Single Horned Rhinoceros King

Evil-doer
Full Name	Azure Bull
Alias	The Single Horned Rhinoceros King
Origin	Journey to the West
Occupation	Taishang Laojun's steed Ruler of the Golden Pouch Cave
Powers / Skills	Golden Jade Ring Bronze Spear Brute strength
Hobby	Capture and eat humans.
Goals	Capture and eat Xuanzang (failed). Defeat Sun Wukong (failed).
Crimes	Kidnapping Assault Man-eating
Type of Villain	Cheating Fighter

The Single Horned Rhinoceros King (in Chinese: 獨角兕大王) is a demon king and an antagonist of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. He's actually Taishang Laojun's Azure Bull.

In the 1986 classic adaptation series, he was portrayed by Ling Hongtao.

Appearance

The Single Horned Rhinoceros King.

In the novel, the Single Horned Rhinoceros King is described as a fat, humanoid creature wearing armor. He has one single horn on his head, hence his name "Single Horned". Sun Wukong described him as "looks like a rhino". In the 1986 adaptation series however, he appears as a humanoid bull, with features similar to that of a human, save for two horns (instead of one) and an azure skin, though otherwise his appearance is the same as in the novel. His true form is, like his name suggests, an azure bull.

Personality

The Single Horned Rhinoceros King is a typical Journey to the West demon who likes to capture and eat humans, and desires to eat Xuanzang so he can live forever. He is also a dishonorable fighter, often resorted to cheat by using the Golden Jade Ring to win. Because of this, despite being weaker than many demons, the Single Horned Rhinoceros King is very arrogant, believed that no one can defeat him until when Taishang Laojun arrives and subdues him.

Biography

Due to the kid who was guarding him fell asleep, the Azure Bull stole his master's Golden Jade Ring (in Chinese: 金剛琢) and escaped to the mortal realm, became a demon king based in Golden Pouch Cave (in Chinese: 金兜洞) on Golden Pouch Mountain (in Chinese: 金兜山), disguised his cave as a castle and waited days by days to capture humans. Due to a stupid mistake of stealing the demon's clothes (believed that the castle is abandoned), Zhu Bajie caused himself, Sha Wujing and their master Xuanzang to be captured by the Single Horned Rhinoceros King during Sun Wukong's absence. Upon learning this, Wukong angered, and went to fight with the demon king. The demon quickly used the Golden Jade Ring to suck away Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang, much to the latter's dismay. Sun Wukong seeks help from various celestial forces, including Li Jing, Nezha, the fire and water deities but all of them got their weapons sucked away by the ring as well.

The Single Horned Rhinoceros King's face.

Wukong then stole back his Ruyi Jingu Bang, used his magical feathers to create his own monkey allies to fight the demon once again. Unfortunately, the Rhinoceros King once again used the Golden Jade Ring to take all the feathers, thus won the fight once again. Wukong then sneaked into the cave and stole all the weapons, including his own, and then he and the deities fought the demon once again, only to lost their weapons to the ring again. Eventually Wukong was resorted to the help from the Eighteen Arhats, yet as usual, their weapons were taken by the ring. The arhats told Wukong that if all the solutions failed, he would need the help from Taishang Laojun. Upon arriving to Laojun's lair, Wukong discovered the demon's origins of being the deity's bull, as well as the ring's origins. Laojun then arrived to the Golden Pouch Mountain to subdue the demon, forced him to revert back into his true form, and brought him back to Heaven.

Powers and Abilities

• Fighting weapon: The Single Horned Rhinoceros King is armed with a Bronze Spear (點鋼槍).
• Golden Jade Ring: The Single Horned Rhinoceros King can suck away any weapon using the Golden Jade Ring.

Gallery

The Single Horned Rhinoceros King in the novel.

Trivia

• Some fans mistaken him with the Bull King due to them both being demonic bulls and both have similar body builds.