#lmk oc: zhuāng jié

[rayalltheway]

Wan Ji/ Saria belongs to @journeytomonkiekid

I wanted to draw Wan Ji with my Macaque adoptive dad oc guy Zhuang Jie! I can imagine Macaque introducing Wan Ji to his long dead dad who came back to life would be quite a surprise, but I like to think they’d have a nice friendship and non-official in-law relationship ahbahabah

I think Zhuang Jie would definitely like Wan Ji a lot and would approve of her and Macaque’s relationship, especially since he’s seeing his son be happy and comfortable with her. He could tell her a lot of cute stories about what Macaque was like as a kiddo, and in the first drawing he’s giving her the address of his and Changbiyuan’s (his qpp) home

Many props to Wan Ji and Eclipse Apprentice:D

[rayalltheway]

ITS SO SOFT SO SWEET MY MAN LOOKS SO AMAZING AS HE DOES IN ALL MY MOOTS STYLES ARE U GUYS TRYING TO KILL ME

Eclipse apprentice yesterday now this I can’t take much more

THANK YOU TWINKLE I LOVE THE BABY GIRL SO MUCH

Great-grandpa Zhuang Jie has my heart. Y'all should read @fre-dream's 'meeting Chenguang' fic

[wildwitche]

yesterday I saw a post from @fre-dream, where you could take part in dtiys at will but this morning, there was no information about it, so I'm not sure if it's still relevant if not, then consider it just fanart of your wonderful and cute art

[rayalltheway]

A lil fic snippet for @journeytomonkiekid !

This was supposed to be part of soemthing bigger but I lost momentum lol but here we have Wan Ji and her father-in-law (my oc) hehe

——————————————————————————

“So, you’re not…back to life, exactly?” Wan Ji asked, hoping that question somehow came out okay.

“Well, we are…“ Zhuang Jie answered, not sounding any less neutral than before, but he still took a sip of his tea before continuing.

“I guess the best way I can put it is that we’re still technically ghosts, just in…fully corporeal forms. Even Changbiyuan can’t fully summarize how that works, so apologies, I’m not that much better off.” He smiled to himself a bit at that, clearly taking some humor in it, which made Wan Ji relax a bit more. She was alone with the elder man in Macaque’s dojo right now — who had made himself scarce during this topic of conversation, for fairly obvious reasons.

Despite the mutual understanding (at least, there was an assumption of such), Wan Ji noted that the lack of his son’s presence did bear some weight on Zhuang Jie — and when Wan Ji looked back up at him from her own drink, she saw the concern in his eyes as he regarded her.

“Does it bother you?” He asked, his tone genuine.

“What?” Wan Ji’s tails fluffed up a bit in surprise, and she quickly raised a hand in frantic reassurance. “Oh no, no, not at all! I just wanted to make sure I didn’t say or…assume anything…insensitive…” she explained, self-consciousness starting to grip her — but Zhuang Jie’s expression softened quickly, and he chuckled. She couldn’t help but hear Macaque at that moment.

“Don’t worry about that, I appreciate it. I don’t think there’s any easy way to put it. We both were dead, and…now we’re not. But we’re not going anywhere.” He said gently, and Wan Ji saw his eyes leave hers, gaze deepening at the purple training mat in front of them. “Not again.”

Wan Ji was still a little bit in wonder about this whole thing. Macaque having a father and stepparent who came back from the dead, sure, that was incredible and complicated…she wasn’t sure what to expect at first. But now she was seeing how this man was capable of such pure paternal warmth, in words and action. Even more so that it was currently directed at her. She was pretty sure he had genuinely smiled at her more in this one conversation than her father had in years. She…wasn’t really sure how she felt about that, honestly, so she was trying not to dwell on it. Besides, that didn’t matter right now.

“I am so sorry that you went through that, Zhuang.” Wan Ji spoke empathetically, welling up a bit when thinking of this sorrowful subject she’d been learning more about piece by piece over the last few weeks. “I can’t even imagine what it must’ve been like.”

“It’s alright. And please — don’t try to.” He said, looking back at her with reassurance. “I don’t want to overwhelm you with this topic if it’s uncomfortable to hear about. But don’t worry about offending me — I’m too old for that now.” He said with a joking smirk, and Wan Ji let out a snort.

