Wuxia: Four Short Stories


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The story begins with the country experiencing a significant increase in circulation of counterfeit coin currency, leading to growing unrest and instability. Official investigators from the Department Six, acting on a tip-off, rush in full force to apprehend a suspect who is trying to sell a coin die stolen from the imperial mint , only to find the suspect and the evidence being taken into custody by agents of a hitherto unknown secret service, known as the Divine Constabulary, which is commissioned by the Emperor himself.

This arouses jealousy in Commandant Liu, who openly fires Cold Blood, one of his best men. Liu secretly orders Cold Blood to infiltrate the Divine Constabulary to find a way to bring down the rival agency. Liu is unaware that his own establishment has been infiltrated by double-agents dispatched by the mastermind behind the counterfeit currency.

Despite being aware of Cold Blood's true mission, the chief of the Divine Constabulary seeks out Cold Blood and welcomes him into the agency. Chapters 13—22 do not follow this structure precisely, as they introduce Tang Sanzang's disciples, who, inspired or goaded by Guanyin , meet and agree to serve him along the way in order to atone for their sins in their past lives.

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The Tower of Myriad Mirrors: Retrieved August 28, Being spiritually the lowest of the group, at the end of the journey, he remained on earth and was granted the title "Cleaner of the Altars", that is, he was allowed to "clean" the offerings off the altars by eating and drinking them. Chapter 22, where Sha Wujing is introduced, also provides a geographical boundary, as the river that the travelers cross brings them into a new "continent". For fans of Simon Shaw, the forensic historian from Sarah Shaber's Professor Simon Shaw murder mysteries, here are four short stories featuring the diminutive sleuth.

Chapter 22, where Sha Wujing is introduced, also provides a geographical boundary, as the river that the travelers cross brings them into a new "continent". Chapters 23—86 take place in the wilderness, and consist of 24 episodes of varying length, each characterised by a different magical monster or evil magician. There are impassably wide rivers, flaming mountains , a kingdom with an all-female population, a lair of seductive spider spirits, and many other fantastic scenarios.

Throughout the journey, the four brave disciples have to fend off attacks on their master and teacher Tang Sanzang from various monsters and calamities. Some of the monsters turn out to be escaped celestial beasts belonging to bodhisattvas or Taoist sages and deities.

Towards the end of the book there is a scene where the Buddha literally commands the fulfillment of the last disaster, because Tang Sanzang is one short of the 81 tribulations he needs to face before attaining Buddhahood. In chapter 87, Tang Sanzang finally reaches the borderlands of India, and chapters 87—99 present magical adventures in a somewhat more mundane though still exotic setting.

At length, after a pilgrimage said to have taken fourteen years the text actually only provides evidence for nine of those years, but presumably there was room to add additional episodes they arrive at the half-real, half-legendary destination of Vulture Peak , where, in a scene simultaneously mystical and comic, Tang Sanzang receives the scriptures from the living Buddha.

Chapter , the last of all, quickly describes the return journey to the Tang Empire, and the aftermath in which each traveller receives a reward in the form of posts in the bureaucracy of the heavens. He is just called Tripitaka in many English versions of the story. In return, the disciples will receive enlightenment and forgiveness for their sins once the journey is done. Along the way, they help the local inhabitants by defeating various monsters and demons who try to obtain immortality by eating Tang Sanzang's flesh.

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Sun Wukong is the name given to this character by his teacher, Subhuti , the latter part of which means " Awakened to Emptiness " in the Waley translation, Aware-of-Vacuity ; he is called Monkey King. He is born on Flower Fruit Mountain from a stone egg that forms from an ancient rock created by the coupling of Heaven and Earth. He first distinguishes himself by bravely entering the Water Curtain Cave on the mountain; for this feat, his monkey tribe gives him the title of "Handsome Monkey King".

This job is a very low position, and when he realises that he was given a low position and not considered a full-fledged god, he becomes very angry. Upon returning to his mountain, he puts up a flag and declares himself the "Great Sage Equal to Heaven". Then the Jade Emperor dispatches celestial soldiers to arrest Sun Wukong, but no one succeeds. The Jade Emperor has no choice but to appoint him to be the guardian of the heavenly peach garden.

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The peach trees in the garden bear fruit every 3, years, and eating its flesh will bestow immortality, so Sun Wukong eats nearly all of the ripe peaches. Later, after fairies who come to collect peaches for Xi Wangmu 's heavenly peach banquet inform Sun Wukong he is not invited and make fun of him, he starts causing trouble in Heaven and defeats an army of , celestial troops, led by the Four Heavenly Kings , Erlang Shen , and Nezha.

Sun Wukong is kept under the mountain for years, and cannot escape because of a seal that was placed on the mountain. He is later set free when Tang Sanzang comes upon him during his pilgrimage and accepts him as a disciple.

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His primary weapon is his staff, the " Ruyi Jingu Bang ", which he can shrink down to the size of a needle and keep in his ear, as well as expand it to gigantic proportions. The rod, which weighs 17, pounds, was originally a pillar supporting the undersea palace of the Dragon King of the East Sea , but he was able to pull it out of its support and can swing it with ease. The Dragon King had told Sun Wukong he could have the staff if he could lift it, but was angry when the monkey was actually able to pull it out and accused him of being a thief; hence Sun Wukong was insulted, so he demanded a suit of armour and refused to leave until he received one.

The Dragon King, unwilling to see a monkey making troubles in his favourite place, also gave him a suit of golden armour. These gifts, combined with his devouring of the peaches of immortality, three jars of elixir, and his time being tempered in Laozi 's Eight-Trigram Furnace he gained a steel-hard body and fiery golden eyes that could see very far into the distance and through any disguise. He is therefore always able to recognise a demon in disguise while the rest of the pilgrimage cannot.

Four Short Stories

However, his eyes become weak to smoke , makes Sun Wukong the strongest member of the pilgrimage by far. Besides these abilities, he can also pluck hairs from his body and blow on them to convert them into whatever he wishes usually clones of himself to gain a numerical advantage in battle. The monkey, nimble and quick-witted, uses these skills to defeat all but the most powerful of demons on the journey. Sun's behavior is checked by a band placed around his head by Guanyin , which cannot be removed by Sun Wukong himself until the journey's end.

Tang Sanzang can tighten this band by chanting the "Ring Tightening Mantra" taught to him by Guanyin whenever he needs to chastise him.

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Tang Sanzang speaks this mantra quickly in repetition. Sun Wukong's childlike playfulness is a huge contrast to his cunning mind. This, coupled with his great power, makes him a trickster hero. His antics present a lighter side in what proposes to be a long and dangerous trip into the unknown. Once an immortal who was the Marshal of the Heavenly Canopy commanding , naval soldiers of the Milky Way , he drank too much during a celebration of the gods and attempted to flirt with the moon goddess Chang'e , resulting in his banishment to the mortal world.

He was supposed to be reborn as a human but ended up in the womb of a sow due to an error on the Reincarnation Wheel, which turned him into a half-man, half-pig monster.

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Zhu Bajie was very greedy, and could not survive without eating ravenously. Staying within the Yunzhan Dong "cloud-pathway cave" , he was commissioned by Guanyin to accompany Tang Sanzang to India and given the new name Zhu Wuneng.

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However, Zhu Bajie's appetite for women led him to the Gao Family Village, where he posed as a normal being and wedded a maiden. Later, when the villagers discovered that he was a monster, Zhu Bajie hid the girl away, and the girl wailed bitterly every night. His weapon of choice is the jiuchidingpa " nine-tooth iron rake ".