Black Myth: Wukong：The Reason for the Miserable Fate of the Tiger Vanguard's Family

Black Myth: Wukong：The Reason for the Miserable Fate of the Tiger Vanguard's Family

I.

The theme of the second chapter of "Black Myth: Wukong" is the duality of good and evil in a single thought. Whether it's humans or demons, they might originally be doing good deeds, but when they become too obsessed with seeking rewards, they end up committing evil acts in the end.

The Liusha Kingdom was like this. Originally, the Buddha did a good deed and gave them the Setting Sun Drum. However, instead of being grateful, they began to oppose Buddhism, stopped believing in it, and even renamed the Liusha Kingdom as the Sihali Kingdom. Enraged, the Bodhisattva Lingji sent his mount, the giant worm Fubian, to bring disaster to the Liusha Kingdom.

The Yellow Wind Demon King also originally did good deeds. He helped the King of the Sand Kingdom subdue the giant worm. But later, he became greedy for the position of the national preceptor. He made the king issue the "Respect for Rats Decree", and was thus punished by the Buddhist world again, turning everyone in the Sihali Kingdom, from the king to the common people, into rats.

Originally doing good deeds, but eventually committing evil acts. In the end, the Yellow Wind Demon King left his homeland and went to the Yellow Wind Ridge. And in the near future, he was captured by the Bodhisattva Lingji, who, in a fit of anger, cut off his head and began to commit even greater evils.

For this reason, he even consoled himself, thinking that even if he hadn't cut off the Bodhisattva Lingji's head, someone else would have:
"Those who harm others will surely be harmed in return. If it wasn't me, it would be someone else!"
In the ending animation of this chapter, this principle was also elaborated. A scholar saved a fox, and the fox wanted to repay the kindness. But in the end, the scholar dreamed that the fox went on a killing spree, so he killed the fox again.
Just as the saying goes, there is a difference between humans and demons in the duality of good and evil. It also implies that the Yellow Wind Demon King is a demon, and it has nothing to do with whether he did good deeds or not. After all, the Bodhisattva Lingji saved him and even took him as an apprentice, yet he ended up having his head cut off. In that case, it might have been better to just kill the Yellow Wind Demon King when he was first subdued and be done with it.
However, the only difference between doing evil and doing good lies in the identity of the one who does it, whether it's a human or a demon?

II.

To be honest, the Yellow Wind Demon King wasn't really a bad demon. He eliminated harm for the people, knew shame and propriety, and understood when to advance and when to retreat. It's just a pity that he saw through the hypocrisy of Buddhism, fought back bravely, and ultimately lost his life.
The most excessive thing was that the Bodhisattva Lingji didn't clearly explain the reason for his head being cut off (causing disasters in the Sihali Kingdom), but instead took it as the reason for the Yellow Wind Demon King to be killed by the Chosen One.

So, the fox was still the same fox and hadn't turned bad, but the scholar turned evil first and wanted to kill the fox:
"Betraying my master and ancestors! I knew those old guys in the heavens wouldn't let me off. Come on!"
This is actually the theme of the whole game. After all, at the beginning, Sun Wukong didn't want to be the Victorious Fighting Buddha and insisted on returning to the Flower and Fruit Mountain. It verified the duality of good and evil and the difference between humans and demons. When Sun Wukong chose not to be the Victorious Fighting Buddha but to be a demon instead, he couldn't blame others for thinking that he would harm them:
"Who would have thought that he resigned from his Buddha position and happily returned to his hometown, yet some people became even more worried!"
So, Sun Wukong had to die. Even if he didn't want to do evil but only wanted to do good, it wouldn't work. Because the Heavenly Court would distort the cause and effect. They would kill the little monkeys on the Flower and Fruit Mountain, forcing Sun Wukong to go mad. Once Sun Wukong went mad, the Heavenly Court would have evidence of his rebellion, and then it would be unreasonable for him not to die.
It's just a pity that the Chosen One isn't like that little fox, having no choice but only being chosen. Instead, he can raise his big stick, smash those demons and monsters, and fulfill his mission.
As an old saying goes, when everyone thinks you have weapons of mass destruction and wants to destroy you, you'd better actually have them. This is also the main reason why the Yellow Wind Demon King stole the Bodhisattva Lingji's head and focused on secluded cultivation of one of Sun Wukong's six senses.