“Point is, if you have any other questions, I’m fine to answer them, kiddo.”

“…You and Changbiyuan?” She questioned. Surprisingly, Zhuang Jie nodded without hesitation.“Of course. They’d like that, actually.” He stated plainly, and Wan Ji felt taken aback.

“Really?” She couldn’t help but say aloud, and she quickly felt herself regret it, her face warming in embarrassment when Zhuang Jie raised a brow at her questioningly.

“Sorry! It’s just, Macaque told me a little about…” She paused when feeling that same sinking in her gut, that same chill running over her…the memories of that demon.

“...What happened to them.” Zhuang Jie listened patiently as she took a moment to get her words together. “I guess I figured that asking them about it directly would possibly be…triggering for them.” She finished, nervously glancing up to see Zhuang Jie’s reaction. He was nodding contemplatively, unangered.

“That’s a fair assumption to make. When it comes to certain…details, you’re not wrong.” He clarified gravely, taking a moment before smiling lightly at the younger woman.

“But here’s the thing about Changbiyuan — you don’t know them well yet, but once you do, they’re an open book. Sometimes too much of one.” He said, and Wan Ji smiled back at him. It was sweet, hearing him talk about Changbiyuan. About Macaque, too, and seeing this…trust he was placing in her, a woman he basically just met. She briefly wondered just what she was missing.

“They definitely have many horrible memories, we both do. But they cherish the good ones with all of their heart, and want them to be known. If you want to ask them about their family…I think will make them really happy. Especially in this case. You’re someone we both hope to be close to.”

[rayalltheway]

Look in the mirror of my mind, turning the pages of my life, walking the path so many paced a million times

I know I’m sporadic with posting LWAU stuff nowadays but it still thrives

A cover for Part 2 of The Little Warrior AU, with the two old spirits

(This is inspired by “The Lovers” trailer btw)

[rayalltheway]

Okay let’s break down everything I love about this

- I love Qi Xiaotian and Long Xiaojiao just looking out from behind Zhuāng Jié like he’s already their grandpa:33333

- CHANGBIYUAN IS SO SO BEAUTIFUL SO FLUFFY AND SOFT LOOKING JUST PERFECTION AND ZHUANG LOOKS THE PERFECT MIX OF TIRED BUT SOFT AND SERIOUS AHHHHHH

- Just the expressions here are so unbelievably soft like - Chángbìyuán’s expressions and Zhuang’s gentle look back at them and then putting on that murder-glare as he watches over them sleeping I-

- The dialogue between them is just spot on this whole scene is canon now(cries)

@fre-dream Human Warrior watches over Super Powerful Monkey QQP while they sleep, which is the equivalent of a tiny dog watching over wealthy buff human owner, more at 11–

[rayalltheway]

Minor lmk s4 special spoilers//

Beach day old people anybody

[rayalltheway]

Young bi yuan

Hey LMK can I petition you to have a dual wielding character pls

I’m not an anime guy really but Demon Slayer motivated me to draw these cuz tbh it kinda slaps

+ Also bonus of an AU where young Zhuang Jie is there with them and Zhizhu

I call em the pepperblend trio (in a shippy sense as well)

[rayalltheway]

More LWAU stuff I forgot to post

1. Macaque helping Zhuang Jie out with his and Changbiyuan’s wedding, because he wants his dad to be happy becuase he can never pass up putting on a good show

2. P straight foward I drew Zhuang Jie as the Wolf for PiBTLW, tell me it doesn’t work sjnwhsbwhahah

[rayalltheway]

I am deceased, I have passed on, I am long for this world, spots take all my worldly possessions goodnight

Zaleť sokol, biely vták, ku môjmu milému, pozdravuj ho na stokrát, povedz tíško jemu, aby prišiel večer k nám, že ho pekne prosím, že ho veľmi rada mám, že ho v srdci nosím.

OCs + the little warrior AU belongs to @fre-dream

[rayalltheway]

“No matter what, I still want to be here with you. I will always, always, want to be here with you.”

What this whole AU has been really building up to, from where it all began

[rayalltheway]

Frilled Shark! Zhuāng Jié (LMK OC) before MerMay is over

(Liu Er could either be a shark pup or a funny lil octopus baby)

[rayalltheway]

For reasons I’ve decided to outline where I stand with my two main LMK OCs and having kids, to make it clear to everyone hopefully.

