#how are they supposed to do sand man Wujing

[nekohime19]

Mini Mac # 24 : Monkey vs river demon

They meet Wujing!!

“Do you feel better?” Asked Macaque as he applied a balm around Wukong's eyes. The sage leaned in his touch, leaning in the black-furred monkey lil paws, a quiet purr rumbling in the depth of his throat.

“... It still hurts a bit.” Whined Wukong, it wasn't true, he didn't feel anything anymore, the Guardian of the Law healed him completely. Still, it couldn't hurt to pretend the samadhi wind was still affecting his eyes if it made Macaque fuss over him.

“Please, you baby. You're completely healed.” Huffed Bajie with crossed arms, Wukong glared angrily at him.

“He was hit by the samadhi wind. It's serious.” Mumbled Macaque as he patted under Wukong's eyes to ease the swollen flesh.

“He was healed. Besides, the Guardian of Law said the samadhi wind wasn't even as strong as usual.” Replied Bajie.

“That's because the wind likes me and so it didn't hurt Wukong too badly, but still it's the samadhi wind!” Worried Macaque as he kept fussing over Wukong. The sage enjoyed the fuss happily, his tail wagging as he leaned in Macaque lil paws.

The pilgrims kept walking until they stood in front of a large river, impossible to cross and with no boats in sight.

“H-how are we supposed to cross?” Mumbled Tang worriedly. Macaque stopped fussing over Wukong and sat on the sage's shoulders instead, trying to look for something that could help them cross the river. Wukong whined a bit, he wanted Macaque to keep looking after him, but he guessed that, mayhaps, crossing the river was also important. The golden-furred monkey called for his loyal cloud and climbed on it, he flew further up and put a hand above his eyes to shield himself from the sun.

“The river is too wide. I'll be able to cross it with a snap of a finger but Master won't be able to.” Sighed the golden-furred monkey.

“Can't you just take him on your cloud?” Asked Macaque, still sitting on the sage's shoulders. Wukong snorted and scratched under Macaque's chin, the black-furred monkey leaned in the touch happily.

“Nah. It's a journey, Master has to face tribulations and all.”

“That's dumb.” Mumbled Macaque.

“Heaven is often dumb.” Snickered Wukong, he then lowered his cloud and gave the unfortunate news to his master. Sanzang looked defeated, he climbed down the pearl-white horse and tried to search around in hopes of still finding a boat, Ao Lie returned to his human form and stretched. The dragon-horse looked as disheveled as ever and as he stretched himself (being horse was in truth quite strenuous) he fell on a slab of stone.

“Guys! Look, I found something.” Called Ao Lie as he pointed to the slab, his head covered in sand.

“I don't know if you're lucky or unlucky.” Mumbled Wukong as he watched a bump growing on the dragon-horse head.

“Good job, disciple!” Happily exclaimed Sanzang.

“As a wise man once said : when you fall you always have to get up.” Replied Ao Lie as he scrubbed the sand off the slab.

“Who said that?” Asked Macaque with a raised eyebrow.

“Me.” Chuckled Ao Lie, his lips always stretched in his silly lil smile.

“Of course.” Scoffed Bajie.

On the slab of stone was written “Flowing-Sand River” with a description of the river's width and depth. As they read the slab, the river surface darkened and a fiend jumped out of the water.

The river demon immediately went to attack Sanzang but Bajie blocked him with his rake. Ao Lie grabbed Sanzang and dragged him in a safe place, meanwhile Macaque jumped off Wukong shoulders, the wind kindly putting him on the floor, and dragged the baggages with his shadow before running towards Sanzang.

“Be safe!” Called Wukong as he watched Macaque run away.

“Don't drown!” Answered Macaque with a lil smirk, the sage couldn't help but chuckle.

Wukong took his staff and watched Bajie fight with the fiend, excited at the prospect of joining. However the moment Wukong ran towards the two fighting demons, staff in hands, the river demon fled in the water.

“Come on, elder brother (Bajie said the title with a hint of sarcasm) I was so close to beating him! Why do you go frightening him! What do we do now?”

“Hey! I just wanted to fight. It's not my fault the river demon doesn't know the joy of fighting.”Shrugged Wukong with a pout on his lips.

They both returned to Sanzang side, frustrated.

