"Black Myth: Wukong": Why Did Erlang Shen Help Sun Wukong
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"Black Myth: Wukong": Why Did Erlang Shen Help Sun Wukong
I.
In the final animation of the game, the seriously injured Sun Wukong was forced to the edge of the cliff on the Huaguo Mountain by Erlang Shen, with raging fires burning below the mountain:
"So what if you became a Buddha? That golden band has always been on your head!"
Subsequently, Sun Wukong cursed and told him to open his dog eyes, and he would take off the band right away to show it to him! Thus, they seemed to exchange a secret signal, with Sun Wukong asking Erlang Shen to open his third eye, as he was about to entrust his most important mental root to him.
Sun Wukong had actually realized that even though he had become a Buddha, the golden band on his head still hadn't disappeared. Just as the animation in the second chapter showed, if you are a demon, even if you haven't done anything bad, as long as you have the ability to do bad things, you won't be tolerated. It's also like what Sun Wukong said to the Bull Demon King. For those who are powerful and rebellious like them, even if they are alive, they are considered a sin to the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain.
On the one hand, he lacked freedom. On the other hand, Sun Wukong had witnessed the sinful deeds of the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain in devouring people.
Therefore, he decided to abandon his physical body with the band through the Corpse Release Method, release his free six roots, and then be resurrected again after the Chosen One collected them all.
The Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain also realized that this celestial-born stone monkey was immortal and couldn't be eliminated by force. If they let him be, they didn't know when he would pop out from some corner, from an unknown stone again, which was a result they didn't want to see.
Since that was the case, they might as well play along with Sun Wukong's idea and initiate the Chosen One plan.
Since Sun Wukong was still unruly even with the band on, they chose a Chosen One. He would inherit five of Sun Wukong's roots but not the sixth root, which was the mind, that is, consciousness and memory. He would continue to wear the band and act as a thug for the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain.
II.
There is a question about the six roots. In the previous articles, I (Yang Jiaofeng) might not have considered it comprehensively. Here is a supplementary explanation:
The six roots are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind respectively. The first five have physical entities, while the last one, the mind, represents consciousness, which also includes memory but has no physical form.
In fact, the old monkey in the previous chapter didn't lie. He knew a fact that was hard for the Chosen One and Zhu Bajie to understand and accept. That is, even if the Chosen One collected all six roots, there was no possibility for Sun Wukong to be resurrected.
Why?
Because after Sun Wukong's death, his body would turn into six roots. The five great demon kings took away five roots, but the sixth root, the mind, was gone:
"The mind is the first among the six roots and is the unique essence of each life. For this reason, it is doomed to perish with the passing of life."
Actually, this is quite understandable. For example, a dog lover couldn't bear to see his dog die, so he decided to spend a lot of money to clone one. Even if the cloned dog was exactly the same as the previous one, things like consciousness and memory couldn't be cloned. To put it bluntly, the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain wanted to resurrect a Sun Wukong with permanent amnesia, put the band on him, and continue to use him for their own purposes.
This is also why in the game, the last root, the mind, takes the form of a tight band. It also symbolizes that this mind is incomplete, restricted, and is the kind of mind that the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain hope for.
Since the mind has no specific form and will disappear once the host dies, when Erlang Shen reported to the Heavenly Court, he only needed to clearly explain the whereabouts of the five roots, which could be verified, and didn't have to clarify the whereabouts of the sixth root, the mind.
Therefore, he was able to preserve Sun Wukong's memory through his third eye that had been kept closed all along.
III.
We must make it clear that what Erlang Shen preserved was only Sun Wukong's memory, not the mind, which is truly one of the six roots in the real sense.
Only after the Chosen One obtains Sun Wukong's memory will he understand his good intentions and realize that Sun Wukong's original intention was to take off the band. That's why the Chosen One suddenly opened his eyes and didn't put on the band that the old monkey handed over at last.
However, Sun Wukong still didn't come back to life. Although the Chosen One who inherited his mantle had Sun Wukong's memory and also had the ability to question and resist, he didn't inherit Sun Wukong's will. Naturally, there was no combination of the Great Sage's will and the Chosen One's will. In this sense, the Chosen One wasn't possessed by Sun Wukong. He was still an independent individual, just with the Great Sage's memory.
So, from this perspective, many people say that the old monkey is Sun Wukong himself or a manifestation of his Buddha nature, which can't stand scrutiny. Dead is dead. There is no such thing as not being dead, not being completely dead, or being half-dead.
Thus, we can see that the Heavenly Court, the Spiritual Mountain, and all the demons or immortals involved in the Chosen One plan only knew that the Great Sage's five roots had fallen into the hands of the major demon kings. This can also be seen when rewards were distributed after Erlang Shen joined forces with the five major demon kings to destroy Sun Wukong.
In the short animation about the Bull Demon King, it was shown that Erlang Shen bestowed Sun Wukong's eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body on the five major demon kings respectively, and then there was nothing else, which exactly proved that there were only five roots on the surface.
