Chapter 156: The Eerie Sound

As Hua Feng was immersed in a long state of enlightenment, feeling the vital energy and blood within his body gradually calm down as he prepared to wake up, a voice suddenly echoed in his ear: "Kid, not bad at all. To manage to advance five levels consecutively under such circumstances—in your parlance, you've pretty much turned on a cheat code. Do you still remember everything I taught you about Sun Wukong?"

"Who are you? How did you get in here? And this voice... Could it be... Teacher Sun?" Hua Feng was utterly astounded by the voice suddenly materializing in his mind. Having cultivated for so long, this was the first time he had ever encountered such a situation; previously, no one had ever been able to penetrate the Mark of the Flame Emperor to communicate with him directly. Unsure of what the intruder's intentions might be, Hua Feng found himself involuntarily recalling everything he had learned about the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong:

Sun Wukong originates from the classic Chinese literary masterpiece, *Journey to the West*. His ancestral roots lie in the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit within the Land of Aolai in the Eastern Continent of Jusheng. Conceived from an immortal stone nurtured since the creation of the universe, he led a troop of monkeys into the Water-Curtain Cave and thus became their king, honored as the "Handsome Monkey King." Later, after traveling across thousands of mountains and rivers, he took Patriarch Bodhi as his master to learn the arts, receiving the name Sun Wukong. From him, he mastered profound magical powers such as the seventy-two earthly transformations, the somersault cloud, and the attainment of longevity.

Having newly achieved formidable divine powers, Sun Wukong first caused havoc in the Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea to obtain the Ruyi Jingu Bang—the As-You-Will Gold-Hooped Rod—and subsequently wreaked havoc in the Underworld, crossing his name and those of his fellow monkeys off the Book of Life and Death. Eventually recruited by the heavenly court, he was appointed as the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses, the Pi Ma Wen. Upon discovering the insignificance of his official rank, he flew into a rage and returned to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, successfully defeating the punitive forces led by Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li and Prince Nezha, thereby forcing the Jade Emperor to bestow upon him the title of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. He established the Mansion of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven in the heavenly realm and was imperial decree-bound to manage the Heavenly Peach Orchard. Due to his drunken disruption of the Queen Mother's Grand Peach Banquet and his theft and consumption of Lord Laozi's golden elixir, his body was forged into an invulnerable diamond-like state. Through a twist of fate, he also forged his fiery eyes with golden pupils within Lord Laozi's eight-trigrams alchemy furnace. Afterward, he wreaked havoc in Heaven, proving invincible even against an encirclement of one hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals, the Four Heavenly Kings, and the Twenty-Eight Mansions. Ultimately, he lost a wager against the Buddha Tathagata and was suppressed beneath the Five Elements Mountain—formed by Tathagata's sacrificed hand and later renamed the Mountain of Two Boundaries during the Tang dynasty—to reflect upon his misdeeds for over five hundred years.

Later, enlightened by Guanyin and rescued by the Monk Tripitaka, he was given the religious name Wukong, meaning "Awakened to Emptiness." He escorted Tripitaka on a pilgrimage to the Western Heaven to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures, vanquishing demons and subduing monsters all along the way. Undaunted by hardships and perils, they endured the trials of eighty-nine-sixty-one tribulations until they finally obtained the true scriptures, attained enlightenment, and were collectively granted the title of the Victorious Fighting Buddha.

Sun Wukong is naturally intelligent, lively, loyal, and fiercely intolerant of evil, symbolizing wit and bravery in folk culture. Tales of the journey to the west emerged during the Tang dynasty and persisted through the Ming and Qing dynasties, culminating in the Ming dynasty masterpiece *Journey to the West*. Throughout generations of these folk myths, Sun Wukong has been revered by the Chinese people as a divine deity.

