#mt huaguo

[ryversreality]

🐚🍋‍🟩updated mainsona ref sheet 🌊🏖️

[szynkaaa]

Black Myth: Wukong Journal Entries Part 1

Summarizing some of the journal entries that I found interesting because why not fanfic research?? who knows not me

All the journal entires can also be read on the fandom wiki page

Starting with the Mount Huaguo monkeys because I too, am wondering how they were faring after SWK died.

Circus Monkey (chapter 3 New West)

After Mt. Huaguo was destroyed, the Macaque Chief (flying monkey we fight three times in Chapter 3) led a bunch of monkeys away

arrived at Flaming Mountain (chapter 5) but a plague broke out and Macaque Chief asked for the sick monkes to be tossed into a called

This did not like that, so they decided to stop following the Macaque Chief and they wandered around

lived among humans, pretended to be monkey performers, did not make good money, so they decided to rob the audience while performing.

they killed them, stole their things and moved to the next city

The moved tot he New West, heard Macaque Chief is there too but avoiding them because he feels guilty

circus monkey became circus monks

Tenner (chapter 5 Flaming Mountain)

Centuries ago, Court razed Mt Huago once more

lots of monkey left the home after they heard of SWK death, and because SWK was buddy buddy with the Bull King they decided to go to Mt. Huago

Bull King hated monkeys because of SWK betrayal LOL, but he still gave them shelter and the monkeys were often bullied by other yaoguais

The Flaming Mountain Keeper (dude who had the hots for Princess Iron Fan) treated them with kindness and gave them food and support

Plague struck, monkeys fur fell out and they had sores and boils all over their skin spreading across their back

Macaque Chief casted the infected into the Furnace Valley. Dude said not my circus not my monkeys lol

Keeper came and saved them and cured them. Wings spread from the boils off their back

Keeper taught them how to fly and enlisted them as his minions

first thing they did was purge the Macaque Chief's camp, killed all the other monkeys, only leaving the Chief alive, who then fled to the New West

Macaque Chief (Chapter 3 New West)

Yellobrow helped Macacque Chief retracting his black wings

Macaque was a Chief under SWK

Yellowbrow offers the Macaque Chief to stay and help him rebuild the Thunderclap Temple

"If you had the abilities of that monkey who wreaked such havod in the Celestial Palace, it would have been others who would have suffered." - Yellowbrow

My personal thoughts and musings:

based on the entries from Tenner, I guess it's been more than 100 years since SWK died, I recall reading somewhere it was 270 years but I don't remember where I got that number, so if anyone knows let me know. I like that they added information on what happened to the monkeys at Mt. Huaguo. Chapter 6 felt very Unfinished (fitting title) in terms of also environment - there weren't much enemies around beside the court soldiers and bosses to fight. And when I first walked into the waterfalls cave, my first thought was how empty and abandoned it look like. There are stone tables and chairs and peaches scattered around, but it looks very much like no one has been there for a very long time.

Also the Macaque Chief is NOT the six-eared Macaque, he died in JTTW killed by SWK.

So we know that

SWK left the court and buddhahood behind to just chill with his homies

in retalition the Court started killing his monkey kind

SWK killed himself in order to be completely free

the court very likely continued to massacre and raze through Mt. Huaguo

which then led to Macaque Chief leading some other monkeys away to find a new home

When the Old Monkey is telling the stories of SWK and sending out monkeys to retrieve artifacts, we see a bunch of other monkeys holding staffs too (spot the anime protagonist lmfao)

we do not see or find any other monkeys when we arrive at Mt. Huaguo

My theories and headcanons:

Without Sun Wukong's protection, Yaoguai's run rampagne and the monkeys are not able to fully defend themselves

also when we arrive and on our way to the Stone, we get attacked by court soldiers

My theory is that because they know SWK will be reincarnated, and they want to prevent that, they have soldiers stationed there to attack whenever someone triest to obtain all armor parts and reach the Stone with SWK remains

hence also why the monkeys had to leave, because they would get attacked by court soldiers on sight

I don't think ALL of them left, we do still see monkeys at the beginning of the game

Overall when I played through Ch.6 there was a also a strong feeling of excitement of reaching the end of the journey soon, but also sad because it Mt Huaguo just felt so empty. it's supposed to be SWK's home and he wanted to leave buddhahood behind to be with his kin. To me, that already paints an image of mt Huaguo, being a lively and happy place.