As for the remaining body of the Great Sage in the stone egg, we also analyzed in the previous chapter that it was transformed from Sun Wukong's flesh and blood, not the mind among the six roots. This is quite understandable.
IV.
Without further ado, let's get back to our topic. Did the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain know that Erlang Shen had secretly kept Sun Wukong's memory?
Of course not!
Because the two celestial soldiers who knew about this had already been executed by Erlang Shen. This was mentioned in Erlang Shen's illustrated handbook. Two celestial soldiers were ordered to clean up the battlefield on the Huaguo Mountain and kill the remaining little monkeys. They also mentioned Sun Wukong's six roots:
"When we were in formation, I was at the front and saw clearly. When they dismembered the body, even Lord Zhenjun took one thing."
Unfortunately, Erlang Shen heard this sentence and then silenced these two celestial soldiers:
"Before he could finish speaking, a spearhead pierced through the chest of Celestial Soldier B, and with a flash of golden light, even the soul in his armor dissipated. Celestial Soldier A was greatly shocked, but before he could say more, the golden light flashed again."
Moreover, not long after that, Erlang Shen went to find Maitreya Buddha, hoping that he could help him solve his doubts. The reason, I (Yang Jiaofeng) think, is quite simple. After all, Erlang Shen's third eye had absorbed Sun Wukong's memory. Then, it meant that Erlang Shen also knew what Sun Wukong had experienced and understood what he wanted to achieve.
This probably also plunged Erlang Shen into extreme pain. Whether he liked it or not, he was no longer simply Erlang Shen. At this time, if he wanted to solve his doubts, he definitely couldn't go to the Jade Emperor, who was on the opposite side of Sun Wukong, or the Tathagata Buddha. So, Maitreya Buddha, the Future Buddha, became his first choice for seeking help.
Of course, the second reason why he chose Maitreya Buddha was that the other party knew that he had received Sun Wukong's memory:
"Your Holiness has sharp eyes. Back then on the Huaguo Mountain, you must have expected this day. I beg Your Holiness to relieve the distress in my heart."
V.
Then, let's get back to our question. Why did Erlang Shen help Sun Wukong? Was it just because he had received the other party's memory?
No!
Because in the original version of "Journey to the West", the relationship between Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen was quite good, and they reached a kind of tacit understanding that ordinary people couldn't see through at all.
To explain this clearly, we have to start from the two interactions between Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen in the original version of "Journey to the West":
Sun Wukong had contact with Erlang Shen twice in total. The first time was when he made havoc in the Heavenly Palace and was captured by Erlang Shen and finally thrown into the Eight Trigrams Furnace. The second time was on the way to fetch scriptures. Sun Wukong sent Zhu Bajie to ask Erlang Shen for help, and several of them joined forces to drive away the Nine-Headed Insect.
However, interestingly, during this period, Sun Wukong's feelings towards Erlang Shen had a huge change.
At first, after he was captured by Erlang Shen, he didn't show obvious hatred. The always arrogant Sun Wukong also repeatedly told the demons on the way to fetch scriptures that he had been defeated by Erlang Shen, such as when facing the Black Bear Spirit:
"The Taoist Patriarch and Guanyin, along with the Jade Emperor, watched the demon subduing at the South Heaven Gate. But with the help of Lord Laozi, Erlang captured me and took me to the Heavenly Court."
When facing the Green Ox Demon and the Golden Retriever Lion, he also mentioned that he had been tricked by Lord Laozi and thus captured by Erlang Shen. However, at that time, he didn't yet know that his Huaguo Mountain had become a wasteland. It wasn't until after he was driven away by Tang Sanzang for hitting the White Bone Demon three times that he returned home for the first time after being captured by Erlang Shen.
When he got back to the Huaguo Mountain, he was stunned at that time and was filled with rage:
"How hateful that Erlang destroyed me! How angry that the Little Sage bullied me! He dug up the graves of my ancestors and destroyed your ancestral tombs for no reason!"
VI.
From these words, it seems that the author is telling us that there must be another earth-shattering battle between Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen!
But when Sun Wukong met Erlang Shen again, it surprised us all because Sun Wukong's attitude had a 180-degree turn. At that time, Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie were fighting against the Nine-Headed Insect. Suddenly, they saw Erlang Shen coming back from hunting with his six holy brothers. It was a grand and imposing sight:
"Zhu Bajie, those are my seven holy brothers. It would be nice to invite them to stay and help me fight. If we succeed, it will be a great opportunity."
Did the seven holy brothers mentioned by Sun Wukong include Erlang Shen?
No!
Because then he added:
"But there is the Great Sage among them, and I was once subdued by him, so it's not good to see him."
However, we also know that if the seven holy brothers didn't include Erlang Shen, there would be one missing. Moreover, since Sun Wukong was suppressed under the Five Elements Mountain, it can be determined that this was their first meeting. Otherwise, Erlang Shen wouldn't have said:
"Great Sage, you have escaped from the great disaster, received the precepts of the Buddhist monk, and will soon complete your merits and ascend to the lotus throne. Congratulations, congratulations!"
