Beneath the golden alms bowl atop Spirit Mountain, the one who fell was the real Great Sage!
The carefully plotted case of the "Fake and Real Monkey Kings" was Buddhism's deepest conspiracy. Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, had never fallen to demons and monsters, yet he died beneath the cudgel of the master he trusted and his own "self." As his soul was destroyed, a wisp of remnant soul, brimming with boundless resentment and the origin of the Heaven-Mending Stone, clung to a single hair and fell into the mortal world.
Even in the smallest fragment, hope endured.
The hair was found by Xiao Shitou, a little monkey demon from East Victory Divine Continent who had suffered endless bullying but still longed for the light. His heartfelt nightly confessions and pure faith became a spark that nourished the remnant soul. Meanwhile, the Three Realms celebrated the merits of the "Buddha Victorious in Strife," unaware that the true hero had already been reduced to a disembodied soul.