III.

With this premise, when we look at the Tiger Vanguard's family again, we can understand why they had such a tragic fate!

In "Black Myth: Wukong", there are three tigers in total, namely the Old Tiger Vanguard (the tiger father), the New Tiger Vanguard (the tiger brother), and the Mad Tiger (the tiger brother). Of course, to fully understand their stories, we also need to add a Tiger Chang (a kind of ghost that follows tigers).
Let's first talk about the Old Tiger Vanguard. In the side mission of this chapter, the Yellow Robe Official will lead the Chosen One back to his homeland, where they will encounter the first-generation Tiger Vanguard. After defeating him, he will beg the Chosen One to help the Demon King subdue demons:
"My Demon King came from the Spiritual Mountain and couldn't bear to see the people here suffering, so he took action to subdue demons..."
The reason why he didn't fight the giant worm with the Demon King was also explained by the Tiger Vanguard. Because there were two underage children in his cave, and he needed to take care of these two tiger cubs and couldn't go to his death.
Yes, the two children he mentioned were the two tigers that appeared later, the tiger brother and the tiger brother, two tigers that hadn't cultivated into human form yet.
However, after the Yellow Wind Demon King helped the King of the Sand Kingdom subdue Fubian, the situation changed. The King of the Sand Kingdom first issued the "Respect for Rats Decree" to make humans and demons coexist, and then all the people in the country turned into rats. The Yellow Wind Demon King felt extremely guilty and led his subordinates like the Tiger Vanguard to the Yellow Wind Ridge.
Actually, at this time, the Yellow Wind Demon King hadn't yet turned evil. When he sent the Tiger Vanguard to patrol the mountains, he only asked him to hunt some wild beasts for food and didn't put forward the requirement to kill living beings. In the original "Journey to the West", when Sun Wukong and others came to fight, the Yellow Wind Demon King complained to the Tiger Vanguard:
"I told you to patrol the mountains. You should only catch some mountain oxen, wild boars, fat deer, and goats. Why did you capture Tang Sanzang? And now his disciples have come here to make a fuss. What should we do?"

IV.

Since the Yellow Wind Demon King had already instructed that only wild beasts could be hunted and no harm should be done to humans when patrolling the mountains, why didn't the Tiger Vanguard follow the instructions?

On the one hand, when the Tiger Vanguard captured Tang Sanzang, it was purely because Zhu Bajie didn't play fair and was the first to attack. The Tiger Vanguard was patrolling the mountains in the form of a gust of wind. As a result, Zhu Bajie smelled the wind and immediately struck with his rake.
At that time, the Tiger Vanguard was stunned. He peeled off his own skin and stood there shouting hurriedly:
"Wait, wait! We are not others. We are the vanguard under the Yellow Wind Demon King... Where are you monks from? How dare you use weapons to hurt me?"
On the other hand, the Tiger Vanguard wasn't stupid. He more or less could analyze from the sudden appearance of the giant worm in the Sihali Kingdom and the process of the whole country's people turning into rats overnight that it was the Buddhist world playing tricks. So, not only the Yellow Wind Demon King had resentment towards Buddhism, but the Tiger Vanguard also had this kind of anger.
During this patrol of the mountains, suddenly a pig spirit popped up and almost hit him with the rake. Naturally, he was unhappy. Moreover, Zhu Bajie announced his origin, saying that he was going to the Western Heaven to worship the Buddha and seek scriptures, and he was so fierce:
"You should leave this place early, make way for us, and don't startle my master. Then I'll spare your life. If you continue to be as rampant as before, I won't show mercy when I raise my rake!"
So, with old grudges and new hatreds combined, he fought with Zhu Bajie. Later, when he saw that Sun Wukong also joined the fight and knew that he couldn't win, he turned into a gust of wind and took Tang Sanzang away along the way.
Originally, he wanted to take credit from the Yellow Wind Demon King. But after hearing the other party explain the origins of Tang Sanzang's two disciples, he was also drenched in cold sweat. However, he was a man who took responsibility for his actions. The Tiger Vanguard didn't run away but bravely faced it and finally died under Zhu Bajie's rake.

V.

