#taowu

[infoaw]

Colored old line art of little taowu ..not super content with this one anyways >_>

[dorothygale123]

No, I'm not making excuses to talk about these figures more, because I DONT NEED THEM. I don't need this cute little chonker or his doodle-bopper, this post is for academic purposes! You see, Hundun isn't just a cute little nugget, he's also a primordial creation deity.

Hundun is often seen seen as a being of primal chaos from which the rest of the universe was created. As I stated previously, 2 gods (named Shu and Hu) felt bad for him and tried to carve him a new face. Shockingly, this had rather painful results and killed our little chonker. The universe supposedly came to be from his corpse, similar to the world egg. This could lead to the interpretation that Hundun is the world egg and that Shu and Hu trying to give him a face is what caused it to crack.

Whatever the case, he doesn't seem to have stayed dead as he's often reported to be among the creatures that live on the myhtical Mt Kunlun. He runs up and headbutts good people (like a cat), and leans on bad people (also like a cat). Basically baby boi is a six-legged, four-winged, headless, tailless chubby cat.

I also said that he was part of a set of creatures along with Taotie that mirror the 4 Guardian Beasts, so let's talk about those guys while we're at it. Together they're called the Sixiong, meaning 4 Fiends or 4 Evils. As far as I can tell they don't directly correlate with specific guardians (i.e. Suzaku, Byakko, Genbu, and Seiryuu), it's more that the group as a whole mirrors the Sixiang.

First up, Taotie. This guy, as previously mentioned, likes to eat so much he just full on ate himself. Yikes. He's described as looking like an ox with human hands and horns coming out of its back like a hedgehog.

Unfortunately, the next 2 don't have adorable minis, so we'll have to make do.

Something between a tiger and a dog with boar tusks and a human face, Taowu is one freaky looking peice of work, just like his friends. He's extremely stubborn and aggressive, willing to pick a fight with anything he comes across. Luckily, he's also very susceptible to reverse psychology as asking him to eat you will make him refuse out of spite.

Last but not least we have Qiongqi, who is supposedly descended from the Yellow Emperor. He's a huge tiger with wings and horns out the everywhere. It hates righteousness, so if it hears two people arguing it'll bite the head off the one who's right and the noses off everyone who agrees. Then he sidles up to the asshole and starts brining them his kills like a house cat. A massive, horned, man-eating house cat.

One thing I noticed is that while the Sixiong are all really monster-y, the Sixiang are a lot more normal in comparison. Suzaku is a big bird and Byakko is a big tiger. Even Seiryuu, the dragon, is part of a recognizable species. The only member who doesn't always follow this rule is Genbu, what with him being part turtle part snake, but even he is a lot less mixed up than any of the members of the 4 Fiends. It should also be noted that he just gets depicted as a big turtle a lot of the time anyways. An interesting point of contrast, I think.

Sh*tpost Masterlist

[yarrayora]

bungou stray dogs x shin megami tensei

canon timeline atsushi gets byakko, of course, while beast atsushi gets taowu, one of the four calamities that is said to reside in the west (the same direction byakko represents) and is said to guide people astray with its divination

[sc1entificw1tchery]

*remembers this account* oh yeah this fuckass game

[cherllyio]

Mei is connected to Chaos - Theory (Spoilers)

This theory started out after I did an analysis of chaos powers and how they work, more specifically with our two known chaos-powers-holders: Macaque and Xiangliu.

Here I realized that their chaos powers share two very important traits, that are also found in the Samadhi Fire:

The powers have a connection to the persons state of mind (meaning if they are unstable, the powers will also be unstable)

Just look at how, after Xiangliu lost connection to chaos, he went insane.

And then there is also the theory that the reason Macaque died was actually because his shadow powers took over him, as we see here (Just look at how they latch on to his body!):

He even laughed like a maniac while Wukong and Macaque were fighting! (as we heard in season 5)

2. They also have a general black core in the middle, no matter if its just general chaos powers, or shadow powers, which core seems to be chaos.

And this also goes for the Samadhi fire!

1. The Samadhi fire is incredibly unstable, and if Mei wasn’t in the right state of mind, she would have destroyed the world.

Princess Iron Fan describing the Samadhi Fire: “But over time it became… unstable.”

2.The Samadhi fire does indeed have a very strong black core, even after Mei has taken control of it!

Not only that: Try to take look at how it looks, when the Samadhi Fire was about to explode vs when Macaque used the stronger parts of his shadow/chaos powers:

AND how Mei, Xiangliu, and Macaque also has a sort “lightning” connected to their powers:

Mei: “This ol zippi zappy lightning thing? I’ve always kind of- “

Red Son: “You haven’t lost your connection. That’s the Samadhi Fire!”

