When the Jade Emperor tried to humble her, she shamed him.

When the Jade Emperor tried to control her, she rebelled.

When the Jade Emperor dispatched an army to kill her, she slayed them.

When the Jade Emperor imprisoned her, she grew stronger.

When the Jade Emperor asked the Buddha to seal her, she swore revenge.

One day, the Monkey King will reek her vengeance on the Heavens that she alone is equal to.

:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 :

- Chapter I -

~The Great Sage Who Is Equal To Heaven~

:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 :

"So this is the Mountain of Five Elements..."

Zang marveled up at the peak of the Sacred Mountain he stood at the foot of it. It was every young monk's dream to play missionary to such a place. Some said that it was formed from Buddha's hand over half a millenia ago, and that the five elements represent his five fingers. Most called the story nonsense. Zang hadn't reached 'nonsense' yet, but he was bordering on 'fatuity.' Even Buddhists monks took such legends with generous grains of salt.

'I suppose journeying up the mountain may enlighten me,' he thought.

The silver-haired monk was just starting up the path when he heard a call. "Hey!" Zang peered back. A dark-skinned man wearing sandals and a hooded furred coat approached. "You weren't thinking of heading up the mountain on your own, were you?"

"Uh... yes, actually. Is something wrong?"

"Aside from the winding paths, lack of proper landmarks and the demons? No, everything's dandy."

"Demons? There are demons are roaming this mountain?!"

"Well... there have a been a couple people who've journeyed up the mountain alone only to be found torn to shreds a few days later." The man showed Zang his coat's shoulder, which had a star-shaped crest on it. "I'm a mountain guide. I lead people up and down the Mountain of Five Elements when I'm needed. Due to the recent attacks, I haven't been getting much work in."

"I see... Um, I know this is going to sound crazy, but could I you escort up the mountain, please?"

The guide did indeed look at Zang like he was crazy. He examined him, taking in the robes Zang was wearing.

"You came here for religious reasons?"

"Yes. I am a monk of the Tang Sun Temple, and I'm currently on pilgrimage. I decided to stop here on my way."

The guide raised a brow. "...how old are you, again?"

"Fifteen."

"And you're already a fully ordained monk?!" The guide paused. After a while, he sighed and said "Fine. I'll guide you up the path." He walked up to Zang, and then ahead of him. "Don't fall behind."

Zang nodded at his back and followed. The path proved to be as twisting as the guide warned. He was lucky the latter stopped him when he did. Today could have ended very badly for him.

The guide glanced back the monk. "I never caught your name, kid."

"Xuan Zang."

"Hmm... So, you said you were on a pilgrimage, Zang?"

"Yes. To the western country of Nalanda."

"Yeesh... Now, that's a walk. What are you heading there for? You looking to become some Naladan monk's disciple?"

"No. There are some scrolls I'm looking for – the Tripitaka Scrolls. They contain baskets of knowledge."

"Ah~ Makes sense for why you'd go looking for them. Monks are always looking for wisdom and stuff like that."

Zang smiled sheepishly. "Y-yes, they are..."

He looked down at the ground. If only his goals were truly that pure.

"Well, here we are," the guide announced.

Where they arrived was far from the mountain's peak, but it was where the Mountain of Five Elements' temple stood. The temple had seen better days. Tiles were missing from its roof, one of its wooden pillars was broken and several things seemed to be stolen off the altar. There was only one thing still presentable on the temple: a twelve-foot copper figure of Guan Yin, the Goddess of Compassion.

"I'm surprised that nobody tried to nick the statue too," the guide said.

"Well, it is fairly large."

"Never stopped them before."

Zang chuckled as he approached it. He originally planned to meditate, but abandoned the idea when he realized that the guide would have to stay with him. Not wanting to burden the man, he clapped his hands together and settled on a quick prayer. He looked up at Guan Yin's face one more time before leaving.

The guide cocked his head. "...that's it? You walked all the way up one of Tian's Sacred Mountains just to bow your head for eight seconds?"

"What matters isn't the length of the prayer, but the sincerity that goes into it," Zang said with a smile.

The guide gave a skeptic shrug. "Monk's are weird. So, you ready to head back down?"

Zang nodded, and he and guide started for the bottom of mountain. Before they could leave the temple grounds, however, Zang spotted it out of the corner of his eye. At first it looked like a limb, but when he stopped and looked closer, he realized what it really was – a bloodied arm dangling out of a tree. It still looked fresh. Before the monk could point this out to the guide, he heard the latter click his tongue.

"Shit... Well, I guess that's what I get for being sloppy," he said. He saw the way Zang was looking at him and smirked. "I planned to get you to a 'less holy' place before doing this... but I guess it can't be helped."

The guide's eyes gleamed. His shoulders began to swell. They reached a size that his coat could no longer contain, and it ripped apart, but he still kept growing. His height spurted as well, growing alongside the rest of the his body. Though, the most frightening thing were his new lower appendages: four legs grew out the guide's back as his hip extended. He became a six-legged centaur-like creature. The only thing about him that remained unchanged was his mature, dark face.