The first time they met, they were deadly enemies and fought with all their might. Not long ago, Sun Wukong was still gnashing his teeth and vowing to dig up Erlang Shen's ancestral tomb. How come when they actually met, he directly called the Meishan Seven Sages his brothers?
The only explanation is what we just mentioned. The seven holy brothers mentioned by Sun Wukong didn't include Erlang Shen. The meaning of the whole conversation was probably that Sun Wukong saw the seven holy brothers passing by and wanted them to help. However, there was also his deadly enemy, that is, Erlang Shen, with them, so he was embarrassed to ask for help.
VII.
From other documents, the Meishan Seven Sages indeed didn't include Erlang Shen, but in "Journey to the West", they did, otherwise there wouldn't be seven of them.
What's more interesting is that, except for Erlang Shen, the remaining six Meishan Sages also called Sun Wukong "brother" when they saw him:
"Brother Sun Wukong, Big Brother invites you."
From this, we can draw a conclusion that the six Meishan Sages were quite familiar with Sun Wukong and addressed each other as brothers. Moreover, the term "Meishan Seven Sages" is a fixed combination, similar to phrases like "those are my Liangshan brothers", "those are my F4 brothers", or "those are my brothers in a certain group".
Thus, we can boldly speculate that the original Meishan Seven Sages actually included Sun Wukong. Later, he was removed and replaced by Erlang Shen. In the original version of "Journey to the West", we can also find some doubts, and perhaps this was the reason why Sun Wukong got acquainted with them:
"He felt at ease, traveled through the clouds and mists every day, roamed around the four seas, and had fun in thousands of mountains. He showed his martial arts, visited heroes everywhere; displayed his supernatural powers, and made friends with the virtuous."
Originally, there were only six sages on Meishan. After Sun Wukong joined them, they renamed the group the Meishan Seven Sages, and Sun Wukong became the eldest brother. Later, for some reasons, he left Meishan, went to his own Huaguo Mountain, got acquainted with another six sages, and became a younger brother. Meanwhile, Erlang Shen came to Meishan, subdued the other six sages, and became the eldest brother.
This speculation isn't unfounded. After all, isn't the leader of the Meishan Seven Sages the White Ape Yuan Hong, a monkey?
Moreover, many people also say that Sun Wukong's previous life was Yuan Hong, and there are probably intricate connections here. This is also the reason why the six Meishan Sages let Sun Wukong off the hook when Erlang Shen led them to besiege the Huaguo Mountain:
"On the battlefield, Kang, Zhang, Yao, Li, Guo Shen, and Zhi Jian gave orders, released the grass-headed gods, and let them rush towards the outside of the Water Curtain Cave with eagles and dogs, set up bows and crossbows, and launched a joint attack. Alas, they scattered the four mighty generals of the demon monkeys and captured two or three thousand spiritual monsters!"
VIII.
The six Meishan Sages spent a long time but only captured two or three thousand spiritual monsters except for the monkeys. Isn't this clearly letting Sun Wukong off the hook?
Moreover, when Erlang Shen saw Sun Wukong, he kept calling him "wicked demon", "demon monkey", "macaque":
"Today, by the order of the Heavenly Court, I'm here to capture you, the rebellious stable keeper macaque who rebelled against the Heavenly Palace. You still don't know your life is at stake!"
However, the six Meishan Sages were quite rational at first and followed their eldest brother to call Sun Wukong a "wicked monkey". But after Sun Wukong suddenly disappeared, they panicked:
"The six brothers were in a flurry, looking around but couldn't find him..."
I (Yang Jiaofeng) think their panic wasn't because they were worried that Sun Wukong had escaped, but rather that they were worried that Sun Wukong was dead. That's why, after searching everywhere but couldn't find him, they directly went to Erlang Shen. Because they were so worried that they forgot the proper address in their subconscious and directly called him "Great Sage":
"Brother, have you caught the Great Sage?"
More importantly, it wasn't Erlang Shen who was in charge of the mountain-searching task back then, but the six Meishan Sages.
"You lead your troops to search the mountain. After searching thoroughly, return to Guan Kou."
Since they were the ones executing the order, in order to cover up their act of letting Sun Wukong off the hook, they set the mountain on fire. After all, once the fire started, the smoke filled the air, blotting out the sky and the sun. Although Erlang Shen had given the order to search thoroughly, that is, to root out everything, with such thick smoke, even the Thousand-Mile Eye couldn't see clearly. Who knew if there were still any living creatures left on the Huaguo Mountain?
As a contrast, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Monk didn't spare any efforts in wiping out all the demons on their way west. After all, in the world of "Journey to the West", it was the rule that once a major demon died, none of the little demons should be left alive.
IX.
When Sun Wukong returned to the Huaguo Mountain and saw the scorched earth, he naturally thought that Erlang Shen had wiped out everything, so he wanted to dig up the other's ancestral tomb.
