In the age of the Common-Immortal Market Economy, neither the Jade Emperor nor the Buddha is feeling too great:
Jade Emperor: I’m the CEO of the Heavenly Court Immortal Industries Group, but I have to grovel whenever I see Lao Jun or the Queen Mother. Sigh!
Buddha: I’m the big boss of Western Heaven Tech, but the company’s just starting out and has too few fans. What do I do when nobody’s buying tokens or sending tips?
They each have their own plans. The Jade Emperor puts forward a monkey, the Buddha a monk, and together they secretly hatch a boy-band reality show: Journey to the West.
As soon as the show launches, the big shots start battling behind the scenes:
Jade Emperor: Add the Baoxiang Kingdom to the itinerary. Kui Mulang is one of the mighty Twenty-Eight Mansions, and he’s living as a stay-at-home son-in-law there!
Buddha: The Wuji Kingdom too. Manjushri’s been just a little too full of himself lately!
Lao Jun: You two brats are leaving me out? Just you wait.
The idols have a hard time making a living, and they’re losing it on the livestream:
Sun Wukong: I’ve got two overbearing dads from East and West. Which one am I supposed to listen to?
Tang Sanzang: Dear client, would you like to get married or eat meat?
Zhu Bajie: Let me latch onto someone powerful, please, just let me latch onto someone powerful!
Sha Wujing: It’s really hard to get noticed when you’re an introvert.
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