Clad in bright golden armor that gleams,
A golden crown upon his head reflects the beams.
A golden hoop-rod held within his hand,
Cloud-walking shoes match all across the land.
A pair of strange eyes shine like morning stars,
Long ears pass shoulders, rigid, leaving scars.
His upright stature shifts through changes grand,
His voice rings loud like temple bells and gongs.
Sharp-mouthed, bare-fanged, the Pi Ma Wen stands proud,
With towering ambitions, proclaiming he's the Sage of Heaven's crowd.
Sharp-mouthed with sunken cheeks, fiery eyes with golden gleams,
Moss and lichen heap his crown, vines sprout from ears it seems.
Green grass adorns his temples, whiskers replaced by vines below,
With muddy brows and sunken nose, a truly wretched show.
Thick fingers, heavy palms, caked thick with dust and grime,
Yet still his eyes dart briskly, his voice and throat keep chime.
Though fluent are his words, his limbs can hardly move,
Five hundred years the Great Sage stays, from heaven's net to rove.
Golden eyes flash brightly in furrowed, bony head,
Round skull, hairy face, no cheeks, a terrifying dread.
Showing teeth and sharp mouth, his temperament is strange,
His countenance like Thunder God's, beyond all normal range.

Described in the original text of *Journey to the West*:
With round eyes, hairy ears, a full face covered in hair, and a thunder-god mouth, his visage was emaciated. His mouth was sharp and his cheeks sunken, his torso resembling that of a pine nut-eating macaque. Though he looked human, he lacked human cheeks.
He cut a square piece of tiger skin from a tiger's belly, set aside one section, and wrapped the other around his waist. Twisting a rattan vine, he bound it tightly to cover his lower body. Draped in a short, plain white monastic robe, he detached the tiger skin, joined the pieces together with pleats resembling a horse's face, wrapped them around his waist, and secured them with the rattan vine. Only then did he truly look like a pilgrim.
Yellow hair and golden hoop, fiery eyes with golden gleams; clad in a brocade monastic robe, his waist tied with a tiger-skin skirt; holding a golden-hooped iron rod in his hand, stepping in a pair of fawn-skin boots; hairy face and thunder-god mouth, sunken cheeks and protruding teeth, broad forehead and ears standing high, savage tusks growing outward.

Sun Wukong was born on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit in the Land of Aolai within the Eastern Continent of Jusheng in the Saha world, conceived from an immortal stone nurtured since the creation of the universe. However, the immortal stone was not without provenance; situated on the ancestral meridian of the Ten Continents and Three Islands, its circumference corresponded to the twenty-four solar terms, and its upper apertures corresponded to the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams (nine orifices and eight holes). One day, the immortal stone burst apart and produced a stone egg. Battered by the wind, it transformed into a stone monkey. Upon birth, two beams of divine light shot from his eyes, piercing straight into the starry vault of heaven and startling the Jade Emperor in the celestial heavens. Afterward, having successfully broken into the Water-Curtain Cave, he was revered by the monkeys of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit as the "Handsome Monkey King."

Enjoying an innocent and carefree existence on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit for three to four hundred years, the Monkey King set out in search of the method to attain immortality. Traveling to the Western Continent of Xiniu, he arrived at the Abode of Heart and Mind on the Mountain of Spirit and Square, taking Patriarch Bodhi of the Three-Star Cave on the Slanted Moon as his master. He was given the name Sun Wukong, and over the course of twenty years, he learned the Dao of longevity, the arts of earth-shattering transformations (namely the seventy-two earthly transformations), and the somersault cloud. Later, because he showed off his magical skills to others, he was expelled from the sect by Patriarch Bodhi.