Zang's eyes trembled as he backed away. "The demon that killed all those people... It was you!"

The demon sighed. "What can I say... You have to be crafty to catch your food. I mean, who would expect a mountain guide for a Sacred Mountain to be a demon in disguise? All those dumb tourists and mountain climbers looked just as dumb as you when I showed my true form. Although..." The demon sized Zang up. "None of them looked nearly delicious. An ordained monk... The pureness of your Fe Li won't just be delicious... it'll make me more powerful! Two birds; one stone!"

The demon cackled as Zang ran as fast as his legs could take him. He even left his bag behind as he dashed back down the mountain path. The demon stopped laughing and grinned. He loved a good chase, but he loved a good meal even more, and he had gotten impatient after having not ate for so long.

He gaped open his mouth, and a ball of black wind swirled in front of it. "Black Tempest Rush!"

A dark gale, homed in on Zang's back, blew from his mouth. The monk only got in a glance before the vile winds assaulted him, whirling him over thirty feet into the air. Blood and shreds of his robes filled the air around him. Then he fell. A heavy "thud" accompanied him when he hit the ground. He nearly fell off the path into a river, nearly a thousand feet below.

The demon scratched its head. "Damn... I guess I got a little too excited. I didn't want to break him."

He shrugged, and gaped opened his mouth and held his head back. A typhoon nearly fifteen feet high rose from his mouth. When it dispersed, a black tasseled spear as tall at the typhoon was left suspended in the air. He grabbed it, then stomped over to where Zang laid. The spear's black blade glinted as it was held up, its tip centered at the monk's skull.

Then, just as the killing blow was dealt, Zang's arm twitched. The monk rolled himself off the side of the mountain path, falling head first into the river over three hundred feet below.

The demon glared at the river. "Dammit! That monk isn't as frail as he looks..."

:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 :

 

Zang realized almost immediately how lucky he was to have not drowned. The rocky roof of the tunnel he was floating backwards through was the first thing he saw upon regaining consciousness.

'...does the river I fell into go under the entire mountain?' he wondered.

He noticed the water was actually very shallow. So much that he could stand up, and only have it go up to his ankles. He cringed. Everything on his body was crying, save for his eyes.

"At least I'm not bleeding..."

He looked in the direction he floated from. Without any assurance that the demon wasn't following him, Zang had no other choice but to follow where the stream flowed. He squinted while he walked. It was dark. Not to mention, his robes; the pants especially, were drenched and unbearable to walk in. He wondered how he would replace them later.

If there was a later.

Zang shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking such things. His pilgrimage had only just begun. How could he throw in the towel already? Before he even got close to Nalanda?

'I must survive. If not for me, for Elder Jiang and the temp-'

Zang's thoughts stopped along with his feet. The river had led him to a dead end. It continued flowing under a gap far too short for Zang to crawl under. He was trapped.

The water splashed as his knees hit the river. It was over. He had no way to escape now. If he headed back the way he came the demon would kill him. Though, maybe that would be better. At least he wouldn't starve to death. The thoughts of such suicide occurred to Zang for only a brief second before he slammed his head into the rock before him.

He pulled it back, then stared at the blood mark his forehead had left. After a moment, he shifted himself onto his legs, and clapped his hands together. Elder Jiang had always told him that a wise monk seeks salvation in his mind before he seeks it in reality. Zang wasn't aware of what this final prayer would achieve, but he was aware that reaching for hope, no matter how far gone, was better than wallowing in despair.

"Zang..." Zang's eyes soared opened when he heard the feminine voice.

A radiant glow was originating from behind him. He peered back to see what it was. He couldn't. He tried, but it the light was too bright for his eyes to make anything out. The glowing person's divine voice was all he could comprehend.

"Go west, Xuan Zang..."

"Wait! Who are you! Why are you-"

"Go west..."

Zang opened his eyes, realizing that what he just saw was an illusion. ...or was it?.

"West..." His eyes opened further. "West! Where's my compass? Was it in my bag?"

Zang patted down his torn robes like he had caught flame, and was trying to put himself out. Eventually and fortunately, he finally found his compass. It was cracked, but it was still functioning. He squinted to see its hands in the dark. North was behind him, while South went in direction of the flow. He looked to his right where West had to be. All Zang saw was more rock.

"No. She wouldn't give me misleading advice,' he thought, while standing.

He walked over to the West wall, and he noticed a crevice in it. It was thin, barely large enough for Zang to fit through, and so dark that he could see nothing inside, but the monk knew that it was his only hope of escape. He fit himself through the crevice, making sure not to rip his robes further on jagged rock as he crawled inside.