I do wonder what is gonna happen next now that SWK is back. I suppose words will go out that the Monkey King is back, and that some of the monkeys will try to return again? I also wonder what the DO was thinking when traveling and having to fight his own kin. Does he know the history of his mountain? Hopefully the DLC will answer some more questions for us

And that's it about the monkeys! I'm still reading the Journal Entries, and will tackle the Tigers from Chapter 2 next!

[axl-ul]

While editing and writing I realised how much I forgot to show more of Wukong and Sanzang's relationship. I messed up. Their father/son relationship is a strong drive for them. And personally I like such a relationship because you can't exactly point who is the father and who's the son until the end

[lavendermonkie]

title: Resolute Mind I'd like to believe that he grew up with the other monkeys on mt Huaguo, determined to leave on his journey as soon as possible...

[sketching-shark]

you know the king has bad taste in men when somehow bajie is the best option out of the lot of them (didnt leave huaguo for dead. didnt kill like 70% of huaguo. bar is in the ground.)

ASFDGRTHDESWER%Q$EWQ

ANON. RUDE. BUT SO VALID. BAR IS INDEED IN HELL.

I couldn't help but be reminded of this post @antidotefortheawkward made some time ago regarding the zhuhou vs. jiankong debate in the "you vs. the guy he tells you not to worry about" format which you can view here:

And while I do find Zhu Bajie's plight in this pretty funny, it does pay to remember that he has the very real comfort of knowing that no matter what at least he has the major advantage of "didn't try to murder Sun Wukong while he was begging me to find a different solution to our differences" and "didn't firebomb Mt. Huagoushan."

That said, as always mad respect to the jiankongers for from what I understand having the common understanding that Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen couldn't really be anything but bitter exes at best after the burning of the Monkey King's beloved home. We love it when both sides of a ship get to hate each other for legitimate reasons <3.

Also & along those lines, and while I don't know if this is true for sure, I also find it pretty neat and really funny that Lotus Lantern retellings may have been the first spark to inspire what is now at least a couple of stories of Zhu Bajie and Sun Wukong taking care of children together. Jokes about Erlang Shen and the Monkey King getting into a custody battle over Liu Chenxiang are evergreen, but throw Zhu Bajie into the mix and it really becomes this incredible drama of "my ex bestie and his new bestie gang up against me & win guardianship over my nephew who hates me for unrelated reasons (don't worry about it)."

You do have to feel a bit bad for Erlang Shen though...with Xiyouji, Lotus Lantern and that story about him marrying and soon after separating from a dragon princess who was apparently pretty abusive, he really is among his other titles like the most divorced god ever lol.

[margueritedaisies]

let them cuddle 😭 they deserve to be happy

Wjsjsjajs its been awhile since Wukong kept in touch with his feelings and being affectionate. So he's kinda rusty. But out of them two I think Sanzang is actually the touch starved one knowing his background and childhood. Wukong lived enough years of experience and had his monkeys in Mt. Huaguo to give and receive affection. So Wukong is trying despite how out of character this is for him. Although deep down he had always been quite an affectionate monkey even if he was roughed up through centuries.

[sixthear]

Liu'er immediately brightens as Macaque changes tune. Their ears twitch excitedly, and their tail stands straight up into the air. A small grin even spreads across their face, equal parts surprised and absolutely delighted. So he is going to teach them?

But then the older monkey is pausing to say something else, and what he says next only has them stare blankly up at him. What else were they supposed to do, while waiting for either the rest of his troop to arrive or a way for them to be sent back? Is there even a way back home?

"Well," they start, but then pause. How are they supposed to respond to that? "...I've only played with Shihou before. I don't think he's here." And even then, most of their games these days were training.

They nervously pick at the fur on the back of their hands. Was that the wrong answer? "Uhm. I normally just read. Or pick flowers.. I don't see a lot of flowers around here, though..."

Anyone else and Macaque would refuse, get annoyed, leave. But it's himself.

"Well, I don't suppose I could show you some tricks every once in a while," he says, scratching his cheek. "And—"

He looks away, thinks about the words he could say next. The obligation breaks his heart. Macaque has never grown up with family; it's just been Wukong and the Brotherhood and the regular monkeys of Flower Fruit Mountain, and he's never admired the fucking drop-everything-for-your-elders mentality he's seen so many humans have. Liu'er is a child. He should not be so ready to fight. But how's he supposed to say, let them surpass you? and leave you behind?

