Bull Demon King

In Chapter 3, just as the Stone Monkey has returned from the Dragon Palace with the Ruyi Jingu Bang and struck his name from the Book of Life and Death, basking in his own success, "suddenly seventy-two demon kings came to pay homage to the Monkey King." Among these demon kings, six were particularly striking—"the Bull Demon King, the Jiao Demon King, the Peng Demon King, the Lion Camel Great King, the Macaque King, and the Yurong King"—who swore brotherhood with Sun Wukong, collectively known as the "Seven Great Sages." The Bull Demon King ranked first, titled the "Great Sage Equaling Heaven." The ambition within those four words far exceeds that of the other six: Equaling Heaven, Overturning the Sea, Confusing the Heavens, Moving Mountains, Summoning Wind, and Driving Away Spirits are all specific abilities or postures. Only "Equaling Heaven"—meaning to press the heavens flat—represents a total negation of the existing order. Five hundred years later, when Wukong is wearing the tight fillet, clad in a tiger-skin skirt, and calling out "Master" on the journey to fetch the scriptures, this eldest brother is still living the life of a hegemon in Emerald Cloud Mountain with a wife and a concubine. Their reunion is not a nostalgic chat, but the start of a war. A monkey who has been absorbed into the system goes to find a bull who still refuses to be absorbed, demanding he hand over the magical fan held by his wife. This is the most complex conflict in Journey to the West, as it intertwines four threads: fraternal loyalty, marital grievances, the separation of father and son, and the opposition of good and evil—and not a single one is black and white.

The Seventh Seat of Flower-Fruit Mountain: The Origins of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven

The Bull Demon King's appearance in Chapter 3 is extremely brief. Wu Cheng'en writes only a single sentence, "the Bull Demon King was the leader," without even describing his appearance. But this position of "leader" reveals critical information: in the ranking of the Seven Great Sages, he stands before Sun Wukong. Wukong's self-proclaimed title of "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" was already a shocking transgression, but the Bull Demon King's "Great Sage Equaling Heaven" is semantically one step further—not merely being equal to heaven, but treading heaven flat.

The swearing of brotherhood among the Seven Great Sages occurred during Wukong's most arrogant period—right after he had taken the 定海神针 (Sea-Fixing Needle), struck the Book of Life and Death, and been jointly reported to the Heavenly Palace by the Dragon King and the King of the Netherworld. The book describes them as "spending their days discussing literature and martial arts, passing wine cups, singing and dancing, leaving in the morning and returning at night, finding joy in every moment" (Chapter 3). This honeymoon period was brief—only one chapter later, the Heavenly Palace sent emissaries to offer amnesty. Wukong ascended to become the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses, and the story of the seven brothers was interrupted.

From Chapter 4 to Chapter 59, across a span of fifty-five chapters, the Bull Demon King vanishes completely. During this void, Wukong experienced the Havoc in Heaven, was pinned under the Five-Elements Mountain for five hundred years, took a master to fetch the scriptures, and subdued demons along the way; his identity shifted from "Demon King" to "Disciple of the Buddhist Gate." And what did the Bull Demon King do during these fifty-five chapters? Not a single word is mentioned in the text. However, one can extrapolate from later information: during this time, he married Princess Iron Fan, fathered Red Boy, took Jade-Faced Fox as a concubine, and established two spheres of influence at Emerald Cloud Mountain and Mount Jilei. In five hundred years, one demon king completed the transformation from a "sworn brother" to a "regional overlord." Meanwhile, his sworn brother, in those same five hundred years, turned from the "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" into the "bodyguard of a scripture-fetching monk."

This contrast in identity is the key to understanding the entire conflict at Flaming Mountain. When Wukong goes to borrow the Plantain Fan, he is not facing a mere monster, but a mirror—a mirror reflecting who he might have become five hundred years ago.

