The Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord (), also known as the Centipede Demon (), is an antagonist from the 16th-century Chinese classic novel Journey to the West. A giant centipede in his true form, he disguises himself as a Daoist priest and is among the most powerful demons encountered by Sun Wukong during the pilgrimage.
Role in Journey to the West The Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord appears in Chapter 73 of the novel. Tang Sanzang and his disciples arrive at the Yellow Flower Temple (黄花观) seeking lodging. The temple's abbot is a Daoist master who secretly shelters the seven spider demonesses, who had previously fought Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie at the Webbed Hollow. Seeking revenge for his martial spider sisters, the demon lord serves tea poisoned with toxic red dates.
Tang Sanzang, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing drink the tea and immediately collapse in pain. Sun Wukong realizes the tea is poisoned, destroys the cups, and fights the Daoist. When he is unable to defeat Wukong in combat, the demon opens his robes and reveals a hundred glowing eyes beneath his ribs. The eyes emit a blinding golden light that traps and burns Wukong. He escapes by transforming into a pangolin and burrowing underground.
While recovering, Wukong meets Lishan Laomu in disguise, who tells him to seek help from Pilanpo, a bodhisattva who lives in seclusion on Purple Cloud Mountain. According to Pilanpo, the demon king's radiant golden light is so powerful that even the Buddha could not defeat it. Pilanpo confronts the demon at the temple. When he releases his golden light, she throws a magical embroidery needle, made from the sun in the eyes of her son Maori Xingguan, the constellation deity. The needle pierces the light and breaks its power. The demon then returns to his true form, a giant centipede. Pilanpa spares him and takes him to the Thousand Flower Cave to serve as a gatekeeper, while Wukong cures his master and fellow disciples with an antidote.
Interpretations
Literary scholar Zheng Mingli interprets the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord as a satire of Daoist alchemical practices during the Ming dynasty. Zheng connects the Yellow Flower Temple and the demon's poisonous medicines with Wu Cheng'en's criticism of the Jiajing Emperor's support for Daoists and his pursuit of medicines for immortality.
Literary scholar Yang Yi (杨义) discusses the demon's defeat as an example of the principle "one thing subdues another" (一物降一物). He notes that Sun Wukong is unable to defeat the Thousand-Eyed Monster, while Pilanpa Bodhisattva, whose true form is a hen, breaks the monster's golden light with an embroidery needle. Yang places this episode among the novel's stories about birds and animals associated with the Twenty-Eight Mansions. He argues that these stories show a type of mythology in which different species have their own functions and help maintain the order of the world.
In the Qing dynasty commentary Xiyou Yuanzhi (西游原旨), the scholar Liu Yiming interprets the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord through Daoist internal alchemy. Liu discusses the demon's use of poisonous medicines in terms of alchemical practice and associates his destruction with the harmful use of luhuo (炉火), or furnace fire. He contrasts the demon's practices with the cultivation of virtue.
In popular culture
The Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord appears as the main antagonist in the 2022 animated film The Westward: Cave of the Qiongqi (西行纪之穷奇地洞), a spin-off of the Hong Kong manhua The Westward.
Black Myth: Wukong The Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord appears as the final boss of Chapter 4 in the 2024 action role-playing game Black Myth: Wukong. The game expands his relationship with the Spider Demons, portraying them as his martial junior sisters. In this adaptation, he is depicted as a ruthless Daoist alchemist who manipulates the Spider Sisters and uses them as tools in his pursuit of greater power and immortality.
See also List of Journey to the West characters Sun Wukong Spider Demonesses
References