#honestly i need to read jttw

[mx-paint]

.

[antidotefortheawkward-art]

Thinking about that Zhihu AU where Tang Seng's disciples were Erlang Shen, Sun Wukong, and Bull Demon King instead.....

[ID: 1. An illustration of Erlang Shen, Sun Wukong, and Bull Demon King from the waist-up. Erlang Shen is wearing a weimao and a purple yuanlingpao archer-style with the left lapel flipped out. His two inner robe layers are checkered blue and purple-ish off-white. He has a snow leopard pelt at his waist. Sun Wukong is in his typical pilgrimage outfit, chewing on a piece of willow with his arms crossed. Bull Demon King has his arm around SWK's shoulder, leaning against him. He has a leopard pelt across his chest and a dark red scarf around his shoulders, with a red banbi and off-white inner robe. His other hand is on his mixed-iron rod, which is placed on his shoulder. 2. A translated screenshot from the aforementioned Zhihu thread. It reads "西天路走的太顺利畅，我反而无聊 This path to the Western Heaven is too smooth. I'm actually bored." End ID]

[quitealotofsodapop]

Not to mention if he had shown Tang, a scholar who lived and breathed JTTW, his memories... I'm pretty sure Tabg would have straight up attacked him for trying to describe what happened to Wukong while he was held captive by Heaven had been anything less than what it was: Torture. For example, at this point, Sun Wukong is more than a fairytale or storybook character. He's more than just some demon who lived thousands of years ago as a footnote in a history book. He's a person, not only that, but he's someone who has since become part of Tang's family! He's a flawed but still wise master who is impulsively self sacrificial to the point of unintentionally hurting the people who care about him, he's temperamental and tends to be forgetful about the limits of normal mortals because he's never had a baseline, he's petty, but ultimately... Sun Wukong is someone who cares deeply and honestly about the people who manage to get past the ironclad walls he has erected around his heart, someone who is selfless at heart even when his actions seem selfish, someone who has had a very difficult life and is still learning to let other in and trust them. Tanghas read Wukong's story a hundred times over, analyzed his written actions a thousand times, out of everyone he is probably the one who knows the ksot about Wukong's past besides the Demon Bull King and Macaque, the person who pribavly raised Wukong the most besides the Sentinels and his mate respectively. He recognizes how much Wukong has changed for the better, how he's still learning after all these centuries, and how he's trying so very hard to be a good mentor for MK and teach him the lessons he never had so he doesn't suffer the same way he did even while his own past comes back to bite him.

So no... Tang would absolutely be offended by Azure's narrative

YUP. referencing.

Tang about to bust out his Bachelors in ancient Chinese history and literature to poke a million holes in Azure Lion's whiteashed narrative:

(In the Scroll of Memory as Azure is showing his memories of the Rebellion): Tang, suddenly appearing in the memory: "Where is Erlang Shen?" Azure, startled: "How did you get in here?" Tang: "As someone who lives for this era in history - I can poke so many holes in your story. Sun Wukong was strong enough for the Jade Emperor, but fell to his nephew Erlang Shen, his Plum Hill Lads, and Lao Tzu's binding ring. From there he was tossed into the Trigram Furnace and was forced to endure 49 days of the Samadhi Fire to extract his immortalities." Azure, pleasantly impressed: "You know your stories well monk-" Tang, interupting: "AND-! I am not finished. The great Tang Monk, aka Tripitaka, did not yield to the Taoist gods! Only to the Buddha and his diciples! To call him an Agent of the Oppressors greatly overlooks how many times he helped his fellow mortals, even at the threat of being executed for his faith!" Azure: "You're becoming overwhelmed-" Tang, angry tears: "And I know Wukong! He wouldn't have targeted you guys at Camel Ridge unless you did something warranting his anger! How can you call him a traitor when YOU left him to burn!?" (*Azure's memories dispate, instead showing Wukong when he was with the Pilgrims - from the perspective of Tripitaka. Wukong is laughing along with his brothers Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and Ao Lie*) Tang, volume increasing: "Wukong didn't stay with the Pilgrims to hurt people. He stayed because he knew that his mind and emotions needed healing after such a tremendous amount of pain. They cared enough for him to address this pain and help him towards being a true sage. Something your *Brotherhood* obviously never bothered to do! HE DIDN'T BETRAY YOU AS MUCH AS YOU BETRAYED HIM!!" (the memory scroll completely disapates back to reality. the entire MKrew + the Brotherhood are staring shocked at Tang's show of power*) Tang: *breathing heavily and angry crying* MK, wide-eyed and impressed: "...whoa" Pigsy, proud: "Yup. Don't try to twist what happened back then Azure. My Tangy knows his history." Peng, whispers to the others: "The Golden Cicada lives on. I knew I wasn't mistaken." Yellow Tusk: "I suggest we retreat for now. Once the Celestial Realm senses our escape, they are sure to have increased their defences." Azure, eyes narrowing: "No. We go forward with our plan. No matter what this monk-" Tang: "I'M NOT A MONK!" Tang: *casts Magic Missile*

Because at the end of the day, Azure understimated the receipts that Wukong's new dad-friend would have on their political movement.