However, when he saw a group of little monkeys and heard that there were still more than a thousand alive and that the four mighty generals were still there, he immediately became happy. Because if we work backwards, half were burned to death, half left, and half were killed by hunters, and there were still more than a thousand alive. This survival rate was already quite high.
It was precisely because of this that Sun Wukong had a soft spot, and thus when he rebelled against the Heavenly Court again, the Heavenly Court could use the little monkeys on the Huaguo Mountain to threaten
X.
In fact, Erlang Shen didn't just happen to pass by. Instead, he deliberately came to help Sun Wukong, but not to help him kill the Nine-Headed Insect. Instead, he came to let the Nine-Headed Insect escape.
Although the original version of "Journey to the West" didn't give a proper reason, "Black Myth: Wukong" did. That is, behind this Nine-Headed Insect, there were several eyes of the Tathagata Buddha hidden.
The Jisai Kingdom was like the Sihali Kingdom. It enjoyed the protection of Buddhism but didn't really believe in Buddhism. Otherwise, the king of the Jisai Kingdom wouldn't have been so cruel to the monks in the Golden Light Temple. So he sent the Nine-Headed Insect there. It was said to steal the Buddhist treasure, but in fact, it was to upgrade the Buddhist treasure:
"With the immortal energy of this grass nourishing it, the Buddhist relic will not decay for a thousand years and will shine brightly for ten thousand years. If you sweep it on the ground or in the fields, there will be thousands of rays of glorious light and auspicious auras."
As for which Buddha the Buddhist relic belonged to, we analyzed it a long time ago and won't talk about it here. The Nine-Headed Insect was the Nine-Headed Bird. Although Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie couldn't do anything to it for a while, they would eventually be able to defeat it.
Erlang Shen came over, let his dog bite off one of the Nine-Headed Insect's heads, and then let it escape.
In the ending animation of "Black Myth: Wukong", when Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie were fighting against the Nine-Headed Insect, they would find countless red eyes in the sky staring at them and blinking:
The same red eyes could also be seen on the Tathagata Buddha after Sun Wukong tore apart a roc with his hands. At that time, the roc was flying towards the Buddha, probably to ask for help. But Sun Wukong got there first and tore it apart. The Buddha was furious at that time:
In fact, the red eyes represent evil and signify killing. For example, in the pagoda of the Little Leiyin Temple, whenever the demonic sound rang out, including the Chosen One, their eyes would turn red and they would lose their rationality.
This is also the reason why Crown Prince Zhang deafened his own ears to avoid listening to the demonic sound and blinded his own eyes to prevent them from turning red.
XI.
Erlang Shen was very clever. On all public occasions, he showed his stance of maintaining the authority of the Heavenly Court. However, every time he completed the mission of the Heavenly Court, he was also conducting underhanded operations.
So, I think that when he sent the six Meishan Sages to search the mountain, it was precisely based on this consideration that he deliberately let Sun Wukong off the hook. Similarly, when the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain joined forces to wipe out Sun Wukong, he kept emphasizing that only he was worthy of fighting against Sun Wukong and that it had to be a one-on-one fight and that others shouldn't join in.
Later, he even deliberately showed a flaw, allowing Sun Wukong to defeat the Four Heavenly Kings and then chose to fly into the Huaguo Mountain one after the other.
It was precisely during this short period of time when no one noticed that Erlang Shen reached an agreement with Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong traded his own death for the freedom of the next Monkey King. If Erlang Shen wasn't a trustworthy person, Sun Wukong would never have given him this only opportunity and entrusted him with keeping his memory.
Similarly, this task was difficult for Erlang Shen to complete alone, so he contacted Tang Sanzang (the old monkey), Maitreya Buddha, and the six Meishan Sages. So, many times, when the White-Clothed Scholar, the Yellow-Robed Official, the Green-Hatted Warrior, the Black-Handed Taoist, the White-Axe Warrior and others sent by Erlang Shen to test the Chosen One called out "big brother", perhaps they didn't just mean Erlang Shen but also Sun Wukong.
So, on the surface, they were also demons, used to test the Chosen One so that the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain could select a powerful Chosen One who could defeat the remaining body of the Great Sage and continue to be their puppet.
But secretly, they were also guiding the Chosen One forward. When they met a suitable one with potential, they would also be happy for their "big brother".
Erlang Shen was bound to be suspected by the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain. Out of helplessness, he had to seek help from Maitreya Buddha and hide in the painting:
"Today, I stepped into this painting of Meishan. The Heavenly Court won't be able to find me. But is it something you did, Your Holiness? Doesn't the Spiritual Mountain know about it?"
Yes, he hid in the painting. But how could Maitreya Buddha avoid the eyes of the Spiritual Mountain here?
Maitreya Buddha smiled:
"Have we met? The Erlang Shen I know is much uglier than you."
After all, in the world of "Journey to the West", there were three major anti-heroes, Erlang Shen, Nezha, and Sun Wukong. Erlang Shen was still the eldest brother. Since he was the eldest brother, how could he not help his younger brother?
I'm not very talented. I guess in the second part of "Black Myth: Wukong", this sharp-eyed Nezha, who was determined to go against his father, might become a playable character.
