If that were to come to pass, then I believe that it would be in Century Egg Au. For one, Jade Emperor and Queen Mother are for more involved with Wukong and his family in that au, therefore there'd be more opportunities for them to discover the truth. For another, Guanyin is their daughter's reincarnation, they know this and they know she adopted Wukong, but that mad him her ward not her son in their eyes. But even so, while midwifing it is entirely possible that Queen Mother may have noticed soemthing about Wukong's soul, some never before noticed connection to her own and to Guanyin, and whilst he was in a comatose state she may have wanted to do her own research.
It's possible, if she were to loon through Guanyin's bloodlines and reincarnations, she may discover that amongst those 31+ reincarnations before she reached enlightenment Guanyin, or rather Sonzi, had a short stint as a monkey demon. A Stone Monkey demon, whom the now know form Wukong, is capable of producing a stone egg that could potentially remain dormant for many centuries before hatching. They also know that if the pregnancy of a stone monkey has a high mortality rate, courtesy of the very monkey, she just barely saved from Diyu with her daughter's help. So if she were to look for the cause of death for this particular life of Sonzi...
Death by Egg Incubation.
Sonzi's life had ended in this reincarnation while trying to do the very same thing Wukong had just barely succeeded in. And if she were to look into the egg, well... that was quite the surprise for her and JD when she brought the news to him. It's not every day you unknowingly midwife for your own firstborn grandson. What they'll do with thsi information is still up to debate, afterall Wukong is most certainly too fragile right now to hand that sort of revelation without incident and the last thing they want is another rampaging monkey who would likely end up hurting himself in the process.
It would def be the Century Egg Au that finds it out first, especially since it's the closest Wukong has been with the royal family beyond his Orchard attendant days.
After the Monkey King managed to be stabilized after nearly dying bringing his child into the world, the Empress that midwived for him felt a creeping suspcion whenever she saw Guanyin - the reincarnation of her eldest daughter - fret over the resting demon. As if she were looking at a torn painting.
The Queen Mother asks for permission from King Yama to see her deceased children's Scrolls in order to see if any of them happened to produce offspring in their different incarnations.
Second-born Yin Wuming was obvious; she bore three dutiful sons all allied with Heaven, despite the tragedies caused by her youngest child. No other children noted.
Zhinu's scroll does not give a clear answer. She and her mortal love and their children are in a state beyond simple life or death.
But then the Queen Mother comes across the Scroll of her eldest daughter. Once her the Jade Emperor's firstborn Princess Songzi, now the Bodhisattva Guanyin - the Scroll is very thick with records of her intermitting lives. And feeling a hunch she unrolls it to take a look.
She drops the scroll to the ground at the words and image that reveals itself to her. A creature she once thought as no more than a beast smiling back at her as her dear daughter once had, her fur and hair a familiar warm orange-gold like the sunset.
"Shí Nǚ Zúzhǎng - Shíhuā - Last Matriarch of the Stone Monkey Troop of Flower Fruit Mountain
Cause of Death: Sacrificed Dao to create Stone Egg"
The section of the scroll that would normally explain any issue or surviving bloodline had been redacted - as if someone happened to have removed their name elsewhere among the Books of the Dead.
The Queen Mother collapses as the revelation kicks in.
The creature that had nearly torn Heaven asunder to ensure the safe birth of his child - had been born from her daughter's second life, a life ended by the same means to ensure the next generation.
She had just delivered her own great-grandchild and hadn't even realised it.
She runs to her husband first - her eyes inflamed with tears, joyous and guilty. The Jade Emperor can only hold his wife as she wails. How could she have been so blind!? The flames that should have killed the Monkey King could not do so, as it was her own Samadhi Fire that fueled the Furnace. The power that rained destruction upon Heaven, as terrible as it was beautiful, was her own.
The Jade Emperor is completely silent. He simply has no words.
The royal pair peak into the room where Sun Wukong rests, his mate and his cub at his side. Liu'er Mihou is haggard with worry as he sacrifices every bit of sleep and warmth to keep their child sated, the King himself resting as if he hadn't just preformed a miracle. The baby, the couples "little Heaven", blissingfully unaware of how many lives they enriched.
The demon family looking as they themselves once did when they welcomed Songzi into the world.
Even the Emperor cannot hold back the tears.
When the royal pair attempt to gain their bearings, they realise that the daugher that they had exiled so long ago for marrying a demon, had spent the last 500 years ensuring that the King's island stayed safe and undisturbed as he incubated his child. Did Tieshan know? Had she sensed a connection between them? Had Nezha - whom the monkey has always treated as a little brother?
