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A most excellent collection of quotes and commentary as per usual! Many thanks for your submission @loyaltykask

Chapter 92

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I love that was what he noticed, and his biggest concern

Help me Wukong, you're our only hope

Damn, that was BRUTAL But eh, fair enough

HOW THE TABLES HAVE TURNED

THE TURN TABLES

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As always, it's a delight to see what kind of context your multi-translation reading journey is able to provide @nikofortuna! And yes, here's hoping we someday get a jttw retelling where all the pilgrims get to be part of an expanded True and False Monkey King arc.

JTTW Chapter 92 Thoughts

Chapter 92 for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group!

The German and J.F. Jenner translation translate the name of the cave a bit differently. Instead of “Mysterious” they call it “Dark” and while both translations seem to be accurate, I find the latter works a bit better for a cave of fiends.

I just became aware that a good amount of major yaoguai antagonists are grouped in three. Three is a number with a lot of significance in Buddhism, so it is quite fitting for so many yaoguai to be grouped in threes. It also works well story-wise as that gives each pilgrim, of the three that actually do battle anyway, one adversary each in those instances.

Though as of yet I am missing an instance where three yaoguai are direct mirrors to the pilgrims, now that could have been interesting to see, especially since all of them are yaoguai themselves as of current as well. Then three other yaoguai showing what the three pilgrims could have become if they had followed their darkest impulses would also properly put on display what is at stake for them personally as they follow the path of Buddhism, something that was somewhat touched upon during the False Monkey King Arc with Sun Wukong only.

Return of the Wood Wolf Star! It is always nice to see a former adversary turned ally come back to help out.

In the trivia section of the German translation it is explained that rhinoceroses are also called rhinoceros-buffalos and buffalos are associated with the element of earth, which is overcome by the element of wood hence why Sun Wukong needed the help of the Wood Stars specifically.

Mountain-buffalo, water-buffalo and yellow-buffalo are all very literal translations as well.

Zhu Bajie can be quite reliable so long as he is not distracted it seems.

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It's a wild thing to see the pilgrim's crimes now include everything from violating tree law to poaching! And yes, one is left wondering if Tang Sanzang can have a nice day ever. Many thanks as always for your submission @pompomqt

Journey to the West Chapter 92

Sometimes it's about getting the right people for the job.

Welcome back to this week's Chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest. This week our disciples must rescue their master from the false Buddha's. So let's get into it shall we?

So Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy arrive at the demon cave, and while Pigsy just wants to break their door down and begin the fight, Monkey decides that he wants to check on Tripitaka first. So Monkey sneaks in as a firefly and finds that most of the demons are asleep, so he's able to find a crying Tripitaka rather easily. Tripitaka see's Monkey and just as he remarks that it's unusual to see insects this time of year, Monkey reveals himself to him. Since the demons are asleep and Sandy and Pigsy are waiting outside, Monkey decides to just try and spring Tripitaka now.

So Monkey opens the lock and tries to lead his master out, only for one of the demon kings to wake up, and order all the minion demons to seal the doors and begin a patrol, which causes them to run right into an escaping Tripitaka and Monkey. Monkey kills two of them, but the rest run off to alert the demon kings. The demon kings yell for Tripitaka to be seized, which causes Tripitaka to be frozen in fear. Since he's no longer able to rescue Tripitaka like this, Monkey escapes on his own, and Tripitaka is recaptured.

The demons interrogate Tripitaka on how he escaped and he tells them that Wukong knows seventy-two transformations, and snuck in as a firefly, but abandoned him when they all woke up. Wukong hasn't abanoned him completely though, instead he just went outside to fetch Sandy and Pigsy, and together, they break down the demons door looking for a fight. The three disciples fight the three demon kings for a while, until the demon kings once again call upon their minion demon's to tilt the battle in their favor. Pigsy is the first to go down under the renewed assault, and is then captured. Sandy see's this and tries to retreat, only to also be captured. Seeing this Monkey escapes on his own.

Sandy and Pigsy are brought to Tripitaka, who cries because they've been captured to. He asks where Wukong is, and they say he managed to escape, which is relieving since that means he probably went to go get help. Monkey meanwhile has gone back ot the city to tell the monks there what happened. The priests are worried that if even Wukong can't rescue Tripitaka, then he's probably doomed. However Monkey assures them that Tripitaka has some divine protection, and that he just needs to get some help from heaven to arrest them. The priests ask if that is something he can do... just go to heaven and get help? And Monkey points out that heaven was his home for a while, before he tried to tear it down that is.