I.
In the final animation of the game, the seriously injured Sun Wukong was forced to the edge of the cliff on the Huaguo Mountain by Erlang Shen, with raging fires burning below the mountain:
"So what if you became a Buddha? That golden band has always been on your head!"
Subsequently, Sun Wukong cursed and told him to open his dog eyes, and he would take off the band right away to show it to him! Thus, they seemed to exchange a secret signal, with Sun Wukong asking Erlang Shen to open his third eye, as he was about to entrust his most important mental root to him.
Sun Wukong had actually realized that even though he had become a Buddha, the golden band on his head still hadn't disappeared. Just as the animation in the second chapter showed, if you are a demon, even if you haven't done anything bad, as long as you have the ability to do bad things, you won't be tolerated. It's also like what Sun Wukong said to the Bull Demon King. For those who are powerful and rebellious like them, even if they are alive, they are considered a sin to the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain.
On the one hand, he lacked freedom. On the other hand, Sun Wukong had witnessed the sinful deeds of the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain in devouring people.
Therefore, he decided to abandon his physical body with the band through the Corpse Release Method, release his free six roots, and then be resurrected again after the Chosen One collected them all.
The Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain also realized that this celestial-born stone monkey was immortal and couldn't be eliminated by force. If they let him be, they didn't know when he would pop out from some corner, from an unknown stone again, which was a result they didn't want to see.
Since that was the case, they might as well play along with Sun Wukong's idea and initiate the Chosen One plan.
Since Sun Wukong was still unruly even with the band on, they chose a Chosen One. He would inherit five of Sun Wukong's roots but not the sixth root, which was the mind, that is, consciousness and memory. He would continue to wear the band and act as a thug for the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain.
II.
There is a question about the six roots. In the previous articles, I (Yang Jiaofeng) might not have considered it comprehensively. Here is a supplementary explanation:
The six roots are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind respectively. The first five have physical entities, while the last one, the mind, represents consciousness, which also includes memory but has no physical form.
In fact, the old monkey in the previous chapter didn't lie. He knew a fact that was hard for the Chosen One and Zhu Bajie to understand and accept. That is, even if the Chosen One collected all six roots, there was no possibility for Sun Wukong to be resurrected.
Why?
Because after Sun Wukong's death, his body would turn into six roots. The five great demon kings took away five roots, but the sixth root, the mind, was gone:
"The mind is the first among the six roots and is the unique essence of each life. For this reason, it is doomed to perish with the passing of life."
Actually, this is quite understandable. For example, a dog lover couldn't bear to see his dog die, so he decided to spend a lot of money to clone one. Even if the cloned dog was exactly the same as the previous one, things like consciousness and memory couldn't be cloned. To put it bluntly, the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain wanted to resurrect a Sun Wukong with permanent amnesia, put the band on him, and continue to use him for their own purposes.
This is also why in the game, the last root, the mind, takes the form of a tight band. It also symbolizes that this mind is incomplete, restricted, and is the kind of mind that the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain hope for.
Since the mind has no specific form and will disappear once the host dies, when Erlang Shen reported to the Heavenly Court, he only needed to clearly explain the whereabouts of the five roots, which could be verified, and didn't have to clarify the whereabouts of the sixth root, the mind.
Therefore, he was able to preserve Sun Wukong's memory through his third eye that had been kept closed all along.
III.
We must make it clear that what Erlang Shen preserved was only Sun Wukong's memory, not the mind, which is truly one of the six roots in the real sense.
Only after the Chosen One obtains Sun Wukong's memory will he understand his good intentions and realize that Sun Wukong's original intention was to take off the band. That's why the Chosen One suddenly opened his eyes and didn't put on the band that the old monkey handed over at last.
However, Sun Wukong still didn't come back to life. Although the Chosen One who inherited his mantle had Sun Wukong's memory and also had the ability to question and resist, he didn't inherit Sun Wukong's will. Naturally, there was no combination of the Great Sage's will and the Chosen One's will. In this sense, the Chosen One wasn't possessed by Sun Wukong. He was still an independent individual, just with the Great Sage's memory.
So, from this perspective, many people say that the old monkey is Sun Wukong himself or a manifestation of his Buddha nature, which can't stand scrutiny. Dead is dead. There is no such thing as not being dead, not being completely dead, or being half-dead.
Thus, we can see that the Heavenly Court, the Spiritual Mountain, and all the demons or immortals involved in the Chosen One plan only knew that the Great Sage's five roots had fallen into the hands of the major demon kings. This can also be seen when rewards were distributed after Erlang Shen joined forces with the five major demon kings to destroy Sun Wukong.
In the short animation about the Bull Demon King, it was shown that Erlang Shen bestowed Sun Wukong's eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body on the five major demon kings respectively, and then there was nothing else, which exactly proved that there were only five roots on the surface.
As for the remaining body of the Great Sage in the stone egg, we also analyzed in the previous chapter that it was transformed from Sun Wukong's flesh and blood, not the mind among the six roots. This is quite understandable.