And if The Samadhi Fire is connected to chaos, it would actually also explain why Red Son even had the Samadhi Fire!

Because it’s not treated as a part of Red Son’s "normal powers". Instead, the Samadhi Fire is explained as a completely different thing. Seeing as they could remove that part of his powers, without removing the rest.

DBK: We had no option but to… remove this power:

And while it may sound strange at first, that someone would give a demon baby, chaos powers (as they did with Macaque in the “deal”), it does actually make sense.

As whoever that “he” is, that Xiangliu mentioned, seems to want the universe to be destroyed. And what was it, that was so dangerous about the Samadhi fire again?

Red son:” The Samadhi fire is more than just an inextinguishable flame. It’s an interdimensional weapon with a destructive power to burn through the very fabric of reality!”

And not only would it destroy the fabric of reality, but it would also destroy the cycle! (it is “interdimensional” after all)

Which would also explain why LBD was so interested in first MK and Wukong (someone who has a very close connection with the cycle) and then the Samadhi fire! (Something that could destroy the cycle)

She likely knew about the cycle, which would make her motivation for “destroying” it, make even more sense.

So, if anything, giving Red Son (especially as a baby) chaos powers, would actually be a really clever, and quick way, to destroy the cycle, leaving only the primordial chaos left:

(notice the lightning again!)

And this is not just speculating! As we saw in season 5, they kept bringing the Samadhi Fire up, meaning it’s still important.

More specifically with this little guy, who is not only a “failed replica of the Samadhi Fire”, but also has an incredibly important place in Chinese Mythology!

More specifically I believe him to be “a failed replica” of Taouwu, who is explained as: “a creature with a human face, tiger’s feet, pig’s teeth, a long tail, and flowing hair.”

And what do you know? That fits our little creature exactly!

Meaning that the one who gave Red Son thoughs powers was Taouwu, and now (when Red Son tried to make a replica of it), it represents itself as Taouwu!

And Taowu is actually also known to be part of a group called “The Four Evils”, that are known to be the most malevolent beings in the Chinese mythology!

They are even sometimes explained as being the antagonist counterparts of the Four Guardians! Meaning that if the Guardians symbolize “order”, these guys symbolize “chaos”. (Which is definitely important!)

Which could hint at, that either one of these guys are the “he” who is winning or is connected to him in some way! (Hundun, as seen in the picture, legit represents “chaos”)

And that’s not even getting into the theory, that the Four Evils have a high chance of being the ones, or one of them at least, who made a deal with Macaque! Though- that will take some time to explain, so I will just link that theory here.

But more importantly the Taowu, in itself, symbolizes stubbornness and arrogance.

And here we have Red Son (someone who is very arrogant) and Mei (someone who is very stubborn), who has thoughs powers, meaning that they would also be the perfect fit for these powers!

Quick examples:

Red Son: “Get off me you peasants!”

Red son: “You (Mei) and the newdle boy will stop at nothing to defeat her (LBD), that’s how I know you won’t lose.”

Conclusion

The Samadhi Fire is, in its core, a destructive and unstable power, aka: a chaos power.

Which also includes a lot of similarities back to normal chaos powers (like we see with Xiangliu and Macaque) With examples like being unstable, a black core, and lightning.

Meaning that Red Son didn’t “create” the Samadhi Fire, and instead was likely given it by one of the Four Evil’s, more specifically Taouwu.

And since Red Son already had fire powers, and was a demon baby, no one would suspect anything, and Red Son wouldn't remember getting them.

But what do you guys think? :)

[demonic0angel]

(Prompt: Clockwork gave Danny, Jazz and Jason a mission: Capture the Four Perils and bring them back to Ghost Zone)

"Hundun, Qiongqi, Taowu, and Taotie," Jazz said as she, Danny and Jason were looking at the cave. "the Four Perils. These creatures were said to be the ghosts of the four ancient criminals namely Huandou, Gun, Gonggong, and Sanmiao. You may knows Sanmiao is identified with Chiyou, a bull warrior that rebels against the Jade Emperor."

"There was a guy named Gun?" Danny asked.

"Yes, but his name is just means big fish in Chinese..." Jazz explained.

"So what're these creatures actually looked like?" Jason asked.

"Hundun is a yellow winged creature of chaos with six legs and no face, Qiongqi is monstrous tiger with wings that eats people, Taowu a reckless and stubborn tiger-like creature with boar teeth and human-like face, and Taotie is gluttonous... sheep and boar hybrid?" Jazz replied. "That's all the informations Clockwork gave to me."