The Tiger Vanguard died, and the Yellow Wind Demon King was captured by the Bodhisattva Lingji. The remaining tiger brother and tiger brother gathered the remaining little demons and managed to survive in the valley.

Perhaps having recognized their own identities, they didn't dare to casually violate living beings and restrained the little demons under them, making them perform their respective duties. After a long time, some mortals came here to build villages and lived in peace with the local little demons, realizing the unfulfilled dream of the Sihali Kingdom back then.
The tiger brother even "ate up all the evil and treacherous people who got lost and escorted good people passing by", earning himself the title of "Tiger God". For this reason, the local residents specially built the Crouching Tiger Temple and often worshiped there.
If the Yellow Wind Demon King hadn't returned, the Yellow Wind Ridge would probably have passed this good time smoothly. Even though the tiger brother was jealous of the tiger brother at this time, thinking that he was born a few years later and didn't get any benefits.
Because of the return of the Yellow Wind Demon King, the tiger brother was reminded of the sad past. Just as we mentioned in a previous episode. The Yellow Wind Demon King clearly knew that the Tiger Vanguard was no match for Sun Wukong, yet he instigated him to fight and didn't save him when he was in danger. This made the tiger brother hold a grudge. This time, when the Yellow Wind Demon King returned to the Yellow Wind Ridge, on the one hand, he wanted to take revenge. On the other hand, now that the big boss was back, his good days as a demon king's brother were coming to an end, so he naturally wanted to fight for it.
It's just a pity that the Yellow Wind Demon King at this time was no longer the same as he was in the early days. With the Buddha's head and Sun Wukong's evil object to enhance his power, he quickly knocked the tiger brother to the ground.
The tiger brother, who arrived late, saw this and also knew that he was no match for the Yellow Wind Demon King. In order to save his younger brother, he could only throw away his weapon and kneel down to submit.
The Yellow Wind Demon King was quite magnanimous and didn't hold grudges. He still appointed the tiger brother as the Tiger Vanguard, allowing him to inherit his father's position.

VI.

Unfortunately, the tiger brother didn't understand the tiger brother's good intentions. Just because he became the Yellow Wind Demon King's vanguard, he was so angry that he left in a huff. Since then, the two brothers never saw each other again.

As a result, the Tiger Vanguard hated the Yellow Wind Demon King even more. Both times his family was broken and people died were because of him. However, he had limited abilities, couldn't defeat the other party, and had no backer:
"But he wasn't stupid either. He deeply knew that as long as there were people in the heavens supporting that sable rat, besides eating a few more mice every day to vent his anger, what else could he do?"
Then, why did he eat mice to vent his anger?
Because after the Yellow Wind Demon King's return this time, his power increased greatly. The King of the Sand Kingdom was originally grateful to him. In order to restore his kingdom, he worshiped under his door again. Indeed, the King of the Sand Kingdom turning into a mouse wasn't the Yellow Wind Demon King's fault. Even his stupid son knew it:
"Your Majesty, you're not bad. That big bird deserved it."
The King of the Sand Kingdom had no choice either. He was not strong enough to defeat the Tiger Vanguard. Although he didn't get along with him, he could only obey orders and send mice to him to eat every day.
Regarding this point, before fighting the Tiger Vanguard and before he even looked up at the Chosen One, he was already shouting:
"Damn it! Why are you so late again? Don't worry about the things. Hurry back and give birth. If you're late again next time and delay the progress of His Majesty's cultivation, I'll wash your stupid son clean and send him in myself!"
In fact, the Yellow Wind Demon King didn't need to eat mice for his cultivation. Obviously, the Tiger Vanguard took advantage of the king's power to deliberately make things difficult for the King of the Sand Kingdom. After all, they usually didn't get along. This time, when the Yellow Wind Demon King secluded himself for cultivation and specifically appointed the Tiger Vanguard to manage affairs, the King of the Sand Kingdom was extremely worried:
"Your Majesty, we have always been at odds with that big cat. If they get the secret talisman..."

VII.

As for the tiger brother, because he was injured in the battle against the Yellow Wind Demon King and also fell out with his elder brother, he fled to a well to heal his wounds, which led to the subsequent story.