“Did you two defeat the demons?” Asked Sanzang, he was braiding some of Ao Lie's hair, Macaque was on the monk's shoulder, probably teaching him how to do it. Wukong pout deepened at the sight, why can they get some quality time with Macaque while he had to do the fighting? Arguably, he liked fighting, but spending time with Macaque was also one of his favorite activities and he didn't like missing out.

“No, I was doing fine but the demon fled when he saw the monkey. Probably frightened by his monkey face.” Snorted Bajie, a smirk glued on his lips.

“Hey! I'm prettier than any of-” Wukong cut himself and glanced at Macaque “I'm prettier than most of you here!”

“As if.” Huffed Bajie.

“Guys, the river demon, what do we do about him?” Sighed Macaque as he tried to calm the two hotheads.

“Bajie will have to go in the water -” but Wukong was cut before he could end his sentence.

“Why should I? You just don't wanna get wet, elder brother, it's unfair.” Replied the pig demon.

“I have you know, idiot, that I am a stone monkey, I sink! Battling under water messes up my style!”

“Who cares about your style? It's a fight, you don't have to look pretty while fighting.” Scoffed Bajie.

“Maybe I wanna look pretty while I fight, ever thought of that piglet?” Shouted Wukong, he did wanna look pretty while fighting, he wanted to impress Macaque.

“What did you call me!?”

“Disciples!” Nervously interrupted Sanzang, Macaque was patting his cheek to encourage him, Wukong didn't like this. “Maybe we should just find a way to deal with the river demon, right?”

Both pig and monkey huffed before returning to the river, trying to fight the river demon. They failed each time, so much that they had to seek Guanyin assistance, again. Wukong grumbled when he felt the disapproving glance of the bodhisattva.

“And did you try to talk to the river demon before fighting?” She sighed, on the verge of pinching the bridge of her nose.

“... No?” Mumbled Wukong “He attacked first! Besides, I only have to subdue him, not take tea with him.” Guanyin sighed once more at his answer, she explained how the river demon was also a chosen companion and gave him a gourd to help cross the river. Moksa, Guanyin's disciple, went with Wukong to make sure everything went well.

The river demon, named Wujing, bowed to Moksa when he saw him and immediately submitted to Sanzang, becoming one of his disciples.

“I really doubt Guanyin's ability to choose good companions.” Huffed Wukong as he watched Wujing help Sanzang cross the river with the gourd.

“It's all about communication, Wukong. Don't worry, you'll learn.” Laughed Macaque, he was sitting on the sage's shoulders, patting his cheek in reassurance.

+ cut scenes

Previously on JTTW :

Yellow Wind Monster : and now taste my samadhi wind great sage! 😈

The wind : sorry but that's our bro bae. I can't hurt him too much. 😑

Yellow Wind Monster : wtf?? 🫠

 

Wukong : Hmph, this is nothing! I'm the great sage equal to heaven!

Macaque *fussing over Wukong and giving him attention and affection* : Are you okay?? 😣

Wukong *lying* :....... It hurts.....🥺

Macaque : Aw stay here, I'll take care of you 🥺

Wukong : 🥰

Ch1 / Previous / Next

[earl-of-221b]

@dorkshadows and everyone I’m sorry about spamming but I’m losing my mind over this apparently it was just announced that xixingji／西行记 is going to be made into a live action series and effing Crystal Liu 刘亦菲 is going to be in it

first of all I doubt they can ever live up to the pencil drawings in xixingji and it’s going to be crap. Secondly I can’t believe they got Crystal in this, how????????Thirdly, I’m so pumped for this bullshit unadaptable version of xixingji to be made I bet Crystal is 小羽 xiao yu. 

update： I just figured out what Kris Wu’s chinese name is it’s 吴亦凡 and surprise he’s in this too. 

[fgodump]

Connections to “The Poppy War”

The setting and characters to The Poppy War has derived a lot of inspiration from historical events and myths alike. This is meant to discuss which characters have a relation to those preexisting. Of course, you do not need to know this information to enjoy the books, but I think knowing them will elevate your reading experience. None of this information is official. This is just the conclusions I came to while reading. Feel free to make comments

MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL BOOKS

Locations

Nikara: Qing Dynasty. 

