Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything

The latter half of Sun Wukong's words made Jiang Liu spray out the water he was gargling, turn his head, and stare with wide unbelieving eyes.

"Master, what's wrong?" Seeing Jiang Liu's completely unusual reaction, Sun Wukong was also perplexed and asked curiously.

"What did you just say? Six-Eared Macaque?"

Jiang Liu looked at Sun Wukong and fell silent for a long time, as if digesting the shock of the news, then he opened his mouth to ask.

"Yes, I, Old Sun, just said I'm called the Six-Eared Macaque. What's the problem? Is there something wrong?"

Sun Wukong nodded in confusion, not understanding why Jiang Liu was reacting so strongly.

"Hold on, let me sort this out!"

Waving his hand, Jiang Liu did not rush to respond but silently contemplated for a moment before saying, "How did you come up with the name Six-Eared Macaque? Or do you know the Six-Eared Macaque?"

"Master, what's wrong with you today? Are you ill?" Jiang Liu's question made Sun Wukong look at him in confusion, and as he spoke, he even reached out his monkey's paw to touch Jiang Liu's forehead.

"Stop goofing around, let's talk properly!" Jiang Liu said, annoyed as he brushed away Sun Wukong's paw.

"Aren't you very clever, Master? Why are you asking such a low-level question? Didn't I, Old Sun, just say so? I was discovered by the King of Biancheng, so on a whim, I made up a name, the Six-Eared Macaque. Since it's a made-up name, the Six-Eared Macaque is naturally I, Old Sun. How could there really be a so-called Six-Eared Macaque besides me?"

Looking at Jiang Liu oddly, Sun Wukong felt amazed. Didn't he previously speculate about Zhu Bajie's identity and claim to be like Holmes?

Jiang Liu: "..."

Sun Wukong's words completely overturned the image of the Six-Eared Macaque that Jiang Liu had in his mind.

In the original work, the Six-Eared Macaque impersonated Sun Wukong and even attacked the Sanzang Monk of Tang. After hitting Sanzang, he returned to the Flower Fruit Mountain. Then the genuine Sun Wukong found him, and the true and false Monkey Kings fought from the Heavenly Court to the Underworld, with no one able to tell who was the real Sun Wukong.

Only in front of Tathagata, who revealed the Six-Eared Macaque's identity, was the Six-Eared Macaque subdued.

And in the end, he was killed by Sun Wukong with a strike of his rod. Read new chapters at empire

In his previous life, regarding this segment of the true and false Monkey King, opinions were divided, and there was even a widely supported conspiracy theory claiming that, in this segment, it was actually the real Sun Wukong who was killed, and instead, the Six-Eared Macaque took over Sun Wukong's identity to seek scriptures in the Western Heaven.

Just by looking at how Sun Wukong became much more obedient after this segment, one could tell.

But now? The Six-Eared Macaque has made his appearance so early? More importantly, the identity of the Six-Eared Macaque is actually a fabrication by Sun Wukong?

So, in this world, there actually is no such being as the Six-Eared Macaque!?

This was indeed hard to believe.

Did the Six-Eared Macaque in the original work also not exist? Was it all Sun Wukong himself!?

Or was there really a Six-Eared Macaque in this world, and Sun Wukong's so-called inspiration today was just a coincidence, with the made-up name matching precisely that of the actual Six-Eared Macaque?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

With a stone cup for the mouth rinse in hand, Jiang Liu's mind was somewhat chaotic as he silently pondered all of this.

After meditating on it for a moment, Jiang Liu gradually formed a guess.

First of all, assuming the Six-Eared Macaque was real, and Sun Wukong's made-up name happened by chance to be the same, then why in the original work did the Six-Eared Macaque hit Sanzang, impersonate Sun Wukong, and accompany him in a battle that went from heaven to earth?

Until he was exposed by Tathagata and killed?

As Tathagata said, the Six-Eared Macaque had exceptional listening skills, knew the past and future, and had clarity on everything.

It was precisely because of such remarks that in his previous life, some believed it was all Tathagata's conspiracy—the one who was killed was Sun Wukong, and the one left behind was the Six-Eared Macaque; otherwise, if he had known he was going to die, why would the Six-Eared Macaque go?

But on second thought, if Tathagata could really use the Six-Eared Macaque to replace Sun Wukong, he could have simply asked Guanyin to invite the Six-Eared Macaque for the scripture-seeking journey in the first place. Why bother suppressing Sun Wukong for five hundred years, if not to have him seek scriptures?

Tathagata must have known of Sun Wukong's unmanageable and rebellious nature long ago, otherwise, why bestow the Tight Hood spell?

Therefore, in the quest for scriptures, Sun Wukong must be one of those designated by the Heavenly Dao, irreplaceable!

Since Sun Wukong is irreplaceable, why would the Six-Eared Macaque, who listens well, understands the past and future, and is clear on everything, still go to Spirit Mountain to face his death?

That doesn't make sense, does it?

If we think about it from another angle, what if the Six-Eared Macaque character never existed at all? Or as Sun Wukong said today, the Six-Eared Macaque and Sun Wukong are actually the same person!?

Then, it seems all the questions could be easily resolved?