Emerald Cloud Mountain and Mount Jilei: The Dual Governance of a Demon King

The Bull Demon King is the only demon in Journey to the West to possess two separate cave residences. The Banana Leaf Cave in Emerald Cloud Mountain is the official residence of he and Princess Iron Fan, while the Mo Yun Cave in Mount Jilei is his "second home" with the Jade-Faced Fox. The two mountains are far apart—when Wukong travels from Emerald Cloud Mountain to Mount Jilei to find the Bull Demon King, he must "ride the clouds to catch up"—yet the Bull Demon King moves between the two with ease.

This pattern of "dual-nest governance" is rare among demons. Most demons have only one cave: the Yellow Wind Demon is in the Yellow Wind Cave of Yellow Wind Ridge, the Spider Spirits are in the Webbed-Silk Cave, and the White Bone Demon is at White Tiger Ridge—one demon per territory, simple and clear. The Bull Demon King's dual-cave model is more akin to the nobility of the human world: the official wife manages the family estate at Emerald Cloud Mountain, while the concubine provides pleasure at Mount Jilei. In Chapter 59, when Wukong arrives at the Banana Leaf Cave to find Princess Iron Fan, she says the Bull Demon King "has not been home lately" and has gone to Mount Jilei to "drink wine with the Jade-Faced Princess." Then, in Chapter 60, when Wukong pursues him to Mount Jilei, he finds the Bull Demon King "drinking and making merry" with the Jade-Faced Fox in the Mo Yun Cave.

The Banana Leaf Cave is named after Princess Iron Fan's Plantain Fan—the core asset of this residence is not the land, but the fan itself. Every year, the people living near Flaming Mountain in Emerald Cloud Mountain send "four pigs, four goats, red silks, and exotic seasonal fruits" to beg Princess Iron Fan to fan away the mountain fires so they can grow crops. Here, the Plantain Fan is not a weapon, but an economic tool—a single fan maintains the agricultural lifeline of a region, and Princess Iron Fan is the sole provider of this economic system. The Bull Demon King leaves his legal wife at this "stable income" stronghold while he runs off to Mount Jilei to carouse with a young, beautiful concubine—an arrangement that is both cold and shrewd.

The origin of the Mo Yun Cave is even more interesting. Chapter 60 explains that the Jade-Faced Fox is the daughter of the "Ten-Thousand-Year Fox King," possessing "millions in private assets, having had no one to discipline her since childhood." She was not abducted by the Bull Demon King; rather, she actively "invited the Bull Demon King to be her husband." She coveted the Bull Demon King's martial prowess, and the Bull Demon King coveted her fortune. This was a marriage of convenience in the demon world. Wu Cheng'en does not use the word "love" once to describe this relationship; all the phrasing is "staying together," "drinking wine," and "making merry"—an exchange of flesh and material, devoid of emotional depth.

Princess Iron Fan, Jade-Faced Fox, and Red Boy: The Demon World's Most Complex Family

Most demons in Journey to the West are solitary figures. Even those with subordinates only maintain a master-servant relationship; very few demons possess a true "family structure." The Bull Demon King's clan is the most complete demon family in the entire book: husband, legal wife, son, concubine, and younger brother—five roles forming a family network that spans multiple story arcs.

Princess Iron Fan is the most sympathetic character in this family. In Chapter 59, the first time she meets Wukong, she opens with: "You wretched monkey! I know you! Though my son's life was not taken, how could he ever return to me? Since you harmed him, how could I ever forgive you!" This sentence contains a vast amount of information—she knows Red Boy is not dead ("though his life was not taken"), but she also knows he can never return ("how could he ever return to me"). A mother's rage here is not because the child is dead, but because the child is alive yet has been permanently stolen away. This anger is more desperate than the grief of loss, for she cannot even find solace in the thought that "death is a release"—at this moment, Red Boy is standing beside Guanyin as a Sudhana Child, alive, but no longer belonging to her.