Mugen: Japan (Meiji Period)

Hesperia: Britain

The Hinterlands: Mongolia (unsure)

Murui: Yellow River

Tianshan: Kunlun

The different provinces were based off the Chinese Zodiac

The Poppy Wars: the Opium wars, as they have the heavy involvement of foreign invaders

Fang Runin: Rin’s character does not seem to take from a specific person, however the wiki stats that she was inspired by multiple people, such as Azula from ATLA and Mao Zedong

Chen Kitay: It's pretty obvious his character is inspired by Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three kingdoms. In actual history, he wasn't that much, but in the book, Zhuge was a monster at strategy. 

In the first book, Irjah proposes a question, which Kitay replies “to bait the enemy into giving them arrows by rolling out a boat of strawmen”. This is something that Zhuge did as well.

Sring Venka: Honestly I'm blanking on Venka. I think perhaps Venka isnt supposed to represent a character at all, but instead all the comfort women and victims of the Rape of Nanking, based on what happened to her during Golyn niis. 

Yang Souji: He and his group the “Iron Wolves” remind me so much of the Shinsengumi. He even shares a name with Okita Souji, the captain of the first unit. 

The Shinsungumi were also nicknamed “The wolves of Mibu”

I know the glaring problem with this is that the Shisungumi are Japanese, and should have been Mugini in this book, but I think these parallels are pretty cool in any case.

Chiang Moag- Ching Shih. Woah, as soon as I heard Lady Pirate, it was undeniable who Moag is. Ching Shih, the most famous pirate in China perhaps, and she was a woman.

Their backstories share similarities too. Ching shih was a prostitute, just like rumors around Moag. 

The Cike: During the Zhou Dynasty, Wu Zetian (China’s only female emperor) had a secret police force that assassinated everyone she needed. This sounds incredibly similar to the way Daji used the Cike. 

Altan Trengsin: I believe that Altan is like Rin; either an amalgamation of many characters or simply someone Kuang made for the sake of the story.

Ramsa: I believe him to be Nikara’s representation of the creation of fireworks. Not based off a person, but instead one of the Four great inventions of China. Or maybe I’m looking too far into it lol, since he doesn't strike me as being inspired from a myth, since he is not a shaman

Baji: Zhu Bajie of Journey to the West. Based on his description and his name, I had him guessed before they even said anything about pig.

His weapon is even the same as Bajie’s, a nine-toothed rake. 

He also shares his desires, both of them being lusty for beautiful women

Suni: Sun Wukong. I had him guessed by his name as well. Although I believe the connection to be true, I cannot help but feel disappointed that the avatar of Sun Wukong was killed off so easily

The traits that these two characters share are pretty different, much more different than Baji had Bajie. 

For one, Suni is generally calm when he is not being taken over by his god, and is pretty gentle and nice actually. This is very unlike Sun Wukong, and also the reason why I think Suni was a bad body for Wukong to take over, since I think their desires do not match up like Rin and Phoenix

Aratasha: The last in the trio, Sha Wujing. I was confused at first, since Aratasha is no fighter, but I realized his name sounds incredibly similar to Sha Wujing. Wujing was a sand river demon in JTTW, so I don’t think it was a stretch to believe that Aratasha was based off of him (his god is a river god, after all)

Plus, Aratasha died before Baji and Suni did. Wujing in JTTW was weaker than both of his companions. 

Chaghan and Qara Suren: This may be a stretch, but I think Chaghan was inspired from Genghis khan. Gengis Kahn united the Mongols, like Chaghan united the Ketreids and Naimads. Even though the time period would be centuries apart (Genghis 1206, Qing Dynasty 1644-1912), it is the most likely option. It is unrecorded whether Gengis had any sisters, so I believe that Qara was made for the sake of plot (anchor). 

Yin Family: The entire Yin family was taken from the story of Nezha. You can read more about the original story by searching his name in Wikipedia. R F Kuang kept a lot of things from the original tale, and these notes are what I have noticed

Yin Vaisra- Li Jing. Li Jing was also a great general, and in other stories, he was the head general in the Jade Emperor's Heavenly Army. If you know about “Journey to the West”, it was him who attempted to subdue Sun Wukong. 