"Ok, so now we've to those catch these guys, right?"

(An odd choice of capture targets but aight lmao)

“Yep,” Danny said. “Easy peezy.”

“You’re going to jinx us,” Jazz scolded, and Danny obliged her worries by knocking on the cave wall in place of wood.

But it was too late.

They hadn’t even needed to look for the Qiongqi. The moment the three of them had stepped out of the cave with intentions to go into the city to continue their search, the tiger-like monster immediately swooped in and tried to eat their faces off.

“Oh! I forgot that it bites off the noses of noble and righteous people!” Jazz recalled, and Jason immediately grabbed her and pulled her down as the beast lunged at them.

“Thanks for the info, Princess, but we’re in the middle of something?! Stop getting distracted and catch the damn thing!”

So while Jazz and Jason were fighting off the Qiongqi, Danny ran off to capture the Taowu, which was trying in vain to fight the cars in the middle of a street, blocking an intersection with its body as people screamed and ran away from it. Seeming to think that the screams were cheers, the Taowu preened and was even more enthusiastic in trying to kill the cars as Danny dodged its chaotic moves to try and catch it.

The Taotie was slightly more difficult to find after the three of them struggled to capture the first two. It had been found inside of a restaurant, hiding within the freezer and eating everything in sight, even the metal walls. It took a few days before anyone found it and reported it.

Finally, the three of them only needed to find the Hundun. It took a long, long time, almost a week before they found the faceless creature helping the Joker in a new plan to torment everyone in Gotham. It was quickly solved with some ghostly technology, but by the end, Jason’s eye was twitching and Danny looked like he was about to wring the necks of anyone who was about to approach him.

Clockwork watched them with a small smile on his face as they all trudged up the steps to his lair.

“You found them?” He asked, his form shifting.

“If you weren’t Jazz and Danny’s grandpa, I’d tell you to fuck yourself,” Jason hissed as he tossed the special container that held all Four Perils to Clockwork. Clockwork caught it and chuckled.

“But you got to spend time with Jazz, right? It’s not all bad.”

Danny growled, crossing his arms, “It was bad for me. You’re on thin ice, old man.”

“Maybe next time, I’ll send you on a mission with—”

“SHUT!!”

[nogetron]

Hundun, the Chinese primordial chaos. Before even the Tao had been formed by the hands of Shangdi, Hundun existed in a state known as wuji, an infinite primordial sea of nothingness. Hundun is chaos, unending, infinite confusion, the purest and natural opposition to Tao, balance incarnate. The four evils are the four most prime manifestations of Hundun’s chaotic waters, with Qiong Qi, Taotie, Taowu, and Hundun (a seperate earthly incarnation of Hundun). These four oppose the four sacred beasts who represent the Yin and Yang. Hundun is described as a faceless, six limbed creature sometimes said to have wings. The earthly Hundun and the other three perils were banished by Huangdi, the yellow emperor of heaven, because of which the earthly Hundun now prowls in the center of the earth, though his presence still lingers among corrupt officials and evil men.

Hundun is a sparsely mentioned figure in Chinese theology, mainly used as a term to refer to the primal waters before creation, this chaos was thought of as sentient or conscious. Eventually under Confucian influence Hundun gained its villainous role, ultimately this manifested into the earthly Hundun who was seen more as a demon or malevolent creature than a primordial concept. Though even during this time, the idea of Hundun being the primordial chaos was still accepted by a majority of people, with it gaining more traction than the Confucius view, though the two interpretations did intermingle. The word Hundun has many different meanings, though mainly translated as primordial chaos it can also mean torrent, water, muddy, confusion, or void, with all these still coming together to mean Primordial chaos. Hundun has been rendered in a multitude of different ways, like huntun, hunlun, hunhun and just hun. Hundun holds many different theological connections due to it holding the primordial chaos archetype, from this Hundun connects to the Mesopotamian Tiamat and Abzu, the Semitic Asherah, and even the Irish Danu. Hundun is also seen as a manifestation of the cosmic egg archetype, with it cradling the Yin and Yang before it hatched into Pangu.

[gravity-what]

Always wanted to know what Hannibal’s ultimate plan was that Chase considered to be worse than the destruction of the world.

I’d like to think it’s connected to The 4 Perils or at least entities based on them. Maybe he’ll unleash them all or maybe he’s one of them I mean the Hundun kinda looks like a bean with 6 legs, is known to be formless and sow chaos and corruption.

I could totally see a final mini-arc of both Xiaolin warriors and Heylin having to defeat and seal away the Hundun, Qiongqi, Taotie and Taowu plus their designs could be so fun.

Hannibal keeping his plans so ambiguous is something fascinating about his character but, also, so frustrating!!