The role of Jade-Faced Fox in the family is closer to that of a "financial investor." She used her millions in assets to "recruit" the Bull Demon King, essentially buying a bodyguard and companion. In Chapter 60, when Wukong disguises himself as the Bull Demon King and arrives at the Mo Yun Cave, the Jade-Faced Fox's reaction upon greeting him is to be "neatly dressed" and "beaming with spring breeze"—a standard posture of pleasing. However, when the real Bull Demon King later returns to the cave and discovers the deception, her reaction is to cry and throw a tantrum, cursing the Bull Demon King for being "so incompetent." Her attitude toward him depends entirely on whether he can protect her assets—this is not love, but a security contract with attached emotional obligations.

Although Red Boy's story takes place in Chapters 40-42, his shadow looms over the Flaming Mountain arc. The Bull Demon King's attitude toward the loss of his son is telling—he never directly expresses anger or sorrow. Across the five chapters from 59 to 63, the number of times he mentions Red Boy is zero. Does he not care? Not necessarily. The more likely explanation is that as a "man's man" of the demon world, he does not show emotion. But his actions betray him—when Wukong comes to borrow the Plantain Fan, he chooses to stand by his wife rather than his sworn brother. This choice itself is a silent response to the "hatred of losing a son."

Ruyi True Immortal is the Bull Demon King's younger brother, appearing in Chapter 53. He seized the Fetus-Dispelling Spring of the Gathering-Immortals Monastery on Jieyang Mountain. When Wukong comes to take the water, he makes it plain: "You harmed my nephew Red Boy, and this grudge has yet to be avenged!" Where the Bull Demon King himself remains silent, his brother speaks the subtext. After Ruyi True Immortal is defeated by Wukong, he never appears again—but his existence proves one thing: the shock caused by Red Boy's recruitment into the Buddhist fold ran far deeper within the Bull Demon King's family than it appeared on the surface.

After the Loss of a Son: Seventeen Years of Silence from Chapter 42 to 59

From the moment Guanyin subdued Red Boy in Chapter 42 until Wukong's first trip to Emerald Cloud Mountain to borrow the Plantain Fan in Chapter 59, seventeen chapters pass—spanning approximately one to two years in the timeline of the pilgrimage. What happened to the Bull Demon King's family during this interval?

Wu Cheng'en does not state it explicitly, but we can deduce it from Princess Iron Fan's reaction in Chapter 59: she has been waiting. Waiting for Red Boy to return—despite knowing it was impossible. When she says in Chapter 59, "Even if my place does not claim a life, how could he ever return to me?" her tone is that of someone who has accepted the outcome but remains unwilling to let go. For over a year, a mother has allowed the fantasy of "perhaps he might return" to be slowly ground down into the reality of "he is gone forever."

The Bull Demon King's reaction during this period was avoidance. Rather than staying at Emerald Cloud Mountain with his wife, he fled to Mount Jilei to carouse with the Jade-Faced Fox. This behavioral pattern is not uncommon in the real world—when a family suffers a major tragedy, one party chooses to face it (Princess Iron Fan guarding the Banana-Leaf Cave alone), while the other chooses to escape (the Bull Demon King fleeing to the Cloud-Souring Cave). He was powerless to bring back his son, powerless to comfort his wife, and powerless to demand justice from Guanyin. A demon king who calls himself the "Great Sage Equaling Heaven" was utterly helpless against the power of the Buddhist realm.

The appearance of Master Ruyi Immortal in Chapter 53 is an external overflow of this family trauma. When Wukong and Sha Wujing arrive at Jieyang Mountain to collect the water from the Fetus-Dispelling Spring, Master Ruyi Immortal's reason for blocking their path is not the spring itself, but rather: "My nephew Red Boy was harmed by you." Logically, this reason is unsound—Red Boy was taken by Guanyin, not killed by Wukong—but emotionally, it is entirely valid. To the Bull Demon King's family, Wukong was the trigger: had Wukong not gone to the South Sea to petition Guanyin, Guanyin would not have come to the Fire Cloud Cave, Red Boy would not have been locked by the five golden fillets, and he would not have become the Sudhana Child.

