Journey to the West: The Rebellious Senior Brother Refuses to Become a Buddha

[Journey to the West + AI + Absurd Comedy + Parallel Worlds]

What happens when Journey to the West collides with AI?

Was the pilgrimage to the West a lie?

Even faker than The Truman Show!

Sun Wukong saw through the cannibal monk’s true nature, refused to become the Victorious Fighting Buddha, raised havoc on Spirit Mountain, and went back to Flower-Fruit Mountain to be the Handsome Monkey King.

Then Spirit Mountain developed a bug and turned into a mess of garbled code.

The White Horse awakened to a desire to fix the corrupted code.

While repairing the program, she discovered she could travel back and forth between the real Journey to the West and the AI version.

In the AI Journey to the West world,

Tang Sanzang had already died 107 times. The program bugged out on his 108th attempt, and his fate was unknown.

Zhu Bajie loved digging for gold. After becoming the Yellow-Robed Monster, he switched careers to food delivery, hoping to save enough money to return to Gao Village and marry Gao Cuilan.

Whenever Sha Wujing appeared, he was made up and dressed in garish colors. Forced to stay invisible, he could summon three memory fragments for the White Horse.

But she unexpectedly met two more rebels who had escaped AI corruption.

Nezha: What a lousy place. I can’t stay here. Let’s fight our way out. Tang Sanzang has died so many times, one more won’t matter. At worst, I’ll take the scriptures for him and be your master.

Yang Jian: I can transform and fight. Xiaobai, that monkey is a real menace. Come with me, and I’ll protect you.

The White Horse silently moved behind Sun Wukong. Of the three rebels, it was safest to stick with the familiar one and cling to his coattails.

Influenced by the AI world, the Journey to the West world began changing in strange ways along with the White Horse’s thoughts.

The two worlds fell into a vicious cycle, and it became impossible to tell what was real.

…

White Horse: Senior Brother, why won’t you become a Buddha?

Sun Wukong: You have to go mad before you can become a Buddha.

White Horse: I’ll help you become a Buddha, and you’ll help me find release.

Sun Wukong: You’re always thinking about pointless things.