I’m actually with @writerkatsblog on what Hannibal’s ultimate plan is: which is to destroy all life on earth that isn’t him. Complete take over of all of the earth with his sprouts and seeds and where nothing is left alive in their wake.

As for the four perils though - because i absolutely love the idea of them showing up in the show - i feel like if anyone in the show is going to awaken them it’s going to be Wuya. We’ve seen that she has the ability to awaken statues and rock-creatures and, even just by existing in the world, is able to awaken the spirits within the Wu! She would be the *perfect* villain to unleash those creatures onto the world~

Or. For an absolutely insane twist: Ashley and her genetic engineering creating the four perils and releasing them onto the world… (I don’t think Ashley has that motivation though. But it would be fun!)

[iturbide]

the Ruinous Quartet is based off the Four Perils in Chinese mythology: Taotie (Ting Lu), Qiongqi (Chien Pao), Taowu (Wo Chien), and Hundun (Chi Yu)

The Four Perils are like foils to the Four Auspicious Beasts (which the genie therian forms are based off of)

from the Zuo Zhuan, Shanhaijing, and Shenyijing:

the Hundun (渾敦, 渾沌; 'chaotic torrent') is a yellow winged creature of chaos with six legs and no face and sudden, destructive rage

the Qiongqi (窮奇; 'distressingly strange, thoroughly odd') is a monstrous creature that kills for pleasure and eats people

the Taowu (檮杌; 'block stump') a reckless, lazy, and stubborn creature

and the Taotie (饕餮; 'greedy glutton') is a gluttonous beast.

interestingly enough, Chien Pao’s design is also reminiscent of the weasel yokai Kamaitachi, which iirc was synonymous with Qiongqi in Japanese folklore

Chi Yu’s design also looks like a celestial eye, a goldfish known for big bulbous eyes, which isn’t exactly relevant to the mythology/folklore discussion but i looked up some pictures while doing some research and now i love Chi Yu even more

Wo Chien has 92 tablets. i found this out using Bulbapedia because i’m not nearly insane enough to try to count the tablets in game

the pot on Ting Lu’s head that makes it look funny is called a ding (鼎), an ancient Chinese cauldron that served as a symbol of imperial authority

i’m not totally sure what their names mean Wade-Giles formatting is used for romanization why isn’t it pinyin but according to Bulbapedia:

Wo-Chien may be a combination of 蝸 / 蜗 wō(Chinese for snail) and 簡 / 简 jiǎn (Chinese for bamboo slips)

Chien-Pao may be a combination of 劍 / 剑 jiàn (Chinese for sword) and 豹 bào (Chinese for leopard)

Ting-Lu may be a combination of 鼎 dǐng(ancient Chinese cauldron) and 鹿 lù (deer)

Chi-Yu may be a combination of 鯽魚 / 鲫魚 jìyú(Chinese for goldfish) and 玉 yù (Chinese for jade)

anyways, there’s some fun trivia on the Ruinous Quartet! i love these four funky little harbingers of disaster

thank you so much for going into all of this detail I appreciate it immeasurably 💖

This is all so cool??? I have always loved when games will put little nods to mythology or draw inspiration from real world myths -- especially when it means I get to learn something new!! I knew about the Four Auspicious Beasts and the link between them and the Therian forms of the Unova Trio (plus the new Hisuian one in Arceus), but I never knew they had counterparts! And all the trivia is amazing too thank you so much for digging it up I have learned so many things tonight I feel enriched

[lizzymayi]

Jiu Chen vs Jing Xiu in the mortal world

Just to be clear: there is no competition. In terms of power, clarity of thought, position, ability, and looks, how can Jing Xiu compare? (Let's not even get into acting level of Chang Chen and Li Dong Xue. The disparity is too great.) However, act 2 deliberately pits the two characters against each other. It's possible the writer did this just to highlight how inadequate Jing Xiu is and to hurry him along thr path to demonization, but it could also be for comedy. It's both fitting and funny that their battle happens when their powers are at their lowest.

JC is trying to stay alive, find/fight the demon lord, avoid detection from idiot Thunder, suppress Lin Mo's demon aura, fulfill his responsibilities as the God of War, and engage in this petty battle with JX at the same time. Jing Xiu is trying to carry out his revenge, pretend to care about Ling Yue and Bao Qing, manipulate Zhong Hao, be a fake-ass good guy in front of Lin Mo, and try to overpower Jiu Chen. As you can see, I have absolutely no objectivity when in comes to Jiu Chen. He is number one in my heart. The best male character that has ever graced the screen.