It was narrow; extremely narrow. Zang had to keep crawling the entire way. Also, the path kept slanting downwards. Zang kept crawling for over half an hour, wondering if there would be any end to the narrow tunnel. There was. A dim light started to come into view as the monk got closer to the bottom. Eventually, he reached it and freed himself from the tunnel, almost losing one of his boots in the process. He stood, and looked around the cavern he had found himself in.

Then he saw something that shocked him even more than the guide's transformation: a woman. No, girl would be more accurate. She looked older than Zang, but she would barely qualify as an adult; nineteen, at least; twenty-two, at most.

She was stuck on her knees, leaning forward from a rock with five large glowing kanji on it. Each representing one of the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. The only reason she wasn't laying face-down on the ground was due to the cuffs on her on her wrists which where chained to the rock behind her.

Zang was confounded. He was wondering what to do in this situation when he heard the girl speak.

"So, you finally came back, huh...? Took you long enough, you son a bitch... "

Zang raised his brows."...h-have we met before?"

The girl lifted her head high enough for Zang to see her glaring red eyes. "Don't play your games of holy bullshit with me! You're the only one who even knows I'm down here, Buddha!"

The silver-haired monk paused. Then he pointed at himself. "You think I'm Buddha? He and I don't even-"

"Just because I can't use my Golden Eyes, doesn't mean I can't recognize you while you disguised, you ass! Who else could have that much purity in their Fe Li?! It's like you're friggin radiating!"

She was very mistaken, and Zang knew why: monks have extremely pure Fe Li compared to ordinary people. It was one of the reason demons, who absorbed the Fe Li of their victims when they ate them, prized monks as special meals. What's more, Zang was ordained - he had already reached Enlightenment. This meant his Fe Li was extremely pure even among other monks. To the girl and the demon who was chasing him, he must have looked like a walking lighthouse.

He laughed nervously. "You're extremely off about my identity... I'm not the Buddha. My name is Xuan Zang, and I'm just an ordinary monk."

The girl gritted her teeth until her canines were visible. "You come all this way just to lie to me?!" She tried to charge at Zang, but the chains on her cuffs were too strong. "You asshole! You jerk! You only won last time because you tricked me! Gimme a rematch, and I bet I'll kick your enlightened ass!"

The chains glowed as the girl jerked them violently. They sparked and retracted into the rock, slamming her back against it in the process. The five elemental kanji glowed and shocked the girl with a powerful current. After a gasp and a fall, she was back on her knees again.

Zang couldn't comprehend what was going on. The girl in front of him, who had just met underneath the Mountain of Five Elements, just claimed to have fought Buddha.

"...who are you?" he asked while coming closer to her than most would risk.

The girl kept her head down, her messy blonde hair draping her tan-brown face. "My name is-"

A "boom!" shook the cavern before the girl could finish. Zang looked up and saw rocks were falling. Reflexively, he threw himself over the her. The raining rocks pelted his head and back, causing him wounds to reopen, and almost knocking him unconscious again.

He body was fidgeting with pain, but he still smiled when he looked down at the girl. "Are you alright...?"

She stared at him. "Are you an idiot?"

"I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

"You could have gotten killed just now, you know. I don't remember asking you to play meat-shield for me."

"I'd rather see myself hurt, than watch somebody who can't even defend herself get crushed."

"...you really aren't Buddha, are you?"

Zang chuckled. "What gave it away? Was it the bleeding?"

"That, and the real Buddha's not stupid enough to think a few falling rocks are enough to kill an immortal."

Zang stopped smiling, and released her. "Immortal...?"

The cavern shook again. Zang repeated his shielding act, despite the girl's earlier comments. The most dangerous thing to descend from above, wasn't rocks, however. The rocky roof of the cavern caved in as the six-legged demon came down.

"So this is where you were hiding, eh?" he said while rocks fell around him. "To think you'd crawl underneath the mountain like a mole. It's too bad you didn't dig deeper..."

Zang had the eyes of snagged hare. He looked around. There was nowhere left to run. He wouldn't escape the demon this time. Normally, a person would lose hope at this point, but not Zang.

He took a deep breath. One calmer than either the demon, or the girl he was still holding, expected. Zang knew what was now inevitable: death. Avoiding it would be a waste of what was left of his life. So, instead he stood and took a few steps toward the demon.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked.

"Protecting you."

Didn't I already tell you that I'm immortal? Protecting me is dumbest thing you could do, right now."

"You're right, but it's also the only thing I can do right now. I would rather die a pointless death protecting someone, than die a pointless death trying to evade the inevitable. So, please... humor me."

The heavy steps of the demon invoked more tremors as he came closer to Zang.

The girl watched his unwavering back. "Hey. You said you were a monk, right?"

"I did."

"Then... can you give me one final mantra before you kick the bucket?"

The demon stopped in front of Zang and lipped its lips. The latter ignored this, and glanced back at the girl with a smile.

"Of course. What would you like to hear?"

She smiled back at him. "The Om of Release would be nice..."