For the first time in thousands of years, the gods feel humbled.
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Xiangliu
Image © deviantArt user YunaXD, accessed at her gallery here
[Sponsored by @coldbloodassassin. The xiangliu appears in Guideways through Mountains and Seas as an individual, Xiangliu, who is the minister of the malevolent water god Gonggong. I did consider making it a native or even extraplanar outsider because of that, but ended up going with aberration to stress its connection to nagas. Not that nagas are very aberrant as far as aberrations go...]
Xiangliu
CR 14 NE Aberration
This creature is an oversized serpent with nine heads and slime coating its scales. Its heads are disturbingly humanoid, but still bear fangs and forked tongues.
Xianglius are sadistic water serpents that delight in spreading disease and stagnant water. They are native to swampy lands, and fight violently against any attempt to drain such swamps or make them suitable for cultivation. Nearby fields are likely to be subject to their attacks, including flooded crops, summoned clouds of malarial mosquitoes and fouling wells and springs. Xianglius sometimes find allegiances with evil druids, daemons of pestilence and famine, or even gods of water who are hostile to civilization.
A xiangliu rarely hesitates to fight. Their bites are not fully venomous, but carry a foul slime that renders creatures bitten weak and queasy. They can spit jets of water with lethal force, and often split their attacks, biting creatures up close while barraging enemies that are more distant. Fighting a xiangliu is often quite frustrating, as the monsters create moats of mud and water to slow anyone approaching on foot, and can manipulate water to isolate and capsize boats. Wise adventurers approach a xiangliu’s lair from the air.
Despite their nine heads, a xiangliu has only one personality; peevish, cruel and sadistic. They are notorious gluttons; one legend is that they have nine heads in order to eat nine different meals at the same time. A xiangliu grows to about twenty feet long. Their lifespans are measured in centuries.
Xiangliu CR 14
XP 38,400
NE Large aberration (aquatic)
Init +6; Senses all around vision,darkvision 60 ft., Perception +22, scent
Defense
AC 29, touch 15, flat-footed 23 (-1 size, +6 Dex, +14 natural)
hp 190 (20d8+100)
Fort +13, Ref +15, Will +16
DR 10/magic; Immune acid, disease, poison, sickness and nausea effects; SR 25
Offense
Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.
Melee 9 bites +20 (1d6+4 plus sickening slime)
Ranged 9 water jets +20 (1d8 bludgeoning plus push)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks combined arms, mud wave, push (5 ft.)
Spell-like Abilities CL 15th, concentration +20 (+24 casting defensively)
At will—contagion (DC 18), putrefy food and drink
3/day—control water, insect plague
1/day—plague storm (DC 21), transmute rock to mud
Statistics
Str 19, Dex 23, Con 20, Int 18, Wis 19, Cha 20
Base Atk +15; CMB +20; CMD 36 (cannot be tripped)
Feats Blind Fight,Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes (B),Deadly Aim, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (bite), Lightning Reflexes, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Skill Focus (Stealth), Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +22, Climb +20, Heal +18, Intimidate +21, Knowledge (arcana, geography) +18, Knowledge (nature) +20, Perception +22, Sense Motive +17, Spellcraft +20, Stealth +24, Swim +28; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception
Languages Aquan, Common, Draconic
SQ amphibious, improved swamp stride, multiheaded reflexes
Ecology
Environment any swamps and aquatic
Organization solitary
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Combined Arms (Ex) When using a full attack action, a xiangliu can divide its nine attacks up between bites and water jets.
Improved Swamp Stride (Su) A xiangliu can move without penalty through natural or magically manipulated mud, water, or vegetation native to swamp environments.
Insect Plague (Sp) When a xiangliu uses its insect plague spell-like ability, it summons mosquito swarms instead of wasp swarms.
Mud Wave (Su) As a standard action, a xiangliu can create a burst of mud and water in a twenty foot radius centered on itself. All creatures in the area take 14d6 points of bludgeoning damage and are knocked prone. A DC 25 Reflex save halves the damage and negates the prone effect. The area affected by the mud wave becomes difficult terrain for the next minute. A xiangliu can use this ability three times per day, but must wait 1d4 rounds between uses. The save DC is Charisma based.
Multiheaded Reflexes (Ex) A xiangliu gains Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat. It can make as many attacks of opportunity in a round as it has heads.
Sickening Slime (Ex) A creature bitten by a xiangliu must succeed a DC 25 Fortitude save or be sickened for 1 round. Failing additional saves increases the duration of the sickened effect by 1 round per save failed. The save DC is Constitution based.