[smilesatdawnmain]

so MK read journey to the west. Was he ever like "Wait a minute, is the Nezha I know and who took care of me ever since I was a child the same Nezha from the book ? Nah, he is just some random angel that trains me and has shown me 20 different ways to defeat my enemies. No biggie"

Wait, now I have gotten off topic. Ok ok, let’s start over:

Does MK know Nezha is the same form journey to the west ?

What exactly did this powerful celestial warrior teach the child of the monkey kid ?! Does MK know how to kill or take someone out, like make them unconscious? (Smal MK: „Daddy, Daddy Look. I know how to perfectly trow a knife and all the pressure points to make someone go to sleep" *Innocent smile*)

I only wanted to ask the first thing but I somehow started questioning MK‘s training 😂🙈

MK has honestly no clue Angel and “Nezha from JTTW” are the same XD

Monkey King is his favorite and unless Monkey King was involved or the main focus, he did kind of space or skim the book. He had a feeling Nezha is a celestial or godly like being- but doesn’t think much beyond that because he’s just content to be with his Angel as is :)

As for training, Nezha’s biggest goal was to teach MK self defense. He really tried to avoid teaching MK how to hurt others and just keep them at a distance.

When he got older they did do more combat offensive training with a staff and his new knife.

Never to kill though, just to disengage or knock out :) (pressure points too! But MK’s biggest strength is defense and basically dodging as that is what Nezha focused on. He would need a lot more training in offense and fighting though

…which a certain monkey prince can teach him~

[novelcain]

Please read 🙏

So. I mentioned in the tags of one of my first posts back that I had to announce a few things that'd probably lose me some followers, but like I don't blame anyone if you do skedaddle because I know most of you are here for the monkie (totally understandable tho)

That being said I am no longer hyperfixated on jttw/Sun Wukong and that likely won't happen again for a while cause main the thing that caused me to clock out for so long kinda left a bad taste in my brain. However I will eventually come back to it. I can guarantee that. It just won't be for a hot minute (maybe who knows I can't control my brain lol)

As for the 10 billion asks I have in my inbox rn I'll be taking screen shots of the ones that have to do with monkie and such and putting them in a folder so that when I DO get back into jttw I'll just immediately start with those. So yeah if you sent me a really long ask FEAR NOT!😃 for I refuse to get rid of any of them 🥰

With that information tho, I never really intended for this to be just a monkie blog that's just what my hyperfixation had been on since I started. But I also tried to force that hyperfixation to stay way longer than I should have so that I could keep making content that my followers would like which is a part of the reason why I needed a break for so long. I wore myself out, and I needed to convince myself that it was okay for me to make content that makes me happy too. 😌

Tho unfortunately that does mean all my current projects will be on hold and I'll be updating the titles on ao3 soon to On Hiatus. 😔

I ofc will still gladly interact with/absorb any art or writings inspired by or dedicated to my works even if they aren't something I'm currently fixated on because effort deserves recognition and I love seeing ya'lls stuff more than anything. 🥰 Same goes for any submissions with art or edits/videos.

Also I did finish my Triad AU Sun Wukong character sheet like... forever go and just forgot to post it. 😬 (I KNOW I'M SORRY! 😭) SO I'll be posting that soon once I'm done moving everything around and making things more manageable and ✨️aesthetic✨️ on the blog.

Tho that kinda brings me to the next announcement I'll be merging my art blog and my spam blog onto this blog (so many blogs😫) cause honestly 4 blogs is just too much and I just wanna vibe 😅🤚 lol

The last announcement is that once I'm done rearranging everything I'll be going through all my mentions that I've missed and checking out what you guys made while I was gone cause I heard from a few people that there's quite a bit 😊 *much excitement* (on god I need an emoji that looks like it's vibrating because I need visual representation of how I feel like imma explode sometimes)

[turbo515]

Just thoughts

Ok so, I don't know how to begin this post actually. I just said to myself *you now have to post your thoughts because yes, no matter what*

Anyways I need to spread my thoughts, because I'm listening somewhere on Twitter and Discord that

(Disclaimer: This is what I'm reading online but not a real official announcement from the team)

the season 5 is almost completed or already done, finished, READY TO GO. They are setting everything fo the release or adjusting the last stuff, anyways... the new season is really REALLY CLOSE.

And, honestly, I'm not ready, I'm excited but at the same time worried about what can happen... all this connection with the number 5 (which is also my favorite number and I'm also so hyped for this)

I really don't know what to think, I'm worried for MK, I hope he won't get any ore trauma but at the same time I think he's gonna get them :')

I'm probably going to do other posts soon or later about some theories or stuff, just little thoughts because I began to read JTTW but I'm at the very beginning and I know parts of the legend just through summaries.