Zang nodded, shut his eyes and folded his hands together. "I bow my head. I chain my pride. I release my ego. I bow my head. I chain my pride. I release my ego."

The demon lifted its spear. All the while, Zang kept repeating his mantra. He was completely centered in his task, unconcerned with his impending end. As he chanted, the girl grinned.

'She gripped her fists while her cuffs glowed. 'Just...one...more...chant...'

"I bow my head. I chain my pride. I release my ego," Zang finished just as the demon's spear was thrust down.

Zang was ready for the end. He had accepted it. So, why was he still alive? He opened his eyes and witnessed the answer in front of him. The tan-skinned blonde who should have been chained to the Stone of Five Elements was now standing before him, holding back the demon's large black spear with a single hand. What's more, the demon was the one who was struggling.

'W-what is this?! Why is this woman so strong?!' the demon wondered.

It gripped the spear with both its arms, and used all of its strength. The woman simply tightened her grip. The spear didn't budge.

She grinned broadly. "Is that all you've got, footsie?"

She began to slowly tilt the spear down until the demon was on all six of his knees. He cringed. Her strength was unreasonable. It beyond human or demon. Even Zang could see that much.

"Five hundred years... That's how long I've been stuck to that rock," she said. "To say I was bored would be the understatement of the year... I've haven't even been able to stretch in that time." Her red eyes gleamed. "You don't mind being my first warm up, do you?"

The demon's eyes trembled. He gaped his mouth wide. "Black Temp-" Before it could finish, the woman gripped the spear with both hands, and hauled the demon off the ground. She then yanked it from his grasp and thrust at demon with the butt of his own spear.

One hundred thrusts. Five hundred. One thousand. Two thousand. Three thousand thrusts, all within thirty seconds. The demon was already long unconscious, but the woman was too high off her newly obtained freedom to let him off so easy.

As he plummeted back down, she rotated her grip on the large spear and launched it with the velocity of torpedo. It plunged through its owner's heart and kept going, taking its previous wielder along with it. The demon soared back up the very hole it made. It wasn't until it reached the peak of the Mountain of Five Elements that it began to descend.

The woman hummed while she dusting her hands. "Damn... I got rusty. Bastard only went as high as the peak."

She heard something hit the floor and looked back. Zang was knees, eyes trembling in a mixture of awe, fear and confusion. His expression softened a bit when something soft poked his forehead.

He stared at it. "A tail...?"

One that apparently belonged to the woman who was currently standing over him. "What's with that look on your face?" she asked while continuing to poke him. "You weren't that scared when that six-legged bastard was making hungry eyes at you."

"...were you really sealed under this mountain for five hundred years?"

The woman examined the still glowing cuffs on her wrists. "Yep. That long-eared bastard you love so much put me down here because the Jade Emperor went crying to him, like a little girl who got sand kicked in her face."

"But why?! Who would the Buddha himself take up arms against?!"

"You really don't know me, huh?" The cuffs finally stopped glowing, then they cracked and crumbled onto the cavern floor in pieces. "You can call me the Great Sage Who Is Equal to Heaven..." She grinned. "or better yet, just call me the Monkey King - Sun Wukong!"

2: Chapter II - The Wrath of the Monkey King

- Chapter II -

~The Wrath of the Monkey King~

:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 :

A chain of trucks winded up the cliffside road together. One could tell at a glance that these trucks were meant to haul more than just furnishings. Their sides were armored, reinforced with multiple layers that gunfire could never pierce. The windows were tinted, and obviously bullet-proof. Even the tires were designed to be undeflatable. They could have easily been mistaken for military vehicles, but they weren't.

The brigade of masked men observing them cliff knew this. Every mask had the same simple design – a smiling face. Only one man among them did not wear one, but the permanent smile stretching from cheek to cheek more than made up for it.

As the trucks ran directly underneath the cliff they were perched on, the man reached for the dao at his waist, then hopped down alone. He landed a few yards in front of the foremost truck. The driver, alarmed, blared on his horn.

The smiling man just kept smiling, then faced the cliffside. He drew his dao, and slashed up in a broad slanted crescent, all in the same motion. The slash's path gleamed, slicing off huge chunks of rocks above. The front truck's driver tried swerving out of the way, but ended up going off the road, his entire truck cartwheeling down a cliff. When it finally stopped, it exploded.

"Hmm... I'm sure the contents of the trucks are still fine," the smiling man said. "I'm not so sure about the driver, though~"

The other trucks had already stopped, not wanting to follow their lead's example. That was when the masked men hoarded down on them, and demanded they get out.

The smiling man chuckled as they did. "Today was another happy day for the Smiling Bandit~"

:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 :

Wukong let out a relaxed moan as she stretched that morning. "Today is good day~"

Everyday had been a good day for Wukong. Since she had been freed two days ago from the Mountain of Five Elements, she had been nothing but cheerful. No more chains to bind her. No more stones to shock her. Just sunny mornings and fresh air.

