Black Myth Wukong Part 5

Pan Silk Ridge: Gods and demons are one; only true love is eternal.

Chapter 4: Curved Flight of the Purple Mandarin Ducks

“Clear water still and unstirred, peach blossoms bloom by the shore.
Peach petals play with water’s hue, ripples sway, stirring the light of spring.
I adore your radiant beauty, and you cherish my literary grace.
The wind carries away the green zither, while purple mandarin ducks fly in harmony.
Once, we swam together as fish in one stream; now, we’ve become two birds on separate branches.
The mournful crowing of the rooster echoes, night after night, till dawn.
I rise and break a tree of longing, returning to offer my heart’s true intent.
Spilled water cannot be gathered; drifting clouds are hard to trace.
Yet, in the skies afar, birds find their way. Let the music of jade flowers never cease.”

This poem is “In Place of a Farewell to a Lover” by Li Bai. The line “Curved Flight of the Purple Mandarin Ducks” symbolizes the couple’s once-beautiful times together, while “Once, we swam together as fish in one stream; now, we’ve become two birds on separate branches” reflects their forced separation. The title of Chapter 4 in Black Myth: Wukong is drawn from this poem, expressing the sorrow of love that must part.

In the last chapter, we discussed the internal strife among the Western Buddhas, where Maitreya was betrayed by his own disciple. The Eastern Heavens, on the other hand, are far from being a united front either.

Though the Daoist sects support the Eastern Heavenly Court, they haven’t escaped the infiltration of Western Buddhism, making the situation incredibly complex.

Today’s story begins with a certain heavenly enforcer.

Taiyi Thunder-Resonating Deity, also known as Marshal Wang, is a formidable figure. During the havoc in the heavenly palace, Sun Wukong was briefly held off by Marshal Wang, who stood guard outside the Lingxiao Hall under the command of the Deity of Holy Protection. His ability to withstand Sun Wukong’s attack showed the depth of his powers.

The reason we’re bringing him up is because he was the one who reported Marshal Tianpeng (later known as Zhu Bajie), leading to his demotion to the mortal realm. As a reward for Marshal Wang’s unwavering loyalty and fair enforcement, the Jade Emperor personally granted him the privilege of manifesting his own right hand on Marshal Wang’s head, symbolizing that wherever Wang was, it was as if the Jade Emperor himself was present, allowing him to enforce the law more effectively.

However, Marshal Wang’s appearance, with the emperor’s hand upon his head, seemed to imply that the heavenly court required enforcers, not thinkers.

Since then, the various gods of the heavenly court have kept a respectful distance from Marshal Wang, avoiding excessive conversation, lest they inadvertently make a mistake and find themselves reported to the Jade Emperor.

Later, as Tang Sanzang and his disciples traveled west to retrieve the scriptures, they encountered seven spider demons who wanted to devour him. Zhu Bajie, enraged, burned down Pansi Cave, resolving this crisis.

However, not long after, the disciples mistakenly wandered into Huanghua Temple and were captured by the spider demons’ elder brother, the Centipede Demon. Sun Wukong was rendered powerless and in great pain by the golden light emitted from the thousand eyes on the Centipede Demon’s body.

It was only after the Goddess of Mercy Pulanpo of the Thousand Flower Cave on Purple Cloud Mountain used her magical embroidery needle to defeat the Centipede Demon that their journey to retrieve the scriptures could continue. The Centipede Demon has since been imprisoned within Purple Cloud Mountain.

The journey to retrieve the scriptures was, in fact, a covert struggle between Buddhism and Daoism. The Buddhist sect in the Western Heaven aimed to spread their scriptures eastward and expand their influence, while the Daoist sect in the Eastern Heaven naturally opposed this.

This trial clearly illustrates Daoist interference with the scripture retrieval, while the Buddhists stepped in to facilitate the journey.

As for why the celestial deities would engage in such a fierce battle over the territory of mere mortals, the answer lies in the substantial benefits mortals bring to them.

The celestial officials in the Eastern Heaven require elixirs to maintain their radiant appearance and enhance their powers. These elixirs are monopolized by the Jade Emperor, who uses them to reinforce his rule.

Many deities receive elixirs from the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother, but few realize that the ingredients for these elixirs come from the mortal realm. The ingredients for ordinary human elixirs are simple—merely herbs imbued with heavenly and earthly essences. However, the ingredients for celestial elixirs include the Linglong Inner Pill, which can only be extracted from the bodies of great demons who have achieved immortality.

