him, you can become immortal. However he was wary of Sun Wukong, so he traveled here to make an alliance with the first two kings, for the sake of capturing the Tang Monk.

This ticks Wukong off enough that he impulsively kills all of the demons. Wukong regrets this for all of two seconds, after all they were so helpful in spilling so much information! However what's done is done, and Monkey quickly gets over it. Monkey decides to transform into the first Little Wind Cutter he met, and takes his name plate and banner. And then off he goes to find some more minion demons to harass!

Soon enough Wukong is able to find the cave entrance, which is currently being guarded by an army of ten thousand demons. If he wants to get inside the cave to arrest the demon kings, first he has to get rid of all these minions milling about. So Monkey decides, that since these demons already know about the feared Sun Wukong, how about he exploit that?

So as Little Wind Cutter, Monkey tells the army of demons that while he was patrolling he saw Sun Wukong, polishing his pole by the side of a brook. He was over a hundred feet tall, and was muttering that he couldn't wait to beat a bunch of helpless minion demon's to death with his giant staff. This terrifies the demons, and Wukong points out that even if the demons are successful in capturing and eating the Tang Monk, it's not like there will be enough of him to share with them. So why risk their lives, when they don't even have a chance at attaining immortality for themselves? Instead they should all just scatter while they all still have their lives. The demon's take his advice, and quickly disperse, allowing Monkey to enter the cave unimpeded.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, object transformation, distance reduction, vanishing in a flash of light, super healing, transforming others, Invisibility, Wind Immunity, Medicine Making, putting out fire from a distance with a glass of wine and weaving a straw dragon Demon Kill Count: 752 + Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1039 God's Defeated: 23 + Unknown number Defeats: 7 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law, looting corpses, trading counterfeit goods, criminal threat, animal abuse, Assisting or Instigating Escape, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption, Identity Fraud, Disorderly Conduct, Joyriding, unauthorized practice of medicine and Voyeurism Cry Count: 14 + 3 fake cries Mountains Trapped Under: 4

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka and the Tang Monk Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization, Heart Sutra, Meditation, and Being Heaven's Specialist Little Guy Cry Count: 39 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 63 Paralyzed by fear: 6 Bandit Problems: 3 Kidnapped by demons: 13 Falling Off Horses: 12

Current Bai Long Ma Stats: Names/Titles: Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse), Prince of the Western Ocean, and third prince jade dragon of the dragon king Aorun Abilities: Transforming into a human, a water snake, and a horse, eating a horse in one bite, flight, Magic of Water Restriction, Singing, Sword Dancing and Magic Pee Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Arson, and Grave Disobedience. Contributions to the plot: 4 Kidnapped by demons: 3

Current Zhu Wuneng Stats: Names/Titles: The Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, Zhu Wuneng (Pig who is aware of ability), Zhu Ganglie, Pigsy, Idiot and Eight Rules. Weapon: Rake Abilities: 36 Transformations, parting water, fighting underwater, cloud soaring, size enhancement, CPR and Shoveling Demon Kill Count/Kill steals: 15 + Unknown number of minions Kidnapped by Demons: 9 Human Kill Count: 1 Failed Flirtation/romances Attempts: 4 Cry Count: 3 Crime List: Sexual Harassment, Murder, Kidnapping, arson, defamation, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption, Identity Fraud, Theft, Forcible entry, Disrupting a Funeral, Violating Tree Law and Arson

Current Sha Wujing Stats: Names/Titles: The Curtain-Raising General, Sha Wujing (Sand Aware of Purity), Sandy and Sha Monk Weapon: Monster Taming Staff Abilities: Fighting underwater, Cloud soaring, and fetching water from a well. Demon Kill Count: 1 + Unknown number of minions. Kidnapped by Demons: 6 Human Kill Count: 1 Cry Count: 2 Crime List: Breaking a Crystal Cup, murder, desecration of a human corpse, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption and Arson

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[oceanqueenmusical]

@quitealotofsodapop smh you tear of your shirt ONE TIME while you’re a beast and covered in blood, and suddenly you’re Megapolis’ most eligible bachelor! What can I say, the ladies and gents love a shirtless man covered in blood. (Pigsy doesn’t mind too much as long as no one tries anything after being told no— the ladies, anyhow. He knows he only has to worry about the dudes.)

I think in the Scroll of Memory it would play out similar to your Mother Child River Tang AU. Sure, Tang may be some strange amalgamation of cicada, chicken, tiger, and man, but he’s also very attractive, so Ganglie probably does the whole ‘hey pretty man wanna be my wife’ routine, except here it’s less Beauty and the Beast because Tang is also kinda (sorta) a beast as well.

