This tale overturns old accounts, focusing on the evils of a corrupt age and exposing the darkness in people's hearts. Jin Chanzi falls into the mortal world, greedy for money and given over to desire, forgetting his Buddhist heart. The stone monkey loses his edge, fears demons, and avoids danger, his sharpness gone. The pig demon gorges himself, eating people and indulging his appetites without restraint. The sand demon hides his venom, robbing and killing while concealing his vicious nature. Along the journey west, corpses litter the mortal realm, demons thirst for blood, the Heavenly Court wallows in debauchery, and the Buddhist lands teem with greed and cruelty. Guanyin steals, Tathagata feasts, the immortals scramble for profit, and the demons compete in wickedness. Though they travel together, their hearts are divided; they harm and destroy one another, until the rat demon lurks in wait and ultimately devours every evil. Nothing in the Three Realms is pure. Good and evil are turned upside down, and the entire tale is steeped in gloom, without a glimmer of light. It lays bare the misery of a world sinking into corruption and the depths of darkness in the human heart.