"—you're doing stuff other than training, right," he finishes, lamely. "There's probably kids your age in the city, so."

[the-monkey-ruler]

Sun Wukong Part 1 (1956) 孫悟空 第一部

Director: Kiyoshi Saeki 

Starring: Fushimi Sentaro / Tonomiya Hideki / Oizumi Akira / Yoshida Yoshio 

Country/Region of Manufacture: Japan 

Language: Japanese 

Date: 1956-11-28 (Japan) 

Duration: 61

Type: Retelling

Summary:

Part 1--Once upon a time, long ago. In China, a lone stone monkey came out of a giant rock on Mt. Huaguo. This stone monkey, who is familiar with the art of 72 ways of change, calls himself Great Sage Son Goku, and with a staff in his hand, he rides the somersault cloud which can fly 188,000 li at a time, and commits evil deeds. Do your best. Seeing this, The Josei Gyokuten in the heavenly palace made Goku a peach of perpetual youth and the keeper of Peach Gardens, but on the day of the banquet of the gods Peach Party, he devoured the guests' feast. Finally, he was imprisoned in the hands of Shaka Nyorai and imprisoned in Ishiyama Gogyoyama, where the hands turned into. 

Five hundred years later, Kannon Bodhisattva of Nankai, who heard a voice asking for Goku's salvation, and Totsuchi Great Tang Province, who sees that there is a color of repentance and goes to Tenjiku to retrieve the sutra, forgives the sin on the condition of Sanzo Hoshi's accompaniment. Soon after, Goku takes control of the white horse that Sanzo is riding and departs. 

He was looking for an inn in a certain village, but was told that there was a monster there. The man named Ino, who was adopted by the village chief Kouta as his son-in-law, is the person in question. Goku uses his special technique of transformation to finally subdue this pig monster. He was originally a resident of the heavenly world, but by order of Kannon, he was given the name Hakkai and joined one of his companions. 

On the way to hurry on the journey, the flow of sand called Ryusha River. The kappa monster appears again and confronts Goku and Hakkai. However, with the news of Egishi Sonja, this monster Sagojyo also joined them, and the party of four people gathered together. Back in Kitayama, there were lights of houses on the way. Sanzo Hoshi, who went to beg for food, becomes a decoy for the seven bewitching beauties.

Source: https://movie.douban.com/subject/24383414/

Link: N/A

[szynkaaa]

Black Myth: Wukong Journal Entries Part 2

Part 1 talks about what happened to the monkeys from Mount Huaguo after SWK died

Part 2 will be about the bosses you fight in chapter 6 to get the Golden Suozi armor parts, I will be linking back to the fandom wiki for the full journal entries and some videos. I highly recommend reading the articles in full because it also talks about what kind of person Sun Wukong is/was.

Sun Wukong's armor were scattered around Mt. Huaguo and turned into creatures after he died.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in JTTW, a lot of things are drawn up from my own conclusion.

Long text so everything is under cut!

Gold Armored Rhino

SWK has a heart of gold, lungs of silver, head of copper and iron body from being in the Furnace for 40 days

Can still feep pain when injured though

was fed iron pellet and moletn copper by mountain deities and keepers when he was buried under Five-Element Mountain for 500 years

his monkeys didn't visit him :(

also headband curse so tight his head would resmeble a gourd ouch

Golden Armored Rhino mirrors the Great Sage's indomitable spirit, never yielding to defeat

"[...] Even if its horn was shattered, it never lost the resolve to charge into battle, standing resolute and read to fight anew.

In the game, you have to shatter his horn with heavy attacks in order to be able to do a lot of damage, but the horn grows back after few seconds, so it's rise and repeat. Also the location of the armor is littered with dead soldier bodies. After the fight ZBJ says that the bosses were killing the soldiers because the soldiers were trying to get the armor pieces. Dialogue starts at 4:22

Cloudtreading Deer

Sommersault Cloud made Wukong's body invulnerable and movement agile, but his lack of patience would lead to trouble

this whole paragraph: "Immortals often say that Sun Wukong was at his most mischievous and ruthless when he was the Monkey King. Yet, during that time, aside from his battles with the Celestial Court, he rarely harmed other beings. It was only after he became a disciple, following his master and gaining direction, that he developed many thunderous methods. Stealing, robbing, kidnapping, killing, arson, and destroying mountains and caves—all became second nature to him."