Playing music in the night when Lin Mo is trying to sleep. Not harmful but annoying as hell.

Says he and A'mo have mutual affection. Since when? She made it clear repeatedly that she has no such feelings for you. Liar.

Makes no attempt to protect people from the Taowu beast thing. Like, he really hid with A'mo in the shop after he froze Zai on the street. Despicable.

JX has always just assumed that Lin Mo loves him. This level of presumption and delusion is unrivaled (except maybe Yuan Tong).

This nasty punk gave her his life bead without asking her if she wanted to tie the rest of her life to him and acted like it was a great act of love and sacrifice. HE IS SO GROSS. I cannot understand anyone who says his actions are romantic. BLECH!!!

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Between Chi-Yu and Wo-Chien, which one is based on Hundun and which one is based on Taowu?

I’m not entirely sure, I just learned about it.

[durianinspectors]

Happy Daze

Prologue

"DIU command, this is Codename Pípíxiā. My infiltration route through the Tohaa settlement is stalled. I'm pinned down between two sentry guns and taking heavy fire from a mimetic sniper wearing a porkpie hat. Requesting urgent assistance!"

"Pípíxiā, this is Hsien Yue Fei. We have a plan to get you moving and we're on our way to you. Let's go!"

The Durian Investigation Unit has been infiltrating undercover resources onto 1777 Du-ε. One of the infiltrating agents has blundered into a Tohaa sentry position and needs fire support, but a shadowy individual has chosen to exploit the situation to plan an ambush and counter-infiltrate their own agent. The identity of the mimetic sniper turns out to be all too familiar.

Overview

This is a game against my long-time narrative campaign opponent Obadiah, who has played as noir cube detective Jager Nadim in Wotan, Asteroid Blues, Durgama and Shattergrounds.

Mission: Blockade Runner

Forces: ISS (YueFei23) versus Tohaa (Nehemiah) (300 vs 340 w/ BAMS reinforcements)

Deploy First: Tohaa

First Turn: ISS

ISS List in Army

This is a fairly straightforward list, with three 3-man fireteams. The Deva, Taowu and Celestial guard make up one really fun little team that carries an MSV spitfire, smoke grenade launcher and template/viral surprises. Taowu disguised himself as Adil Mehmut. Hsien Yue Fei had a choice of a bounty hunter sniper, CSU and Xi Zhuang to link, depending if he wanted to defend or attack. The Dakini and pheasant offered chain of command in case the Hsien went down and some solid firepower.

Tohaa List in Army

We decided to play all the BAMS extras, and Nehemiah made the unconventional (to me) choice of playing a Tohaa 340pts reinforcements list against my 300 points of ISS. This would leave me with an early lead trying to steal the central console, but a dangerous counterpunch to deal with later in the game. To toughen up his main group he included a couple of Kaeltars with Symbiobombs and Symbiomates.

Deployment

Nehemiah chose deployment and I set up to go first with my Dakini set up on the left flank and Hsien Yue Fei on the right flank. Both flanks had some madtraps (foreshadowing!) and the ninja hid in the middle to score the console. The Deva team set up in the center to be able to put smoke where it's needed, attack and score centrally and hopefully alpha strike something juicy.

Nehemiah counter-deployed the Dakini link with LeMuet, buffed for surviveability with a Symbiomate and a Kamael Paramedic in case he went down. The Dakini don't have visors and LeMuet ignores their mimitism, so the risk of engaging him directly with would be too high. A libertos guarded the central avenue with a mine covering the console and a hidden clipsos. On his right flank, a team with an MSV spitfire Gao Rael, Sukeul and Makaul threatened an attack run. On his left, a Kerail Preceptor was primed to run down the flank and pick up his HVT. After reviewing what was on the table, I also learnt about the nasty surprise that would land on me mid-game - a Draal, Igao and some nasty template slinging buddies.

Turn 1

"Le Muet, is that you in the hat? Stand down! This is Hsien Yue and the DIU. We can place you under retainer again if you cooperate with us." "Hrh, No! Lou says he'll give me a record contract if I work for him again. Everyone will hear my songs. You can ���� off!" <Several DA rounds slam into the wall by Agent Pípíxiā>

"Get me out of here, I felt that last one!"

Top of 1 - ISS

Xi Zhuang and the Pheasant Agent deploy madtraps into the midfield, breaking and reforming the Dakini link to avoid fire from Le Muet. A TO camo token shuffles carefully around the obvious mine in the midfield. The defensive turrets spin around to discover it, activating the madtraps and glueing themselves out of the game.

Hsien Yue Fei discovers an antipersonel mine laid by a Libertos. The Deva shoots it away as her haris team takes a path to the right of the central church building, into a smoke cloud prepared by Celestial Monitor Zhou.

