In the twenty-seventh year of the Zhenguan era of the Great Tang, ten years have passed since the four master and disciples returned from their scripture quest. While Sandalwood Merit Buddha Tang Sanzang is preaching in Chang'an, a scripture suddenly bursts into flames, revealing eight surviving characters: “Impurity has taken root; Spirit Mountain lies in dust.” Victorious Fighting Buddha Sun Wukong senses his Golden Cudgel trembling for no reason, while the immortal veins of Flower-Fruit Mountain wither. The western-heaven tribute storehouse overseen by Altar Cleanser Envoy Zhu Bajie is plagued by “empty offerings,” with the tributes turning into rotten rats. Golden-Bodied Arhat Sha Wujing discovers a stone tablet inscribed “Merit Fraud” rising from the bottom of Flowing Sand River. Meanwhile, White Dragon Horse, one of the Eight Divisions of Heavenly Dragons, witnesses auspicious clouds on a pillar at Spirit Mountain condensing into a dark fog that reeks of money.
The five saints realize that the foundations of faith in the Buddhist realm and the human world are crumbling. Their investigation reveals that after the Tathagata went into seclusion, the old faction led by Ancient Buddha Dipankara monopolized religious resources through a system of “quantified merit.” They fabricated “false scriptures” to manipulate the fortunes and misfortunes of the human world, turning cultivation into “merit KPI assessments.” The disciples who once subdued demons and vanquished evil must now confront a deep-rooted system of corruption cloaked in holiness. They storm “Quantified Hell” to expose merit fraud, break into “False-Face Zen Grove” to reveal scripture tampering, and fight the “Offering Oligarchs” to sever their web of profiteering. At last, they rebuild the true meaning of faith on “Impurity-Free Cliff.” Using a tale of gods and demons as its framework, the novel satirizes formalism, the corruption of power, and the commercialization of faith, carrying on the original work's tradition of using fantasy to critique reality.