So yeah... I'm shocked, hyped, happy, traumatized, worried

AAAAAAAAAAA

[lucidboba]

This is a vent post on the Lego Monkie Kid fandom and the show. I am in no way an expert on the Journey To The West book so take this with a grain of salt.

I am honestly so sick of the Lego Monkie Kid fandom spreading misinformation around and claiming they know everything about JTTW Sun Wukong as a character when half of them don't even read the book and just get their information from OSP JTTW and LMK.

OSP on their podcast already said they left out a lot of stuff from the book for their videos as it's a summary and might have made Sun Wukong seem more impulsive then he actually are and they encouraged more people to read the book instead so I don't blame them.

What I blame is the part of the fandom that keeps on acting like they know everything when they just watch a short summary of a very long and complex book.

I get it, LMK is different from JTTW and change the original story a lot as it's a kids show. You shouldn't have to read the book just to enjoy the show. But you shouldn't spread misinformation around about the actual book just because you heard it from somewhere and did little to nothing research and just read a couple of short analysis.

This happens mostly to Sun Wukong as there are people saying he was unjustly punished and he didn't do anything wrong or people saying he was a moster demon spawn that deserve his punishment even when Guan Yin had to step in to intervene or people saying he was dumb, entire personality is being impulsive.

He is the Intelligent Stone monkey, the Monkey of the Mind, the monkey that have knowledge of ancient medicine and cured a king, the monkey that almost managed to sued the Devarāja Li if not for the Gold Star Of Venus's intervene, ment to represent the mind in all it's clever chaotic glory. he was one of the top students under Patriarch Puti for goodness sake and was the one who solves most of their problems on the journey. He has his moments of being impulsive and dumb but not nearly as much as people might think.

Not to mention their favoritism of the Six Eared Macaque, they baby him as if he wasn't the representation of what Sun Wukong would be like if he actually didn't have any control and just did whatever he wanted. Now LMK Macaque actually is trying to help MK in season 4 which I am very happy about, but JTTW and LMK are very different. So please, if you want to say JTTW Macaque did nothing wrong, don't use LMK as source.

Now the show have some flaws that I feel need to be adress. The show deviates from the actual book a lot which I have no problems with as it's a kids show but how much deviations are you allowed to have to the point of being an bad representation of the actual book. They said they consulted Chinese experts on the book which sometimes you can tell but other times, it just doesn't feel like it.

But there are also some fans that spread nonsense around and because they have a lot of followers everyone just believes them without more research. It made the show just feel like another bad adaptation in a sea of plastics that just so happens to float above the rest of the bad adaptations the book have gone through.

Which is a shame, you can tell a lot of thought and hard work have been put in the show with it's stellar animation, amazing voice acting, beautiful soundtracks and some actual moments that can put you to tears. But I wish the fandom would stop taking information from the show and stop saying it's exactly like the book. It made just enjoying the show and interacting with the good part of the fandom with it's beautiful fanart and great discussions harder to enjoy when all you can think about are the inaccuracies people are spewing around about the actual book.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my long rant. I really needed to get this of my chest.😮‍💨

I might rephrase this at a later date if I'm unhappy with it.

[nikofortuna]

JTTW Chapter 25 Thoughts

Chapter 25 for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group! CW for food under the cut!

Sun Wukong is having a different kind of resting face.

What did the tree do though? The tree’s innocent! If there’s something Sun Wukong needs to dial down it’s the vandalizing of nature.

Oooh, side dishes! Let’s see if I can find some pictures of them, while also checking up on the Original Chinese for this.

Here we have the pickles or pickled cucumbers! Looking quite tasty!

The pickled eggplant. Also quite nice looking! I wonder how they were pickled exactly.

The radishes in wine sauce or pickled radishes with a lovely red-pink colour!

The string beans in vinegar. They look alright, but I personally can’t stand that kind of bean, so yeah.

Salted/pickled lotus roots, now guess who showed up when I looked for a picture of these! That’s right Zhu Bajie.

And lastly blanched mustard plants, looking good!

Our monkey doing monkey things will always be an adorable sight to imagine.

The Great Immortal Equal to Earth is such a Dad to those two. Really putting the Fu in Shifu.

In the J. F. Jenner translation the last line of the first poem about him reads “He sang The Moon Is High.”, which sounds so much like he’s saying ‘It’s high noon.’ but make it moon, which is so funny to me.

Yeees, the vacuum sleeve, wohoo! It’s so silly yet effective, I love these kind of tricks.

Bailong Ma just getting to chill with some hay. Oh to be the horse in this situation, neigh whole story.

So from Anthony C. Yu’s Notes monk’s robes could technically go spinny? Lovely!

Let the monk curse, he very much deserves it at this point. It’s honestly understandable that he’s gradually getting tired of his monkey’s nonsense, especially after such an ordeal that was in no way his fault and wholly avoidable.