The First Attempt for the Plantain Fan: The Rakshasa Woman's Twin Swords and Single Fan

Chapter 59 marks the beginning of the Flaming Mountain story arc. As the pilgrimage party arrives before the Flaming Mountain, they feel "the scorching heat steaming against them, making it truly difficult to advance." The local Earth God informs them that this fire was caused by "a brick falling from the Eight Trigrams Furnace of Taishang Laojun in Heaven," and only the Plantain Fan of Princess Iron Fan at Emerald Cloud Mountain can blow it out.

Upon arriving at the Banana-Leaf Cave of Emerald Cloud Mountain, Wukong announces himself at the door, saying, "I am your old acquaintance, Sun Wukong." Princess Iron Fan's reaction upon emerging is visceral—"gritting her teeth in hatred," she cries, "You harmed my child; how can I let this go!" She immediately draws her twin precious swords and strikes. This detail is often overlooked: Princess Iron Fan's weapon is the twin swords, not the Plantain Fan. The fan is a magical treasure; the swords are her conventional weapons. The fact that she attacks with swords rather than the fan shows that her first instinct was to kill Wukong for revenge, not merely to drive him away.

However, "the Rakshasa and the Pilgrim fought for five sets of seven rounds, until her arms grew numb"—she could not defeat Wukong, and only then did she produce the Plantain Fan. "With one gust of the fan, the Pilgrim was blown away without a trace" (Chapter 59). Wukong was blown fifty-four thousand li away to the Little Mount Sumeru. This distance is precise in the original text—Wu Cheng'en did not write it haphazardly. A single somersault for Wukong is one hundred and eight thousand li, and the Plantain Fan blew him fifty-four thousand li—exactly half of one somersault. This numerical design suggests the power level of the Plantain Fan: it can compete head-on with Wukong's Somersault Cloud.

Lingji Bodhisattva gave Wukong a "Wind-Fixing Pill," which, when held in the mouth, makes one immune to the wind of the Plantain Fan. When Wukong returns for a second time, Princess Iron Fan tries the fan again, but this time, after "seventy or eighty gusts, he remained entirely unmoved." Terrified, Princess Iron Fan shuts her door and refuses to come out. Wukong transforms into a small insect, crawls into her stomach, and begins punching and kicking inside. Writhing in pain on the ground, Princess Iron Fan is forced to hand over the Plantain Fan.

But the fan she gives is a fake. When Wukong uses the fake fan on the Flaming Mountain, the fire does not diminish but instead increases—"the more he fanned, the larger it grew, until the sky was filled with crimson" (end of Chapter 59). Only then does he realize he has been tricked. Though Princess Iron Fan's scheme was simple, it was extremely effective—even while being beaten senseless from the inside, she kept her wits about her and handed over the fake fan instead of the real one. This detail proves one thing: Princess Iron Fan is not a combat-oriented demon; she is an "intellectual" contender.

A Duel of Transformations: When the Bull Demon King Meets Wukong's Seventy-Two Transformations

Chapter 60 is the most narratively dense chapter of the Flaming Mountain arc. Wukong goes to Mount Jilei to borrow the fan from the Bull Demon King, but the Bull Demon King refuses: "You harmed my son and severed my ancestral line; how could I lend the fan to you?" This is the only time in the entire book that the Bull Demon King mentions Red Boy directly. He uses the phrase "severed my ancestral line" rather than "harmed my son"—in ancient society, "severing the ancestral line" was more severe than losing a child, as it meant the end of the family bloodline. Although Red Boy was alive, he had become a monk (the Sudhana Child) and could no longer carry on the family name; in the Bull Demon King's value system, this was equivalent to "having no heirs."

