Kunlun Mountains

The Kunlun Mountains is a location in China that appear in the episodes "Fire in the Sky" of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus and "A Cold Alliance" of Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. It serves as the residence for the Panda King and General Tsao, respectively.

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
During the events of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, the Panda King established a massive stronghold in the Kunlun Mountains, which he used to produce explosives and run his extortion business. If the small villages he "protected" neglected to pay him, he would destroy them with his powerful fireworks, by creating avalanches that would bury the villages in snow. Sly Cooper traveled to the Kunlun Mountains to confront the Panda King and retrieve the fourth part of the Thievius Raccoonus. Once Sly managed to infiltrate the stronghold, he confronted the Panda King, and the two engaged in battle, with Sly emerging victorious. The stronghold was abandoned, and the innocent villagers enjoyed some time of peace.

Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
The Panda King meditated in China as a monk after he was defeated by Sly Cooper, and his daughter, Jing King, was kidnapped by General Tsao. The Cooper Gang, which had five members, needed a demolitions expert. They had seen the magnificent fiery art of the Panda King in Sly's earlier fight with him and Bentley suggested that he would be the perfect choice, much to Sly's discontent.

Even though the Panda King was a huge factor in Conner Cooper's death, the Cooper Gang mostly forgave his past transgressions. Panda King said he would only join if Jing King was saved. General Tsao was forcing her to marry him somewhere in the Kunlun Mountains. They went to Tsao's fortress where he employed pig monks, guard tigers and Kung-Fu monkeys as his infantry to protect his palace and his treasury. Bentley and Sly went undercover as Tsao's wedding assistants. Bentley was the wedding planner and Sly was the photographer. Their goal was to uncover inside information on Tsao's wedding.

Meanwhile, Penelope had discovered a signal in the cold waters in China. Murray had to investigate what it was. He found it was a chunk of ice resting in a bay, but the ice was actually the Cooper Van, just frozen. This was a major discovery, the reason being that the last time he had seen the Cooper Van was in Canada, where it was floating on a piece of ice.

During the gang's major heist in China, they managed to save Jing King. Tsao's family temple was also destroyed as Murray and Penelope were stealing the treasure. This angered Tsao, causing him to summon the temple's Stone Dragon to aid him. The beast grabbed Penelope, who was then rescued by Sly. Once the heist was a success, the Panda King officially became a member of the Cooper Gang and joined them on their next journey, which was Blood Bath Bay.

Overview
In the first game, the Kunlun Mountains are plagued with tall temples and pagodas situated within the high terrain, rich in snow-filled terrain and slopes. In the third game, a new location is featured. It is more like a town than a base of operations. It is landlocked within several tall, brown mountains, and it is less snowy than before. Several breakable bamboo trees are scattered around the northern side of the town.

Panda King's stronghold
The Panda King's stronghold in the first game consists of several key locations that were heavily guarded, plus featured a lot of temples. The path leading to the stronghold is where one gets to the Great Wall, which the van drove on to drop Sly off. The starting path leads into higher terrain, featuring several slopes and damaged walkways. Occasionally, large icicles would be seen falling down, creating shaking effects due to their tremendous size. The doorway leading into the stronghold is positioned beside a large forested area, with fairly short trees, protected on one side by a stone wall.

Several fireworks were placed freely around the stronghold. They consisted of small blue ones that could be triggered if the player desires, and larger, red ones that would be needed to help the player advance. Even larger than those are the two batches of rockets that were placed within the stronghold, both of which were initially locked down. One was used to force open a ceiling hatch, while the other helped Sly reach the Panda King's statue, which towers above the entire compound.

Snowcone stand
Located nearby the Panda King's compound was a snowcone stand, which Murray visited shortly before being surrounded by monkeys who challenged him to a race around the surrounding track to obtain a treasure key.

The snowcone stand was rather small compared to the hot dog stand in Mesa City, featuring a large, spinning snowcone of the strawberry flavor. The race track is more hazardous compared to the one in Mesa City, as it features more tight turns, intense jumps, and the worst hazard—ice patches.

Panda King's statue
The Panda King's statue was an enormous structure that resembled the Panda King himself. It could almost be viewed from any location in the Kunlun Mountains. On the inside was a circular room, featuring several levels of circular stone paths. A path leads in from one side to the direct center where the Panda King would stand during the boss battle. Several breakable vases were also placed around each level. In the third game, during the Dreamtime battle sequence, every object in the room can be destroyed by Sly, even the stone platforms. In the first game, objects could only be destroyed by the Panda King's fireworks.

Fireworks production facility
This is where the Panda King had all of his fireworks produced. It consists of a purple conveyor belt that runs through most of the facility. The place is filled with boxes stacked all around, and it was guarded only by monkey guards that, when side the facility, would hide out below wooden hatches. This facility was only visited in "Rapid Fire Assault."

Hinkau Village
Hinkau Village was a small town located on low terrain, directly below a tall mountain. It was destroyed as a result of an avalanche brought on by a rocket launched from the Panda King.

General Tsao's palace
General Tsao's palace was one of the most important locations in "A Cold Alliance" of Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. It served as the main base of operations and residence of General Tsao.

The palace is surrounded by a large wall. It has several guards patrolling around it. It has a big entrance hall, with a considerable number of vases. The main division of the palace, which can be considered a large living room, is also a place with massive decorations such as vases, statues and furniture. Adjacent to the living room is the bridal chamber.

Some of the statues inside the palace are of the Panda King's mandrill guards from Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus.