After both his parents died, Jiang Yuan, a young man of the Western Zhou, burned down his childhood home and set out on a solitary path in search of the Dao, determined to serve the cause of immortality. After waiting in hardship for three years, he used the art of grafting to make a dead tree sprout again. At last, Patriarch Bodhi took notice of him and bestowed upon him the Dharma name Guangxin, beginning his journey to seek the Dao in the world of Journey to the West. Caught in the chess game at Zhuolu, he unraveled the karmic ties of the Jiang clan. In a quiet room, he realized that even sweeping could be a form of cultivation. He also received the Yu Ding directly from Taishang Laojun, using the divine power of the Nine Tripods to glimpse the path to the Great Dao.
His mind-monkey was the yin-yang fish of the Taiji, while his conscious and subconscious minds constantly disrupted his path. He combined Buddhism's gentle methods with Daoism's strength, using the Yu Ding to suppress calamities and heavenly fire to temper his body, forcing himself to subdue half of the mind-monkey. For thirty-three years, he journeyed west with Laojun, spreading the teachings and obtaining a supreme treasure of refined steel, which he used to forge the Golden Duke. With its power, he slew a tiger demon on Evil Wind Mountain and broke through demonic barriers, avenging his fellow disciple who had died, and displaying the full might of the righteous path. After forty years of searching for the mind-horse, he braved the interference of two gods in the secret realm of the ears. With the Patriarch's help, he shattered the barriers and finally tamed the black serpent-like mind-horse for his own use.
Some of his fellow disciples abandoned their paths halfway, seduced by trivial, unorthodox techniques; others failed to achieve enlightenment because their mind-monkeys were unsettled. Only Jiang Yuan stayed true to the orthodox path of the Golden Elixir, gathering the mind-monkey, the Golden Duke, and the mind-horse one step at a time, and changing the course of fate with a mortal's body. Bearing the Yu Ding to stabilize the world, protected by the yin-yang fish, and using the Golden Duke's blade to break through obstacles, he presses onward through the demonic winds and raging waves of the Western Ox Continent. The shadow of Spirit Mountain grows clearer, while dark currents stir in the Heavenly Court and the Underworld. Under the name Guangxin, Jiang Yuan will break through the shackles of the Three Realms. In this chaotic age of Journey to the West, he vows to forge an immortal Golden Elixir, attain supreme immortality, and create a legendary path to the Dao all his own!