After returning to his mountain following his apprenticeship, Sun Wukong defeated the Demon of Confusion to acquire a large saber, and subsequently used his magic to obtain a vast quantity of weapons from the Land of Aolai to distribute among his monkey subjects. Finding none of the weapons to his liking, he caused an uproar in the Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea in search of a suitable weapon, finally acquiring the Ruyi Jingu Bang. Furthermore, the dragon kings of the other three seas presented him with a Phoenix-Feathered Purple-Gold Crown, Chain-Mail Golden Armor, and Striding Cloud Shoes made of Lotus Silk. Harboring resentment, the dragon kings reported him to the heavenly court, demanding his arrest. At this time, Sun Wukong was flourishing and making wide-ranging alliances, swearing brotherhood with the Bull Demon King, the Demon King of Blix, the Roc Demon King, the Lion-Camel King, the Macaque King, and the Snub-Nosed Monkey King, forming a league of seven brothers.

At the age of 342, because his allotted mortal lifespan had reached its end, Sun Wukong wreaked havoc in the Underworld, obliterating the Book of Life and Death concerning himself and his earthly monkeys, before returning to the mortal realm. The Yama Kings reported this to the heavenly court, and while the Jade Emperor intended to capture Wukong, the Planet Venus proposed an amnesty. Summoned to the heavenly palace, Sun Wukong was deceived and appointed as the Pi Ma Wen. Fifteen days later, upon discovering that the office merely involved tending to horses, he flew into a rage and smashed his way out of the Southern Heavenly Gate.

Upon returning to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, two horned ghost kings came to offer their allegiance, suggesting that Sun Wukong proclaim himself the "Great Sage Equaling Heaven."

Learning that Sun Wukong had rebelled against the heavenly palace, the Jade Emperor ordered Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing to dispatch troops for suppression. Sun Wukong defeated the Giant Spirit God and Prince Nezha. Acting on the advice of Planet Venus, the heavenly court granted Sun Wukong the nominal title of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and put him in charge of the Heavenly Peach Orchard. Unexpectedly, Sun Wukong remained unruly; instead, he stole and ate the heavenly peaches, drank the immortal wine, consumed the golden elixirs, and disrupted the Grand Peach Banquet. Enraged, the Jade Emperor ordered Li Jing to lead one hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals, along with eighteen heavenly nets, to capture the demonic monkey. Sun Wukong defeated the Nine Luminaries Evil Stars, the Five Heavenly Kings, and Prince Nezha, and used clone magic to overcome the one hundred thousand heavenly soldiers. This battle made Sun Wukong's name known throughout the world.

Bodhisattva Guanyin, who had arrived to attend the peach banquet, first sent her disciple, Hui'an the Pilgrim, to assist in the battle. Unable to match Sun Wukong, Hui'an returned to the heavenly court with Li Jing to seek reinforcement. Recognizing Sun Wukong's vast and boundless magical powers, Guanyin recommended the Jade Emperor's nephew, the True Lord Erlang of Saintly Manifestation, to capture Sun Wukong. Leading his forces to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, Erlang engaged Sun Wukong in a fierce battle for three hundred rounds with neither gaining the upper hand. Subsequently, both fighters transformed their avatars and displayed their full magical might. Taking advantage of the empty rear of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, the six brothers of Meishan set fire to the mountain. Distracted and unwilling to continue fighting, Sun Wukong transformed and fled, leading Erlang into a prolonged contest of transformations. After a day of bitter struggle, just as Guanyin intended to use her pure-water vase to assist Erlang in capturing Sun Wukong, she was stopped by Lord Laozi, who dropped the Diamond Jade. Additionally, Wukong's leg was bitten by Erlang's Celestial Hound, leading to his capture.

Captured and brought to the Execution Block for beheading, Sun Wukong remained unharmed by various forms of execution because of the golden elixir he had previously consumed, which had forged his body into an indestructible state. Finally, Lord Laozi took him to the Tushida Palace to be smelted in the crucible of the eight trigrams for forty-nine days. Paradoxically, this instead granted Wukong a pair of fiery eyes with golden pupils. Enraged, Wukong kicked over the furnace and wreaked havoc in the heavenly palace, wielding his golden-hooped rod to strike left and right, leaving no deity able to block his path for a time. Fighting his way to the Hall of Miraculous Mists, he clashed with Wang Lingguan, while the True Lord of Protecting Holiness dispatched thirty-one thunder generals to encircle him. Mid-battle, the Buddha Tathagata appeared; failing to defeat him in their magical duel, Sun Wukong was suppressed beneath the Five Elements Mountain.

