You must have heard the stories about him.
Some say he helped Tang Sanzang obtain the scriptures, was named the Victorious Fighting Buddha, and stayed at Mount Ling from then on.
Others say the one who became a Buddha was never really him. The real him had died long ago on the journey west.
Still others say the Journey to the West never happened at all, and he was nothing but a monkey invented by a storyteller.
But the story I'm about to tell is one you have never heard.
I, the Six-Eared Macaque, “replaced” Sun Wukong in the battle of the True and False Monkey King and became the Victorious Fighting Buddha of Mount Ling. But when I opened my eyes at the bottom of the Cliff of Repentance, what I heard was the wailing of countless wronged souls beneath Mount Ling, and the anguished cries of my twin brother Sun Wukong's true spirit as it was set ablaze.
They say the Celestial Palace is a land of bliss. Yet the road to Heaven is strewn with unburied bones.
They say the Buddha is merciful and saves all beings. Yet countless wronged Pilgrims lie buried beneath Mount Ling.
They say Sun Wukong was unruly and wreaked havoc across the Three Realms. But no one knows who drove him, step by step, into becoming a demon monkey.
I am no impostor. He and I are blood twins, two halves of the Chaos Demon Ape. His true spirit was not destroyed; it was sealed in the deepest part of Mount Ling and made to burn as a “Buddha lamp” illuminating the Three Realms.
In this life, I will not seek the scriptures, worship the Buddha, or accept a divine title.
I will storm Mount Ling, smash the lotus throne, and topple the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.
If Heaven bears down on me, I'll cleave it open. If the earth confines me, I'll shatter it beneath my feet.
We were born free. Who dares stand above us?
Sage, you and I are both descendants of Chaos. I, too, will attain the Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal!