Cw// mentions of sex and producing children

First IMPORTANT CONTEXT: Changbiyaun and Zhuang Jie are (mostly) elderly characters and asexual queer platonic partners. They are eventually married and are emotionally and physically intimate with one another, but don’t go beyond a certain point. That was also the relationship Changbiyuan had with their late spouse Zhizhu. They don’t have a sexual relationship, and even if they did they probably couldn’t naturally produce children even if they wanted to, but that’s besides the point.

Anyway how Zhuang Jie and Changbiyuan both individually feel about having kids

Zhuang Jie: Before having his surrogate family, Zhuang Jie wasn’t emotionally or mentally available to entertain thoughts about having marriage or kids, given his bloody profession. But when he promised his mentor to take care of her younger sister and her children following her death, shedding the cold-blooded killer persona to become a family man was something that caused him quite a lot of inner turmoil, as he suddenly found that he liked having these relationships and maybe even wanted them, but the involvement of sex/romance and heteronormative way that they were expected to come about in the time he lived made him uncomfortable in a way he didn’t really understand, until Changbiyuan came along and expressed that they felt the same way. He truly came to love his surrogate children in a fatherly way, and you already know the story with Liu Er. All the children he has ever had in any AU have never been biologically related to him, and he’s happy with it that way.

Changbiyaun: They’ve never personally wanted kids. They are pretty good with kids, mainly due to having their nieces and nephews when they were alive, but being a parent themselves has just never been in the cards for them, and Zhizhu respected that. The situation with Macaque is different because by the time they meet him he’s a full grown adult who can take care of himself. They do love him like a son, since through Zhuang Jie he basically is, but their familial relationship isn’t based really on providing or caregiving or “bringing you into this world”, more just being available and there. I don’t mind AUs where kid Mac is involved, but I try to make it so that Zhuang Jie is always in the main caretaker and parent spot, if that makes sense (Changbiyuan and Zhuang Jie are in a partnership, so they’ll be there to help cuz that’s just they would do for the people they love)

So basically, biological kids for the LWAU duo are a no, even if it’s mainly because of the way I’ve constructed their characters, but yeah. It would just delegitimize a lot of what makes them them. In the main AU they’ve got their hands full with one emotionally damaged adoptive monkey son and being grandparent figures for basically everyone. And if you guys can respect that with me, you can respect that for other people no matter their reasoning. And if you can’t, go away.

[rayalltheway]

OHHHHH MY GOSH THIS IS SO COOL??? I LOVE THIS SO MUCH THANK YOU???

I’ve been thinking about these two and this scene SO HARD you don’t even know and they way you draw them is so SOFT THE HECK

Glad you like my OCs cuz I like em a lot myself HABSGVABA

@fre-dream Sorry if this is out of the blue but i had a very very strong urge from @ninja-knox-ur-sox-off  animatic (its so dang amazing btw..) to do a kinda..scene redraw?

I uh- hope you like it though! also kinda fits into the head-cannon voice for Chángbìyuán *finger guns?*

[rayalltheway]

A New Approach (LWAU Fic)

Aka, Zhuāng Jié (LMK OC) meets MK and the gang.

------

MK was trying to figure out how to function as a hero and as a mostly full-grown person by himself for more than a few minutes at a time. He really was. 

So the fact that the worst things seemed to happen when his friends were out of his general vicinity for as much as five seconds was seriously putting a damper on that endeavour.  

They had only left their last campsite half-a-day prior on their journey to the west (MK had spent a good part of those hours trying to think of a cool sequel name to give their adventure),  but a sudden engine problem with T.E.A. had forced them to take refuge at an abandoned mountainside castle so Sandy could fix it up, everyone else discussing staying there for the approaching night. 

“I dunno….” Pigsy huffed as everyone stood in the entryway of the castle, looking up at the old, likely structurally unsafe building apprehensively. “I thought the plan was to limit our stops more and more. Specially’ considering what we got on our heels.”

“Yeah, and we’re only a week away from Lantern City.” Mei chimed in, sitting on a rock and stretching out her legs after sitting in the van for the last several hours. “I want this to be over already….” She sounded particularly restless at that moment, which MK chalked up to van fever.