"Le Muet engaged, his Symbiomate is dead at least."

The Deva team shoots Le Muet from inside the smoke, though he's saved from real damage by throwing his Symbiomate under the bus. Getting rather ambitious, "Adil" moves outside the smoke cloud to prepare to threaten the Kerail Preceptor. Disturbed by the nearby gunfire, a Kaeltar Specialist pops up and aims a boarding shotgun at him. As the Deva is still visible to Le Muet, this locks the fireteam in an annoying position.

Adil breaks out of the fireteam and dodges to get back in the smoke, revealing that he is Taowu... which triggers a Symbiobomb attack from the Kerail. [ A cunning dodge-reset fork! Agh! Taowu is put dogged and somehow the Kaeltar manages to dodge prone again. The Deva shoots LeMuet unconscious, leaving herself and Celestial Zhou in a very exposed position as the orders for the group run out.

Hsien Yue's Haris reforms to include the Bounty Hunter Sniper. The Pheasant's Dakini team also reforms and gains assisted fire on the sniper from the EVO Pangguling.

A Ninja dodges out of camo to score the central console.

Bottom of 1 - Tohaa

Annoyingly, Le Muet is successfully revived by the Kamael Paramedic.

The Gao Rael & Makaul team advances towards midfield to shoot at the Ninja. The Ninja manages to survive, dodging and using the console to block incoming fire from the triad.

There's nowhere good to hide though and the Liberto manages to lay a mine and kill the Ninja with his shotgun.

The Surda, Libertos and Kerail surround the Deva and Celestial Guard. Moving through the building the Libertos is sent dogged by a shot from Celestial Zhou but knocks her unconscious in return. As there aren't many orders left, the Deva manages to survive the Surda's pulzar by failing guts into contact with the dogged libertos, judging that it's less likely to kill her than incoming shooting from the Kerail.

A Clipsos reveals itself by the central console and kills the Bounty Hunter Sniper with a surprise shot from a combi rifle.

Turn 1 ends with a tie, we each scored 1 point on the central console.

Turn 2

Top of 2 - ISS

Shuffling around a little on top of his perch, the Dakini Multi Sniper guns down the Gao Rael.

Reforming his fireteam with Xi Zhuang, Hsien Yue Fei takes the table center, ignoring the mimetism on the Clipsos and the Sukeul Commando and removing them from the game.

In a textbook bit of police work, the Deva shoots the Kerail's Surda and moves back to the table center, successfully convincing Agent Pípíxiā to follow her.

Hsien Yue Fei, Xi Zhuang and the CSU drop a madtrap and take up a position around the central console, worried about comms chatter they're receiving about incoming reinforcements.

ISS score a second point on the central console, though Nehemiah's reinforcements team is about to drop.

Bottom of 2 - Tohaa

Silently appearing from tunnels and rappelling down from holes in the cavern ceiling, a second group of Tohaa appear around Yue Fei and his team in the midfield, attacking as soon as they appear.

A Kauri midget starts by firing tiny nanopulsers at Yue Fei, Xi Zhuang and the CSU, immediately getting covered in a gluey hug from the madtrap. Yue Fei dodges gracefully and drops prone [as key ops he dodges on 17s ] but Xi and the CSU are knocked out by buzzing nanobees.

"Ahaha, it is I! Artichoke Lou! At last, I step out of the shadows of the food service industry to claim my rightful place as the saviour of the Tohaa race!"

Laughing maniacally, Artichoke Lou, Draal Saboteur plants a dazer on the roof of the central building.

The movement on the roof tips the Deva off that an Igao is creeping up on her and she rounds the corner to stare it down.

The Igao charges into combat and the Deva just has time to fire off he nanopulser before getting sliced in half. The Igao is incapacitated by prickly nanobots.

As her rescuer goes unconscious and a nanobot field slows her movements to a crawl, Agent Pípíxiā starts to wonder if she's going to get out of there alive.

Utilizing what remains of the orders in the first group, the Kerail Preceptor runs down a flank and shepherds a strangely familiar-looking CSU towards the ISS deployment zone.

Lou climbs down from the building and spends a couple of orders shooting at Hsien Yue Fei, who takes a wound, but makes impressive use of his Key Ops bonuses and dodges onto the central console. The Kerail makes a dash forwards shooting down a Kuang Shi on the right flank and Yue Fei hits it with a Multi Marksman shot, but only succeeds in killing another Symbiomate.

ISS score a third point here, with the Key Ops on the console.