Following the refusal, the two engage in combat. They fight for over a hundred rounds without a victor—a rare occurrence in the book. Throughout his journey, Wukong has seldom encountered an opponent with equal martial prowess, save for Erlang Shen and the Six-Eared Macaque. The fact that the Bull Demon King can fight him to a draw proves that their strengths are indeed in the same tier. This echoes their early brotherhood—a demon who could call Wukong "brother" five hundred years ago would naturally be powerful.

Midway through the fight, someone arrives to invite the Bull Demon King to a banquet. The Bull Demon King mounts his "Water-Avoiding Golden-Eyed Beast" and heads to the Azure Wave Pool of Lion-Camel Ridge for the Dragon King's feast. Wukong steals his mount, transforms into the likeness of the Bull Demon King, and goes to the Banana-Leaf Cave to deceive Princess Iron Fan. Princess Iron Fan fails to recognize the fake husband—a plot point repeatedly adapted in countless later operas and films—and hands the real Plantain Fan to the fake Bull Demon King.

Upon returning from the banquet and finding his mount gone, the Bull Demon King realizes what has happened. He also knows the Seventy-Two Transformations—he is the only demon in the entire book explicitly described as "also knowing the Seventy-Two Transformations." He transforms into the likeness of Zhu Bajie, intercepts Wukong on the road, and tricks him into returning the Plantain Fan.

The narrative structure of this sequence is a carefully designed "mirror symmetry": Wukong transforms into the Bull Demon King to deceive Princess Iron Fan $\rightarrow$ the Bull Demon King transforms into Zhu Bajie to deceive Wukong. Two "sworn brothers" use the same methods to deceive one another—here, the art of transformation is not just a combat tactic, but a metaphor for the collapse of trust. They know each other too well, so well that they can precisely mimic the people closest to them—and this knowledge is used not for protection, but for deception.

The Great White Bull: The Most Spectacular Original Form Battle in the Book

In Chapter 61, after three failed attempts to obtain the fan, Wukong and Zhu Bajie seek out the Bull Demon King for a direct confrontation. This time, there are no transformations and no tricks; it is a pure clash of force.

The Bull Demon King first battles Wukong, and after "fighting for over a hundred rounds, neither could prevail." Zhu Bajie joins in, and under their combined assault, the Bull Demon King gradually finds himself unable to cope. "The Demon King grew enraged, shook his head, and revealed his original form: a great white bull" (Chapter 61).

This original form is the most magnificent among all the demons in the book. Wu Cheng'en describes it: "His head was like a steep mountain, his eyes like flashing lights, his two horns like two iron pagodas, and his teeth like sharp blades. From head to tail, he was over a thousand zhang long; from hoof to back, he was eight hundred zhang high." Over a thousand zhang long and eight hundred zhang high—roughly three thousand meters long and two thousand meters high in modern measurements—this is no longer a bull, but a moving mountain range.

Wukong also reveals his original form—the "Ten-Thousand-Zhang Golden Body"—using the Ruyi Jingu Bang to brace against the Bull Demon King's iron horns. Two behemoths clash between heaven and earth—"a fight that shook the heavens and the earth" (Chapter 61). Wu Cheng'en uses a poem to describe it: "More magnificent than Jing Ke and the First Emperor of Qin, surpassing Xiang Yu's farewell to Consort Yu"—he likens this demonic battle to the most heroic duels of human history.

The uniqueness of the Bull Demon King's original form battle lies in its "unstoppability." For other demons, revealing their original form is often a final struggle when defeat is imminent—for example, the Scorpion Spirit is already suppressed by the Pleiades Star Official when she reveals her scorpion form. In contrast, the Bull Demon King reveals his form at the climax of the battle; it is an active upgrade rather than a forced exposure. After becoming the great white bull, he actually becomes stronger: both Wukong and Bajie are unable to handle him, as the bull "charges blindly," an irresistible force.