“To keep going would certainly be ideal…” Tang began, adjusting his glasses, looking out over the cliff the castle stood upon, built into the mountain. “But Lady Bone Demon’s power can only spread so fast across the world when she isn’t there herself, and we got a considerable head start.” He explained, going to Pigsy’s side in assurance. 

“Smart guy here is right.” Monkey King spoke up, drifting between Tang and Pigsy (inadvertently pushing the two apart, much to both their charaign) on his somersault cloud, which he had hardly left once he found himself able to summon it again earlier. “We can afford to stay here a night. Not like there’s anything out there we don’t already know about, or can’t see coming from miles away.” He continued, leaning casually back on his cloud.

His nonchalance earned another huff from an already-irritated Pigsy. “Yeah, you seem to know a LOT of things…” He grumbled, but everyone agreed to pitch camp, and Sandy was content to join them after finishing work on the van. 

The others entered the castle, intent on finding materials to start a fire – MK briefly hearing Monkey King muse that he might have recognized the castle as one he came upon during his own journey west, with Mei in turn remarking that the numerous signs of damage around the place was a fairly good indication of that idea. 

MK spent some time looking around the place, but he wasn’t too curious – night was coming, and given recent events, darkness in general was becoming something that MK was adding to his ever-growing list of anxieties. He didn’t feel nervous yet – Monkey King had to be right, there couldn’t be anyone else watching them that he didn’t already know about, but staying on the move mostly kept those thoughts at bay. Even so, he felt they were actually doing better than ever so far, given they had a head start they were only getting more miles on, and were about a week away from the Lantern City. 

MK felt himself become more at ease with that in mind – they were getting all the more closer to finally ending this nightmare. They could afford to have a spontaneous pit-stop, eat the rest of the mooncakes they got from Chang’e and pretend this was just a regular road-trip for a few hours – 

Oh, wow, it was cold here. 

MK felt himself shuddering as the sudden frigid draft pricked his fingers and neck. He let out a shaky breath as he quickly adjusted his jacket collar before jamming his hands under arms, turning back to call out to the others – not realising he had wandered into another room of the castle while lost in thought. 

“Heeyy, guys?” He called out, beginning to walk back from where he thought could hear the others, as it sounded like Monkey King and Mei were still arguing. 

“Come on pony girl, those wall-holes could of been left by anyone–”

A cracking sound filled the air, halting everyone where they stood, including MK – with more booming cracks followed by the castle groaning discontentedly. The air got colder, and sharper – and MK finally remembered where he had felt this chill before, just as a sharp, jagged spike of ice shot out from the floor at his feet. He yelped and fell on his behind, using his feet to propel himself backwards in fear. 

It was her power. The sounds of the castle straining and breaking against the ice continued all around as more began to jut out of the floor, and MK gasped when he saw the ice was growing near the entrance of the room. His legs practically pinwheeled as he leapt to his feet, running out with mere moment to spare, straining to hear where his friends were.

“Lady Bone Demon?! Is she here?!” MK heard Pigsy shouting, a couple rooms away.

“This is her power – it’s caught up to us!” He then heard Tang respond, before hearing his trademark shrieking telling everyone that they had to get out of there. Well, obviously.

“Wait, where’s MK?!” He then heard Mei yell. That was enough for him to finally snap out of his confused panic, running to where he thought their voices were coming from, feeling the ice nip his heels, catching the sight of ice crawling up the walls.

“Guys, get out! I’m right behind you!” MK called out, running as fast as he could to reach them. He almost had to bite back tears as he thought about how he still wasn’t back to full strength with his powers, and he couldn’t hope to tap into anything with this invasive, chilling bone demon power pressing around him. He turned a corner – and screamed when he saw an array of icy spikes blocking his path, and heading right for him as an extra touch. Whipping his head to look at the way only promised a similar fate – he had nowhere to go unless he jumped out the hall’s windows and hoped his powers wouldn’t falter on him. 