IV.
Without further ado, let's get back to our topic. Did the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain know that Erlang Shen had secretly kept Sun Wukong's memory?
Of course not!
Because the two celestial soldiers who knew about this had already been executed by Erlang Shen. This was mentioned in Erlang Shen's illustrated handbook. Two celestial soldiers were ordered to clean up the battlefield on the Huaguo Mountain and kill the remaining little monkeys. They also mentioned Sun Wukong's six roots:
"When we were in formation, I was at the front and saw clearly. When they dismembered the body, even Lord Zhenjun took one thing."
Unfortunately, Erlang Shen heard this sentence and then silenced these two celestial soldiers:
"Before he could finish speaking, a spearhead pierced through the chest of Celestial Soldier B, and with a flash of golden light, even the soul in his armor dissipated. Celestial Soldier A was greatly shocked, but before he could say more, the golden light flashed again."
Moreover, not long after that, Erlang Shen went to find Maitreya Buddha, hoping that he could help him solve his doubts. The reason, I (Yang Jiaofeng) think, is quite simple. After all, Erlang Shen's third eye had absorbed Sun Wukong's memory. Then, it meant that Erlang Shen also knew what Sun Wukong had experienced and understood what he wanted to achieve.
This probably also plunged Erlang Shen into extreme pain. Whether he liked it or not, he was no longer simply Erlang Shen. At this time, if he wanted to solve his doubts, he definitely couldn't go to the Jade Emperor, who was on the opposite side of Sun Wukong, or the Tathagata Buddha. So, Maitreya Buddha, the Future Buddha, became his first choice for seeking help.
Of course, the second reason why he chose Maitreya Buddha was that the other party knew that he had received Sun Wukong's memory:
"Your Holiness has sharp eyes. Back then on the Huaguo Mountain, you must have expected this day. I beg Your Holiness to relieve the distress in my heart."
V.
Then, let's get back to our question. Why did Erlang Shen help Sun Wukong? Was it just because he had received the other party's memory?
No!
Because in the original version of "Journey to the West", the relationship between Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen was quite good, and they reached a kind of tacit understanding that ordinary people couldn't see through at all.
To explain this clearly, we have to start from the two interactions between Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen in the original version of "Journey to the West":
Sun Wukong had contact with Erlang Shen twice in total. The first time was when he made havoc in the Heavenly Palace and was captured by Erlang Shen and finally thrown into the Eight Trigrams Furnace. The second time was on the way to fetch scriptures. Sun Wukong sent Zhu Bajie to ask Erlang Shen for help, and several of them joined forces to drive away the Nine-Headed Insect.
However, interestingly, during this period, Sun Wukong's feelings towards Erlang Shen had a huge change.
At first, after he was captured by Erlang Shen, he didn't show obvious hatred. The always arrogant Sun Wukong also repeatedly told the demons on the way to fetch scriptures that he had been defeated by Erlang Shen, such as when facing the Black Bear Spirit:
"The Taoist Patriarch and Guanyin, along with the Jade Emperor, watched the demon subduing at the South Heaven Gate. But with the help of Lord Laozi, Erlang captured me and took me to the Heavenly Court."
When facing the Green Ox Demon and the Golden Retriever Lion, he also mentioned that he had been tricked by Lord Laozi and thus captured by Erlang Shen. However, at that time, he didn't yet know that his Huaguo Mountain had become a wasteland. It wasn't until after he was driven away by Tang Sanzang for hitting the White Bone Demon three times that he returned home for the first time after being captured by Erlang Shen.
When he got back to the Huaguo Mountain, he was stunned at that time and was filled with rage:
"How hateful that Erlang destroyed me! How angry that the Little Sage bullied me! He dug up the graves of my ancestors and destroyed your ancestral tombs for no reason!"
VI.
From these words, it seems that the author is telling us that there must be another earth-shattering battle between Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen!
But when Sun Wukong met Erlang Shen again, it surprised us all because Sun Wukong's attitude had a 180-degree turn. At that time, Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie were fighting against the Nine-Headed Insect. Suddenly, they saw Erlang Shen coming back from hunting with his six holy brothers. It was a grand and imposing sight:
"Zhu Bajie, those are my seven holy brothers. It would be nice to invite them to stay and help me fight. If we succeed, it will be a great opportunity."
Did the seven holy brothers mentioned by Sun Wukong include Erlang Shen?
No!
Because then he added:
"But there is the Great Sage among them, and I was once subdued by him, so it's not good to see him."
However, we also know that if the seven holy brothers didn't include Erlang Shen, there would be one missing. Moreover, since Sun Wukong was suppressed under the Five Elements Mountain, it can be determined that this was their first meeting. Otherwise, Erlang Shen wouldn't have said:
"Great Sage, you have escaped from the great disaster, received the precepts of the Buddhist monk, and will soon complete your merits and ascend to the lotus throne. Congratulations, congratulations!"
The first time they met, they were deadly enemies and fought with all their might. Not long ago, Sun Wukong was still gnashing his teeth and vowing to dig up Erlang Shen's ancestral tomb. How come when they actually met, he directly called the Meishan Seven Sages his brothers?
The only explanation is what we just mentioned. The seven holy brothers mentioned by Sun Wukong didn't include Erlang Shen. The meaning of the whole conversation was probably that Sun Wukong saw the seven holy brothers passing by and wanted them to help. However, there was also his deadly enemy, that is, Erlang Shen, with them, so he was embarrassed to ask for help.
VII.
From other documents, the Meishan Seven Sages indeed didn't include Erlang Shen, but in "Journey to the West", they did, otherwise there wouldn't be seven of them.
What's more interesting is that, except for Erlang Shen, the remaining six Meishan Sages also called Sun Wukong "brother" when they saw him:
"Brother Sun Wukong, Big Brother invites you."
From this, we can draw a conclusion that the six Meishan Sages were quite familiar with Sun Wukong and addressed each other as brothers. Moreover, the term "Meishan Seven Sages" is a fixed combination, similar to phrases like "those are my Liangshan brothers", "those are my F4 brothers", or "those are my brothers in a certain group".
Thus, we can boldly speculate that the original Meishan Seven Sages actually included Sun Wukong. Later, he was removed and replaced by Erlang Shen. In the original version of "Journey to the West", we can also find some doubts, and perhaps this was the reason why Sun Wukong got acquainted with them:
"He felt at ease, traveled through the clouds and mists every day, roamed around the four seas, and had fun in thousands of mountains. He showed his martial arts, visited heroes everywhere; displayed his supernatural powers, and made friends with the virtuous."
Originally, there were only six sages on Meishan. After Sun Wukong joined them, they renamed the group the Meishan Seven Sages, and Sun Wukong became the eldest brother. Later, for some reasons, he left Meishan, went to his own Huaguo Mountain, got acquainted with another six sages, and became a younger brother. Meanwhile, Erlang Shen came to Meishan, subdued the other six sages, and became the eldest brother.
This speculation isn't unfounded. After all, isn't the leader of the Meishan Seven Sages the White Ape Yuan Hong, a monkey?
Moreover, many people also say that Sun Wukong's previous life was Yuan Hong, and there are probably intricate connections here. This is also the reason why the six Meishan Sages let Sun Wukong off the hook when Erlang Shen led them to besiege the Huaguo Mountain:
"On the battlefield, Kang, Zhang, Yao, Li, Guo Shen, and Zhi Jian gave orders, released the grass-headed gods, and let them rush towards the outside of the Water Curtain Cave with eagles and dogs, set up bows and crossbows, and launched a joint attack. Alas, they scattered the four mighty generals of the demon monkeys and captured two or three thousand spiritual monsters!"
VIII.
The six Meishan Sages spent a long time but only captured two or three thousand spiritual monsters except for the monkeys. Isn't this clearly letting Sun Wukong off the hook?
Moreover, when Erlang Shen saw Sun Wukong, he kept calling him "wicked demon", "demon monkey", "macaque":
"Today, by the order of the Heavenly Court, I'm here to capture you, the rebellious stable keeper macaque who rebelled against the Heavenly Palace. You still don't know your life is at stake!"
However, the six Meishan Sages were quite rational at first and followed their eldest brother to call Sun Wukong a "wicked monkey". But after Sun Wukong suddenly disappeared, they panicked:
"The six brothers were in a flurry, looking around but couldn't find him..."
I (Yang Jiaofeng) think their panic wasn't because they were worried that Sun Wukong had escaped, but rather that they were worried that Sun Wukong was dead. That's why, after searching everywhere but couldn't find him, they directly went to Erlang Shen. Because they were so worried that they forgot the proper address in their subconscious and directly called him "Great Sage":
"Brother, have you caught the Great Sage?"
More importantly, it wasn't Erlang Shen who was in charge of the mountain-searching task back then, but the six Meishan Sages.
"You lead your troops to search the mountain. After searching thoroughly, return to Guan Kou."
Since they were the ones executing the order, in order to cover up their act of letting Sun Wukong off the hook, they set the mountain on fire. After all, once the fire started, the smoke filled the air, blotting out the sky and the sun. Although Erlang Shen had given the order to search thoroughly, that is, to root out everything, with such thick smoke, even the Thousand-Mile Eye couldn't see clearly. Who knew if there were still any living creatures left on the Huaguo Mountain?
As a contrast, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Monk didn't spare any efforts in wiping out all the demons on their way west. After all, in the world of "Journey to the West", it was the rule that once a major demon died, none of the little demons should be left alive.
IX.
When Sun Wukong returned to the Huaguo Mountain and saw the scorched earth, he naturally thought that Erlang Shen had wiped out everything, so he wanted to dig up the other's ancestral tomb.
However, when he saw a group of little monkeys and heard that there were still more than a thousand alive and that the four mighty generals were still there, he immediately became happy. Because if we work backwards, half were burned to death, half left, and half were killed by hunters, and there were still more than a thousand alive. This survival rate was already quite high.
It was precisely because of this that Sun Wukong had a soft spot, and thus when he rebelled against the Heavenly Court again, the Heavenly Court could use the little monkeys on the Huaguo Mountain to threaten
X.
In fact, Erlang Shen didn't just happen to pass by. Instead, he deliberately came to help Sun Wukong, but not to help him kill the Nine-Headed Insect. Instead, he came to let the Nine-Headed Insect escape.
Although the original version of "Journey to the West" didn't give a proper reason, "Black Myth: Wukong" did. That is, behind this Nine-Headed Insect, there were several eyes of the Tathagata Buddha hidden.
The Jisai Kingdom was like the Sihali Kingdom. It enjoyed the protection of Buddhism but didn't really believe in Buddhism. Otherwise, the king of the Jisai Kingdom wouldn't have been so cruel to the monks in the Golden Light Temple. So he sent the Nine-Headed Insect there. It was said to steal the Buddhist treasure, but in fact, it was to upgrade the Buddhist treasure:
"With the immortal energy of this grass nourishing it, the Buddhist relic will not decay for a thousand years and will shine brightly for ten thousand years. If you sweep it on the ground or in the fields, there will be thousands of rays of glorious light and auspicious auras."
As for which Buddha the Buddhist relic belonged to, we analyzed it a long time ago and won't talk about it here. The Nine-Headed Insect was the Nine-Headed Bird. Although Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie couldn't do anything to it for a while, they would eventually be able to defeat it.
Erlang Shen came over, let his dog bite off one of the Nine-Headed Insect's heads, and then let it escape.
In the ending animation of "Black Myth: Wukong", when Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie were fighting against the Nine-Headed Insect, they would find countless red eyes in the sky staring at them and blinking:
The same red eyes could also be seen on the Tathagata Buddha after Sun Wukong tore apart a roc with his hands. At that time, the roc was flying towards the Buddha, probably to ask for help. But Sun Wukong got there first and tore it apart. The Buddha was furious at that time:
In fact, the red eyes represent evil and signify killing. For example, in the pagoda of the Little Leiyin Temple, whenever the demonic sound rang out, including the Chosen One, their eyes would turn red and they would lose their rationality.
This is also the reason why Crown Prince Zhang deafened his own ears to avoid listening to the demonic sound and blinded his own eyes to prevent them from turning red.
XI.
Erlang Shen was very clever. On all public occasions, he showed his stance of maintaining the authority of the Heavenly Court. However, every time he completed the mission of the Heavenly Court, he was also conducting underhanded operations.
So, I think that when he sent the six Meishan Sages to search the mountain, it was precisely based on this consideration that he deliberately let Sun Wukong off the hook. Similarly, when the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain joined forces to wipe out Sun Wukong, he kept emphasizing that only he was worthy of fighting against Sun Wukong and that it had to be a one-on-one fight and that others shouldn't join in.
Later, he even deliberately showed a flaw, allowing Sun Wukong to defeat the Four Heavenly Kings and then chose to fly into the Huaguo Mountain one after the other.
It was precisely during this short period of time when no one noticed that Erlang Shen reached an agreement with Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong traded his own death for the freedom of the next Monkey King. If Erlang Shen wasn't a trustworthy person, Sun Wukong would never have given him this only opportunity and entrusted him with keeping his memory.
Similarly, this task was difficult for Erlang Shen to complete alone, so he contacted Tang Sanzang (the old monkey), Maitreya Buddha, and the six Meishan Sages. So, many times, when the White-Clothed Scholar, the Yellow-Robed Official, the Green-Hatted Warrior, the Black-Handed Taoist, the White-Axe Warrior and others sent by Erlang Shen to test the Chosen One called out "big brother", perhaps they didn't just mean Erlang Shen but also Sun Wukong.
So, on the surface, they were also demons, used to test the Chosen One so that the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain could select a powerful Chosen One who could defeat the remaining body of the Great Sage and continue to be their puppet.
But secretly, they were also guiding the Chosen One forward. When they met a suitable one with potential, they would also be happy for their "big brother".
Erlang Shen was bound to be suspected by the Heavenly Court and the Spiritual Mountain. Out of helplessness, he had to seek help from Maitreya Buddha and hide in the painting:
"Today, I stepped into this painting of Meishan. The Heavenly Court won't be able to find me. But is it something you did, Your Holiness? Doesn't the Spiritual Mountain know about it?"
Yes, he hid in the painting. But how could Maitreya Buddha avoid the eyes of the Spiritual Mountain here?
Maitreya Buddha smiled:
"Have we met? The Erlang Shen I know is much uglier than you."
After all, in the world of "Journey to the West", there were three major anti-heroes, Erlang Shen, Nezha, and Sun Wukong. Erlang Shen was still the eldest brother. Since he was the eldest brother, how could he not help his younger brother?
I'm not very talented. I guess in the second part of "Black Myth: Wukong", this sharp-eyed Nezha, who was determined to go against his father, might become a playable character.