Cloudtreading Deer is transformed from his Lotus Silk Cloudtreaders (the things protecting his legs)

represents both sides of his nature: free-spirited and agile nature and his inherent ferocity

Cloudtreading Deer battle has two phases, the first one where it casts stupid tornados and also moves around very fast and through the sky. I fucking hated that phase LMFAO. Second phase was easier, but also spooky the boss turns into some blood deer and it's giving me massive bloodborne vibes. Transformation starts at 8:10 in the video. Basically, phase 1 is the free spirited and agile nature of wukong, and phase 2 is his ruthleness and ferocity

Feng-Tail General

Learned human manners and speech during his travels and when he studied Dao at Mt. Lingtai

"When he left in a huff at Yingchou Stream, the Old Loong King reasoned with him, and he returned to admit his mistakes. He abandoned arbitrary actions and always heeded sound advice." -> Before they met the White Dragon horse at the Yingchou stream, Tripitaka and SWK were ambushed by bandits, and SWK killed them all, to which Tripitaka was not happy about. They fought, SWK left. He then chats with the Old Loong King of the stream, who also told SWK that there was a White Dragon and his master might be in danger, so SWK goes back to Tripitaka. Also in his absence that's when Guanyin gave Tripitaka the headband to be put onto SWK

"He forged brotherly bonds with yaoguais, engaged in jest with immortals, and exchanged banter with Bodhisattvas. His amiable nature endeared him to all, who were ever willing to offer their assistance. He had a sense of decorum and propriety." -> not much for me to add there, he becomes sworn brothers with few yaoguai, like the Bull King or Erlang Shen

"He had the ability to summon wind and rain and could seek out loongs. He could transform into guais for scouting or borrow vessels when needed. In times of trouble, he sought the aid of higher beings, seldom relying on brute force."

-> truth lol, like the amount of times he had to get help from other deities to beat up an enemy and save his master

"This Feng-Tail General, with multiple eyes on his head, had a keen understanding of both himself and his enemies. He was adept at leaping and dodging, avoiding powerful foes whenever possible, and displayed a touch of the monkey's cleverness. It's no wonder that the crown on the monkey's head grasped his nimble thoughts so well."

This is the only boss you didn't have to fight, I saw it more as a stamina / health test to test your built lol. Basically what you have to do in the game is jump onto it's head and hold onto the antenna while the grasshopper is jumping three times, and then pull the antennas out while not getting burned. And yeah in the map he is just leaping and jumping around. Honestly not even sure if you can try to fight it, I didn't bother to find out.

Emeral-Armed Mantis

"Tang Monk often advocated for kindness, while Sun Wukong was known for his punishment of evil."

"At Kui-Mu Wolf's abode, upon learning of the princess's suffering and her reluctance to leave due to her feelings for the yaoguai and children bore for him, Sun Wukong ordered Bajie to throw the yaoguai's children from the height, reducing them to two lumps of flesh." -> Referencing the arc in ch. 38-31 in JTTW, the Yellow Robe Demon, also known as Kuimulang (will abbreviate as KML). KML is one of the 28 constellations, and he had a lover. in JTTW she was reincarnated as a princess, gets kidnapped by KML, married for 13 years and they have two kids. It's those two kids where SWK orders ZBJ to throw them off.

"At Old Yang's house, after learning of the unfilial deeds of the old couple's son and seeing how they indulged him for the sake of incense offerings, he proceeded to behead the son despite Old Yang's pleas." -> Ch. 52 in JTTW, screenshot taken from here

"Sun Wukong's nature was to show no mercy to villains and evildoers; he delighted in eradicating evils and yaoguais. The numerous blood debts on the journey to the West, though each had its reasons, were mostly attributed to the monkey.

The world knew of the other three pieces of armor, but they were unaware that the mantis was actually transformed from the Great Sage's gauntlet. It seems the gauntlet inherited the Great Sage's ruthlessness, for it played tricks on Zhu Bajie with the same cunning."

The last bit refers to when ZBJ was trying to catch the mantis but it jumped into his mouth down his throat into his stomach instead and the DO had to go inside his mouth to fight the mantis.