Yin Saikhara- Lady Yin

*its interesting how Kuang decided to make the mother’s name the family name for the Yins. Originally, I would have thought it was Li instead.

Muzha and Jinzha’s name were lifted directly from the source material

Mingzha is a character Kuang added, for Li Jing only had three sons (or 2 sons and a daughter in this case). There is no source material for how Muzha and Jinzha’s characters are; even in adaptations we rarely get to see any exploration of them.

Yin Nezha- Nezha:

Yin Nezha, like his original counterpart, was the third child of his father. Since Muzha was changed to a female, he is actually the second son. 

He has the powers of the Dragon of the Western river (TBG 392), likely referring to the White Dragon in myths, who is the dragon ruler of the western sea. 

Like the Nezha in the myth, Yin Nezha had an occurrence with a dragon that changed his life. 

At the first battle between Nezha and Rin in TBG, it is stated he wears golden rings around his wrists and ankles. Guanyin bodhisattva did this to Nezha in Journey to the West, in order to placate him. 

The Trifecta: All of the figures in the Trifecta were based on the Fengshen Yanyi (AKA the Investire of the Gods).

Jiang Ziya: His name was directly taken from the novel. 

Su Daji: Her name was directly taken from the novel, as well as some of her penchants for murder. Daji, in both history and the novel, was infamous for her torture methods. 

Jingzha being delivered back to his father in a dumpling holder would qualify as a toruture method. I applaud Kaung for being creative.

Yin Riga: I do not know if Riga is meant to be King Zhou or Ji Fa (the man who overthrew Zhou). Perhaps he was inspired by both of them, or neither. 

Since Kuang did not go into depth into which gods were in the pantheon, I will make a list to who I think is there

Gods mentioned in the books:

Erlang Shen

Sanshengmu 

Sun Wukong *implied through Suni

Zhu Bajie *implied through Baji

Huxian *implied through Unegen, and also Daji

Phoenix

Nuwa

Fuxi

The Four Dragon Kings (Yin Riga was likely the Dragon of the East) *There is no confirmation that there are multiple dragons, but I believe it was strongly implied

Chang’e

Xi Wang Mu, Queen Mother of the West

Zhenniao *implied through Pipaji

The Four Guardians (Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise) *implied through Dulin, who summoned the Black Tortoise

Wong Tai sen *implied through Lianhua (Actually I am not sure, but I could not think of any other healer god in Chinese myths)

Gods not mentioned but I believe are in the Pantheon: 

Yudi: Usually depicted as the husband of Xiwangmu

Hou Yi (Since Chang’e is there. However, there is a possibility that he is in Chuulu Korikh as punishment for killing the sons of Yudi)

Shennong: He exists between Nuwa and Fuxi as the “human”

The Eight Deities

Guanyin: (Since Wukong is implied to be a god) showed up in JTTW

Yanwang: (Since Wukong is implied to be a god) showed up in JTTW

Other tidbits:

Arlong’s name may have been the combination of “Azure” and the chinese word for dragon “Long”. 

Aquebus are guns, but they shoot very slow. This aint a AK 47

The Red emperor could have been based off of Qin Shi Huang, or even the Jade Emperor himself.

Chuulu Korikh’s origin, although explained, has ties in Chinese myths. It was the mountain that encased Sun Wukong before he was broken out by Xuanzang. This means that the mountain was put there by the big B, Buddha. (Actually I can't remember if Kuang said who put the mountain down, but if she didnt specify this is what I think happened) 

I am more familiar with Chinese history and myths, rather than Japanese ones, so if im missing something feel free to correct

[dorkshadows]

From Where the Rain Falls

If anyone’s interested, I did it! I started writing a fic for Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back. Here’s an excerpt from the first scene of chapter 1. No idea when I’ll finish the first chapter or how to summarize it lol or how long it will be...

It’s supposed to be an angsty Wukong/Sanzang slowburn, but that’s probably not obvious from this intro. And I’ll definitely be weaving in the Ginseng fruit arc ;)

The air was heavy with water,  stuck in pregnant clouds that refused to feed the dry earth, and so, everything under the sky suffered. A man walked on, pausing every now and then to wipe the sweat dripping from his nose, stuffy under his straw hat, weighed down by the dusty clothes that dragged along the barren dirt. Even the desert heat was preferable to this torment, with its cool night air-- this, all he had was the neverending humidity of a barren road and the churning of his stomach, so starved that he no longer hungered. He refused to yearn for respite, but the discomfort won out in the end: he was made of flesh and blood.