Though, she was getting a bit bored of it all now.

"Good morning, Wukong..." she heard Zang say as he rubbed his eyes awake.

He pulled himself from his sleeping bag. After folding it up and stuffing it in his bag, he pulled an apple from the sack. He placed it on the ground, then folded his hands together. After offering the meal to Buddha and all living things, he picked it up and ate it.

"So... what's for breakfast?" Wukong asked sitting cross-legged across from him.

"I'm having breakfast now."

"An apple? That's it? Where's the pork? The ham?!"

"Monks don't eat meat."

Wukong groaned while falling back. Zang watched her gaze at the passing clouds.

"Why are you so hungry, anyway?" he asked. "Haven't you already gone five centuries without food?"

"Your point is? Just because I don't need food, doesn't mean I don't get a craving for a little roast pork every now and then."

Wukong apparently had very strict tastes. In the past two days they had been traveling together, Zang hadn't seen her eat anything. Though, she didn't look starved in the least. Her tan-brown skin was just as full as it was when Zang found her.

Honestly, Zang was extremely interested in her immortality, but even more so in the tale of how she ended up underneath the mountain. Feeling talkative one earlier night, Wukong humored Zang with the tale of how she went to war with all of Heaven by herself.

She supposedly defeated an army of 100,000 celestial warriors; many high-ranking gods among them, single-handily before she was captured. Even after she captured, every execution the Jade Emperor tried failed, (and some even backfired and made her stronger.) Eventually, she broke out and continued her rampage until Buddha himself appeared.

This was the part of the story that Wukong got bitter retelling.

Apparently, Buddha made a bet that if Wukong could escape his palm, all her transgressions thus far would be forgiven. Wukong agreed, and jumped as far away from Buddha as she could, reaching the Five Pillars of Heaven, themselves. She noticed too late that the Five Pillars were actually Buddha's five fingers, and when she tried to escape, he closed his hand and cast it down erecting the Mountain of Five Elements from it.

Zang found this all hard to believe, but how else would he explain Wukong's existence? An immortal who can overpower demons like they were nursery school children.

"Hey. You done eating yet?" Wukong asked while standing. "I'm getting itchy staying still for so long."

'You were fine for five hundred years before I found you,' Zang thought while finishing his apple. He buried the core near the root of a tree and prayed before heading off with Wukong.

"Wukong, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah. Shoot."

"Why are you guiding me to Chaoji City?"

"Payback. You scratched my back by freeing me from that damn mountain, and now I'm gonna scratch yours by playing bodyguard until we reach the next town over. Plus, its a good excuse for me to stretch my legs after so long." She poked at Zang with her tail. "You shouldn't bother looking a gift horse in the mouse, Tripitaka."

"Tripitaka?" He repeated while raising a brow. "I already told you, my name is Zang. Why are you calling me Tripitaka?"

"Because the other night, when we trading bed time stories, I told you about how I got imprisoned, and you told me about your journey to the west. Everything that came out of your mouth was Tripitaka Scrolls this and Tripitaka Scrolls that, over and over... So, I decided that Tripitaka would be a nice nickname for you."

"Um... thank you, but I would really much rather you call me-"

Wukong squeezed the back of Zang's robes and reeled him back so hard, he stumbled to the ground. "...alright, you sneaky bastards. You're not squirrels, so come out of the bushes."

On cue, several figures came out of the woodwork. They were dressed in red and green coats, red stars pinned to their shoulders, much like the one Zang saw on the demon earlier. The big difference, aside from the lack of transformation, were the automatic rifles in their hands.

The men and women aimed their rifles at the Monkey King. "Hands up where we can see them," one commanded. Wukong blinked. She took a step forward, and a barrage of bullets assaulted the monkey-tailed blonde. Zang looked away from the flashing barrels and gun smoke, until the shooters ceased fire.

The look of astonishment on their faces at the lack of astonishment on Wukong's: it was ridiculous. Wukong was completely unhurt. She hadn't even flinched. In fact, when the shooting ended she yawned then asked "You guys done?" They blinked. "Good... because now it's my turn to-"

From behind, Zang locked his arms under Wukong's shoulders. "Wukong, wait. Don't fight them."

"Tripitaka, what the hell?! You wanna get squashed too?!"

Wukong could have literally squashed him. The only reason Zang suspected she hadn't was because she still thought she was in his debt for freeing her.

"You don't have to keep holding onto that girl, kid. She has every right to be pissed," an authoritative voice said.

From the woods came a man donning the same coat as the others, only his had two bronze stars instead of one red one. He combed back some of his shaggy black hair as he stopped in front of Zang and Wukong.

"Who are you?" Wukong asked.

"Captain Zhufei Lin of the Imperial Ranger Corps. I apologize for my men being so..." He glared back at them. "trigger happy. Although, I'm surprised you survived all of that without a scratch..."

Wukong broke free of Zang. "You really think an apology is gonna cut it? I don't know what these weird weapons you're using are, but I don't like being used as target practice for them."