But hey, on the bright side, Tang would probably feel more confident in his monstrous characteristics after that. Instead of numerous demons trying to eat him while he, MK, and Mei are all searching for their friends, they keep trying to seduce him. Poor MK has to deal with dozens of demons trying to get with his dad.

Also a little funny detail: Tang probably wouldn’t have his glasses while he’s a chimera. They were probably dropped when he was a chimera, and even then I don’t think Lady Bone Demon would care enough to get him his proper prescription. Man is probably blind as hell while he’s a chimera and constantly has to squint. First thing they do when he’s back to normal is give him his glasses back.

I know that Azure and Tang never canonically interact, but imagine how funny it would be if they get into a cat fight at Camel Ridge in episode 8. Tang doesn’t really like what this lion is saying and his tiger instincts just go ‘smack him’, and who is he to argue with such flawless logic? Obviously Tang would lose that fight but he puts up a good effort! He and MK could try tag-teaming Azure, unfortunately Monkey King’s scroll is still broken. Whoopsies.

It’s be nice if maybe this could also be an AU where Azure lives, since the spiders also got to come back. Plus, hey, having another big cat around could be useful for Tang.

Also, yes, Tang would totally scruff MK. Partly whenever MK’s doing something stupid, but also because Tang just can. Tang could also probably pick up Pigsy, who is feeling Very Normal About It.

[jedineedlove]

LMK VS Legend

Peng:

The Golden Winged Peng

Korean- King of Bungma (Bungma= Dapeng)

LMK:

Powerful but a coward, we all know their story along with Azure and Tusk. All of them were former Celestials. The three ruled over Camel Ridge and became sworn brothers to Monkey King, Macaque, and Demon Bull King forming the brotherhood. After the "betrayal" of Monkey King they separated the brotherhood the trio stayed together and reunited with Wukong but only to battle and lose. Trapped in the scroll for hundreds of years. Were realized causing havoc to the cosmos. The rest is history For Now.

JTTW:

A demon born from the Primordial Phoenix, Given a high position in heaven which gave him his ego. He gave himself a humanoid form ate all the residence of the Lion Camel Kingdom ruled it for 500 years and then befriended the Azure Lion and Yellow-Toothed Elephant Demons.

Note: LMK and JTTW had Peng and Azure Switched In JTTW Peng was the leader and Azure the follower. Which of course is switched in the show.

His weapons are a ji and a Flask of Yin and Yang Essence which can suck in unsuspecting victims.

Flask of Yin and Yang Essence: After a while, the victim trapped inside the flask will be reduced to a bloody mash. (The flask was broken during the fight between him and Wukong)

In the book, it was the Buddha who subdued the Peng and returned him to Vulture Peak. He confessed to enjoying his demonic life and eating humans., but was left no choice but to abandon his evil ways and he was redeemed. He then became a protector of Buddhist law. He was later sent to destroy fake scripture without text by the Buddha. He is depicted perched above the Buddha's thrown as a guardian deity.

The Ming dynasty suggests Peng was a guardian of faith who watched over the world from an exalted position at the top of the Buddhas' throne.

Legend:

Dapeng Jinchi Mingwang/ Golden-Winged Great Peng His origins are derived from the Indian bird god Garuda.

Penig is one of the eight demi gods of Buddhism, he guards Mount Sumeru and Trāyastriṃśa. Pengi is depicted in the JTTW and General Yue Fei, mentioned in Chinese Buddhist literature.

The famous patriot General Yue Fei was believed to be the incarnation of Dapeng Jinchi Mingwang.

A demonic Peng born from The Primordial Phoenix the leader of flying beings. He also has a sister The Peacock Mahamayuri who once tried and failed to consume the Buddha. When he tried to kill her he was stopped and convinced to promote her to his godmother. Which makes the Golden Winged Peng the spiritual uncle of the Buddha. There is a tale of when Nü Tofu the bat spirit listened to the Buddha sermon on the Lotus Sutra at Leiyin temple. The bat spirit accidentally "broke wind" which stained the pure land. Peng snatched the spirit and killed her. For this Buddha exiled Peng to earth. He reincarnated as Yue Fei and the bat spirit reincarnated as Lady Wang. She married Qin Hui and Lady Wang killed Yue Fei in revenge.