Water Jet (Su) A xiangliu can spit water from one of its mouths as a standard action, and up to all nine as a full attack. Treat each water jet as a ranged attack from a projectile weapon with a range increment of 20 feet. Attacks with water jets do not provoke attacks of opportunity. A creature struck by a water jet takes 1d8 points of bludgeoning damage and is exposed to the xiangliu’s push attack.
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Dragon Kings of the Four Seas
Renowned Shanghai painter’s Dai Dunbang (戴敦邦) 20th century illustration for the Chinese Ming dynasty classic “Journey to the West” (《西遊記》) attributed to Wu Cheng'en (吳承恩).
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Intermediate Character design class project: animals
It’s just the monkey king
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Something a bit different than what I normally do, but I hope you all still like it.
I was inspired by the ornate tapestries of the Medieval period, one of favorites being “The caged unicorn” So this is my very subtle homage to it.
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the lady of the moon 🐇🌙
--
This piece is now available on my shop! Link to Listing
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[Hanfu · 漢服]Chinese immortal Hanfu <西王母/Queen Mother of the West> Based On Yuan Dynasty Taoist Temple Mural<永乐宫/Yongle Palace>
【Historical Artifacts Reference 】:
▶ China Yuan Dynasty Taoist Temple 永乐宫/Yongle Palace Mural
<西王母/Queen Mother of the West>
The Queen Mother of the West, known by various local names, is a mother goddess in Chinese religion and mythology, also worshipped in neighbouring Asian countries, and attested from ancient times.
The first mentions of the Queen Mother date back to the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang dynasty (1766 – 1122 BCE).
One inscription reads:
Crack-making on day IX (9th day), we divined. If we make offering to the eastern mother and the western mother, there will be approval.
Western Mother refers to an archaic divinity residing in the west. The exact nature of the Mother divinities in the Shang dynasty is unclear, but they were seen as powerful forces deserving of ritual by the people of the Shang dynasty.
Originally, from the earliest known depictions of her in accounts like the Classic of Mountains and Seas during the Zhou dynasty, she was a ferocious goddess of death with the teeth of a tiger, who rules over wild beasts and sends down heavenly punishments such as pestilences. She was also mentioned as an authority ruling over other divinities such as Jiutian Xuannü, a goddess of war and sex.
Other stories hold that she is a mountain goddess or a divine tigress. She is also popularly thought to have blessed the Eight Immortals with their supernatural abilities.
After her integration into the Taoist pantheon, she gradually took on associations with other aspects, such as immortality, as well.
The Queen Mother of the West is most often depicted holding court within her palace on the mythological Mount Kunlun, usually supposed to be in western China (a modern Mount Kunlun is named after this). Her palace is believed to be a perfect and complete paradise, where it was used as a meeting place for the deities and a cosmic pillar where communications between deities and humans were possible.At her palace she was surrounded by a female retinue of prominent goddesses and spiritual attendants. One of her symbols is the Big Dipper.
Although not definite there are many beliefs that her garden had a special orchard of longevity peaches which would ripen once every three thousand years,others believe though that her court on Mount Kunlun was nearby to the orchard of the Peaches of Immortality. No matter where the peaches were located, the Queen Mother of the West is widely known for serving peaches to her guests, which would then make them immortal. She normally wears a distinctive headdress with the Peaches of Immortality suspended from it.
Flourishing parasols, we reach the chronograms' extremity;
Riding on the mist, I wander to Lofty Whirlwind Peak.
The Lady of the Supreme Primordial descends through jade interior doors;
The Queen Mother opens her Blue-gem Palace.
Celestial people—What a Crowd!
A lofty meeting inside the Cyan Audience Hall.
Arrayed Attendants perform Cloud Songs;
Realized intonations fill the Grand Empty Space.
Every thousand years, her purple crabapple ripens;
Every four kalpas, her numinous melon produces abundantly.
This music differs from that at the feast in the wilderness—
So convivial, and certainly infinite.— Wu Yun (Complete Tang Poems 1967, line 4942)
One of the earliest written references to the Queen Mother comes from the writings of the Taoist writer Zhuangzi (c. 4th century BCE):
The Queen Mother of the West obtained it [the Dao]... ...and took up her seat at Shao kuang. No one knows her beginning; no one knows her end.
Zhuangzi describes the Queen Mother as one of the highest of the deities, meaning she had gained immortality and celestial powers. Zhuangzi also states that Xiwangmu is seated upon a spiritual western mountain range, suggesting she is connected to not only the heavens, but also to the west.