"Wukong, it's fine... It's not like you got hurt," Zang said while stepping between her and the captain. "Let's hear Captain Zhufei's side of the story first."

Zhufei nodded. "I'd appreciate it. Let's head back to the post first. It's not too far from here."

:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 :

"The Smiling Bandit?" Zang uttered while drinking some tea a ranger had given him.

Zhufei who sat opposite of him in the tent the rangers had set up nodded. "He's a notorious bandit chief who's been terrorizing this part of the region. Two days ago, he robbed three trucks filled with treasures that were being shipped to a museum in Chaoji City. It's estimated that he's stolen somewhere close to ten million yuans worth." The Captain glanced over at Wukong. "He's the reason why my men are so on edge. It's still no excuse, but-"

"Nope, it isn't," she said bluntly while taking a closer look at one of the 'mysterious' rifles the rangers used. "You guys work for the empire, right? I wonder since when did Tian start letting cowards in?"

Some of the rangers made faces, but they kept their mouths shut. They had shot at her, after all. Zang was less accepting of her behavior and said "You should let what happened earlier go, Wukong."

She glared ."I've been holding grudges since before your mom popped you out from between her thighs, Tripitaka. I don't need guidance on how to feel." She stewed for a bit longer before clicking her tongue. "Dammit... I wanna hit something! Hey, shaggy." Zhufei made a face, and pointed to himself. "Yeah, you. This Smiling Bastard, where is he right now?"

"...we traced him and his men to an abandoned temple a few miles North of here just yesterday. We're still figuring out how to properly... Where are you going?" Zhufei asked as Wukong left the tent.

"To take this smiling guy out for you. You're welcome."

The Monkey King's tail was the last thing to leave the tent as she went. Zang called out to her, and even followed her out of the tent, but when he walked out, she was already gone.

"That girl's fast..." Zhufei commented while coming outside himself. "And she takes bullets to the face like, no problem. ...and I think I saw a tail. Where did you meet that girl?" Zang smiled nervously, and the captain shrugged. "Whatever. Hey, do you need a ride? We've got to ship some of this loot we recovered from the Smiling Bandit and his group to Chaoji City, so you can catch a ride on one of the trucks if you want."

"You recovered loot?"

Zhufei gestured over to the second tent at the camp. With an OK from him, Zang approached it, and entered through the flaps. The treasure trove laying inside would have made the average person's eyes beam like they were made of sunlight, but Zang, who had been raised since he was a toddler to disregard materialistic things just blinked.

"This is a lot treasure..." he stated. "A few million yuans worth, definitely."

He surveyed the heap of artifacts. They were meant to go to a museum so each had significant historical value. Still, there was one object that garnered Zang's attention more than the others. An object that he could sense Fe Li coming off of. He approached the hill of artifacts and dug through some statuettes, vases, molds and paintings until finally finding what he sought: a golden headband.

Zang could definitely feel something coming from this artifact as he picked it up. After examining it, he noticed there was something etched on its inside. What surprised him was that it was written in the Man Ting Fang, an extremely old form of Tian's language that was virtually extinct. The headband Zang held was even older than he first thought.

Thankfully, all monks are required to learn at least the basics of the Man Ting Fang before becoming ordained. His was rough, but Zang could still read:

This headband, blessed by the Goddess of Compassion, is not a jewel, but a collar. It binds whomever wears it to heed the command of the gifter. Whether it be used to enlighten or enslave, the gifter need only speak the word "Obey," then the wearer's name.

Zang rolled the headband around in his hands. This headband was actually a Sacred Treasure, an object blessed by Celestial powers; and a slave device on top of that. What a horrible thing Guan Yin had blessed with her powers. Zang could only imagine what scenario had encouraged her to do such a thing. It was good the Smiling Bandit and none his men understood Man Ting Fang.

'It would be best if such a thing was disposed of,' Zang thought. 'But how?'

Sacred Treasure weren't sacred for just any reason. They were indestructible by any normal means, along with most abnormal ones.

"Hey, kid. How long are you going to keep wading through that loot?" Zhufei asked while sticking his head in through the flaps.

Zang stood with the headband still in his grasp. "Captain Zhufei, I found this headband among the loot you recovered."

"Oh, yeah. That thing. I read the inside, although it's in that damn 'old tongue', so the only things I really understood were 'command' and 'Obey.' You can control people with that thing, right?"

Zang nodded. "And its very likely that only the gifter can remove the headband once its be placed on someone."

"Great... Wonder who the gods had in mind when they made that little beauty?"

Zang traced the headband with his finger. "Captain, would it be alright if I kept this?"

"You mean, would it be alright if I gave a Sacred Treasure that's supposed to be shipped to Chaoji City's Museum to a complete stranger? Obviously: no." Zhufei scratched his chin. "But, yeah. Feel free."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty positive that the girl you're traveling with would have torn my men to shreds if you hadn't of held her back, so yeah. Just think of it as a reward for earlier. I'll say that the Bandit lost it down a river while we were chasing after him."

