Kuimulang
Statue of Kuimulang in the Jade Emperor Temple, Fucheng
Traditional Chinese	奎木狼
Simplified Chinese	奎木狼
Literal meaning	The Wood Wolf of Legs
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Kuí Mùláng

Kuimulang (Chinese: 奎木狼; lit. 'The Wood Wolf of Legs') is a deity in traditional Chinese spiritual beliefs. He is considered to be one of the 28 Mansions, which are Chinese constellations. These constellations are the same as those studied in Western astrology. Kuimulang originated from the ancient Chinese worship of the constellations, a spiritual practice that combines Chinese mythology and astronomy.

Kuimulang appears in Chinese mythology and literature, notably in the novels Journey to the West and Fengshen Yanyi. He is linked to a historical figure called Ma Wu, a general who hailed from the town of Huyang in Tanghe, located in the Henan province.^[1]

Kuimulang is traditionally associated with the constellation Andromeda, which becomes prominently visible in the night sky around mid-November in the Northern Hemisphere. Andromeda is notable in modern astronomy for containing the Andromeda Galaxy (also known historically as the Andromeda Nebula), a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years away from Earth. This galaxy is one of the closest large galaxies to the Milky Way and is often described as a “small universe” due to its immense size and complexity.

Within the Andromeda constellation, there is a star cluster known in some East Asian traditions as Kui Xiu (奎宿), or the "Four-legged Fish Palace," part of the twenty-eight lunar mansions system used in Chinese astronomy. Kui Xiu is named for its fish-like shape and is associated with the mansion Heshan Su (和善宿), which literally means "harmonious" or "gentle" mansion. The imagery of a "fish palace" reflects the constellation's form and symbolism in these cultural star maps.

In ancient Chinese astrology, the "Heavenly Wolf Star" (天狼星) and wolves were symbols of violence, ferocity, and war, as seen in the famous line "西北望，射天狼" ("Looking northwest, shoot the Heavenly Wolf"). However, through the idea of wujibifan (物极必反, "things reverse when they reach an extreme"), Chinese folklore later transformed Kui Xing (奎星) into a God of Literature known as Wenquxing or Kuixing. He later became a deity worshipped by scholars before taking the imperial examinations.^[2]

According to the novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi), Kuimulang was originally named Li Xiong. After he died in the Battle of the Ten Thousand Immortals, Jiang Ziya deified him as the Wood Wolf of Legs, one of the twenty-eight stars.

In the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, Kuimulang appears as a demon named Yellow Robe Demon (黃袍怪). He lives the Moon Waves Cave (波月洞) on Bowl Mountain (碗子山) in the Kingdom of Baoxiang (寶象國). In his past, he was a deity who falls in love with the Jade Maiden (玉女) in Heaven and decides to elope with her. He becomes a demon lord and the maiden is reincarnated from a goddess to a human who is named Baihuaxiu (百花羞). She is the third princess of the Kingdom of Baoxiang. The demon then kidnaps the princess, though she has no memory of her existence as a Jade Maiden. He marries her and the couple has two children.^[3]

The Yellow Robe Demon then learns that the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang has arrived at his mountain. According to tradition, the Yellow Robed Demon knows that eating a monk's flesh will grant him immortality. Thus, he captures Tang Sanzang. Learning of their master's capture, two of the monk's disciples, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, endeavor to save their master. However, in battle, they are no match for the demon.

Zhu Bajie goes to Sun Wukong and asks for help battling the Yellow Robed Demon. Sun Wukong had previously been banished by Tang Sanzang for killing the White Bone Demon. Sun Wukong manages to defeat the demon, which mysteriously vanishes after his defeat. Wukong then seeks help from Heaven to track down the demon and learn his true identity. The Jade Emperor discovers that one of the 28 Mansions is missing, so he orders the remaining 27 to subdue the demon. The demon is revealed to be a disguised as Revatī, the Wood Wolf of Legs (奎木狼), a star deity in the heavenly court, and one of the 28 Mansions. The Wood Wolf is then subdued and brought back to Heaven. As punishment, he is ordered to become a furnace keeper under Taishang Laojun.^[4]

Unlike most demons in Journey to the West, who try to eat Tang Sanzang to gain immortality, the Yellow Robe Demon (Kuimulang) is mainly driven by love and the desire for a normal family life. Cultural researcher Wang Qiongling (王琼玲) described the Yellow Robe Demon’s story as one of the novel's strongest examples of tragic human emotion (情).^[5]

During the Qing dynasty, several Daoist scholars, especially Wang Xiangxu, Chen Shibin, and Liu Yiming, interpreted Journey to the West as a symbolic guide to Neidan (Internal alchemy) instead of only a Buddhist story. In his commentary Xiyou Yuanzhi (西游原旨), Liu Yiming interpreted the Yellow Robe Demon's name and role in the story as an important symbol in Daoist internal alchemy. According to Liu, the word "Yellow" (黄) represents the Earth element (土) in the Wuxing system, while "Robe" (袍) represents a container or outer covering. Before meeting the Yellow Robe Demon, Tang Sanzang sends away Sun Wukong, who symbolizes Metal (金) and the disciplined "Monkey Mind." Liu argued that without the controlling force of Metal, the "Yellow Robe" represents uncontrolled "False Earth" (假土), which creates spiritual disorder and leads the practitioner away from enlightenment.^[6]

Writer Sa Su argued that Wu Cheng'en based Kui Mulang's "Yellow Robe" disguise on the yellow-brown fur of the Mongolian grassland wolf (蒙古草原狼), a species native to northern and northwestern China. Sa further connected the character to wolf species from Northeast Asia, especially the Siberian wolf, noting that the element Wood (木) in Kui Mulang's title corresponds to the East in the Wuxing system.^[2]