Turn 3

Top of 3 - ISS

The situation is dire, with a wounded Hsien surrounded by Draal and Kosuil. Yue Fei in a position to score a classified and rescue Agent Pipixia, but if he moves off the central console or dies he also gives away that fourth point. Doing nothing would be the smart choice.

First, a Kuang Shi tries to run up and deal with Lou, but he misses and is flash-pulsed by a Kaeltar. Pheasant Wang advances his Dakini team on the left flank and gets a bead on Lou outside cover with the Dakini hmg. Unfortunately, Draal are excellent at dodging and Lou avoids all the shots, zipping into cover out of LoF of the Dakini. The Kaurii triumphantly shakes itself free of madtrap glue and is promptly executed by fire from the Dakini. At this point, Hsien Yue Fei places glory before prudence and tries to shoot the Draal himself. He fails to wound Lou and goes unconscious to a shot from the Kosuil's boarding shotgun, forfeiting the last point for holding the console.

Bottom of 3 - Tohaa

A Makaul pops out of the coffee shop on the left flank and burns both Dakini Tacbots with his flamethrower. Revealing admirable presence of mind Pheasant Wang neatly puts a boarding shotgun round between the Makaul's eyes.

The Kosuil does something incredibly vigilant near the table center.

Adding insult to injury, the wretched Draal Saboteur runs to the downed Hsien and attempts to steal his cube. Not so fast, Artichoke Lou!

Pheasant Wang levels his shotgun a second time and puts a single critical shot into Artichoke Lou, knocking him out. Tinbot Gǒu makes Hsien Yue Fei's cube secure and the ISS perform a tactical withdrawal before anything else can go wrong. For a second, Pheasant Wang is confused that one of the Corporate Security Contractors appears to be wearing a new fabric pattern on her miniskirt, but assumes it must be some kind of mimetic color shifting fabric and congratulates her on her survival.

Tohaa secure the HVT, pick up the Vigilance Classified, held the console in turn 1 and pick up 4 points for getting their HVT to my DZ. 7 OP to my 3.

Tohaa wins!

Tohaa 7 OP, 113 VP remaining - ISS 3 OP, 47 VP remaining

Post Game Analysis

It will take me a few games before I figure out an effective way to defend against a reinforcements counterattack with ISS. I regret not sending a lone CSU to take the central console in turn 2, which perhaps could have kept Hsien Yue Fei relatively save for turn 3. My poor strategy aside, if the Dakini or Kuang Shi had been able to tie down or shoot Artichoke Lou on turn 3, I might still have been in a good spot to tie or win this game. Hsien Yue Fei was in a position to take me to 7 OP, which all went south when he got hit by the Kosuil. Rather than infiltrating Agent Pípíxiā into Dewey, she was left staggering around in a Dazer field. Meanwhile, the Tohaa managed to counter infiltrate a totally not suspicious CSU into the DIU. I hope that doesn't cause any trouble.

Epilogue

From: Mei Kumae, CEO Jīyuán Unlimited Corporation To: Hsien Yue Fei My Dear Hsien Yue, Congratulations on your latest successful resurrection. I am excited to remind you that the Jīyuán Unlimited Corporation remains absolutely indebted to you following your heroic exploits defending the Jīyuán Open-Pit Site on Novyy Bangkok. As a gesture of our good will we have made sure that a supply of pre-prepared LHOST bodies, replacement components and silk are at your disposal. Your new Tinbot, which you have designated Gǒu, contains advanced subroutines for cube backup and recovery. You can fight on assured that your immortality is now underwritten by our substantial resources. By absolute coincidence, I have a few small errands in the planetoid cluster which might benefit from your specific expertise and documented bravery. A shipment of ungraded, frozen Monthong Durian was accidentally shipped to our Khurland base and has been forwarded on to you for inspection. Please take careful, personal receipt of this precious cargo. If you deem it of acceptable quality and freshness, we request that you personally deliver it to the Sterling Forge and Rocaworks offices on LuY as a gesture of our friendship. We were rebuffed in our last round of negotiations to start our own mining operation on the planetoid, but perhaps they will be more flexible now that they have labor disagreements disrupting their productivity and operational security arrangements. I do hope that nothing happens to further disrupt smooth running of their ammonia mines. We look forward to working with you to secure and advance the StateEmpire's role in the Human Edge territories. Best regards, Mei Kumae Jīyuán Unlimited Corporation

[fmpjemuelgallaza45]

Taowu (檮杌, lit. Ignorant Stump) - is a giant canine-like beast which once threatened the western areas of China.

Appearances: it has the Human Face with Two boar tusks Protudings from it's Lips. An arrogant and stubborn beast of might, it thrashes wildly through the wilderness and fights any living being it encounters to the death. Intrepid intellectuals once tried to educate Taowu with the human language, but it purposely ignored their pleas to slaughter them.