[cloud-somersault]

This is in reference to your most recent post, but I honestly get so confused when people who watch LMK haven't read or at least done research on the source material(JTTW) because I feel like it dampens their experience of appreciating the characters. 

JTTW, which is what LMK is referenced from, is rich with tradition, meaning, and culture. Not understanding JTTW gives you a very one dimensional approach to all the characters but especially Wukong since he is currently one of the only original JTTW figures from the main cast. And in misunderstanding Wukong’s source material means that people really don’t understand shadowpeach like they should. 

Even if we were to only go from the context of the show, shadowpeach started out super toxic. LMAO! These guys were at each other’s throat constantly and were not amicable at all. The appeal is the fact that it is alluded to/shown that these two used to have a very close relationship but something happened to separate them. That’s where the intrigue begins, that’s what gets the gears turning in the viewer’s head. Something happened to make them this way and we want to know! In JTTW canon, Wukong did kill Macaque and it was actively against Buddha’s requests not to. Bro did not care, lol.  I think it is also important to realize that LMK and JTTW are still different BUT it’s honestly quite foolish, in my opinion, to completely disregard the book it is based on. And there’s nothing wrong with fans taking canon things from JTTW and applying it to LMK. Especially if it’s their own fanfiction or interpretation(like your fic). It has been a common theory that Wukong killed Macaque(pretty much since the show started), especially given a lot of the evidence we have been presented with. Disregarding one of the writer’s statements, it’s completely reasonable to make the connection between JTTW and LMK that Wukong did kill Macaque. Especially considering we are shown in the third season a flashback that they did have a violent brawl before his supposed death and subsequent resurrection. 

Shadowpeach IS inherently toxic, especially before there’s any character growth between them, and I personally feel like it’s okay to acknowledge that and embrace it. I understand people tend to gravitate away from any forms of toxicity because, yeah, it feels weird saying you like a ship of two people who hate each other. But that’s the fun thing about enemies to lovers! And shadowpeach has so much more depth to it because it can be interpreted in so many different ways. I wholeheartedly believe that their versatility and depth as a ship is largely the reason why they are one of the biggest ships in the fandom. And their depth comes from the fact that they are inherently flawed characters.  

This need to uphold Sun Wukong on a pedestal he does not deserve ultimately ruins the thing that makes them special. And that's how undeniably human he is. Someone wouldn’t know that just from watching LMK, especially since the show either glosses over the darker parts of JTTW or alters them entirely. Stripping Wukong specifically of the overflowing amount of wonderful source material he has completely dumbs down the beauty of his character. I think playing around with the idea that he did kill Macaque(in regards to LMK canon) doesn’t really change where they come from very much. Idk if anyone else has noticed, but the season 4 special is obviously still not the full picture. That little fight in the mountain is 100% not what makes them hate each other so much. That much animosity for an altercation like that?? It doesn’t make any sense. We still don’t have the full picture, and people are basing their attitude towards each in seasons 1-3 on insufficient evidence. 

Anyway, sorry lol. Seeing people not appreciate shadowpeach for the mess it is makes me so unbelievably disappointed and frustrated(especially if they know nothing about JTTW) and the internet is a great place to bounce off opinions. I promise this isn’t directed towards anyone in particular and it doesn’t come out of anger, I just think there is a common misunderstanding of shadowpeach’s complex foundation and I refuse to stand for it. /lh /nm

Okay, my weird rant is over, haha. I completely understand your irritation with comments like that, though, and I am so sorry you have to deal with them. 

Damn, I don't really have anything to add to this. I think you said it all. I can pack it up and go home LMFAO Can this be my new pinned post

Oh, I will say one thing. The fandom is def afraid or in denial that shadowpeach, in any iteration, is toxic. In order for it not to be, they'd have to be grossly out of character, and then guess what friends? That's not shadowpeach!

But a lot of people do that and are content with that. Which, okay, but stay off my porch LMFAO

[acoraxia]

My knowledge of fyss!Kui Mulang is not the best because since the fyss version is in English and the book is extra dense with many characters with different names, it has not been easy for me. I know more about Jttw!Kui Mulang. Jttw is easier for me because there is a version in my native language. But about Kui Mulang and his wife, Kui Mulang kidnapped his wife against her will. He also does not hesitate to hurt her If she does something agaisnt him. Furthermore, the moment Kui Mulang is caught, he betrays his wife and tries to put all the blame on her, saying that she was the one who seduced him.

