Journey to the West

Chapter 1

Important plot points:

1. A stone monkey is born from a rock on Flower Fruit Mountain
2. This monkey become the Monkey King by jumping into a waterfall and discovering the Water Curtain Cave and the residence within for the rest of the monkey population
3. The Monkey King decides he needs to discover a method of immortality and sets out on a raft to find an immortal to teach him
4. After 10 years of travel the Monkey King finds an immortal Taoist sage, Subodhi, who agrees to teach him the ways of immortality, and he receives the name Sun Wukong

Summary:

The novel begins with a lengthy description of the creation of the world, mankind, the "four" continents, and finally of the country Aolai, where Flower Fruit Mountain exists. On top of this mountain is a heavenly, pregnant rock. Rocks... can get pregnant now... 👀

This rock splits open and a stone egg pops out, and, after the wind blows on it, it turns into a fully developed monkey. This monkey innately knows how to climb and run and bows to the four quarters, and while doing so, two huge beams of lights flash out of his eyes, disturbing the jade emperor. The Jade Emperor investigates and decides that the monkey who just randomly spawned and has laser eyes is no biggie and should be left alone with no supervision...

Monkey lives among a local population of monkeys, who one day offer that any of them who could make it through a waterfall they discovered would be made king. Monkey, who seemingly has no fear of anything, takes the offer and discovers an already built and furnished residence and bridge in a cave behind the waterfall.

300 or 400 years pass(how long are mortal monkeys supposed to live in this novel?) with Monkey now holding the title The Handsome Monkey King. Then one day, Monkey decides that if he actually dies then his life would have been in vain. So he orders his monkey subjects to build him a raft, decides that this is perfectly safe and sets off into the ocean to find an immortal to teach him the ways of immortality. A few days later Monkey King reaches land, jumps on shore and scares everyone so thoroughly that they start running, grabs the nearest person who can't run, and steals his clothes right off his body... nice one Monkey. He then travels for about 10 more years, learning the ways and language of humans, until one day he quite conveniently hears a man in the woods singing about some immortal Taoist neighbors of his.

Monkey instantly questions the man, who informs Monkey that a Taoist Sage by the name of Patriarch Subodhi lives in a cave not far away, and Monkey heads straight there. He is greeted by an immortal youth and brings him to Subodhi who had known that Monkey would be coming. Finally, after accepting Monkey as his pupil, he gives him the name Sun Wukong, meaning Monkey Wake-To-The-Void(or something similar depending on which version of the book you read).

How are you all feeling about the book so far?