The first half of the battle is super easy imo but then after you cut down certain % of his HP, the mantis gets a lot more aggressive. While the mantis was inside ZBJ stomach, it is cutting on its wall, hence ZBJ is doubling over in pain. So I guess this refers to how ruthless SWK can be

[axl-ul]

Happy WBW! 🥰 Which lands in your world are the most dangerous for people to visit and why?

Hello, dear! Thanks for the ask <33

I'd say it's mainly these: (excluding any domains which are directly under the control of gods/deities for obvious reasons - so no various parts of Heaven or Underworld etc. and also no Blackworld since the last one exists beyond the physical sphere)

Bujan (read: Buyan) - it's where Koščej the Deathless has his soul hidden. The place is an island and many boats where destroyed by dangerous and terrible sea monsters which guide the waters. Apart from them, there's also a giant snake and a bird which guard the island itself since the All-stone (Alatyr/the White Stone) is said to be buried there, too, though Koščej would say he's never seen them before during his stay at the island.

Mount Huaguo (at its peak/prime days) - it is a mountain located at yet another island, this time, however, beyond the wild oceans and seas in the Far East. It's inhabited by mainly by the monkey demons under the command of their leader the Monkey King. Before his rebellion against the Daoist deities he was known to be quite friendly but only to allies. Any invader with hostile intentions (and also humans themselves, since the demons used to feed on them from time to time) were often met with a fate horrible than death.

Black Forest of Baba Yaga - a location under the control of a powerful witch Baba Yaga herself. Similarly to the previously mentioned Monkey King (though he nowadays avoid any sort of meat consumation and is also much less violent), Baba Yaga eats humans and guards her mysterious hut on a chicken foot. Besides using her own powers and resources, Baba Yaga also “employs“ the Three Riders - the White Rider (checks the forest in the morning, rides a white Navian horse), the Red Rider (goes around the noon, rides the red Navian horse with a golden mane) and the Black Rider (checks in the evening, rides a black Navian horse)

BONUS since this place is speculated whether it truly exists or not within the universe: Piaskograd/City of Sands/Lathar - a city which is able to built itself from the sands in the middle of a desert, yet nobody seems to inhabit the place. The place is said to manifest itself to the stranded people and whoever enters is devoured and becomes one with the nomadic place unable to ever leave.

[alvie-pines]

giant alien war machines are no match for one pissed off hyper murder monkey who feels his little ones are threatened

the swk/optimus prime fight isnt as interesting as megatron vs nezha. wukong would beat his aft lmao

imagine this: great autobot leader optimus prime, staggering under the weight of 600 rambunctious monkey clones, then getting smacked on the head with a comically large iron staff

the fight would only drag on because wukong thinks its funny. and hes right.

[sixteenthchapel]

Hello! Just wanted to say that I'm in love with your art and ur one of the people that made me fall in love with jttw jdjdje Also ur characterization of Wukong and Tripitaka makes their dynamic so charming and amusing 😭 (They r so dumb god)

Random question! Do you have a favourite moment in the book?

First of all, thank you so much!! oh my gosh that is so kind TToTT I'm really happy you liked them!! The pilgrims all being dumb together is my favorite thing hhaha As to your question, oh man, absolutely. Its more a bunch of moments all from one chapter. My favorite chapter of the book goes something like this: And I've said this before but should say again, it has been several years since I read the novel cover to cover, so I may not remember all the details just right, but as I recall it, my favorite chapter is the one immediately following the story of the White Bone Devil, which is one of the most famous chapters. But to me, the story of the White Bone Devil is nothing compared to their ridiculous conflict with Lord Yellow Robe, Kui Mulang.

After Monkey is banished by Tripitaka, he goes back to Mt Huaguo, leaving Pigsy and Sandy to look after the priest. Which goes about as well as you'd think. Pigsy says he'll go find food, then just takes a nap, Sandy I think goes looking for him, and when they both don't come back for a while, Tripitaka goes looking for them and ends up walking DIRECTLY into this demon's lair.