Many fsyy characters have different names. So I think that's why not many recognize Azure Lion. He was part of the Jie Sect but is later turned into a mount when he loses. I think lmk is not taking fsyy as a prequel to Jttw like New gods. However, I feel like it gives more depth to his character? You know, imagine fighting on the side that accepts you because the other side doesn't really like your kind (from what I understand, there may be good reasons as well as discrimination against the Yaoguai) and then you're humiliated into being the mount of an immortal. And many centuries pass, and you gain respect and connections, but they still don't see you anymore than that. He also becomes very angry when he is not invited to Xiwangmu's peach banquet. I'm not saying this to defend him, but the topic of the Yaoguai and how they are perceived is interesting.

this person is answering questions about fsyy. It's the only blog I've found, so they might be able to give you the info you want to know about fsyy!Kui Mulang. I hope it helps you a lot if you ever need it! :)

https://www.tumblr.com/ryin-silverfish

I'm sorry if I send a lot of asks to reply. I tried to send a response to my ask but apparently my reply is too long??? I'm still not very familiar with Tumblr

Checked my inbox after me and my sib discussed media and honestly it made my mood go from “aw” to “OOOH” so quickly haha

Fyss!Kui Mulang will remain a mystery for a while… we gotta accept this fate my friends. At least until I do a little digging and end up launching him on top of my faves like I did with Erlang and Red Son— AHEM anyways!

I did not know he tried to victim blame his wife.. what the HECK dude… what is wrong with you… my guy.. my dude! What the heck!

Also Yaoguai were always very interesting imo… like at some point it makes you wonder if the hate and judgement they get is justified or not. Yes there are yao that eat people or kill them and do things that aren’t great but what of the ones that are just living? The ones who fight on the side of “good”? Makes you wonder about it. (I did learn that yaoguai stands for creatures that stand outside the natural order/cannot be explained. Which is fun!) Kind of interesting how he was turned into a mount… hm. That’s.. certainly something! Especially for a sentient being capable of thought and speech as eloquent as any other immortal he comes across!

I kind of wish they’d taken fyss as an inspiration ngl.. they did show the Nezha and Ao Bing fight scene but it was obviously shown as more aggressive (in the book, Nezha just smacked him while Ao Bing was the one who launched the first attack—meant to he comedic but also horrifying moment for the Ao family) and it’s funny how they introduced Nü Wa.. because they’ll have to address which version of her it is (in some myths she is the Jade Emperor’s daughter (fyss iirc), in other’s she marries her brother—options!) —but! Anyways, this was a fun read

Definitely makes me think about Azure Lion and Kui Mulang’s characterizations… hm hm hm

[the-monkey-ruler]

Okay so i have been trying to get info on who longnv is and what her role is jttw because i always see tags and i saw a particular post on tumblr where i was scrolling through the jttw tag and i saw her but when i went to search on the jttw character list she wasnt there so now im like "wait...what?"

So pls if its not much of a hassle can you just pls tell who she is and what her role is in the story cause i have been trying to find stuff about her but end up fruitless

I’m surprised you haven’t found much information about her… She has a Wikipedia page so if you were looking in English, she would’ve come up.

But honestly, she isn’t really referenced in Xiyouji because she doesn’t really have a role in the story besides being an assistant. She’s Guanyin's other disciple besides Muzha but since Muzha is doing all the work, and has all the lines as the go-between got GuanYin and other characters Longvu is only really mentioned in passing standing next to GuanYin in certain scenes.

As you can see she IS mentioned but she doesn't SAY anything really.

As for history, she has a whole background of lore in Buddhist mythos as she has a long history. I talked a bit about her here and here when talking about Gaunyin and who she is a bit. So simply to say she’s not really a “character” within the story as she doesn’t have any dialogue or actions, but rather she has a lot of lore surrounding her that just isn’t referenced in Xiyouji as it’s not needed for the narrative. She is still mentioned within the novel just never interacted with! So it’s kind of like the novel references her more so!

Put it simply the most common lore I see about it is that she is the granddaughter of The Dragon King and the daughter of Ao Guang, the same dragon king of the East that Wukong took his staff and armor from and the same dragon king that has his son’s, Ao Bing, spine ruled out by Nezha in his legend. Needless to say, the east dragons have a lot of people messing with them. There are more legends of her that I haven't really gone into but she def has been around for a long time in Buddhist lore.

And Longvu works under Gaunyin and works with Muzha. And I don’t know if you are aware, but Muzha is the older brother of Nezha… so she is working with the sibling of the guy that ripped out her older brother’s spine.

Which I think is hilarious personally.

Also, that would make her Bailong's cousin too!

Small Heavens.

But yeah! We don’t get to see her lot in media. I think I’ve only ever seen a depiction of her when she gets actual lines in the 1999 series where she and Muzha interact with Red Boy when Gaunyin comes to recruit him. Also in Fei Ren Zai Non Human! I haven’t read all or watch that series yet but I know she is depicted quite often there as well with Gaunyin and Muzha and Red Boy (now Shancai). Also possible in the Nezha tv series from the early 2000s? Haven’t seen that one, but I do know there is a Dragon Girl that he befriends in the series!

If anytime knows more media she is in please chime in!!

