Wukong Dies, Bajie Transforms

A thousand years have passed since the final chapter of Journey to the West. The Buddhist realm of Mount Lingshan seems peaceful, but Zhu Wuneng, the Envoy of the Pure Altar, senses something amiss during a grand Buddhist ceremony. The lofty Victorious Fighting Buddha no longer yells “Idiot!” at him like he used to. The “golden-banded staff” around his wrist glimmers with light, but its markings are so faint they look like a thin coat of paint. More chilling still, there is an incomprehensible coldness and evasiveness in the way he looks at Bajie. This isn’t the Monkey King he knows, the one who would risk life and limb for his brothers. A monkey hair left behind by the real Wukong, kept close to his body, suddenly grows hot. Patriarch Bodhi appears in a dream and gives him half of a broken golden band. At the bottom of the Flowing Sands River, the “Soul-Locking Jade” that Sha Wujing has hidden for a thousand years reveals a remnant soul screaming in agony… Every clue points to a truth the Buddhist realm has concealed for a thousand years: the one the Tathagata cast into the rift of reincarnation back then may have been the real Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Could the current Victorious Fighting Buddha actually be a substitute made by the Six-Eared Macaque? To bring back the brother who used to call him “Idiot!”, Bajie tucks away the broken golden band, joins forces with the silent Sha Wujing, and teams up with the reclusive Little White Dragon. Together, they steel themselves to break into the Jade Pool, explore the Dragon Palace, and breach the Buddhist realm’s barriers. But they don’t know that this search for family has long been entangled in ambition. The Tathagata’s power-hungry game, Maitreya Buddha’s secret machinations, and the darkness stirring within the rift of reincarnation are gradually tearing away the Three Realms’ carefully maintained facade as they press on. When fangs emerge beneath the Buddhist realm’s golden light, and the brothers’ remnant souls struggle within the rift, can the seemingly lazy Envoy of the Pure Altar use his nine-toothed rake to smash a thousand-year-old deception and make the name of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven ring out across Mount Lingshan once more?