For Backstory On These Two: Qui Hui and Lady Wang were the most hated couple in China for a thousand years. Qui Hui was a politician who gained his status by getting rid of political opponents, framing war heroes and was a sycophant to a foreign emperor. He and his wife both conspired to kill the Great War Hero of the Dynasty Yue Fei. He even becomes a puppet ruler. Qui Hui did not like Yue Fei because he was a great guy loved by all and became very popular even being more popular than the emperor. So Qui Hui had him returned and imprisoned. They torture Yue, but Yue Fei refuses to confess to something he did not do. They had him sentenced to death but in another story, Qui Hui's Wife Lady Wang poisoned Yue Fei. However, Yue Feis' story does not end at his death after a few decades Emperor Zhao Chen absolved Yue Fei and dedicated temples to him. Qui Hui and Lady Wang's betrayal and part in the war heroes' death were made public. In front of Yue Fei's temple, two iron statues of the couple were built for public shaming. People spit, abuse, and flop the statues and they get replaced when damaged they have been replaced 11 times since 1475.

Other Ledgends:

According to the martial arts master Laing Shouyu's book he was a great bird that was the guardian that could get rid of all evil in any area. Not even the MONKEY KING was a match. He was sent to China to defend China from invaders and was reborn as Yue Fei.

Yue Fei

The Shurangama Mantra: A mantra of Buddhist practice in China, Japan, and Korea, pertains to the Great golden-winged Peng bird, the Garuda it includes all species of birds. The Peng is the king among birds. He feasts on dragons, his being span measures an astounding 4,950 km, and when he flaps his wings the sea waters part to the deepest seabed.

Thoughts:

Peng's history and legends paint him as a far more powerful being than we have seen so far in the show if the writers do take anything from legends MK and the gang are in some serious trouble besides the ten kings. Also, it really is crazy that maybe even in the LMK universe Peng might have some serious power he was the last standing of the Sworn brothers in the final fight but that was mainly due to him running away. Peng does get redemption in the book with the LMK writers it's a 50/50 on the show. Also, love it when a character has a historical reincarnation to do some digging into.

[sketching-shark]

I saw your post about how you say that western interpretations of swk are just taking his goofy side and not much his violent side, but didn't you say before that western interpretations were just taking his violent side without understanding his character fully? and that he was more than just an evil/violent monkey? you said it with lmk for example, when they show in the past that wukong just wanted the powers for ambition and became ''evil'' and you said it wasn't right they interpret him like just a violent monkey

Im confused here

Complaining below, so if you (understandably lol) don't want to read all of that feel free to ignore.

My apologies for the confusion anon! And I will admit that I don't remember exactly what I wrote in this regard, though I do remember spending more time than I should have whining about both the goofiness and solely destructive aspects of SWK's character being given prominence in a lot of western interpretations lol. Maybe it was a combination of the two & me complaining of the prevalence of the "destructive meathead" interpretation of SWK? That IS a pretty common personality given to this monkey in western interpretations (see Netflix's The New Legends of Monkey & The Monkey King for example), and is a combination of goofiness & violence that shunts the "intelligent" part of "intelligent stone monkey" into the background.

THAT SAID, I am aware that I'm EXTREMELY picky in terms of Sun Wukong representations, and that it would be completely false to pretend there aren't a ton of Chinese presentations of the Monkey King that don't lean heavily towards a goofy and/or destructive characterization. Hell, I have heard and seen some pretty nasty examples of the Monkey King interpreted through the grimdark genre that ended with me hoping I manage to forget about them posthaste. And when it comes to children's media it makes sense that there would be a focus on the silly side of SWK's character. As I've said many a time before, it's not like you'd want to expose kids to a monkey running around smashing people's heads into meat patties.

I guess a lot of my personal frustrations come from the way there's a bit of a monoculturalization in the ways that western interpretations tend to lean heavily on the silly and violent sides of SWK's character while doing away with a lot of his intelligence, attempts to resolve matters through less violent means, and cutting out a lot of the actually pretty understandable reasons and contexts for why SWK does what he does in the classic. To give an example, one of the things that I find really interesting about SWK in JTTW is how he is undoubtedly a very violent monkey, BUT he's a very violent monkey in a world where many of the major power players, from the yaoguai kings to the Jade Emperor himself, are just as (if not more) violent as him. So you do for example have yaoguai like the Brotherhood of Lion Camel Ridge and the Demon Bull King being vicious man-eaters, with the Brotherhood in particular being described as living in a charnel house of human gore; the Tang Emperor, who Tang Sanzang is sworn brothers with, is literally described as a man who killed countless people to get his power, and we do actually see a lot of their ghosts his tour of Diyu; and the Jade Emperor, besides meeting out such vicious punishments as having Bai Longma hung in the sky and whipped 300 times before he was to be executed for accidentally burning some pearls, basically ordered the genocide of the Mt. Huaguoshan monkeys because Sun Wukong wouldn't surrender after stealing a bunch of immortality-granting treats that were grown/made, i.e. stuff that could all be replaced. So while SWK is definitely a vicious and frequently remorseless and ruthless monkey, this is taking place in a world where so is every other leader to a greater or lesser extent; Sun Wukong's just the most brutally honest about it. And the Monkey King seems fully aware of this and respond accordingly; his very first kill, in fact, was that of the Demon King of Confusion, who had kidnapped a lot of the children of the Mt. Huaguoshan troop. As is, you don't see SWK starting a lot of fights (he even often gives his opponents the chance to strike the first blow), but he sure is willing to escalate to get his way! Not to mention how it's ever-more painfully obvious that Tang Sanzang, who is always preaching nonviolence and compassion, would have been killed and eaten from the very start of his journey if he didn't have an ultraviolent monkey and multiple deities guarding his every step. And that dynamic does as such raise such disturbing and disturbingly relevant questions as: what chance does empathy and nonviolence have of surviving under these circumstances? What would it truly take to create a world were nonviolence and compassion are the rule of law? Can any ruler truly justify their violence based on higher purposes, or are we always dealing with a situation where might makes right? How do we persuade others, even those who can and have wield horrific violence, of the necessity of nonviolence? And does violence ultimately have a place in a world where acts of destruction take generations to heal, if they do heal at all?