With the ice spikes reaching up to his head, he decided he’d take that chance. He began to move –

– Before he felt something grab the collar of his jacket and jerk him backwards. He didn’t anticipate the feeling of falling, panicking as his hold of gravity left him momentarily. But he soon found himself being held up on stone steps after hearing a doorway slide shut, realising he was dragged into a dark passageway going down that he hadn’t noticed, away from the path of ice. Any relief he might have felt was quickly dashed when he felt himself getting picked up once more, only able to let out a startled yelp as he was pinned against the wall with nothing to do but stare up at –

“Mac–”

“No.” 

MK’s panic was immediately silenced by the deep voice under the red hood he had glanced at, immediately making him assume this assailant was the shadow monkey in question, until his eyes actually took in the looming figure. While their expression was shrouded in shadow, MK could still see the shape of a face, and a dark, cold, human eye glaring at him in a way that utterly froze him where he was. It wasn’t Macaque – but whoever this was sure wasn’t any less intimidating. 

“You should know better than to isolate yourself, Monkie Kid.” They hissed through their teeth – before pulling MK from the wall and into the descending passage. 

——————————————————————————————————

MK soon found himself getting dragged by the male stranger through a secret entrance to the castle tunnelled through the mountain, coming into a small forest side clearing bathed in moonlight. It was there the man finally released him, MK recoiling out of his grasp and nearly tripping against a rock as he tried to resolve his bearings enough to take up a defensive stance. “What do you want?” He demanded. 

“A bit more caution from you, for a start.”  Came the man’s response, his hard but weary tone steeped in impatience as he scanned the exit they came from, seemingly checking whether or not they were followed. “You could have killed yourself in two completely different ways back there.”

“Hey, I’m the Monkie Kid, guy.” MK retorted, putting a fist to his chest as he mustered up as much of his superhero confidence as he could manage. “You don’t know that.” 

“You’d be surprised by what I do, kid.” The man shot back, still not looking at MK, circling the clearing expertly as he continued to examine for any sign of intrusion. With his back turned, MK finally noticed the long, bladed polearm weapon strapped to his back — the pointed reminder that he didn’t have his staff sinking into his gut. 

“I know that while you have power on your side, it’s not as much as it could be, thanks to her.” The man continued, and MK’s eyebrows shot up, and an icy chill passed through him, thinking of the pain in his head whenever Lady Bone Demon was around. But he didn’t feel it now, so…

“How do you know Lady Bone Demon? O-or me?” He asked, his voice shaking despite himself.

“I’ve been following her trail for a long time, and yours for days.” His blunt reply came as he pressed his ear against a tree, while MK did a double take at that last bit. 

“Hah??”

After a moment on his end, the man seemed satisfied that they were alone, standing back upright and turning so MK could feel that glare on him again – but rather than threatening, it felt more…scolding, something like the looks Pigsy would give him when he slacked off instead of delivering his noodle orders. 

“Nice to know you never even noticed.” Came the man’s chiding tone – and MK, in spite of this being a complete stranger with no reasonable authority over him, felt himself shrink a little. 

“You’re dealing with a spirit, not just a demon.” He continued, and with that baffling statement spoken, he turned to face MK completely, throwing back his hood. “So you and your friends are going to have to get better at knowing when you’re being watched by one.”

He was…old. A truly old man, with at least a decade on Pigsy or Tang – wrinkles lining his sharply handsome features, with long grey hair partly tied in a bun on the back of his head. Strangely, he wore a suit of armour under his weatherworn red cloak – the traditional kind of armour that MK recognized from illustrations in Journey to the West, but much more simple and way more worn out. Monkey King always wore clothes from centuries in the past, but this guy fully looked like just stepped out of a completely different time period. 

But aside from the dated fashion, he would look like a completely normal human…if it wasn’t for the fact that his left eye, which had two jagged red scars running over it, was a empty black, with an glowing red pinprick where an iris and pupil should be – directed at MK in a piercing glare.

“…..What??” MK wondered aloud, his mind spinning at the assault of all this new, confusing information. “Why would – who – ok, time out.” The young man stammered out, shaking his head and throwing up his hands. “So, apparently you’ve been following us, but you’re not with Lady Bone Demon, and just now you kidnapped me to…to give me advice?” He questioned, fully vexed. 