Five hundred years after being suppressed beneath the Five Elements Mountain, Sun Wukong was rescued by Tripitaka and took him as his master. Tripitaka gave him the religious name Wukong, hence he was also called Sun Xingzhe, and embarked on the journey to the Western Heaven to retrieve the scriptures.

Because Sun Wukong killed six robbers who attempted to waylay them (or alternatively, the six manifestations of Wukong's own mind), Tripitaka scolded him severely. In anger, Sun Wukong flew away. Guanyin transformed into an old mother and gave Tripitaka a golden-inlaid flower cap and a tight-fillet spell, tricking Wukong into wearing the cap so that the golden fillet embedded itself into his flesh. Whenever Tripitaka recited the incantation, Sun Wukong suffered excruciating head pain, serving as Tripitaka's means to keep him in check.

Continuing their westward journey, the master and disciple subdued the White Dragon at the Eagle Sorrow Stream, and the young white dragon transformed into Tripitaka's steed. At the Guanyin Monastery, Sun Wukong's showing off of the brocade kasaya aroused the greed of Elder Jinchi, who plotted to burn the travelers to death, only to have his monastery burned down by Sun Wukong's magic. Amidst the chaos, the kasaya was stolen by the Black Bear Spirit. Sun Wukong traveled to the South China Sea to invite Guanyin, while transforming himself into an immortal pill to trick the black bear spirit into swallowing it, thereby subduing the monster.

Continuing westward, they arrived at Gao Village, where Elderman Gao's daughter, Gao Cuilan, had been forcibly seized by a long-mouthed, big-eared monster. Pursuing the monster to the Cloud-Ladder Cave, Sun Wukong learned that the creature was none other than Marshal Tianpeng. Having flirted with the Fairy Nishang (one of the fairies of the Moon Palace; in *Journey to the West*, "Chang'e" is a title for all female immortals in the lunar realm, not the mythical Chang'e, wife of Hou Yi), he had been banished to the mortal world and mistakenly reincarnated into a pig's womb. Subdued by Guanyin and bestowed the name Zhu Wuneng, he had been waiting there for the scripture seeker. Consequently, he met Tripitaka, received the Dharma name Bajie ("Eight Prohibitions"), and became Tripitaka's second disciple. Later, on Mount Futu, Tripitaka received the *Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya Sūtra* from Master Wuchao.

At the Yellow Wind Ridge, they encountered the Yellow Wind Monster, whose Samadhi divine wind blinded pursuers. Sun Wukong invited Bodhisattva Lingji of Mount Sumeru to subdue the monster. In the Quicksand River, they subdued a water monster whom Guanyin had named Sha Wujing and ordered to await the scripture seeker from the East. Given the Dharma name Shaseng ("Friar Sand"), he became Tripitaka's third disciple. Together, the master and his three disciples crossed mountains and rivers, journeying west for the scriptures.

Wishing to test the resolve of Tripitaka and his disciples, Guanyin, alongside the Mother of Mount Lishan, Puxian, and Wenshu, transformed into beautiful women to lure the four men into marriage. Tripitaka and the other two remained unmoved, while Zhu Bajie alone was infatuated with female beauty and was hung up by a tree by the Bodhisattva. On Mount Wanshou at the Wuzhuang Temple, Sun Wukong and his companions stole and ate the fruit of ginseng and pushed down the immortal tree, leading to their capture by Zhenyuanzi. Sun Wukong invited Guanyin, who revived the immortal tree with sweet dew, and ultimately became sworn brothers with Zhenyuanzi.