IN CONCLUSION, I personally think that there's a lot of really interesting and important questions that the Monkey King and his story in Xiyouji raise, and while I am more understanding now as to why a lot of retellings don't even try to tackle half of them, I do find if frustrating that there seems like a real reluctance to even make the attempt. So you do end up with a lot of simplified versions of SWK, with a good chunk of them falling into the silly monkey, violent monkey, or silly violent monkey sides.

Like as far as lmk goes I'm kind of sad and pretty frustrated that even though they keep hinting at deeper or more understandable reasons for why their SWK is such a mess, Flying Bark now has a history of showing everyone and their mother yelling at SWK for being stupid and destructive and then going out of their way to show this monkey being stupid and destructive, and then basically waiting until the last possible second before suddenly pulling an increasingly unconvincing "maybe he doesn't suck THAT much" conclusion. Like...it's now been revealed that this dude, besides never even having a monkey yaoguai family he loved and was protecting, literally though it was a good idea to instigate a war against heaven with a grand total of 4 other guys even though that was clearly doomed to failure (vs. book SWK who was stuck waging a clearly defensive war against heaven with the entirely of his hundreds of allies and their troops), & even though it was definitely inadvertently he played a massive hand in almost exploding the entire universe with the Samadhi fire debacle. And that's to say nothing of how it increasingly seems like lego SWK is the worst Monkey King shifu out there. Could be that a lot of this is because the stakes are so much higher in Monkie Kid than they are in other stories where SWK has a tudi--as with Liu Chenxiang (who wanted the ability to fight his uncle Erlang Shen so he could free his mother Sansheng Mu) or Li Yunxiang (who was being targeted by powerful yaoguai and dragons for being Li Nezha's reincarnation & needed someone to protect him & help him control his abilities until he was ready to stand on his own), and certainly the unnamed Indian prince in the og classic (who was impressed with SWK & wanted to learn martial arts skills under him & who's life was never in danger)--but its genuinely disheartening how much Qi Xiaotian has now suffered specifically because of his shifu-tudi relationship to Sun Wukong. That's a reality that isn't even partially true in these other cases. It's the kind of thing that drives you to ask if the ever-more traumatized monkie boy would ultimately have had a happier life if the Monkey King never became part of it :(

Anyway, I hope that clears things up anon! If anything, just keep in mind that the Monkey King's character in the og classic is rich and varied enough to act as the baseline for a vast variety of interpretations and retellings, and that a lot of my complaining is about feeling that a particular retelling is going too far in its flanderization. People have come up with all sorts of characterizations for this monkey for literally centuries--and they range from a irresponsible and foolish demon to a honest and diligent holy being--but it does pay to remember what an important literary and religious figure he is, and what sorts of interesting and relevant possibilities he offers.

[journeytothe-legos]

✦ Welcome Welcome! ✦

to begin, my name is verity and i am the one keeping this blog afloat. ae/aer or they/them pronouns are what i go by. the characters open to ask and any rules will be added below! i hope you enjoy!

⊂Character List⊃

Monkie Kids

MK

Mei

Sandy

Tang

Pigsy

Demon Bull Family

Demon Bull King

Princess Iron Fan

Red Son

Immortals

Sun Wukong

Six-Eared Macaque

Nezha

Chang'e

Li Jing

Lady Yin (note: she is based off my design for her)

Nuwa

Nine-Headed Demon

Brotherhood / Camel Ridge

Azure Lion

Peng

Yellowtusk

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Jin & Yin

Lady Bone Demon

(Not) Mayor

Ao Lie

Little Girl / Host (Bai He)

Princess Jade Face (note: based off my design for her)

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