“To get you out of there.” The man replied as he pointed into the distance, MK looking behind him at the castle – it was now completely overtaken by ice that slowly spread over the rest of the mountain. “You couldn’t have foreseen this.” He explained, MK looking back at him quizzically. “Something new has set Lady Bone Demon off. It will slow back down soon, but it won’t stop. Though, her power is still escapable for now.”

“Wait, you – you only got ME away?!” MK protested, officially becoming angry now. “What about –“

“Your friends are fine.” The man stated, stopping MK.  “I saw them leaving the castle, they’re looking for you.” He paused before nodding in though after a moment, taking his eyes off MK to adjust his right wrist guard. “It’ll be easier to explain things when you’re all together.” He said, more to himself than to MK.

MK, for his part, stared at the man…but now felt his sense of trepidation was slowly waning. Most new people he met these days tried to kill him – but this stranger really might have just saved his life back there. It suddenly seemed this whole drag-around and lecturing was his way of…helping.

“Who are you?” MK finally asked. 

The man’s gaze quickly darted back up to meet MK’s, who instinctively stiffened at the stony expression completed by the man’s glare. His eyes were intent and predatory as they studied the younger one, like those of a hawk. 

“Are you frightened?” He asked, with an interrogative edge. 

“W-What? No!” Came MK’s immediate defensive reply, but the man’s unchanging expression put a crack in that facade quickly. 

“….Okay, yes. Why?” MK asked, returning the man’s look with his own suspicious look.

“Because you should be.” The man replied, taking a step closer to the nonplussed MK – 

– Before the impact an unstoppable force meeting rock struck the ground between the two of them, winding MK and making him stagger backwards, while the man dug his feet into the ground and drew his guandao in a single, swift motion, facing two figures that MK quickly recognized.

“Wait, M-“ he started. 

“Get away from him!” Yelled the voice of Mei, her blade drawn and eyes glowing a ferocious electric green. Next to her, Monkey King raised himself up from the kneeling position he landed in, his teeth bared ferociously.

“I have had it with you, you shady, sixed-eared–“ Monkey King snarled – before actually registering the man in front of him, who had lowered his weapon upon seeing who the new arrivals were.

“…Random old guy?” The monkey finished, dropping his aggressive posture in bemusement.

Mei was less placated, still pointing her sword at the man, while MK heard the distant sound of the team’s van bursting through the trees, coming to a halt as Sandy, Pigsy, and Tang burst out hurriedly.

“MK! Are you alright?!” Pigsy shouted, him, Tang, and Sandy making their way over to him in concern and looking towards the one sided stand-off with Mei and this stranger in confusion. 

“You do have a bold heart, Young Mei. You should save that for when you really need it.” The man said towards the dragon girl, spinning his guandao once before positioning it upright next to him. Mei only bristled further in response. “How do you know my name?!” Mei growled, thrusting her blade forward, the end coming to life with that familiar green glow. 

“Mei, wait!” MK called out, and Mei did turn to him at that, if only in confusion. 

“MK, what’s going on here? And who the heck are you??” Pigsy questioned the man irately, directing everyone’s accusing gazes. The man surveyed each of their faces with, his stony expression unchanging – before landing on MK’s unsure expression. Surprisingly, his own softened by a degree. He shook his head, and raised up his hands.

“Look, it’s a long story, but to keep it short – I’m not good at this.” The man began, kneeling to place his guandao slowly on the ground, keeping his arms above his head as he stood back up, facing the group. “But I know what hunts you all. By coincidence, I have walked along the path that intends to put an end to what she is for a while now. And I didn’t know anyone else was, until now, so…” The man trailed off, glancing off and pressing his lips together, looking conflicted for a moment…before dropping his head with a sigh, stepping back, and giving the group a greeting bow.

“I am here to help you, MK. All of you.” He states, directly towards the core of the group. 

Everyone was silent, and a bit hesitant – before turning to MK to see his reaction.

“…Oh.” MK sounded numbly after a moment, before dropping his arms lazily as he arched a brow at the man. “Oh. Why didn’t you just start with that?” He asked. 

The man’s eyebrow twitched with an untold emotion, before he sighed, putting his fingers on the ridge of his nose. “Like I said, I’m not good at this.” He responded, murmuring something under his breath. MK thought he heard him say a name…Chang something. 