Legendary encounters
In Tu Kuang-ting's text, he includes narrative accounts of the Queen Mother's encounters with legendary Chinese heroes. One such account narrates an encounter between the Queen Mother and Laozi (Lord Lao):
"In the 25th year of King Chao of the Chou dynasty (1028 BCE) …"
"…Lord Lao and the realized person Yin Hsi went traveling…"
"…on their behalf, the Queen Mother of the West explicated the Scripture of Constant Purity and Quiet."
In this account, the Queen Mother plays the role of Laozi's superior and is credited with the ultimate authorship of the Dao De Jing. This dichotomy of the Queen Mother as the superior is a characteristic of Shangqing Taoism, a goddess worshiping sect of Taoism of which Tu Kuang-ting was a master. There is also an account of a meeting between the Queen Mother and Laozi in Tang poetry.[18] This account however, being of traditional Taoist thought, has the Queen Mother taking an inferior role to Laozi, calling him "Primordial Lord" (the title of his highest manifestation) and pays homage to the sage.
<China Han Dynasty stone-relief showing 西王母/Queen Mother of the West from Sichuan,China>
<China Wei and Jin Dynasties Mural showing 西王母/Queen Mother of the West>
————————
📸Photography post-production :@小何力
👗Hanfu & 👑Crown:@雁鸿Aimee
💄 Makeup:百丽 (临溪摄影)
👭Model:@清音音音音
🔗 Weibo:https://weibo.com/1648616372/O2R5bpBud
————————
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The gang hitch a ride on a friendly turtle.
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First Princess Songzi to the Stone Matriarch to Guanyin:
referencing my updated "Celestial Family Tree" + what the monkey doing there? and the Stone Monkeys lived on FFM theory.
>:3 huehue been cooking on this au/theory for a while now
First Princess Songzi had become so digusted by her father comparing humanity to little more than beasts, that when she reincarnated she was reborn as a Stone Monkey/Shí Bǎomǔ.
A Stone Monkey who would become the last Stone Matriarch of Flower Fruit Mountain. She ruled for many years, fair and merciful in a way unknown to demonkind at that time. Her orange-gold fur seemingly glowed in the sun as she watched over her troop, her eyes warm with the light of Heaven itself.
Until the Great Flood.
Being creatures not meant for deep water, the Stone Monkey troop that had survived on Earth for so long had found themselves all but wiped out within a single tidal wave.
The Stone Matriarch wailed and cried for any of her lost troop to answer her for years. Her own mate among the missing and presumed dead.
There was not enough food to feed those who had survived the initial waves, and not enough clean water to sate the thirsty. From her grief, the Stone Matriarch and those who had survived began making preparations.
Preparations for the Matriarch to fling a light into the future.
The Stone Palace which had housed countless generations of families was left how it was on the day the flood took them all away. Signs left to tell the next generation or whomever found it that; "We were here. We lived and loved and died. Let the Earth remember us." They wrote upon the walls of the caverns and painted the rocks with their stories so that whomever found them would Know.
The Matriarch found the highest peak of the mountain, one which saved her from the flood waters, and began praying to Hòutǔ and Nüwa (as was customary) as she dug her final resting place. The goddesses of the deep earth and of creation were of great importance to their kind.
The Matriarch buried a peach seed beside her in case that if she failed, her body would at least feed the children of later generations with the fruit.
And she went into her deepest sleep.
The Boulder utop Flower Fruit Mountain had not been there since the "beginning of the Earth" as the tales said - but it might as well have to the yaoguai that settled on the island once the flood waters receeded. The young goddess Nüwa not only created a new Heavenly Pillar to repair the world, but also helped the displaced creatures of the earth find new homes to settle safe from Heaven's destruction. The Boulder greeted them to a paradise lush with fruit and flowers.
As a stroke of misfortune; a waterfall, formed in the aftermath of the flood, concealed the entrance to the Stone Palace. Meaning that those who had settled, did not discover it for some time. And the waters of the cavern eroded some of the many stories left on the cave walls.
One day the Boulder split open, revealing an egg-shaped stone. A young monkey falling out of it like a chick from a nest. The troop of monkey yao had no idea what to make of the little one. Only the bravest four cubs (Ma, Ba, Beng, and Liu) dared to approach this outsider and greet them as a new playmate.
The cub was nicknamed "Xiao-Shihou", their "little stone monkey". Later to be known as their King for his bravery and resourcefulness.