The Four Heavenly Kings' Siege: Why the Heavenly Palace Mobilized in Full Force

When Wukong found himself unable to defeat the Bull Demon King in his original form, he had no choice but to call for reinforcements. However, the aid he summoned this time was not a single Bodhisattva or star deity, but the full military might of the Heavenly Palace—a massive subjugation force led by Li Jing, Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, accompanied by Nezha the Third Prince, the Four Heavenly Kings, the vajra Guardians of the Buddhist faith, as well as local Earth Gods, Mountain Gods, and Dragon Kings.

Such a scale of mobilization is unprecedented in the entire novel. Compare this to how other great demons were subdued: the Black Bear Spirit was captured by Guanyin alone; Red Boy was captured by Guanyin alone; Golden Horn and Silver Horn were reclaimed by Taishang Laojun alone; and the Yellow Brow Demon King was subdued by Maitreya Buddha alone. Almost every demon was dealt with individually by "one high-ranking immortal." Only the Bull Demon King required "group warfare" to be brought down.

Why did the Heavenly Palace make such a fuss? On the surface, it was because the Bull Demon King was too powerful—his martial prowess equaled Wukong's, he mastered the Seventy-Two Transformations, and his original form was colossal. In a one-on-one fight, no one could guarantee a victory against him. But the deeper reasons may be more complex. The Bull Demon King is the only top-tier demon in the entire book who is completely independent of any celestial power. Other great demons are, to varying degrees, connected to the heavens: the Green Bull Spirit was Taishang Laojun's mount; the Golden-Winged Great Peng was Rulai's uncle; the Nine-Spirit Primal Sage was the mount of Taiyi Tianzun; and the Yellow Brow Demon King was an attendant of Maitreya Buddha. The "strength" of these demons was built upon celestial resources or connections. The Bull Demon King's "strength" came purely from himself. He never stole celestial treasures, never served as anyone's mount, and never worked under any immortal—he was a self-made demon who carved out his own domain through his own cultivation and martial might.

To the Heavenly Palace, this kind of "purely wild" top-tier combatant is far more dangerous than a "runaway mount." If a mount escapes to the mortal realm, the master can reclaim it with a single command; however, the cost of subjugating an independent demon king who has never submitted is much higher, because he possesses no innate gene of obedience. The Heavenly Palace deployed such an enormous force not only because the Bull Demon King was strong, but because he represented a possibility outside the established order: an existence with no celestial background who refused to be integrated into the system, yet possessed the strength to rival that system. Such an existence is, in itself, a threat to the order of the Three Realms.

Brought Down by the Nose: The Final Moments of a Free Spirit

The process of his capture in the latter half of Chapter 61 is written with extreme specificity. The heavenly soldiers and generals surrounded the Bull Demon King, and Nezha used the demon-slaying sword to hack at his bull head—the head was severed, but "another grew in its place"; it was hacked again, and another grew. Even after a dozen heads were severed, he could not be killed. Li Jing then produced the Demon-Revealing Mirror, which "fixed his original form," preventing him from transforming further.

The final method of subjugation is deeply symbolic—Nezha "hung the fire wheels upon his horns" and used the demon-slaying sword to "pierce through his nose." An iron chain threading through the nostrils and two fire wheels hanging from the horns—this image carries a visual impact far greater than simply being "defeated" or "trapped in a bottle." This is because piercing the nose is how humans domesticate oxen—farmers use an iron ring to pierce a bull's nose and lead it with a rope, making a thousand-pound beast obedient. For a demon king who called himself the "Great Sage Equaling Heaven," having his nose pierced meant he had been degraded from a "King" to "livestock." This was not a mere surrender; it was a dimensional strike against his very existence.

Once his nose was pierced, the Bull Demon King "let out a great cry: 'Do not take my life! I am willing to return and achieve the Perfected Fruit!'" This plea for mercy mirrors the "Buddha, spare my life" cried by Wukong when he was pressed under the Five-Elements Mountain—two sworn brothers from five hundred years ago, both eventually bowing to power in the same posture. The difference, however, is that Wukong's submission earned him a path to the scriptures, a tight fillet, and the opportunity to face eighty-one tribulations; the Bull Demon King's submission earned him only an iron chain through his nose and a sentence to be "sent to Lingshan to submit to the Buddhist faith"—no trial, no journey of atonement, only life imprisonment.