So it’s no trouble at all!! She has more lore outside Xiyouji so I would suggest looking beyond that scope!

Here are some links to help you read about her! I hope this helps!

[ryin-silverfish]

So, in summary, the Jie sect was more accepting of the Yaoguai, while the Chan sect did not have a single Yaoguai in their group (except for Shen but that's more like a HC) and they also did not like the idea of Yaoguai as students but also these Yaoguai of the Jie sect may have committed bad deeds before the events.

Could we say that the Yaoguai in fsyy cannot have redemption and are seen more as monsters, while in Jttw they, in some cases, can be redeemed and not necessarily be evil?

Apart from the questionable case of "Does White Crane Boy turning into a white crane on the Old Man of the South Pole's order means that's his true form?", the Chan Sect did have one Yaoguai, the Dragon-bearded Tiger(龙须虎), who was duped into go after Jiang Ziya by Shen Gongbao, but surrendered and became his disciple.

An ancient hybrid of a dragon and a leopard, born in the time of the mystical emperor Shao Hao, he looks incredibly bizarre, with the head of a camel, neck of a goose, whiskers like a shrimp's, body of a fish, taloned hands and a single tiger-like foot. His power is boulder magic——yeah, just throwing large rocks at people.

Unfortunately, he died to Wu Wenhua in Chapter 91 and got deified as the Nine Ugly Star(九丑星). But his existence does suggest that the Chan Sect doesn't refuse yaoguai as disciples on principle, they are just a lot more rare and don't occupy senior positions like the Jie Sect ones.

Also, I wouldn't exactly say that yaoguais don't have redemption in FSYY; even though deification through death is considered the inferior route to godhood, most of them did become gods of the Celestial Realm——at least in the most commonly read Chinese version.

Like the 28 Lunar Mansions(kinda similar to WCB, they were never called yaoguais outright, except they did have some sort of 妖氛, "demonic aura") who all died in the Ten Thousand Immortal Formation, the Seven Monsters of Plum Mountain, and even Lady Rock Demoness, who died to Taiyi before the War of the Investiture began, becomes the Wandering Moon Star(月游星).

The catch is that, well, the names on the Investiture do not stay consistent between editions, and the Ming dynasty version of the Investiture didn't have a lot of the yaoguais that were deified in the "common version". It also has a bunch of inconsistencies that suggest this list might be inherited from an older, now lost version, where yaoguais and non-humans were not considered legitimate candidates for deification.

However, a lot of yaoguais are destined to be taken in by the "Western Sect"——predecessor of Buddhism led by Sage Cundi/Zhunti(准提道人) and Sage Jieyin(接引道人).

The former, apart from defeating Kong Xuan the seriously OP peacock general and making him into Mahamayuri, would also use a bamboo as fishing pole to catch the Black Cloud Immortal(乌云仙), revert him to his turtle form, and take him to the West.

Oh, also, he basically just opened his magical Qiankun Sack during the Ten Thousand Immortal Formation arc and...well, grabbed every nameless opponent who's "destined to end up in the Western Sect" like ancient China's most opportunistic Pokemon trainer.

Apart from the three future Bodhisattvas, Sage Randeng(Daoist-ized Dipamkara) of the Chan Sect would also subdue and take in the Winged Immortal(a golden-winged peng eagle), as well as the flame spirit of Vulture Peak's crystal lamp, Ma Shan.

So even in the version where yaoguais were not supposed to be deified, I'd say the novel still designated a way for them to be "redeemed" through the Western Sect.

But because FSYY has a serious character inflation problem due to the need to fill in The List, characterization for pretty much everyone was on the lacking side.

As a result, its yaoguais are far less memorable than the humorous, lively and more "human" yaoguais of JTTW, but honestly, so do most of its human characters whose sole purpose of existence was to die and be deified.

[marinaratrench05]

Hi, I’ve been reading Nesting Regrets and I love it honestly, it’s so fun and a genius concept with the cursed artifact and the dolls and the many different kinds of Macaque we meet but I need you to know that I, a college student in a Biological Evolutions course, was asking my Professor about a question on the virtual exam and when she zoomed in my phone yeeted to the exit screen and showed all the fic tabs on my phone, AO3 in bright red and while some of the fic titles maaaybe could be ignored we have Nesting Regrets right there and I’m sobbing at the prospect that she may have thought I was reading Nsfw ABO Furry Fic. And literally today I also referenced Sun Wukong in my presentation….his name was right there, I pretended it was because I doing writing a research paper on JTTW not that it was because I was a fic reader 😭 I’m not going to forget this but I hope she does.

First off, I'm thrilled to know you like the fic <3 Admittedly, the title was just the first thing I could think of that made sense for it, and while I've considered changing it before, it's stuff like this that makes it worth keeping the same.

As for the incident with your teacher (which Biological Evolutions sounds cool!) I'm sure they either didn't process it, didn't even know what to make of it, or they're like my friends own college teacher, who is a 40-something professor who has stated A03 is a great site (think he admits to reading Star Trek or some syfy stuff there).

