In this episode, the Destined One will encounter several bosses including Baw-Lang-lang, Bottom Takes Top, Top Takes Bottom, Bishui Golden-Eyed Beast, Red Boy, and Yaksha King. This chapter will introduce the Bull King’s mount, the Bishui Golden-Eyed Beast.
A mount, in essence, serves as a form of transportation, but clearly, its role is more about ostentation than practicality. Firstly, not everyone possesses a mount, and those who do are usually well-known across the Three Realms and typically recognized by the Celestial Court. Secondly, the speed of a mount is not necessarily faster than its master’s speed. Patriarch Bodhi once told Sun Wukong that Immortals’ speeds are astonishingly fast, so having a mount doesn’t necessarily correlate with travel speed.
Furthermore, mounts vary in rank. The top Immortals possess the highest quality mounts. If an owner is weak and of low status, their mount will likely refuse to be ridden. Generally, mounts belong to the Guai, who are not recognized by the Celestial Court and are considered the lowest tier in the Journey to the West food chain, and are discriminated against by the Celestial Court.
We only see the Bull King with a mount, yet other Guai kings appear without one. Why is this the case? The world of Journey to the West, like any society, has its rules and customs. Regardless of the species, all aspire to powerful forces, and the strongest power in the world of Journey to the West is undoubtedly the Celestial Court, the administrative body of the Three Realms and the goal of all species.
The Guai find it notoriously difficult to be recruited by the Celestial Court through normal channels. Of course, powerful Guai like Sun Wukong are exceptions, as they may be enlisted by the Celestial Court, but most are quite content to serve as mounts for the Immortals. While being a mount might seem demeaning and discriminating, it actually represents a decent status for the Guai. On one hand, they can cultivate alongside their masters, achieving significant stature. On the other hand, they easily obtain what seems insurmountably elusive to outsiders or their own kind—Immortality. Such an allure holds considerable appeal within the Guai community.
If you serve a powerful master, discrimination becomes virtually nonexistent. A prominent example from the original text of Journey to the West is Taishang Laojun’s Azure Ox, who, after descending to the mortal realm, wielded his Vajra bracelets to devastating effect. Many of his adversaries were among the elites of the Three Realms, yet the Azure Ox easily humiliated them. Who then could dare to look down upon the Azure Ox? Thus, many Guai might view the Azure Ox as a role model. Although serving as a mount might seem shameful, choosing a powerful master changes everything.
In Journey to the West, the Bishui Golden-Eyed Beast serves as the mount for the Bull King. This Divine Beast has two unique traits: firstly, it can recognize people’s faces, though it is not adept at identifying scents; secondly, it exhibits extreme loyalty to its master, Bull King, permitting only Bull King or someone disguised as him to ride it. After researching the Classic of Mountains and Seas and various folk tales, it appears that the description of the Bishui Golden-Eyed Beast aligns with the depiction of the beast “Zwei” in the Western Mountains section of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, suggesting a possible connection between the two.
What exactly is the origin of the Bull King’s mount, the Bishui Golden-Eyed Beast? The original novel “Journey to the West” mentions it only briefly. The Bull King is the only major demon in “Journey to the West” who possesses a mount, and being worthy of the title “King of Guai,” the Bishui Golden-Eyed Beast must certainly have an extraordinary origin. This creature is described as “resembling a Qilin, with the mouth of a dragon, the head of a lion, the scales of a fish, the tail of a cow, the claws of a tiger, and the antlers of a deer, its entire body a brilliant red.” From these features, it can be inferred that it likely belongs to a branch of the dragon species. Dragons, being lustful by nature, are capable of mating with almost any type of animal.
There’s a saying, “The dragon has nine sons, each different from the others.” The eldest, Qiuniu, was born from a dragon and an ox; the second, Yazi, from a dragon and a wolf; the third, Chaofeng, from a dragon and a bird; the fourth, Pulao, from a dragon and a toad; the fifth, Suanni, from a dragon and a lion; the sixth, Baxia, from a dragon and a turtle; the seventh, Bian, from a dragon and a tiger; the eighth, Fuxi, from a dragon and an azure dragon; the ninth, Chiwen, from a dragon and a fish. Therefore, it’s plausible that the Bishui Golden-Eyed Beast could also be the offspring of a dragon and some other creature.
According to historical texts, Emperor Tang Minghuang once said that in the southern borderlands, there were rhinoceroses weighing over a thousand pounds, whose horns were treasured objects, some capable of repelling dust and others water. Both “repel dust” and Bishui refer to the rhinoceros, which lives in the southern frontiers. This suggests that the Bishui Golden-Eyed Beast might indeed be a type of rhinoceros, endowed with spiritual qualities and adept at repelling water. Therefore, it is reasonable to speculate that the Bishui Golden-Eyed Beast is likely a descendant of dragons, possibly the progeny of a dragon and a rhinoceros.
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