And on that note, Wukong leaves for heaven, leaving the priests in awe. Monkey arrives in heaven and spots the Gold Star of Venus, who is conversing with some other gods. Monkey tells them why he's here, and the Gold Star of Venus tells him that he's going to need the help of the Four Wood Creature stars, since these three rhinoceros spirits were able to cultivate immortality. Monkey asks where he can find these four stars, but the Gold Star of Venus just tells him they are located outside of Dipper Palace, but that he'll have to go to the Jade Emperor to ask to borrow them and learn more.

So Monkey goes to the Jade Emperor to request assistance, and the Jade Emperor is going to call up some generic Celestial Warriors for him, but Monkey tells him that the Gold Star of Venus told him he needs the Four Wood Creature Stars. So the Jade Emperor gives his stamp of approval and sends the Celestial Master Xu to go to Dipper Palace with Wukong to tell the Four Wood Creature Stars about their new mission.

When they arrive at the palace, all twenty eight constellations are there to meet them, including the four wood stars, the Wood Dragon, Wood Unicorn, Wood Wolf and the Wood Hound. When he realizes who the wood stars are, Monkey remarks that the Gold Star should have just told him as much so he could come directly here instead of wasting time with the Jade Emperor. However the Wood stars remark that he would have still needed the Jade Emperor's permission to borrow them anyways.

Anyways, Monkey tells them about the Rhino Demons, and the four stars remark that he probably would only need the Hound star for them, however both Wukong and the Celestial Master insist that they all four go. So Monkey and the Four Wood Stars return to earth, and have Monkey lure the Rhino demons out. The Rhino demons are smart enough to figure that Monkey probably got help somewhere, but are cocky enough to not be to worried about it. The Rhino demons are able to surround Monkey with their army, but realize to late that they are the ones who are trapped when the Wood Stars reveal themselves.

When the Rino's see the wood stars they freak and tell their army to run for your lives, while they follow their own advice and transform into their true forms and try and make a run for it to the Northeast. Wukong, the Wood Hound and the Wood Dragon pursue them while the Wood Unicorn and the Wood wolf remain goodbye and kill or capture the minion demons, after which they go to free Tripitaka and the others. Tripitaka tearfully asks why Wukong isn't the one rescuing him, but the two stars just explain that he went after the three Rhino demons with the other two stars.

Tripitaka thanks them, and Pigsy says he doesn't have to prostate himself before them, since they are here partly because the Jade Emperor told them to, and partly because Wukong told them to. Anyways, Pigsy says that they should return to the temple to wait for Wukong while the two stars follow after him to deal with the demons. So the two stars take their leave while Sandy and Pigsy ransack the cave before burning it to the ground, after which they make their way back to the Cloud Temple.

Meanwhile the two stars catch up with Wukong, and find him hovering above the western ocean. They ask him where the demons are, and Wukong shoots back where they were. They explain that they were busy rescuing Tripitaka and taking care of the minion demons, which Wukong accepts as an excuse. So Monkey tells them that the demons went into the ocean, and while the other two stars pursued them, Wukong stood guard here. However, now that they have arrived, they can stay guard while he goes in.

So Monkey makes his water repelling sign and goes in after them, and see's the three demons fighting the two wood stars, so Monkey jumps into the fight. The Demons were already having a hard enough time against the wood stars, so when they see Monkey about to enter the fight, they turn and flea again. A Yaksa and seaman who are patrolling the ocean see's this and reports the sight to the Dragon King Aoshun, who decides to help out Monkey. He calls his son Mo'ang and tells him to lead some aquatic soldier to help round up the rhino spirits.

With the help of the ocean army, they are able to separate the rhino's. Dust Deterrent finds himself surrounded by the ocean army and the Dragon King, and Monkey orders them to take him in alive, so they pin him down. After that they track down the stars to try and give them some help, only to see the Wood Hound devouring Cold-Deterrent. Mo'ang tries to stop him since Monkey wanted them alive, but it's already to late, so they just bring it's body back to the ocean palace, before taking off to find the last one. The Wood dragon is giving chase to Heat Deterrent, and the ocean army helps surround the spirit, causing it to surrender.