Either way, it's no worse than when was on break (public room upstairs) and someone stopped, leaned over and while looking at my phone asked what I was reading. My body reacted first, and I ended up slamming my chair back into his guts, sending a young man to his knees. He's fine, but my pride wasn't. I bought him a soda, though, and now he doesn't bother me when I'm reading. A win-win honestly.

Here's a little visual of the whole thing, as a treat~

And once again, thanks for the comment! Made my day a little sweeter.

[hanakosekuni]

I doubt anyone will read this, considering the algorithm hates me, but I need to get this out of my system.

Spoilers for Lego monkie kid s3, s4 and their specials

I've been hyperfixiating on lmk and jttw for a while and I really want the writers to openly address what happened between SWK and Macaque after Wukong became Tripitaka's disciple. You see the show is overall very faithful to its source material, but it twicks some details so they fit better into lmk narrative (ex. taking down the Jade Emperor being group effort of the Brotherhood and not Wukong's impulsive rampage or LBD being actually world destroying threat, not just another demon trying to eat the Great Monk)

And I am dying to know how the writers will address situation that lead to Macaque's death. In Journey to the West Macaque impersonated Wunkong, assaulted Tripitaka, stole pilgrims stuff, took control over Flower-fruit mountain, Wukong's monkey army and created exact copies of the pilgrims in order to hijack novels ENTIRE plot. Honestly, he had unalivement coming and Wukong had no remorse killing him bc they were strangers. The fact that they used to be friends in lmk add a whole emotional level to what happened and my autistic adhd brain need way more then that one flashback in s3 about how Mac got revived.

Like what exactly happened? Did Macaque came up with the exact same plan he came up with in JttW? Did he also encourage cannibalism??? Did Wukong suspected it was his ex-best friend who impersonated him or was he clueless? Did he killed Macaque in cold blood or did he hasited?? Did he felt bad after that happened or did he felt no remorse like in JttW??? Pls I need answerssss!!!

[galaxyspark-6e16]

the rest of the season

. . Ep3

Lmk baiting us into tang is great monk

And yeah mk and mei are adhd incarcerated

And that line from season 3 came back ahhhh

Omg did that moving on scene make me cry?

Ep 4

That opening scene with the crocodile was gold haha

Omg the odacity mk

Mk parenting the bunch

Tang you summoned the golden cicada follow it your powers are working

I thought why mk woul use his transformation abilities but turn out he forgot ha

Huh i guess tang being a freeloader has a purpose. Nah I'm kidding our boy love is pig man the greatess chef in his time and tang showing him the chef code would of course rewaken his memories, and did I spot a tiny mk?

And of course pigsy main concern is that he was to cook tang badly and aww they love each other

And damn using food to beat the demons pigsy

And what was that with the vision?

Ep 5

You can't deny it pigsy you're a legend

Mk confirming pigsy his dad AAAHHHHH

PIGSY DON'T DENY IT

Aww seriously when is sandy going to have his moment man

NNOOO MEI'S SWORD

Omg Sandy past backstory?

Pff yeah tang nobody want pregnant this economy

I'm no familiar with the white tiger but can't wait see later

Huh ao lie huh seems at first glance a gentle soul my only reference to him is in osp jttw videos

Chang'e?

Yep

Ohh lbs yep better skiddadle tang 

Damn mei your ancestor is dope

Whoa I forget mo is in the scroll too

And what's this about striking wukong first?

Also I knew azure wasn't so innocent

But macaque you're not thinking of it right?! Right!?

Never judge a dragon by it apparence you be know how their mortal form act

I would die for ao lie

FINALLY MK was wondering where you were this whole time

MMHhHh

Ep6

" Show me the monster" a title that s not gonna make fear for my life

I thought sandy past life was his re carnation not ancestor?

Holy he way different from our sandy

Ohhh my good are we gonna learn mk lore?!!!

Ohh demon showdown

So ait you're teling me there a fondamental read mk is the Monkie kid

Ok at the metion of his parents and childhood he can't remember or doesn't have one

A rock, like mk covers in dirt that found pigsy and give a home? What is happening?

Ok it seem a god (quan yin) is carving maybe wooden animals and giving life to one

Aww I bet the master only get arrogant and hotheaded student that is strict and helps mk because he said please aww

Mk can't handle celestial transportation

I really really want to know how pigsy and sandy met cause their friendship means everything to him

Kinda sad that in the past what defines you is what you are and because of that sandy couldn't be free until mo came along 

And I true man andy has always been there for the others so it's seems faire that they be there for him

Leave it to mk to misunderstand everything ha

He was not born from the stone but he has a destiny

Mk. Monkey kid yeah we kinda knew but still a shock

Mk RUN

 Ep 7 pitiful creatures

Ahh man I feel it's gonna be angst

Shadow mk?