He fell in a cloud of dust, mouth too dry to speak. And like gnats, the companions gathered around him, fluttering in their ragged clothes as they checked for signs of life.

“Is- is he dead?” the masked one asked with feigned concern.

“So he takes us halfway and just drops dead? Well, what do we do now? And he calls himself our head?” the gilled one rasped.

The hooded one knelt by the Tang priest’s side, calloused fingers undoing the strings of the monk’s hat. He pushed the hat off, unwound its strips of black cloth, and pulled the man into his lap. “Still alive,” he said, before turning to the other two, “he’s still alive.”

“Lovely,” Bajie said, “now we have to carry baldy out of here, great.”

Wujing narrowed his eyes: “I can’t. I’m pulling the wagon.”

“What if we just put him in the wagon. Problem solved!”

“I said. I can’t. I’m. Pulling the wagon.”

“So what? You want me to carry him, in this weather? Then we both collapse and die, can you live with that?”

The eldest disciple scowled: “Shut it, you two! I’ll carry the baldy. You assholes can’t do anything right anyway.”

That being said, Wukong placed the priest on his back, dragged both of Xuanzang’s arms around his neck, and took to the road once more, miles of grey sky stretching ahead. Behind, the junior disciples exchanged looks of delight. Problem solved, the pig mouthed, it worked.  Of course it would, the fish mouthed, eldest brother would do anything for him, and we just enjoy the ride. Haha, yes, the pig replied, haha.

Wujing lifted the handles and walked, rickety wheels scraping the ground as he followed the monkey’s footsteps, with Bajie powdering his sweating face as he struggled to keep up. But they might as well have been invisible to their eldest brother, and as far as they were concerned, it was just as well.

Wukong carried the Master until the sun set, silent feet never once stopping. When night washed over, he gave a simple order: “Make camp.”

And so, in the middle of nowhere, they did. Wujing stopped the wagon, gathered his dirty pots and pans, and cooked in spite of the heat. Bajie slumped lazily beside him, too frazzled to complain, and not far away, Wukong set the Tang priest down on a pile of scratchy blankets. Without a peep, the pig watched him tend their Master, spilling water from his wooden canteen into that parched mouth. Wukong cradled the monk’s head, fingers prodding Xuanzang’s lips to prevent a choke. Almost hungrily, Bajie looked on, oblivious to Wujing’s deadpan glare.

“Congee’s ready.”

“Took you long enough! Eldest brother, food’s ready!”

Wukong: “You have legs, don’t you? Bring it over!”

“Right away, boss, right away! Little brother, you bring the boss his food, alright?”

Wujing: “Fuck you.”

Wukong never touched the congee. After Friar Sand came and left with the bowl, he took to spooning bits into the priest’s mouth, little by little until the monk was surely full. He hovered there for the rest of the night, pouring water into Xuanzang’s mouth, and soothing the Master’s fevered moans with soft strokes against that bald head. It was too hot for the other two to sleep, and with nothing better to do, they watched the monkey work. Wukong never drank from the canteen.

“The boss can be pretty dumb, don’t you think?” Bajie whispered, shifting on his side to face the fish, “Master won’t know he did any of this. And he won’t tell either. Tomorrow he’ll just go back to being the ‘bad monkey.’”

“How do you know Master doesn’t know?” Wujing narrowed his eyes at the priest in the distance, still cradled in Wukong’s lap. “He’s a slick one. For all we know, he’s pretending to sleep. But he won’t let any of us know, especially eldest brother.”

Bajie: “Why?”

Wujing: “Because he knows himself best, and when it comes to eldest brother, Master wants him to be that ‘bad monkey.’ It’s easier that way.”

“Easier, eh? Doesn’t look that way to me… well, sweet dreams.”

“Sweet dreams, your head.”

The junior disciples slept and when dawn came, they were kicked awake by their senior. Wukong once again placed the Tang priest on his back and after their makeshift camp was packed away, the four journeyed on. The monk didn’t stir until well into the afternoon.