Saint (manhua)

Saint

Promotional image from Saint, courtesy Burapat Comics
大圣王
(Dàshèng wáng)
Genre
Author Khoo Fuk Lung
Publisher Hong Kong Jade Dynasty

Saint (Chinese: 大聖王; pinyin: Dàshèng wáng; literally: "The Great Saint King") is a manhua by Hong Kong comics artist Khoo Fuk Lung. It follows the life and adventures of Sun Wukong, the monkey king from the novel Journey to the West. It was first published by Jade Dynasty and is licensed by Yuk Long Limited.

Summary

A stone monkey is born from the divine rock as a child of the Heaven and Earth. Di Shi Tian, the Jade Emperor who presides over Heaven, orders thunder deity Lei Gong to inflict Heavenly Punishment on the monkey, but Lei Gong is unable to do so. The monkey studies the 73 transformations from Puti Laozu the Master of the Sun, and is given the name Sun Wukong. Lei Gong attempts to eliminate him again with Heavenly Punishment, but Sun uses his abilities to protect his master and his fellow students.

Sun receives the title of Bumayun (horsekeeper) from Di Shi Tian, and finds the position to be lowly. He fights with some deities, including Tianpeng Yuanshai. He rescues 108 demons from Pangu's temple. Dashan Ru Lai captures Sun and imprisons him in Mount Wu Xing. Di Shi Tian punishes Sanyan Zhanshen and Beidou-Xingjun for their carelessness.

A strange old man provokes Xuanzang. Erlang, the reincarnation of Sanyan Zhanshen, commits many crimes by killing demons, and gets Taizong, the Tang Dynasty Emperor, and his servants involved. Yuchi Gong dies. Xuanzang uses a divine rod to eliminate the demons attacking the emperor. Taizong gives Xuanzang the title of Saintly Monk.

Xuanzang recruits Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing and Xiao Bailong to his group and goes on the mission to retrieve the Sanzangjing ("Three Collections of (Buddhist) Scriptures") from the West. On the way they fight Jinjiao (gold horn) and Yinjiao (Silver Horn). They defeat Jinjiao, kill the Scorpion King, and Hei Nuhou (Black Queen). They become friends with Jinjiao and Tianxun Niang. They challenge Baoluwang. Sun and Baoluwang become sworn brothers. Sun then helps Baoluwang and Feng Hou fight against the Heavenly Punishment. Erlang combines Jimo Yuansu (極魔元素, ultimate demon element) with Baoluwang's son, and transforms him into a jimo.

Characters

Sun Wukong

Sun Wukong is a child of the Heaven and the Earth, born from a divine rock. In the early chapters, Di Shi Tian orders the thunder deity Lei Gong to eliminate him, but Lei Gong is unable to. In his youth, Sun leads the monkeys and monsters in the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit and sets camp in Shuilian Cave. After an old monkey dies, Sun travels to the fairy island to learn skills and magic from grandmaster Pútí, including 73 transformations. Because he gives Puti trouble, he leaves his master and instigates a rebellion against Heaven. While fighting Sanyan Zhanshen, he rescues 108 demons, which angers Di Shi Tian and which provokes Dashan Ru Lai. As a result, he is imprisoned inside Mount Wu Xing. He steals Pangu's Ruyi Jingu Bang staff and eats the empress Tianmu Niangniang's "Peaches of Immortality". He is based on Sun Wukong from the Journey to the West stories.

Xuanzang's group

Xuanzang (玄奘) is the title character of Saint. He is a Buddhist monk who was reincarnated from Jinchanzi, a disciple of Ru Lai. He assembles and leads a group of characters to recover the Sānzàngjīng, the "Three Collections of (Buddhist) Scriptures".

Xuanzang's group includes the following characters:

Heaven

The Heaven world is ruled by Di Shi Tian. Major characters include:

Other characters include:

Four Weather Gods

The Four Weather Gods are:

Four Gatekeeper-Gods

The Four Gatekeeper-Gods (四大門神 Si Da Men Shen) are the guardians of Heaven. They are based on the Four Heavenly Kings who assist Jiang Ziya in The Investiture of the Gods.

