There is a saying on the Internet that Zhu Bajie's strength is not weak, but he likes to steal and play tricks on the way to learn the scriptures, and he does not expose his true strength.
This statement is not in line with the original work, Zhu Bajie in the original book is indeed mediocre in strength, and it is far from Sun Wukong.
In the nineteenth chapter of the original work, Sun Wukong was invited by Gao Taigong to surrender to Zhu Bajie, and the two sides confronted each other in Fuling Mountain. Zhu Bajie knew Sun Wukong and knew that he was the Monkey King who made trouble in the Heavenly Palace, so as soon as he saw him, he made a lot of nonsense, claiming that the nine-toothed nail rake in his hand was so powerful that he could beat Sun Wukong's soul with a rake.
Unexpectedly, Sun Wukong didn't eat this set, but took the initiative to stretch his head and let Zhu Bajie use a nine-tooth nail rake to build it.
Zhu Bajie couldn't admit it, so he had to bite the bullet, "build the future with all his strength, pounce, and drill the flames of palladium", but the result was - "I didn't build some scalps".
Sun Wukong stood still and let Zhu Bajie attack, and Zhu Bajie couldn't hurt him at all, which shows that his strength is indeed mediocre.
However, there is also a reason why Zhu Bajie is so mediocre. When confronting Sun Wukong, he mentioned an unbearable past -
"Just because the Queen Mother will be peachy, the banquet will be held in Yaochi to invite guests. At that time, he was drunk and drowsy, and he grabbed Chang'e to rest with him. But I was taken by the gods and escorted to Lingxiao to see the Jade Emperor, and I should be executed according to the law. Thanks to Taibai Li Jinxing, he went out of class and said it himself. The sentence was changed to a heavy responsibility of 2,000 hammers, and the flesh will be broken if the skin is opened. The release was degraded out of Tianguan, and the family business under Fuling Mountain was mapped".
He was originally Marshal Tianpeng, but he was demoted for molesting Chang'e, so he became a monster with a pig's head and a pig's brain. Before the Jade Emperor demoted him to the mortal world, he also specially ordered him to be punished with two thousand hammers, which made his skin and flesh and bones broken, and also caused him to lose his mana, so his strength became mediocre. It can be seen that when Zhu Bajie was Marshal Tianpeng, he should also be a master with high mana.
Speaking of which, everyone must be very curious, who is more powerful in Zhu Bajie during the period of Marshal Tianpeng or Sun Wukong?
Some people think that Sun Wukong is still stronger than Zhu Bajie, because he made trouble in the Heavenly Palace back then, and Zhu Bajie was ordered to suppress it, and was killed by Sun Wukong and fled in embarrassment.
But in fact, Zhu Bajie's suppression of Sun Wukong was completely made up by film and television dramas, and the original Zhu Bajie was not ordered to suppress Sun Wukong, nor did he fight with Sun Wukong (the reason why this is so is probably because Zhu Bajie was guarding the Tianhe important place at that time and couldn't pull away, so the Jade Emperor did not send him to fight).
As for which of the two is more powerful, we only need to figure out the other name of Zhu Bajie's housekeeping skills 36 changes, and it is not difficult to understand.
Thirty-six changes are also known as Tiangang changes. The so-called Tiangang Change is a high-level method of avoiding the three calamities, and it is also a spell that Daluo Tianxian specializes in. This spell is not cultivated by ordinary immortals, and if ordinary immortals want to cultivate this spell, they must first cultivate into Daluo Heavenly Immortals.
The threshold for cultivation is so high, and the power of the thirty-six transformations is also very strong. After practicing the thirty-six transformations, not only can you avoid the three calamities, that is, the three heavenly tribulations that descend from the heavens - heavenly thunder, yin fire, and wind, but also be able to master extremely powerful mana cultivation and have earth-shattering combat power.
And we know that Sun Wukong's housekeeping skills are seventy-two changes. The seventy-two changes are also a method of avoiding the three calamities, but it is only a primary method of avoiding the three calamities, and ordinary mortals can also practice it. Although it has more than thirty-six changes, each change is far less powerful than seventy-two changes.
Since Zhu Bajie was Marshal Tianpeng, his housekeeping skills were Tiangang's thirty-six changes, and Sun Wukong's housekeeping skills were far inferior to the seventy-two changes of thirty-six changes, then, Zhu Bajie's strength at that time was likely to be stronger than Sun Wukong. What do you think?