They bring them back to the Ocean Palace, and when Wukong see's the dead one, he orders for it's horns and skin to be removed, but to leave the meat here for the Dragon King and prince. The two living rhino's are brought back to the Gold-Level Prefecture, and Monkey announces to all the people there that these are the fiends behind the Buddha's stealing their oil. And since they've been captured they can stop wasting their tax dollars on something this stupid. Pigsy and Sandy hear Monkey's announcement and leave Tripitaka with the luggage to fly up to meet up with him.

Pigsy suggests that they take both the Rhino's and the Four stars down, so everyone can see them up close. Monkey is also able to meet back up with Tripitaka, who was worried about him since he wasn't the one who came to rescue him, but Monkey just tells him everything that happened. After that Pigsy cuts the head off of Dust Detrrent and Heat Deterrent, and then they saw off their four horns. Monkey orders the four horns to be given to the four stars to be given as tribute to the Jade Emperor. As for the two horns from the other Rhino, one will be put in the prefecture hall here, and the other they will take along with them to give the the Buddha when they finally meet him.

After the four stars return to heaven it's time for celebrations! The two Rhino's are skinned to use as armor, and their meet is used to feed anyone who wants it. The oil taxes are removed, and a huge banquet is held. They also build a temple for the Four Stars and a living shrine for the Pilgrims. All the two hundred and forty houses that were being taxed for the oil want to thank them, so they each take turns hosting them for a night. However, after a month of this Tripitaka has had enough and insist they move on. Pigsy isn't to eager to leave all the parties behind, but Tripitaka scolds him, and even threatens to sic Wukong on him. Which is rather surprising to Pigsy, since Tripitaka is usually much more indulgent towards him. However, this week Tripitaka learned that to much indulgence never leads to anything good. And so the pilgrims once again continue on their Journey to the West.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, object transformation, distance reduction, vanishing in a flash of light, super healing, transforming others, Invisibility, Wind Immunity, Medicine Making, putting out fire from a distance with a glass of wine, weaving a straw dragon, Body Division, Breathing Fire and Imbuing Mortals with Divine Strength Demon Kill Count: 10757 + Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1039 God's Defeated: 23 + Unknown number Defeats: 9 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law, looting corpses, trading counterfeit goods, criminal threat, animal abuse, Assisting or Instigating Escape, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption, Identity Fraud, Disorderly Conduct, Joyriding, unauthorized practice of medicine, Voyeurism, Immolation and Poaching Cry Count: 22 + 3 fake cries Mountains Trapped Under: 4

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka and the Tang Monk Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization, Heart Sutra, Meditation, Being Heaven's Specialist Little Guy, a Golden Halo and Danger Sense Cry Count: 56 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 63 Paralyzed by fear: 7 Bandit Problems: 3 Kidnapped by demons: 20 Falling Off Horses: 12

Current Bai Long Ma Stats: Names/Titles: Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse), Prince of the Western Ocean, and third prince jade dragon of the dragon king Aorun Abilities: Transforming into a human, a water snake, and a horse, eating a horse in one bite, flight, Magic of Water Restriction, Singing, Sword Dancing and Magic Pee Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Arson, and Grave Disobedience. Contributions to the plot: 4 Kidnapped by demons: 6

Current Zhu Wuneng Stats: Names/Titles: The Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, Zhu Wuneng (Pig who is aware of ability), Zhu Ganglie, Pigsy, Idiot and Eight Rules. Weapon: Rake Abilities: 36 Transformations, parting water, fighting underwater, cloud soaring, size enhancement, CPR and Shoveling Demon Kill Count/Kill steals: 18 + Unknown number of minions Kidnapped by Demons: 14 Human Kill Count: 1 Failed Flirtation/romances Attempts: 5 Cry Count: 8 Crime List: Sexual Harassment, Murder, Kidnapping, arson, defamation, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption, Identity Fraud, Theft, Forcible entry, Disrupting a Funeral, Violating Tree Law, Arson Immolation and Poaching

Current Sha Wujing Stats: Names/Titles: The Curtain-Raising General, Sha Wujing (Sand Aware of Purity), Sandy and Sha Monk Weapon: Monster Taming Staff Abilities: Fighting underwater, Cloud soaring, fetching water from a well, and Conflict De escalation Demon Kill Count: 1 + Unknown number of minions. Kidnapped by Demons: 10 Human Kill Count: 1 Cry Count: 6 Crime List: Breaking a Crystal Cup, murder, desecration of a human corpse, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption and Arson

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