And even later renamed Sun Wukong as he had learned the ways of man and immortals.
Sun Wukong never met his mother. He never knew he had a parent to speak of. But he would learn from his time in Heaven that he was not the Only of his kind that existed once. That there was once strangers like him out on earth and in the stars. And that there might be a way to continue their work...
So he began researching ways to preserve his life and create his lone-parent child at the same time so that they would not be left alone as he was. The knowledge of Liu'er Mihou being a subspecies survivor was uncompletely unknown for millennia afterwards.
When The Bodhisattva of Mercy; Guanyin appeared in court on the day Sun Wukong lashed out at Heaven, her knowledge of her past lives rushed to her heart like an arrow. Before they were Miaoshan she were another human, and 30 so lives before that often a mortal animal or a plant. But her first ever reincarnation - the one which spearated them from their first life as First Princess Songzi - was that of a Stone Matriach preparing a safe place to bare her baby.
Guanyin could not inform Heaven of this fact - as it would put a target far greater than even now upon their past-self's child. The Jade Emperor and Queen Mother still found it difficult to separate Guanyin from their passed daughter. They simply would not be able to comprehend the stone monkey's connection to them.
So they pleaded for Sun Wukong to survive his punishment, even if it wasn't ideal for him or his people. Even all knowing - The Buddha simply could not let the Monkey King's destruction go unpunished or untested. Until he could become more patient, more wise, he must rest and mediatate upon his actions. Guanyin would approach the Monkey King many times throughout his Journey, always with the air of a worried mother. They even comforted and cried with him when he discovered the fate of the island after the war, and later when he lost his mate. Though at the time Sun Wukong he did not understand exactly why the Goddess cried with such sympathy alongside him.
And depending upon the story (AU), the Bodhisattva may have accidentally set the perfect conditions for their own spirtual grandchild to be formed.
The Goddess of Birth became a creature able to bare their young without a partner at the cost of their own life. And later in creating her child, the Stone Matriarch would enter the cycle of reincarnation to eventually become the Bodhsattva notorious for their Mercy and their skills in bringing life into the world.
As for Sun Luzhen?
The Matriarch's Mate (Patriarch? Consort?) had not died in the flood waters as she had thought - but had been swept away into a cavern where they too presumed their love had been taken into Diyu. The Consort in turn buried themselves into the side of the mountain's base as opposed to the top - the Egg that formed only discovered over 2000 years after it's twin when the mountain itself was cracked open.
Sun Wukong meets this long-overdue cub in the clean-up effort, and discovers to his horror and sorrow the origins of them both.
Along the walls of The Consort's resting place lay a vast record of all the Stone Monkeys that came before them - the Matriarch having always adored her studious mate's rambling. The Consort even leaving aside names they and their mate had considered for their planned vast brood ("little heaven" and "walks reality" was among them), and wishes that whomever found their baby or any other stone egg take care to remember those who sacrificed to ensure their survival.
Sun Wukong drops to his knees upon reading the pre-chinese markings uncovered by Azure Lion's battle. The newly-hatched cub in his arms cooing with curiousity at his matching sun-orange fur.
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Attention Western LMK fans: This is a public service announcement
when someone says “immortal” in the context of Chinese mythology they do NOT mean “can’t die”. They mean “can live forever”
Think of a mortals lifespan as a candle and an immortals lifespan as an infinitely long candle. The immortal candle can burn forever but it someone blows it out it still goes out.
Now some immortal candles are inside a building so they don’t get hit by wind or rain and others are on a patio protected only from rain. It’s different depending on how powerful they are and how many immortalities are stacked
Sun Wukong is an infinitely long trick birthday candle that can blow out in theory but no one’s been strong enough to test that theory
hope this helps clear things up
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Good evening Erlang Shen enjoyers
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A couple Sun Wukong sketches to cure boredom
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Mythological Realism: Elemental Dragons
Four-color coiled dragons on the pillars of the Supreme Talisman (Taifu) Temple (太符觀).
The dragons are painted in the colors of the primary elements, embodying the archetypal creative forces. In Chinese religious art, almost any concept can be expressed in the language of dragons.) Their children, descendants and relatives frolic on the temple walls among curly clouds.
In view of the striking liveliness, I would classify these images as mythological realism.)
Since its construction in the fifth year of the Jin dynasty (1200), the temple has been repeatedly expanded and supplemented with new buildings over the centuries. Most of the surviving statues are from the Ming dynasty.
The Supreme Talisman Temple is located in Fenyang (汾陽), Shanxi.
Photo: ©故尔耳
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