When Sandy and Pigsy learn of the priest's capture, they attempt to stage a rescue. During the middle of the fight, Pigsy thinks they're going to lose so tells Sandy to cover him, he has to go take as shit IMMEDIATELY. Runs into the bushes, and escapes all the while Sandy is captured and yelling at him for being a fat, useless, coward (rude.. but in this case very true lol)

Pigsy, now alone and unsure what to do, flies to Mt Huaguo to find Monkey and ask him to come back and save everyone. He tells him everything that's happened, and that Trip has been captured and will surely die if he doesn't help. Even after hearing all that, Monkey refuses. He's still upset that Trip dismissed him and thinks dying and reincarnating ought to teach the brat a lesson! Pigsy gives up at first, skulking off and mumbling to himself about what a flea-ridden bastard Monkey is... this is overheard by some of Monkey's minions who deliver the news to the king himself. Monkey orders Pigsy to be brought back for execution LOL Thinking on his feet, Pigsy tries to redirect Monkey's ire, and thinks one of my favorite lines in the novel. "A warrior is more likely to answer a challenge than an invitation".

He tells Monkey that it wasn't him... This demon, Lord Yellow Robe, he's the one who called Monkey a weak, pathetic, cowardly fool.

And this makes Monkey ENRAGED

Monkey springs into action, flying to confront this demon. Screaming about all the nasty things this demon said about him while Lord Yellow Robe has no idea who the hell this monkey is or why he's so pissed off.

And boy, does Monkey go HARD on this guy. After he beats him up and along with a bunch of his soldiers, the demon retreats into his lair and Monkey is left out. He can't find a way to get to him, so instead takes out his anger on Kui Mulang's wounded but still living soldiers, killing them all. He meets back up with Pigsy and Sandy and tells them his brilliant idea to draw the demon back out.

By taking his half-human children and killing them outside the gates, hoping that will enrage their father enough to come back out. Even his companions think he's malding a little hard

This has gone on awhile so to cut the rest short, Monkey is eventually "victorious". I think I recall a subplot about Trip being turned into a tiger too, and there was this captured princess subplot too.

But this is my fave chapter lol. Basically "Monkey Accidentally Saves The Day By Avenging An Imagined Insult To Himself"

Peak Monkey behavior, absolute mad lad, everyone is an idiot. Its just a mess and I love it.

[winterpower98]

Everyone welcome Rascal!

A new OC created with @elianaroselight

More about his background story here

And thank you to Eliana again for writing this:

The last thing Macaque, Wukong and Cherry had expected was to find a young demon child who decided Cherry was his mother. It took about a week for the illness affecting the poor thing to be conquered. Within that same week, Wukong and Macaque found a potential lead as to where the child came from. They had invited Cherry, as the one who has been caring for the little rascal, as Macaque began to call him. This is what lead to them walking up a the pathway to a home that looked torn apart and desolate.

Windows were shattered, the door was partly ripped off it's hinges and things were littered everywhere. Wukong looks into the home with his golden vision to see if there was someone. He was shocked to see someone sitting in a chair, almost unmoving. He calls out to them and soon the person shuffles over. Macaque's ears flick from the heavy breathing and grunting this person was making. A young female monkey came over, looking fearful until her eyes land in Wukong. "Lord Monkey King!" She says in surprise and tries to bow, only to stop as she winces from obvious pain. "Hello, my dear. Have we met?" She nods. "yes. I was a child when my family and I moved away. But you gave me my name as a way of remembering where I was born. Hua." His eyes widen. "Hua! Your family left 60 or so years ago. Your mother was pregnant and you had a younger brother, right?" She nods, smiling. "Yes, my lord. That is correct." He looks around. "where is the rest of your family? What happened here?" Her expression softens into something akin to sadness.

"Follow me....I'll show you." She whispers softly before leading the three towards the back. The visitors gasp as they see 5 graves. "Here they are, my lord." Her voice shakes. "we were attacked about 10 days ago by a rogue group of demons. As far as I know, I'm the only survivor." She coughs painfully. Wukong helps her stay up. " I fear I am not long for this world, but there is something I must do first. Though I cannot say what it is as I don't even know." She sighs before moving to in front of the nearest grave.  "when we left Mt Huaguo, my mother was pregnant with my younger sister. She grew up on stories we told her of you and loved those stories dearly. She married and after many years of trying, finally was able to have a son. He was about 8 months old when we were attacked. My sister disappeared with him when we were attacked, likely to take him to Mt. Huaguo to protect him. Some of the demons were able to catch her and bring her back, but we don't know what had happened with my nephew. I fear he may be dead." Her shoulders shake as tears fell from her face.

