King of the Southern Hill

The King of the Southern Hill (in Chinese: 南山大王) is an antagonist of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. He is a demon king based in Linked Cave (in Chinese: 連環洞), Bent Peak (in Chinese: 折岳), Hidden Misty Mountain (in Chinese: 隱霧山). He is less powerful than other demons in the story, but is considered one of the wittiest.

Biography
When Zhu Bajie was tricked by Sun Wukong to go to meet the demons in the Hidden Misty Mountain (believing that there's a village that wants to invite the monks), he was almost being captured by the King of the Southern Hill and his minions. However, the two fought, and while things seemed to be bad for Bajie at first, Wukong eventually showed up and helped him, thus Bajie won the battle. When returned in his cave in disappointment, the demon king was told by a junior demon (a demonic wolf) to use a plan called the "strategy of separating the plum blossom's petals" (分瓣梅花计) to lure Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing away from their master, Xuanzang away in three different instances and then capture Xuanzang, as eating the monk would grant one immortality or extended lifespan. As a result, the king promoted the junior demon to be his main pioneer as a method of giving credit for the latter for giving him such a good plan to capture Xuanzang.

When Wukong, Bajie and Wujing came to his cave's gate to ask for Xuanzang back, the King of the Southern Hill, once again following his pioneer's words, lied that they ate him already, and transformed part of a wipping willow into fake a Xuanzang's head, but Wukong managed to deduce that this is a fake one. Thus, the king gave them a real head from a previous victim that they hadn't yet eat, caused all three of Xuanzang's student to believe that their master is dead. Want revenge for their master, Wukong and Bajie came to the King of the Southern Hill's cave (after having buried the head) and fought him, with Bajie managed to kill the main pioneer. Wukong then used his shapeshifting abilities to sneak into the cave and happy to discover that Xuanzang is still alive. They, along with a woodsman that the demon captured a day earlier than Xuanzang, managed to escape the cave, with Sun Wukong casted a sleeping spell on the demon and his minions. King of the Southern Hill was then slain by Zhu Bajie just as he awakes, and his true form is revealed to be a leopard with mugwort-shaped patterns on its body.

Powers and Abilities

 * Fighting weapon: King of the Southern Hill is armed with an iron pestle (in Chinese: 鐵杵).
 * Weather-controlling: King of the Southern Hill is capable of creating windstorms and mist.