Ruyi Jingu Bang- Chinese ArtifactArtifact · Weapon"The Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod"

The Measure of the Seas

Yu the Great used the iron pillar to measure and stabilize the depths of the cosmic ocean during his labors to tame the primordial floods. When the work was done, he had no further need of it. The pillar was deposited in the undersea treasury of Ao Guang, the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, where its gold bands glowed and no creature in the palace could lift it.

The Dragon King's Treasury

Sun Wukong descended to the Dragon Palace demanding a weapon worthy of his strength. Ao Guang offered a halberd weighing 3,600 jin. Too light. A nine-pronged fork weighing 7,200 jin. Too light. In desperation, the Dragon King pointed to the iron pillar left by Yu the Great, expecting the monkey to fail where all others had.

Sun Wukong touched the staff and it responded. It shrank from pillar height to a fighting length that fit his hands. An inscription on its surface read: "Divine Treasure, As-You-Wish Gold-Banded Cudgel, Weight: Thirteen Thousand Five Hundred Jin."

He then extorted a golden chain mail shirt and cloud-walking boots from the three remaining Dragon Kings. They filed a complaint with the Jade Emperor, and the confrontation between heaven and the Monkey King began.

Havoc in Heaven

Dissatisfied with the insulting post of Protector of the Horses, Sun Wukong declared himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and took on the celestial army. The staff grew and shrank and multiplied at his thought. He defeated Nezha with his six weapons, then dueled Erlang Shen across ground and sky, both shifting forms as their weapons clashed.

Erlang Shen could not defeat him through force. It took Laozi's diamond bracelet striking the Monkey King's skull to bring him down. Even captured, Sun Wukong survived Laozi's Eight Trigrams Furnace, emerging with golden eyes. Only the Buddha could subdue him, trapping him beneath the Five Elements Mountain for five hundred years.

The Road West

Released to protect the monk Xuanzang on the pilgrimage to India, Sun Wukong carried the staff through eighty-one tribulations. It shattered the disguises of the White Bone Demon when she appeared as innocent villagers to deceive Xuanzang. Against the Bull Demon King, the staff clashed with the Bull King's iron mace in a battle that ranged from earth to heaven.

The strangest test came when the six-eared macaque appeared carrying an identical staff. Not even the gods could tell the true Monkey King from the false one. Only the Buddha distinguished them.