Wukong rubs her back and lets her sit as her legs give out. Macaque walks over and kneels next to her. "Actually. That is kind of why we are here. Your nephew. Is this him?" He shows her a photo he had taken on his phone of the child they found. She gasps and reaches for it in shock. "Kai Hu! You found him?!" She looks between the two monkies, who nod back at her. Her tears fall harder and she looks at the photo again for a moment before looking back at Wukong. "Lord Monkie King! Please! I beg of you! Care for him, please! He needs your help!" Wukong opens his mouth to speak but was interrupted when another voice spoke up. "Of course." They look over at Cherry who walked over and laid her hand on Hua's. "He has become attached to me, believing I am your sister. I will take care of him in her place. I promise he will be safe, loved and grow up happy. I swear." Hua smiles warmly and lays her head on Wukong's shoulder. "Thank you. Thank you. My family and I can rest peacefully knowing he is cared for. Especially my sister." As she finishes talking, she closes her eyes and gives a final sigh in peace.

Cherry cries heavy tears after they buried Rascal's aunt as the twin now understood how devastating the situation was for the kid and his family. When she got home, there are still tears on her face and she immediately takes her sleeping son from her brother’s arm to just cuddle. She grieves for him and his family for a while as Macaque and Wukong explained everything to Apple.

[antidotefortheawkward-art]

“杀鸡儆猴” [Lit. Killing the chicken to warn the monkey] - Fig. Making an example of someone as a warning to others

First casualty of the battle for Mt. HuaGuo

[sketching-shark]

do you think the rest of Huaguo (or at least the marshals and generals) have any opinions on their king's "love" life lol

I'm going to be honest anon (and I'm aware this makes me something of an outlier in the jttw-adjacent fandom dsfaewdq) but given how completely and sometimes aggressively uninterested in romance or sex jttw-canon Sun Wukong is I've come to imagine that the Mt. Huaguoshan troop would regard any of the people pining after him with either a "damn that sucks :(" or a "lmao get bent loser >:D" attitude depending on how much they like said piner (X_X). With all the shit that's gone down too I could also see them feeling pretty protective over the Monkey King. That's their communal grandpa, not your love interest!

Getting more into it though, while I unfortunately haven't gotten a chance to see it myself I have heard that the similarly canonically aroace 1996 SWK actually does have a pretty great scene between him and I think one of the spider women yaoguai about how he doesn't return her affections but he still hopes to be her friend, and that this works out well. I could easily see the Mt. Huaguoshan troop having witnessed a number of scenes like that themselves! SWK can be a refreshingly blunt character about what he wants and what he doesn't, and given the multitude of friends and allies that the Monkey King makes wherever he goes I could see him having gotten pretty good at being charismatic, reading people, and at times turning them down gently. That said, I do like the idea that he's usually completely blind to anything but the most explicit forms of flirtation or proclamations of romantic affection, which is something that can be very upset-making until or unless things are cleared up. His marshals and generals have likely gotten pretty good at subtly telling him when he's being flirted with so that he can respond accordingly haha.

All that said, I also do wonder the extent to which perhaps especially the marshals and generals Ma, Liu, Beng, and Ba have a lot of reason to worry about how some of the ultimately tragically messy semi-situationships SWK gets involved in with powerful gods and yaoguai will affect the overall stability of Mt. Huaguoshan. Like of course nothing blatant ever happens with Niu Mowang or Erlang Shen for example, but given how the former appears to have just fucked off after the war with heaven was over and didn't concern himself with what happened to the surviving members of the Monkey King's family while the latter was a major player in getting their king captured and mass murdering half of them AND burning their home to ash & then likewise not concerning himself with what happened afterwards, well you can see how that would stir a lot of bitter feelings towards them among the Mt. Huagoshan troop and maybe even some of the monkeys wondering if these guys would have been so vicious and/or uncaring if they didn't feel snubbed by SWK. They'd probably at least initially formulate a lot of hatred towards Zhu Bajie as well for his role in convincing Tang Sanzang to mistrust the Monkey King numerous times during the journey and occasionally getting him an extra round of headband torture time. And also for them having heard him insult SWK when he though he was out of earshot lol.

So overall I imagine that while the Mt. Huaguoshan troop usually sees their king's nonexistent love life as a point of least concern, when it comes to the intense friendships/rivalries/hatreds/situationships he keeps forming with these ultra-powerful figures it's along the lines of:

"My king you have terrible taste in men."

"I do what now?"

"Never mind."

[chateaudumalvoisin]