In the village near this well, there was a swordsman. This time, when the Yellow Wind Demon King returned to the Yellow Wind Ridge, his divine wind accidentally blew to the swordsman's family. In fact, his wife died of wind disease, and there was also a child who was also infected with the disease. Naturally, the swordsman didn't want his son to die of the disease, so he decided to seek help from the Bodhisattva. Did he hear about the story of the Bodhisattva Lingji subduing the Yellow Wind Demon King back then?
In fact, the swordsman was mistaken. The Bodhisattva Lingji could only subdue the Yellow Wind Demon King and couldn't cure diseases caused by the divine wind.
Back then, when Sun Wukong was blinded by the wind blown by the Yellow Wind Demon King, it wasn't the Bodhisattva Lingji who cured him. In fact, it was the Dharma Protector Jia Lan who cured him. Of course, although the Dharma Protector Jia Lan had a relatively lower status compared to the Bodhisattva, he was also from the Buddhist world.
One day, the swordsman passed by this well and heard the sound of a tiger roaring from the bottom of the well, so he went down and had a chance encounter with the tiger brother.
The tiger brother had previously agreed with the tiger brother to fight the Yellow Wind Demon King. Because he wanted to make a big splash and win himself a reputation, he hid it from the tiger brother and went to fight alone, resulting in serious injuries.
This time, when he encountered the swordsman who came to seek help, just like the tiger brother before, he wanted to win the reputation of the "Tiger God", so he promised to help treat the child. However, the tiger brother only had a gourd given by the tiger brother. Drinking the water inside could relieve the pain, but it couldn't cure the disease completely. And there was only one way to completely cure it, which was to stop the Yellow Wind Demon King's cultivation and put an end to his sandstorm all over the sky.

VIII.

The tiger brother wanted to do good and save this child. However, to save the child, he had to stop the divine wind of the Yellow Wind Demon King. To stop the divine wind of the Yellow Wind Demon King, he had to defeat him. And to defeat him, he had to cultivate!

And if he wanted to cultivate, there was only one way the tiger brother could think of, which was to eat people!

So, taking advantage of the swordsman's eagerness to save his son, the tiger brother made him deceive some villagers to come into the well so that he could heal his wounds and cultivate. However, good times didn't last long. Gradually, people began to sense that something was wrong. After a careful investigation, they found out that it was the swordsman who was causing trouble.

But the villagers couldn't defeat the swordsman, so they vented their anger on his child and beat the child to death with sticks. Unable to bear the blow, the swordsman, in a fit of rage, killed all the villagers in the village and got lost in the yellow sand, becoming a half-human, half-demon Tiger Chang.

As for the tiger brother, when he saw that the child hadn't come for many days and the swordsman had also disappeared, he got out of the well to see what was going on. As a result, he saw dead bodies everywhere and a coffin at the entrance of the village. Lying in the coffin was exactly the child he wanted to save, with the gourd he had given him still hanging around his neck.

Anyway, the tiger brother still had feelings for this child and thought that all of this was the Yellow Wind Demon King's fault. So he took the coffin back to the well and guarded it every day while practicing his skills, looking forward to the day when he could defeat the Yellow Wind Demon King.

In this way, the good-natured tiger brother, because of his obsession, turned into a mad tiger.

By now, the story of the Tiger Vanguard's family of three, including the story of the Tiger Chang's family of three, has been told, and it really fits the theme of this chapter well.

The Old Tiger Vanguard originally followed the Yellow Wind Demon King to do good deeds. However, after the incident of the people in the Sihali Kingdom turning into rats, with his hatred for the Buddhist world transferred to Tang Sanzang and his disciples, he ended up getting himself killed.

IX.

The tiger brother was even more miserable. Originally, he was also wholeheartedly dedicated to doing good deeds. He was even honored as the "Tiger God" by the local people, and the Crouching Tiger Temple was built for him.

Unfortunately, one day, the Yellow Wind Demon King came back and also brought the divine wind that brought disaster to the local people. On the one hand, to avenge his father's death, and on the other hand, to bring benefits to the local people, the tiger brother and the tiger brother decided to go to war with the Yellow Wind Demon King.

In the end, the new Tiger Vanguard, in order to save his younger brother, could only abandon his original intention and became a part of helping the evildoer. Nurtured by blood and flesh, he gradually became a fierce tiger that wouldn't blink an eye when killing people.