Zang smiled as Zhufei left the tent. He hid the headband away in his robes before following the captain outside.

:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 :

The Smiling Bandit was lounging in front of a rusty statue Buddha with an inquisitive smirk on his face concerning the girl entering the temple.

"You came here, to the den of the Smiling Bandit alone? Are you insane, little girl~"

Wukong marched into the temple popping her neck. "No. A little bloodthirsty, maybe, but not insane."

"I'm curious as to how you found this place~"

"Some imperial rangers are looking for you. They found out where you and your boys have been hiding here."

"Have they? Well, we might have to pack up then~"

"No need." Wukong popped her knuckles without touching them. "I'll be doing all the packing for you today."

The Bandit hummed and gestured. From the shadows of the temple came a small army of two-hundred masked men. "This is my Smiling Army. It's built in number for the past two years, all to make the world a happier place for me~ Tell me, monkey girl: Are you happy?"

The Bandit expected Wukong's confidence to fade, but when she saw the crowd of men surrounding her, all equipped with weapons and raring to tear her apart, a hungry grin came over her face instead.

"Happy...? I'm absolutely euphoric, right now!" she declared.

The Bandit's mouth twitched. He gestured for his men to attack. The people they typically ambushed were always disheveled by their sheer numbers along with the masks they wore. Wukong was not only calm, she thought the bandits were moving in slow motion.

Her eyes skimmed around: 'A sickle over there, a spear over here. A couple daggers with those guys, a few swords being held by the guys right in front of me. ...but where is a-' Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted somebody with a staff thrusting at her left hip. 'Bingo!'

She nimbly weaved around the thrust, and raised her leg. She then brought it over the end of the staff, hammering it into the temple floor and propelling the wielder into the air. As the staff was suspended in midair, Wukong caught it, twirled it, then swung in a complete circle around her.

A gust a wind, comparable to a category two hurricane, invoked and expelled the smiling warriors away from her. They crashed through the wooden beams, and into the walls. The gust even blew out windows. The Smiling Bandit himself had to jam his dao into the floor to not be blown away.

His men groaned while picking themselves all the floor.

"That's enough!" the Bandit shouted to them. He stood and plunked his dao out of the floor. "I'll take care of this one myself~"

His men stepped back as he stepped forward. He took a stance while still ten feet away. Wukong cocked a brow.

"I won't lie, monkey girl, you're very impressive, but there doesn't exist a man or woman in Tian who is capable of ruining a happy day for the Smiling Bandit~"

"...what the hell are you talking-" The Bandit cut her off mid-sentence, literally. He sliced the air in front of him. A glint flashed where he slashed, and Wukong's head flew off. Or at least, that was what was supposed to happen.

The Bandit didn't hear a head hit the floor, so he looked Wukong's way. Her head was not only still on her shoulders, it was examining the Smiling Bandit's dao. He looked at his hand to find that it was empty.

Wukong hummed. "Nice technique. It's quick, it's efficient, but it could still use some work." She threw away the staff she stole, then took a stance similar to the Smiling Bandit's. "

The Bandit's smile finally faded. No, it was impossible. There was no way should could do it.

"Next time..." Wukong gripped the hilt tighter. "You should try it like this!"

Wukong swung. The Smiling Bandit, being a master of the technique, managed to duck in time. His men was less quick to respond. A glint flashed, and two-hundred smiling heads flew. Blood sprayed around the temple as their bodies hit the floor with countless "thuds."

Wukong relaxed her stance and twirled the dao. "See? Just like that." Her brows raised when she noticed the Smiling Bandit was no longer in front of her. He was running for the entrance, leaving bootprints in his late subordinates' blood. "Where do you think you're going?" Wukong asked while flickering in front of him.

She was too fast for him to outrun, and almost too dexterous for him to react to. The Bandit realized the latter when Wukong kicked him much quicker than he could block, knocking him through a wooden beam, a wall and into a garden outside the groaned in pain while clutching his broken arm.

"Stop your whining. I didn't even kick you that hard," Wukong claimed while walking out of the temple through the hole she made.

When the Smiling Bandit tried to crawl away, she crushed his leg with single, flower scattering stomp.

He wailed, but Wukong's pleased expression stayed. "Well.. it's been fun. For me, at least." She raised his dao. "But I think it's about time we ended this happy day~"

"Wukong! Stop!" Zang pleaded from across a pond in front of the temple.

He and the imperial rangers arrived just before the execution was carried out. As Zang approached her, he saw the sadistic grin on the immortal's face. She had no intention on stopping.

The Smiling Bandit understood this as well. As the dao was swung down, he shut his eyes. Despite his expectations, death didn't seize him. He opened his eyes and saw a silver haired monk standing in front of him, his arms stretched out in his defense.

