Journey to the West: Taming of the Monkey King (premise)

Sun Wukong never expected anything less but praise and worship from all who encountered him. Even during his pilgrimage to the West, he still had a bit of an ego that he loves to flaunt whenever he can. However, it isn't until he meets a woman named Lanfen, who is one of Guanyin's many attendants, does he gradually soften his character. In this alternate take on the story of Journey to the West, Sun Wukong learns about romance for the first time in his life and strives to become a better person for the sake of Lanfen. While the story will follow the same plot as the main story of "Journey to the West", there will be some differences thanks to Lanfen as it focuses more on Wukong's growing feelings for her with some of the exploits that happened during the pilgrimage being alluded to or briefly mentioned.

Lanfen is an original character for the story who serves as the love interest of Sun Wukong and her presence helps him improve his behavior. While she serves as an attendant of Guanyin, she herself was originally a human woman named Mrinal who was born in India from a family of untouchable status (who were considered the poorest of the poor). Despite her low status, she sought to make everyone happy and show compassion to others. She spent her days helping her family and neighbors grow and preserve food while also making sure to take care of the plants and animals living nearby. She also possesses an uncanny ability to talk to animals and befriend them, especially monkeys. Unfortunately, an evil Raksha demon (known by the names "The Dark Snaked One" or alternatively "The Ringed Demon of a Thousand Corpses") appeared and slaughtered everyone in her home and forced her to watch as he did it. Even worse, she tried to reason with him only for him to cruelly mock her attempts at redeeming him and saved her for last when slaughtering everyone she loved. As a result, Mrinal ended up dying but not before she was laid right next to a statue of Guanyin herself as she looked up to her and wished to emulate her as much as she could. Guanyin heard about Mrinal and rewarded her by reincarnating her soul and allowing her to stay in her realm so that she may serve as one of her attendants and help tend to the plants and animals that resided there. Mrinal accepted this position and was given the name "Lanfen" as a sign of her rebirth. When Wukong heard about the suffering Lanfen went through during her past life, he was both sympathetic and furious as he had grown fond of Lanfen and couldn't believe that she was killed so brutally and by a demon nonetheless.

When Sun eventually meets the Raksha who did this to her during his pilgrimage with the others, it becomes a personal battle between him and Raksha. His calm yet furious demeanor surprises the others as he kills the demon while stating that this was for Lanfen. Once he kills the arrogant and cruel demon, the others confront him on why he took this so personally, Sun Wukong is forced to reveal Lanfen's backstory while unwittingly confessing his feelings for her. They encourage him to pursue her (with Zhu Bajie being the exception at first) and he eventually proposes to her with the blessing of Guanyin, the Buddha, the Jade Emperor and even Wukong's old teacher Puti Zushi. However, Sun Wukong decides to marry Lanfen after he finishes his pilgrimage with the others as promised. Once he does finish his journey, the crown that restrained his power is finally removed by Guanyin as Lanfen requested it due to seeing that Sun Wukong had learned his lesson. The story will end with a Buddhist style wedding between the monkey king and Lanfen as they are finally able to be together forever.