The tiger brother was the same. At first, he was also wholeheartedly dedicated to doing good deeds, hoping that one day he could surpass his elder brother and also earn the title of "Tiger God". Later, in order to cure the disease of the child who always called him "Tiger God", he decided to eat people and cultivate in order to deal with the Yellow Wind Demon King.

The Tiger Chang was also like this. At first, he was also trying to save the child. But later, things got out of control. The child was beaten to death by the villagers with sticks, and then he killed all the villagers in the village, with blood flowing like a river.

It can be said that their original intentions were not wrong. They all started with the intention of doing good deeds, but in the end, they ended up doing evil deeds, harming others as well as themselves.

It seems that it was Sun Wukong and the Chosen One who caused the tragic fate of the Tiger Vanguard's family. In fact, it was the Yellow Wind Demon King. And does the Yellow Wind Demon King have nothing to say? Of course he does. Just as we mentioned at the beginning, he also needed to cultivate. Otherwise, he would still be killed by the great gods, just as he said when fighting against the Chosen One:

"The difference between heaven and earth is so great that there will be bloodshed and carnage. I can't escape, and neither can you."

Yes, in the end, the Tiger Vanguard's family, the Tiger Chang's family (the ones who help tigers do evil), including the Yellow Wind Demon King, didn't they all die under the sticks of Sun Wukong or the Chosen One and couldn't escape?

X.

In this way, a long chain of cause and effect emerged. Let me sort it out for you carefully:

The root of all the things in the Liusha Kingdom lay in the sun. The sound of the setting sun was too loud and would kill children. Because of this, the Buddhist world did a good deed and gave them the Setting Sun Drum. Unfortunately, it led to all the people in the country believing in Buddhism and not engaging in production, and the country was on the verge of collapse.

Then a series of cause and effect emerged. Because of the Bodhisattva Lingji, the Yellow Wind Demon King suffered misfortune. And because the Yellow Wind Demon King didn't want to suffer misfortune and needed to cultivate, the Tiger Vanguard's family suffered misfortune. Because the Tiger Vanguard's family didn't want to suffer misfortune and needed to cultivate, the villagers and the people of the Sihali Kingdom suffered misfortune. Because the villagers and the people didn't want to suffer misfortune and wanted to get rid of the root cause, the child of the Tiger Chang suffered misfortune...

So after this whole chain, you will find that the ones who are really suffering misfortune are either demons or mortals. On the contrary, the gods and Buddhas are hardly affected.

Like the Old Tiger Vanguard, he was just a child from a poor family. Unlike Erlang Shen, whose uncle is the Jade Emperor, no matter how much he misbehaved, even if he split a mountain, he would be fine.

He didn't have the luck of Sun Wukong, who was born in the beautiful Huaguo Mountain where there were no powerful demons causing trouble, and he could even worship Patriarch Bodhi as his master.

He was completely from a wild background and had nowhere to learn the art of transformation. The spells he taught himself were really pitiful:

"That tiger stood up straight, raised its front left paw, grabbed its own chest, and scratched downward with a tearing sound, peeling off its own skin and standing by the roadside."

You know, among the top ten tortures in the Qing Dynasty, there was the torture of skinning, which was really painful.

Because he came from a grassroots background, the Yellow Wind Demon King didn't cherish him much and clearly sent him to his death. And the reason why the Yellow Wind Demon King did this wasn't that he didn't know that the Tiger Vanguard couldn't defeat Sun Wukong, but to make his actions seem justifiable.

After all, he had always boasted that he was doing good deeds before. This time, when he targeted Tang Sanzang's flesh, it was entirely because they had killed his vanguard general. This was no less serious than the death of Pang Tong.

It's a pity that whether it was the Yellow Wind Demon King or the Tiger Vanguard, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't escape their fate of being killed. The reason was just like the story of the scholar and the fox at the end of the second chapter we mentioned earlier. As long as you are a demon and the gods and Buddhas think that you will harm people, then you will harm people and they will try to get rid of you.

Of course, "Black Myth: Wukong" also gave everyone a chance to vent their feelings. After all, the Chosen One was still there. In the later story, it is said that the fox and the scholar appeared again, and that scholar finally died under the stick of the Chosen One, which could be regarded as revenge for the little fox.