Dreams of Journey to the West is a modern web-novel adaptation of Journey to the West Supplement, originally written by Dong Shuo (1620–1686) in the late Ming dynasty, and created by online novelist Lan Caixi. As a pioneering stream-of-consciousness novel and one of the finest continuations of Journey to the West, the original had a profound influence on later literature, including Dream of the Red Chamber. However, its language and plot are complex, making it difficult for modern readers to understand. The new version, Dreams of Journey to the West, makes the story more accessible by simplifying the language and filling in the gaps. It also rearranges the original chapters to suit modern web-novel reading habits, expanding the original sixteen installments into thirty-six chapters.
The story takes place after Tang Sanzang and his disciples pass the Flaming Mountain. Sun Wukong strays into the New Tang Kingdom, where he learns that Qin Shi Huang possesses a Mountain-Moving Bell and is drawn into a conspiracy to appoint Tang Sanzang as a general. In the Green-Green World, Wukong experiences a series of fantastical events: he visits the Hall of Ten Thousand Mirrors to witness the many faces of all living things, takes on the identity of Consort Yu in the world of the ancients and interacts with Xiang Yu, and even temporarily takes the place of the King of Hell in the future to judge the souls of the dead. Meanwhile, Tang Sanzang finds himself the object of the Little Moon King’s romantic pursuit and marries a beautiful woman named Cui Shengniang, straining his relationship with Bajie and Sha Seng.
When envoys from the New Tang Kingdom arrive, Tang Sanzang is appointed the Great General of the Western Expedition and leads an army westward. On the battlefield, they encounter King Boluomi, who claims to be Wukong’s son. He kills the Little Moon King and Tang Sanzang, plunging the army into chaos. In the end, it is revealed that everything was a dream created by a mackerel spirit. Wukong wakes up, destroys the mackerel spirit, and the four masters and disciples continue on their journey west.