Thus, the path of the deities is, in essence, sustained by consuming demons.

And the celestial deities themselves? They are nothing more than demons who attained enlightenment earlier. The so-called pursuit of immortality by monsters on Earth is nothing more than a foolish dream. Unbeknownst to them, while they toil in cultivation, the seats of heaven have long been filled. Their ultimate fate is to be refined into elixirs.

Of course, it’s no easy task for a great demon to cultivate. It takes thousands of years to even begin to attain the Dao. This is why many great demons turn to devouring humans as a shortcut.

Humans naturally carry spiritual essence, and the more people a demon consumes, the stronger they become.

This, in turn, reveals the true nature of the battle for territory between the Eastern and Western Heavens: the more humans they control, the larger the territory they possess, and the more powerful they become. In this sense, it bears a striking resemblance to a mafia war.

After Tang Sanzang and his disciples successfully retrieved the scriptures, completing the Buddhist mission to spread eastward, the deities of the Eastern Heaven suffered a great loss and longed for a chance to reclaim their honor.

Thus, after Sun Wukong was killed by the combined forces of the Eastern and Western Heavens, the conflict between the two sides erupted fully. The Queen Mother of the West supported the Centipede Demon, who had obtained Sun Wukong’s powerful essence, the “Root of the Great Sage” (She Chang Si), and elevated him to the rank of Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord. His task was to oversee her alchemy operations on Earth.

With the assistance of the celestial forces, the Centipede Demon successfully refined the Great Sage’s essence and implanted it into the body of the spider demoness, Zi Zhuer, to extend her life.

Zi Zhuer was one of the seven spider demons who had been killed by Tang Sanzang’s disciples. While the other six perished, she survived, albeit barely. Later, she encountered the Hundred-Eyed True Lord, who had returned to Pansi Ridge, and he managed to save her life.

Zi Zhuer then adopted five small spider demons as her daughters, along with her own biological daughter, making a total of six. Together, they rebuilt Pansi Ridge.

Although only great demons who have attained the Dao can produce the Linglong Inner Pill, it takes time for such demons to cultivate. Where could the celestial deities find enough demons to refine their elixirs?

The Queen Mother of the West found the perfect solution.

She had the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord bring two Kunlun celestial eggs to Earth. Anyone with a certain level of cultivation who consumed these eggs would see their power soar. If this experiment succeeded, they would hold the key to rapidly cultivating great demons.

Huanghua Temple and Pansi Ridge, under the rule of the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord, became a large-scale laboratory for these human experiments.

To ensure the obedience of the spider demons, the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord placed four purple talismans around Pansi Ridge, creating a barrier to prevent them from leaving.

Zi Zhuer had no idea that once she outlived her usefulness, both she and her daughters would be turned into raw materials for the Linglong Inner Pill.

Though the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord obtained two celestial eggs, he faced a major problem. If these heavenly items were given directly to earthly demons, they might not survive the experience.

Fulfilling the Queen Mother’s task was no simple matter.

At this moment, he came up with a brilliant idea.

Previously, the Goddess Pulanpo used an embroidery needle, forged from her son Rooster Sun’s eye, to defeat him and imprison him in Purple Cloud Mountain. Now, it was time for revenge.

Meanwhile, the Queen Mother had long been eager to reclaim the benefits that Buddhism had gained from the journey to the West. This gave the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord the perfect opportunity to act.

Using the Queen Mother’s golden hairpin—the same one used to separate the Cowherd and Weaver Girl by creating the Milky Way—he slashed Rooster Sun’s neck. He then planned to feed him a celestial egg to observe the results. However, Rooster Sun, in shock, spat blood onto the egg, which immediately hatched into a venomous Qinlang immortal insect.

Fortunately, there was still one celestial egg left.

This time, to ensure success, the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord bound Rooster Sun tightly with spider silk and forcefully fed him the second egg.

As for the other celestial officials of the Twenty-Eight Mansions, they dared not interfere. Rooster Sun was, after all, the son of the Goddess Pulanpo and had once aided Sun Wukong on Poison Enemy Mountain. With the conflict between Buddhism and Daoism now on the verge of open warfare, and with Sun Wukong dead, only Kang Jinlong descended to Earth under the pretext of investigating the situation. The others knew full well that the waters were too deep; anyone who inquired would likely meet a grim fate.

The hatching of the Qinlang immortal unexpectedly opened up new avenues for experimentation for the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord.

Since the Qinlang immortal would periodically lay more eggs, these second-generation celestial eggs possessed much weaker magical power. When given to newly enlightened humans or small demons, they could rapidly increase their power over a short period, aiding further experimentation.

Additionally, these second-generation Qinlang eggs could still naturally hatch into mortal Qinlang insects. The silk spun by these mortal Qinlang insects formed cocoons with hypnotic properties, capable of inducing euphoric states and bodily mutations that could similarly be used to enhance magical abilities.

A black-handed Daoist from Meishan, under the influence of the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord, wrapped himself in one of these cocoons and cultivated the Eight-Armed Demon Art. However, the Qinlang venom drove him mad.

Later, the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord lured Pulanpo Bodhisattva with the corpse of Rooster Sun. With the Queen Mother’s help, he severed Pulanpo’s hands, implanting a celestial egg in each arm, which hatched into the demonic Left-Hand Worm and Right-Hand Worm.

Pulanpo suffered greatly, allowing the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord to seize her dojo at Purple Cloud Mountain. Rooster Sun’s blood egg was then raised at the mountain’s peak as a symbol of his dominance.

The once-mighty Pulanpo Bodhisattva was left handless, with her son dead and her dojo occupied, facing the loss of even her own life.

By the time I reached Purple Cloud Mountain, Rooster Sun had already lost his sanity and had become the Dark Moon Demon Lord.

Previously, Uncle Bajie had been entrusted by the old monkey of Flower Fruit Mountain to assist the fated humans on their journey. However, he was captured by the Yellow-Browed Demon at Xiaoxitian.

Now, upon meeting me, a fated human who had defeated the Yellow-Browed Demon with a strike from my staff, he was overjoyed.

Thus, he transformed both of us into hideously ugly demons to sneak into Lanxi Village, just outside Pansi Ridge. But as soon as we entered, we were caught by the Second Sister Spider.

Her cultivation wasn’t deep, and I quickly knocked her unconscious with my staff.

However, she pulled out an embroidery needle from her robe, which was none other than Pulanpo Bodhisattva’s treasure. She expertly shot the needle into Uncle Bajie’s forehead, taking him away.

I had no choice but to follow her into Pansi Cave, where I wandered through its complex paths, trying to find any trace of Uncle Bajie.

The cave was full of danger, but fortunately, a fourth sister of the spider demons secretly aided me. She kept talking about waiting for her husband, and how someone once promised to take her to see the outside world.

When she first saw me at the lantern-lit entrance, she shouted “Great joy! Great joy!” I could sense she had feelings for me, and she even gave me several boxes of dowry.

However, I noticed from her updo that she was already married, and to be honest, she wasn’t really my type.

Although I couldn’t speak, I knew she wasn’t waiting for me but for a previous fated human who looked exactly like me.

A previous fated one had once also reached Pansi Ridge in search of the Great Sage’s Root Artifact. Unlike me, though, he could speak and had even married the fourth spider sister. Clearly, being eloquent goes a long way with the ladies, whereas all I could see was her health bar.

It was obvious that the fourth sister had projected her longing for her husband onto me, the new fated one.

But since I had embarked on this journey, the previous fated one likely met a grim fate long ago.

I never expected that this would be the first instance of me being force-fed “dog food” (relationship woes), but Uncle Bajie’s version later on nearly overwhelmed me.

When I finally found Uncle Bajie, he was in the middle of a wedding ceremony with an elderly woman, and it was then that the whole backstory became clear.

Back when Bajie was still Marshal Tianpeng, he was a handsome and talented man and one of the rising stars in the Celestial Court. Naturally, many celestial maidens admired him.

Marshal Tianpeng was charming and carefree, leaving his affections in many places.

During one of Queen Mother’s lotus-viewing banquets, Lady Taiyin led her maidens in a dance. Among them, the Moon Rabbit Fairy stood out with her extraordinary beauty and grace, immediately catching Marshal Tianpeng’s eye.

Marshal Tianpeng then pursued Moon Rabbit Fairy relentlessly, and she maintained an ambiguous relationship with him. However, this was soon discovered by her current boyfriend, Jinwu (the one remaining from Houyi’s shooting down of the other nine).

Jinwu went to Wang Lingguan and accused Marshal Tianpeng of “harassing a proper woman,” leading to Marshal Tianpeng’s banishment to the mortal realm.

Everything that happened to Marshal Tianpeng was silently witnessed by a purple-clad fairy who secretly loved him.

After his banishment, the purple-clad fairy requested to descend to the mortal realm as well. She took on the identity of Zizhuer and participated in the Daoist mission to block Tang Sanzang’s journey, all in hopes of reuniting with her beloved.

Marshal Tianpeng, believing he was still the same dashing man as before, began courting Gao Cuilan, a beauty from Gao Village.

Little did he know that his banishment had transformed him into an ugly pig demon, and Gao Cuilan couldn’t accept his appearance at all.

Disillusioned with the Celestial Court, Marshal Tianpeng accepted Buddha’s offer to join their ranks, becoming a disciple of Tang Sanzang and taking the Buddhist name Zhu Wuneng.

Yet, his free-spirited nature never truly aligned with the rigid teachings of Buddhism. Upon seeing the beautiful Zizhuer in Pansi Cave, he was once again seduced.

In the Purifying Pool, Zhu Bajie’s true form as a pig demon was revealed, his once-handsome face long gone.

But true love doesn’t care about appearances. Zizhuer, now merely a spider demon, reverted to her original form and responded to Bajie’s desires.

And so, the two shared a moment of joy.

Afterward, Bajie set fire to Pansi Cave and, together with Sun Wukong, killed the remaining six spider demons, quietly sparing Zizhuer’s life.

Though it was but a fleeting night of passion, it was the love that Zizhu’er had waited a thousand years for; even though Bajie was no longer as handsome, he had such a devoted woman who didn’t care about his looks and pursued him nonetheless. Despite his past flirtations, it didn’t diminish the depth of his affection.

As Old Yuan once said: “She was once a celestial woman, but in longing for the mundane, she fell from the Ninth Heaven; weaving a cocoon within the cave, another year passed in the human world.”

Moreover, Zizhu’er revealed that the youngest of the six spider spirits in Pansi Ridge is none other than Bajie’s daughter.

This was truly a shocking revelation. I stood there, feeling a bead of sweat form for Uncle Bajie.

Zizhu’er knew that if her elder brother, Baian Demon King, were to come in person, Bajie’s life would be forfeit. No matter what, she could not allow Bajie to enter Huanghua Temple.

Helpless, I could only fight Zizhu’er. Naturally, she was no match for my staff technique and eventually fled with the cover of countless small spiders.

As I was about to fall off a cliff, a strand of spider silk saved me and guided me to Huanghua Temple. I knew instantly who was secretly helping me.

When I finally arrived at Huanghua Temple, I saw the Baian Demon King forcibly extracting the Great Sage’s Root Tool from Zizhu’er’s body, which directly led to her death.

The five remaining spider spirits, seeing their mother slain, immediately rushed to confront Baian Demon King, ready to fight to the death. Yes, I saw clearly—there were only five beauties; I didn’t know why the fourth sister wasn’t there.

They were far too weak to stand a chance against Baian Demon King.

I couldn’t just watch these beauties perish like that. After all, there were fewer and fewer beauties left in the game nowadays, and those that did appear, who knew what monsters or demons they were—sometimes you couldn’t even tell if they were male or female.

After three hours of battle, I finally managed to exhaust Baian Demon King to death.

At that moment, the dying Zizhu’er spoke her last words to Uncle Bajie’s back:

“You’re still as foolish as ever.”

Uncle Bajie, without turning his head, walked toward the fourth Root Tool that had coalesced from Baian Demon King’s corpse.

I understood Uncle Bajie’s dilemma. The world was in turmoil, and what he was about to do was incredibly dangerous. He couldn’t afford to acknowledge his daughter, the sixth sister, otherwise, Pansi Ridge would be razed to the ground by the next day.

I also understood the helplessness of lovers who cannot be together. So, I will never ask why Uncle Bajie’s “Tasting Thought” was missing a lotus seed.

Of course, with a heavy heart, I took the Eternal Youth Pearl from Zizhu’er’s grave.

The one thing I don’t understand is—

Does love

really hurt this much?

According to my promise, I tore down all the purple talismans and lifted the barrier around Pansi Ridge.

When I wanted to bring the good news to the fourth sister, I couldn’t find her anywhere.

She wasn’t present when I was battling Baian Demon King either—did something happen to her?

Until, at the top of Huanghua Temple, in front of the Heavenly King Hall, a monster with a hand growing out of its neck descended from the sky and knocked me down.

And then, a talking bird sneered, saying they planned to refine the fourth sister into a golden pill.

Having wings makes you think you’re hot stuff?

Come on, show me your health bar!

But now,

I understand—

Love, truly, is painful!