Power: Taowu was know for his power to see the future and the Past, So as to Make the best of its own Life.

Taowu (梼杌): Unrelenting Ferocity Taowu is a creature found in ancient Chinese mythology, considered the son of the Northern Emperor Zhuanxu.

[thadeeliv]

can't help but wonder if the Treasures of Ruin were at least somewhat based on the Si-xiong. Chien-Pao shares superficial similarities with Taowu, at least.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Next area is 5.5/7: Qingzhuo Palace & the Hanging Temple.

Guanyin teleports the gang to Qingzhuo Palace, a floating island where Hundun once had some major beef with dragons. Quanyin explains that they def have an idea of how to kick Hundun's butt. "Qingzhuo" is also a reference to Lake Qinghai - the "Western Sea" of which the Western Dragon governs. Making the actual kingdom in the sky makes a lot of sense seeing how the saltwater lake itself is only 108 feet deep - compared to big bros Ao Shun/Ming's Northern Sea; Lake Baikal being 5,387 feet deep. Also irl the Western Sea has been a super-popular horse tourism area since before JTTW was written.

HUNDUN LORE. He ain't the only Great Peril bumping around. "The Four" are clearly meant to be The Four Perils of Chinese mythos. Hundun (Chaos), Qiongqi (Deviousness), Taowu (Ignorance), and Taotie (Gluttony). Clearly the dragons fought back and won.

Apparently the dragons deliberately built the floating islands so that the dragons could fight the floating jerk on even ground. I first thought "Shunwang" referred to Ao Shun - but apparently he's a human guy.

More Lore:

Huyangdi? Like the Yellow Emperor? Did the dragons seek out immortality as a means of lasting out the threat of the Perils? The inclusion of the Talisman Soldiers suggest that all this havoc started after Dasheng was sealed away.

Both the lads start breathing heavily after a certain elevation due to the air thinning. Just a cool detail.

More lore! Looks like Shunwang teamed up with another guy called Ganglong (translator says it means "Darkgreen Dragon" one of the psuedes for the Azure Dragon - major dragon god) for the job;

Zhu Bajie swears more openly now that the kids aren't around. He also takes one look at the dragons' palace and thinks "loot" >:3.

The vessel where the dragons' "secret weapon" is kept resembles a; Ding, a sacrificial bronze vessel. Interestingly one of the Perils, Taotie, is said to have one of these vessels for a head.

The secret weapon is a Dragon Pearl - it nullifies Hundun's power-sapping. Also the instructions make me think of the Memory Scroll from LMK. Literally just three lines that say "take it before battle. gl lol".

Dasheng does Not Like the Pearl - it apparently stinks to high Heaven. Zhu Bajie thinks it smells good though. Maybe it's ambergris?

More Lore + some boss fight forshadowing. Apparently "Canglong" is a Monster Huner boss.

Oh damn thats actually the Azure Dragon. I though we were meeting Ao Lie this chapter, but nah we seeing The Big Dragon. No wonder the perils got their asses beat.

The dragon refers to the lads as "A cursed monkey, and a fallen General" - accurate but a little rude. Dasheng also calls Zhu Bajie by his actual name before the boss battle and gears up like they're taking the dragon on as a team - and the pig immediately disapates into a fly for the rest of the battle. Typical.

Yup, the big blue guy is our Falcor. Narrative doesn't make it clear of he's supposed to be "Shunwang" or "Canglong".

Next area is the "Hanging Temple" and its a lot of Boss Fights.

Wait... since Dasheng got released early; is Ao Lie even born yet!?

Currently watching the "Monkey King: Hero is Back" PS4 game in a longplay.

Not sure how I feel about the british voice acting, but Pigsy being brummie just feels right.

The intro fairytale of the game makes no reference to the Bimawen stuff, nor if Dasheng faced the Furnace - so it is likely that these are details not known by humanity. After all, why would they know?

His prison is also described as being "a cold crystal", giving me LMK Bone Demon vibes.

Will comment more as I continue watching.

[extinctworld-ua]

Taowu

Taowu – рід шаблезубих (Machairodontinae) кішок з раннього плейстоцену Китаю. Названий на честь міфічної істоти, яка була схожа на тигра, але з великими бивнями, Taowu був одним із карликових махайродових, розміром з великого леопарда чи маленького ягуара. Він був тісно пов’язаний з Amphimachairodus, але вважається більш похідним. Типовий вид – Taowu liui.

Повний текст на сайті "Вимерлий світ":

https://extinctworld.in.ua/taowu/