In his past life, many discussed that after the incident of the true and false Monkey King, Sun Wukong seemed to become more obedient. But if we consider the opposite, does this also imply that the relationship between Sun Wukong and Sanzang became more harmonious?

So? Why was there harmony? Could it be that Sun Wukong staged the entire True and False Monkey King affair himself, even going so far as to beat up Tang Monk, cause an uproar that reached the heavens and penetrated the earth, all widely known, just to express his dissatisfaction and to fight for his own rights?

It's like a very capable employee who is constantly oppressed by the leadership, frequently in conflict, and one day, unable to bear it any longer, explodes, showing his displeasure to everyone in the company, prompting the head office to intervene and mediate?

And precisely because this incident happened, the so-called leadership also realized the indispensability of this employee and knew that he would get angry and resist, so they began to accommodate him?

Why did Sun Wukong need to create a Six-Eared Macaque to take the blame? It seems that Sun Wukong didn't completely burn bridges, leaving no room for turning back, so creating a Six-Eared Macaque achieved his goal without making things irreparable in the end, right?

Thinking in this way, everything seemed to become clear.

After the incident with the True and False Monkey King, it seemed that Sun Wukong had become well-behaved, but in reality, Tang Monk also started to tolerate Sun Wukong more—for example, the frequency of using the Tight Hoop Spell significantly dropped since then, didn't it?

Why, in the battle that shook heaven and earth, did Ksitigarbha, listening with Tingdi, clearly discern the truth yet dare not speak? The play directed and acted by Sun Wukong himself, he obviously did not dare to meddle with.

If one of them had truly been fake, wouldn't joining forces with the real Sun Wukong to subdue the fake one be an easy task?

For instance, when the chaos reached Heavenly Court, why couldn't the Great Jade Emperor tell them apart? Could it be that the Great Emperor did not wish to intervene, allowing the Buddhist Sect to handle the matter on their own?

Then, if even the Demon-Revealing Mirror couldn't differentiate the fake Sun Wukong, could it be that both were real!?

Moreover, none of the deities in heaven knew the identity of the Six-Eared Macaque, as if this monkey appeared out of thin air. If there really were such a monkey with immense supernatural powers, is it conceivable that not one deity in heaven was aware of him?

As for the Tathagata revealing the identity of the Six-Eared Macaque...

Well, there was no other way. As the head of the Buddhist Sect, if he didn't cover for Sun Wukong, what else could he do?

In the end, why did Sun Wukong, despite Tathagata's admonition, rush forward and kill the Six-Eared Macaque after it was suppressed by the alms bowl? Wasn't this just him causing a scene in front of Tathagata, having achieved his goal, so the evidence of the Six-Eared Macaque being the scapegoat couldn't remain for others to see?

After considering the context of the original text and reflecting upon it, Jiang Liu felt that the situation was gradually becoming more transparent.

It turns out, wasn't the True and False Monkey King actually a play directed by Sun Wukong himself because he couldn't bear Tang Monk's tight control and frequent use of the Tight Hoop Spell, a means to express his dissatisfaction?

Although all these were merely Jiang Liu's own inferences, after this round of contemplation, he felt the likelihood of his speculation being factual was above seventy or eighty percent.

Remember, in the original text when the True and False Monkey King appeared, Tang Monk asked Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing which Sun Wukong was the real one and which was the fake.

Sha Wujing said he could not tell, but what did Zhu Bajie say?

Zhu Bajie's exact words seemed to be "Master, they are both our elder brother, they are both real," weren't they?

So it seems, Zhu Bajie as Marshal Tianpeng, did see the truth clearly; it's just that no one believed him, thinking he was only saying so out of reluctance to offend either Sun Wukong, right?

"Hey, Master, Master? What are you thinking about?"

Jiang Liu was silently pondering when Sun Wukong, noticing his distracted gaze, waved a monkey paw in front of his eyes and asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing much. I was just thinking that when a lie is told, it inevitably needs many more lies to cover it up..."

Coming back to his senses, Jiang Liu put some of his thoughts on hold and looked at Sun Wukong, hesitating slightly before saying again, "Wukong, I remember you have supernatural powers that allow you to pluck your monkey hair and turn it into many monkeys, right? Do you have a way to create another monkey that looks exactly like you and has almost the same abilities?"

"Master, are you talking nonsense? If I, Old Sun, had such ability, why would I be suppressed by Tathagata with two of me working together?"

Sun Wukong stared at Jiang Liu with incredulity, finding his master's question too simple. What was wrong today?

"It won't work?" Getting Sun Wukong's response, Jiang Liu furrowed his brows slightly.

But thinking about it, it made sense. If there were such supernatural powers, then wouldn't the Tathagata and others be invincible using them?

"However..." Just then, Sun Wukong changed his tone.

"However what!?"

Hearing this, Jiang Liu focused on Sun Wukong again.

"Although the technique where I, Old Sun, turn into monkeys is a kind of supernatural power similar to Exteriorization of the Body, those monkeys get their cultivation level from me. So the more monkeys I create, the more my own cultivation level is reduced. This trick is only useful when I need more hands on deck."

"But if you're talking about creating just one monkey with cultivation level close to mine, if I, Old Sun, only make one and split half of my cultivation level with it, that's doable."