“Alright, gramps –” Monkey King suddenly spoke up, cutting through the moment. “Whatever it is you’re good at, you’re lucky I didn’t kill you just now." Everyone looked to see his suspicious expression directed at the old warrior, his bafflement set aside as he moved to be in front of MK. “So you know about Lady Bone Demon, and showed up just after her power appeared where it shouldn’t? Real convenient, that.” He challenged.

A silent stare down ensued, and MK looked over his master’s shoulder — honestly shocked to see how the man was indeed matching Monkey King’s golden glare, without even flinching. 

“Uh – okay, hold on now – “ And then another surprise appeared when Tang opted to step between the two, halting whatever friction was starting to build. He gave a still-glowering Monkey King a shaky smile before clearing his throat as he turned to the man. 

“I think what Monkey King means is, if you really do have more, uh…expertise when it comes to Lady Bone Demon, then we’d be glad to accept your help – but we’ve also been victims of her trickery. How…exactly are you planning to show us we can trust you?”

The clearing was silent in the pause that followed, everyone waiting with bated breath to see the Warrior’s potential reply. He, for his part, kept up that frown that MK was starting to think was just his natural expression, before lowering his eyes in thought. But before he could speak, any ensuing conversation was interrupted by a series of loud booms sounding in the air. Everyone turned to see the castle practically breaking in half, the ice splintering the supports and sending the lower half of the structure crashing down the mountain – a sight punctuated by icy spikes climbing up the nearby cliff, towards them. The group quickly began to step back.

“Uh, maybe we can save this for when we get out of here?” Mei suggested, and they all heard the van horn honking, turning to see Sandy had already gotten into the driver's seat.

“Hop on in, guys! You too, sir!” Sandy called out, and everyone began to follow suit – until MK had a thought, and turned to the man.

“Uh, quick question – you said something about spirits earlier…do you know how to, like, uh – I dunno, sense this stuff?” MK asked, pointing to the encroaching ice. “To sense anything all spooky and weird and Lady-Bone Demony after us?”

The man took a moment to think again, before letting out a resigned huff. “I’m not the expert at it — but I can do it well enough to get you all to safety.” He responded.

“But…there is?” MK questioned, catching the way he worded that. “An expert?”

Before the elder one could respond, the van horn honked again, more continuously.

“MK, come on! We gotta get the brick outta here!” Mei yelled from the open back door, and the two could both see the grass frosting over.

MK gave the man one fully purposeful look. “You promise to help us?” 

“I swear it.” the warrior responded, resolute.

“What is your name?”

“Zhuāng Jié, kid.” He stated, collecting his guandao from the ground.

“Do you like Monkey Cop movies?”

“I – what?” He looked perplexed.

“Good enough, lets go!” MK decided, running to the car with their new teammate behind him. “Pigsy, move! Mr. Zhuāng Jié here needs to sit in the front!”

“What?!?”

[rayalltheway]

This is just a nick I'm saying but was Samurai Jack sort of a big inspiration for creating Zhuang Jie and The Little Warrior AU as a whole because...I see similarities-

In some ways, yeah, though a lot of what you may be noticing might just be a coincidence on my part. I kinda realized later that the general concepts have some similarities, with warriors who lost their homes getting trapped in another “world” and wandering around trying to get back, and I actually hc Zhuang Jie with Phil Lemarr’s voice for Jack in a relative sense. Though I think the most inspiration I’ve taken has been for the sake of Zhuang Jie (and Macaque’s) characters for the AU, specifically from the first half of the infamous Season 5 of the show. The world-weary, cynical and kinda broken state of mind Jack has for that bit translates well into what I had in mind for how Zhuang Jie is at the beginning of the AU. In a way, he goes through the same kind of arc Jack does in that season, though in Zhuang Jie’s case he completely started out in that dark place before people and circumstances brought about change for him and eventually turn him into a more hopeful and heroic individual. Though while Zhuang Jie ends up in a far future from his original time as well, he doesn’t want or need to go back.

So basically, it’s served as some inspiration, though there are many more things I’ve taken note from for the sake of the AU, since Samurai Jack isn’t the only show that presents the kind of elements you’re maybe noticing that exist in my AU.

Though I do also really like to think about the “leave here now, and live” scene for the AU cuz that’s exactly the kind of ruthlessness I try to capture for Zhuang Jie.