Four Guardians

The Four Guardians (四灳神將 Si Ling Zhanxiang) also come from Chinese mythology under the name Four Symbols. They also have directional titles. They consist of:

The guardian of time is Long Shen (龙神). He moves Sun Wukong to the year 2004, and three demons to the year 2003, where they create many crimes. The author uses those monsters to describe the reason of the outbreak of SARS. He is based on the dragon guardian Huang Long, who is the leader of Ssu Ling Gods.

Realm of the Dead

The Realm of the Dead, or Hells (地獄 Diyu) led by King Yanluo (閻羅王), who is based on Yama in Chinese mythology, and is in charge of Ox-Head and Horse-Face, Black and White Impermanence. One of the demon hunters in the Realm is Zhong Kui (鍾馗) who was formerly a vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings in the human world, based on the character of the same name.

Buddhists

The Buddhists are part of the Lei Yin Temple. They are led by master Da Shan Ru Lai, who defeats Sun Wukong after he causes a rebellion against Tianjie. He arranges for Sun Wukong to assist his disciple Xuanzang to get the Three Collections of Scriptures (三藏經 Sānzàngjīng, Tripiṭaka). Da Shan Ru Lai (大善如来) is based on Siddhārtha Gautama, the chief Tathāgata. Other Buddhists involved in the series include Xiao Shan Guan Yin (小善觀音), a nun who helps Xuanzang's group many times and has attracted Sun Wukong's interest. She is based on Guan Yin or Avalokiteśvara. Also serving the Lei Yin Temple are the Eighteen Arhats.

Tang Dynasty

The manhua features the following rulers and government officials from the Tang Dynasty:

Taoists

The Taoists are led by grandmaster Puti Laozu (菩提老祖). Puti is based on Subhuti, Wukong's first master in Journey to the West. He teaches Sun Wukong 73 transformations. Because of Sun's rebellion, he is banned from becoming a deity. Puti Laozu has several disciples, including: Puti Zi (菩提子), a girl who travels to defeat 108 evil spirits; Ya Ya (啞啞), the elder pupil who is the same generation as Sun and fights Jian Weishi to protect Yun Yu; and Sun Chimao (孫翅毛), known as the Godly Doctor.

Demons

72 Caverns

The stories with the 72 caverns feature the following kings:

Huoyan Zu

The Huoyan Zu (火宴族) family consists of:

Demon Realm

Wansui Yaodi (萬歲妖帝, lit. Ten-Thousand Year Old Demon King) is the lord of the Demon Realm. Sanyan Zhanshen joins Mojie and calls himself Sanyan Moshen. There are also the following characters:

Yiwa Feng

The Yiwa Feng (一窩峰) are a demon tribe led by Sishen-jiangjun. The characters are named after Chinese chess pieces:

Other characters include Chuanxin-ma (穿心馬, lit. Heart-piercing horse, based on the horse piece), Xuncheng-ju (巡城車, lit. Castle-patrol chariot, based on the chariot piece), Guogong-pao (郭攻砲, lit. Guarding-castle cannon, based on the cannon piece), and the Yaozu soldiers (妖卒, based on the soldier piece).

Dragons

There are five types of Dragons in the series. Tianlong (天龍, Heavenly Dragon) is the lord of the dragons, and the form that Di Shi Tian takes; Bailong (白龍, White Dragon), the female dragons, and the form that Tianmu Niangniang takes; Jiuzhao Jinlong (九爪金龍, Nine-claw Golden Dragon), the dragons of men, and the incarnations of men's emperors; Nielong (孼龍, Misfortune Dragon), the dragons of the sea that are a later generation of Tianlong; and Molong (魔龍, Demon Dragon), the dragons of evil and the later generation of Nielong.

Reference stories

Saint makes numerous references to Chinese novels and stories including Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Old Book of Tang, Investiture of the Gods and Book of Han. It includes heroes from those novels such as Lu Bu and his charge Chitu from Romance of the Three Kingdoms; deities from Fengshen Yanyi; Emperor Taizong of Tang and his servants from Old Book of Tang; and Liu Bang and Xiang Yu from Book of Han. The Investiture of the Gods storyline has the Fengshen plan that was made by Di Shi Tian to destroy King Zhou and his demonic army. The revolution was led by Jiang Ziya and Ji Fa with help from the deities. The lost deities' souls were kept in Fengshen Tai.

External links

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