"Wukong, this man can no longer fight. His arm and leg are both shattered," Zang explained.

"What are you defending him for, Tripitaka? He's just a bandit."

"He's a man. A harmless one. You can't just kill him."

"Of course I can. I already killed his lackeys. Now, it's his turn to take a ride on the ol' Wheel of Reincarnation. Hopefully he won't get squished when he's brought back as a roach."

Zang's blue eyes gazed indignantly. "I won't let you kill this man!"

She snorted. "Seriously?"

She lifted him up by the collar of his robes, and casually flung him into the pond, and out of her way. The Smiling Bandit trembled, now this his only savior was gone. Before the Monkey King could continue with the execution, however, Zang rose from the pond and shouted "Wukong, wait!"

She sighed, and looked at Zang with jaded eyes. "What the hell do you want now, Tripitaka?"

He coughed up water, and dug into his robes. "If you spare that man... I will... I will give you this..."

Zhufei's eyes widened when the monk withdrew the golden headband. The Smiling Bandit was surprised to see it again, after it was stolen back by the rangers. He had worshiped beauty of its craft, but wasn't aware of its true powers. Much like Wukong wasn't.

The Monkey King wasn't the type to lap her tongue at jewelry, but the headband was too amazing for even her to ignore. "Where did you get that...?"

"It was given to me by the Tang Sun Temple for good luck on my journey. It's a precious heirloom that was given to the temple's first Elder Monk, centuries ago." Zang lied. "I swore never to sell it or give it to anyone. But..." He gripped the headband, and stared at his reflection in the water. "If you swear not to kill that man.. I'll hand it over to you, Wukong."

Wukong's red eyes were entranced by the golden artifact. She reversed the grip on the dao, and strolled over to the edge of the pond. She stared at the headband for a moment longer before taking it from Zang's hands.

The latter didn't look at her. He couldn't look at her. Not when he knew what was about to happen. Wukong smiled as she fit it on her forehead. It remained mostly hidden behind her blonde bangs, but the Monkey King seemed satisfied.

"Not bad, Tripitaka..." she said while tussling the monk's hair.

She picked up the dao and walked back over to the Smiling Bandit. The latter skittishly skirted backwards as he exclaimed "Y-y-you said you wouldn't kill me after you got the headband!"

She held the sword barely an inch from his eye. "And? What's binding me to that promise?"

"I am," Zang said as he stepped out of the pond.

Wukong didn't even bother to look back this time. "Tripitaka, I appreciate the gift, but you should really-"

"That's enough, Wukong. I won't let you keep doing as you please."

Wukong paused. Then she glared back at the monk, her red eyes spitting daggers. "You really think you're in a position to give me, the Monkey King, orders...?" She turned to face him. "The Jade Emperor tried that once, and it didn't work out too well for him.

Zang wasn't intimidated. "You made a promise, and I'm going to make sure you keep it."

Wukong had had enough of the monk's disrespect. "Fine. Since you wanna go down that road..." She rushed him.. "Let's see you try, monk!"

She was less than a foot away when Zang calmly put up two fingers and chanted "Obey, Sun Wukong."

It was like pins and needles had been shoved into her head. No, that would have been impossible. There doesn't exist a pin nor needle on Earth enough strong enough to even scratch Wukong's skin, let alone cause her such a painful migraine.

Then Wukong's eyes widened. 'The headband...' she thought while she clawed at it. "Tripitaka... you dirty little-" She tried to slash at him, but Zang chanted "Obey, Sun Wukong" again. The pain doubled. It was enough to make Wukong drop the sword. One last time, she raised her fist, but the phrase "Obey, Sun Wukong" tripled her headache's pain, and she buckled to her knees, screaming in agony.

The Smiling Bandit and the rangers were all in awe of what they saw, but Zang was just squeamish. After a few more seconds, he stopped the spell. Wukong's hands stopped clawing at her forehead and dropped in-between her lap.

"...will you keep your promise?" Zang asked her.

After a moment, she nodded slowly. Both Zang and the Smiling Bandit sighed in relief.

"But," Wukong interjected. " One day... I'm going to make you pay for this..."

Zang stared at Wukong's lowered head. She looked just like she did when he found her in the cavern, and she was undoubtedly just as furious now as she was then. Having no way to respond to her, Zang looked over at the ranger captain who nodded back.

"Alright, boys. Cuff the Smiling Bandit, then search the temple," he ordered. "This operation's over."

:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 :

It was a quiet ride in the imperial ranger truck. Zang eventually took Zhufei up on his earlier offer, and rode in one of the ranger's trucks on their way back to Chaoji City. Wukong rode the top of the truck's roof, refusing to have to sit so close to her new master for the entire ride.

Zang thought that was fair .Thinking about what happened at the temple made him as guilty as it made Wukong furious. He tried to shake the feeling away during the ride. He would make it up to her someday, but for right now, he had to continue his journey.

He had to keep moving West.