Great Sage Equaling Heaven: The Only Truly Independent Titan of the Demon Realm

Looking back at the full narrative arc of the Bull Demon King (from Chapter 3 to Chapter 63), he is the most unique figure in the demon genealogy of Journey to the West. This uniqueness lies not in his combat power—though it is top-tier—but in his "independence."

Among the fifty-odd major demons in the book, almost all can be divided into two categories: the first are the "Celestial Descendants"—Taishang Laojun's Green Bull, Guanyin's Goldfish, Rulai's uncle Peng—whose power derives from celestial resources and whose capture is a matter of "returning the object to its owner." The second are the "Self-Cultivated Spirits"—the White Bone Demon, the Spider Spirits, the Scorpion Spirit—who lack celestial backgrounds but also lack the strength to pose a genuine threat, usually being neutralized by a single move from a star deity or a magical treasure.

The Bull Demon King belongs to neither. He is "self-cultivated," yet his strength has reached the level of a "Celestial Descendant." He did not steal celestial treasures, nor did he escape from a celestial roster; his Seventy-Two Transformations were his own achievement, and his great white bull form was his own—everything was original. This made him an "exception" to the order of the Three Realms—a wild force outside the system whose capabilities were equal to the top entities within it.

The title Wu Cheng'en gave him, "Great Sage Equaling Heaven," contains the entire philosophical weight of the character. "Equaling Heaven" can be understood as being "on a level with heaven," or as "flattening the heavens." The former is confidence; the latter is transgression. For an existence outside the system, any confidence is defined by the system as transgression. The Bull Demon King's final defeat via the piercing of his nose is the standard way the system handles an "exception": you may exist, but you must be domesticated; you may live, but you must have a rope through your nose.

The contrast between him and Wukong is the most poignant relationship in all of Journey to the West. Both were top-tier demon kings who cultivated themselves, both claimed the title of "Great Sage," and both were besieged by the armies of heaven. After being imprisoned for five hundred years, Wukong chose to "enter the system"; over those five hundred years, the Bull Demon King chose to "remain free." The result: the one who entered the system eventually became the Victorious Fighting Buddha, while the one who remained free eventually had his nose pierced. This is not a narrative of "good triumphing over evil," but a narrative of "the system digesting the heretic"—and Wu Cheng'en uses Princess Iron Fan's words, "Though it may not take your life, how else could you possibly reach me," to speak the unspoken truth for all those digested by the system.

Related Characters

• Sun Wukong — Sworn brother from five hundred years ago; later became adversaries over the matter of Red Boy; the primary opponent in the Flaming Mountain arc.
• Princess Iron Fan — Legal wife, holder of the Plantain Fan, and mistress of the Banana-Leaf Cave on Emerald Cloud Mountain.
• Red Boy — Biological son, taken by Guanyin as the Sudhana Child; the root cause of the feud between the Bull Demon King's family and Wukong.
• Jade-Faced Fox — Concubine, mistress of the Mo Cloud Cave on Jade-Thunder Mountain, eventually killed by a single strike of Zhu Bajie's rake.
• Ruyi True Immortal — Younger brother, who seized the Fetus-Dispelling Spring on Jieyang Mountain and sought revenge against Wukong for the capture of his nephew, Red Boy.
• Zhu Bajie — Member of the pilgrimage party who teamed up with Wukong to fight the Bull Demon King in the Flaming Mountain arc.
• Nezha — The key figure who finally subdued the Bull Demon King by piercing his nose with fire wheels.
• Li Jing, Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King — The commander-in-chief who led the heavenly soldiers and generals to besiege the Bull Demon King.
• Guanyin — The Bodhisattva who took Red Boy away, indirectly creating the tragedy of the Bull Demon King's family.