Wansheng Dragon King (in Chinese: 萬聖龍王) is a corrupted Water Dragon King who based in Emerald Waves Lake (碧波潭), Rocky Mountain (in Chinese: 亂石山), Kingdom of Jisai (in Chinese: 祭賽國), and a minor antagonist of the classic novel Journey to the West. He and his family stole a Sarira from the pagoda in Golden Ray Monastery (in Chinese: 金光寺), and framed its monks for the crime.
In the 1986 classic adaptation series, he was portrayed by Zhao Baocai.
Personality[]
In contrast to his more benevolent peers, the Wansheng Dragon King is greedy and cruel, not caring at all about incriminating the monks of Jisai and put them in misery for three years if it means getting the Sarira. Befitting a person like this, he lives in an extravagant manner, organizing lavish festivals and showing off his wealth. The fact that he invites the Bull King to his party implies that he has connection to the demons, possibly to eliminate his rivals when needed.
However, he does care for his family, worrying about them when learning that Wukong is attacking, and shows sorrow when the latter kills one of his child.
Biography[]
Novel[]
The Wansheng Dragon King once married his daughter, Wansheng Princess, to the Nine Headed Bug. He plotted with his son-in-law to steal a Sarira in Jisai, caused the pagoda to lose its magical shine, and release a rain of blood in the kingdom, which the king perceives as an ill omen, thus believed the monks in the monastery to be the culprits and started persecuting them.
Three years later, the Wansheng Dragon King is first shown invited the Bull Demon King to his party, and then worried upon learning that the Bull King's steed was stolen by Sun Wukong. Later on, when Xuanzang's group arrived in Jisai, Wukong managed to uncover the truth when he captures the Dragon King's two henchmen that the Nine Headed Bug ordered to guard the pagoda earlier. Wukong and Zhu Bajie then went to the Emerald Waves Lake to fight the Nine Headed Bug and take the Sarira back. Though afraid at first, the Wansheng Dragon King eventually led his family to help the Nine Headed Bug, only to be killed by Sun Wukong in the process. During his funeral, Wukong and Bajie continued to attack the Wansheng dragon family, and even managed to kill one of his children. Wukong and Bajie later killed his family as well, and the Sarira was returned to the pagoda.
1986 series[]
While the 1986 series follows a similar format like in the novel, the Wansheng Dragon King's death is somewhat changed, though he still ended up dying anyway: He refused to admit stealing the Sarira, and, along with the Nine Headed Bug, intended to poison Wukong and Bajie through cups of wine. However, Wukong knew this and quickly switched the cups, thus the Dragon King foolishly drank the poisoned cup of wine and died.