This confrontation feels like mk inner conflict with everything that he went through and everything he discovered and it painful to watch

The fights scene man

Omg WUNKONG about time protect mk

Monkey king you're not helping just calm him

Omg the gang is here

Ohh the past reaching out to wukong through the current heroes is just to poetically beautiful

Prove it wrong by destroying it preset destiny mk

But seriously is mk a stone monkey a divine creature 

GASP wukong I still in the scroll!!

Ep 8 the most intense ep of the season

Honestly I can see why azure lion is getting love, he has a reason, a goal to achieve whether getting his brothers back and making amends with wukong or fighting for a better world Wich make it seem the same goal as lady bone demon but less genocide and more regicide

And oh boy mk pulled a mei s3 I hope he can understand that it's not his fault that any of it happened

Srsly red son can never catch a break

Everyone loves sandy

I think mei needs patience to unlock her dragon did maybe

And omg macaque finally where were you this whole time

Ahh the pessimistic trying to be optimistic for once never gets old

Everyone is fight ehile mk is playing a indie game of macaque

WAiT DID THEY ACTUALLY KILL THE EMPEROR?!

SON! SON?

So what they gonna find a way to free him?

WAIT It END LIKE THIS! ? WHAT

[novelcain]

I meant like, the whole homophobia/transphobia thing, unless China was very accepting of enbys. Idk I don't really do history.

OOOOOOHHHH!!! Sorry I have a big dumb Skittle brain and am incapable of reading between the lines when it comes to nonverbal communication. 😅 Ok ok I did some research on this just now so I could give an accurate (as much as I can but I'm no expert for sure) answer.

And that answer is... it depends.

China has a very long history regarding sexually and its views of sex have shifted a LOT from one era to another. But for this post, we'll focus on the Tang Dynasty because that is the time period JTTW is set in (tho which time period of the Tang Dynasty is unclear)

So I'll start by saying that the Tang Dynasty was notoriously open about sex and sexual desires and homosexually was accepted in ancient but only in certain situations. Usually homosexuality or simply non-straight behavior was only accepted and allowed within the upper class. For example most if not all (I'm not too sure) Chinese emperors had several male lovers and they didn't hide it as it was often revered with great admiration.

NOW as far as gender orientation goes. This would HIGHLY depend on the person and their beliefs as during this period China was dominated by 2 religions Taoism and Buddhism.

Taoism was the official religion of the Tang Dynasty and states that nature is perfect as is and by proxy some believe that would mean they view transgenderism as a flaw of nature while most Taoists themselves do not view transgenderism negatively as the Tao is pretty unconcerned with identity and focuses on virtue and coming to accept things as they were born in nature. Therefore I think the only thing that would even remotely be said against transgenderism from a Taoist standpoint is that you shouldn't feel the need to change your body to reflect your mind. Conclusion: ancient Taoism would likely accept transgenderism so long as you don't pursue gender affirming surgery.

Now while the official religion of China at the time was Taoism, many emperors highly favored Buddhism and that can even be believed of the emperor described in JTTW.

That being said. Buddhism believes that the body is a cage that traps the spirit in suffering and should therefore be distanced from as much as possible. HOWEVER! The Buddha himself said that while you should try to separate yourself from the Earthly Realm one's body should be used as a tool of awakening, and given that awakening in to find Nirvana, one could argue that pursuing your gender identity is simply using your body to reflect your soul and therefore is good. But honestly Buddhists are pretty chill and as long as you ain't hurting anyone or anything I HIGHLY doubt a true Buddhist would care what you do so long as you live amicably. Conclusion: transgenderism would likely be cool with about 99% of Buddhists even in ancient China.

Overall conclusion: MOST people probably wouldn't care, though these are ancient times, so I'd really read the room before offering any info about being gender nonconforming or nonbinary. Having said that, the worst thing you'd have to do is pretend to be whatever gender you most closely resemble. But honestly I think a lot about how it'd be best to pretend to be a man when traveling as they are much less likely to be attacked, assaulted, or hate crimed.

So again, in situations like these you need to be flexible and willing to present as something you aren't. And while that can be hard, I feel like dying via whatever brutal death an extreme transphobe can think of is a lot harder. So if you play your cards right the most a nonbinary reader would get is probably some nasty comments and a few even nastier looks. Tho both could easily be corrected by Tripitaka explaining they shouldn't do that and that isn't what Buddhism believes if the person is a Buddhist and if that doesn't work or they aren't Buddhist then a few sharp glares from the Great Sage Equal to Heaven should be more than enough to get them to knock it the fuck off. Tho if you're good at talking people over to your side then they probably wouldn't even need to step in.

As for how the group would take it, I think they'd all accept it rather quickly after you explain what being enby is with maybe the exception of Bajie who just truly doesn't understand so you'd just have to explain the concept of other genders to him a few times.

I hope this answers your question at least somewhat 😊