A Strange Journey to the West: The Pilgrimage

The Three Realms are no longer the bright and orderly world of legend. A strange corruption, lurking since the dawn of creation, has quietly spread. Nine out of ten Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and celestial gods have been tainted, becoming beings of unrecognizable form and uncanny behavior. They still sit upon lotus thrones and govern the laws of Heaven, but beneath their merciful appearances lurks a hunger to devour living creatures, while their solemn hymns conceal whispers that twist right and wrong.

Tang Sanzang and his three disciples set out west, expecting a smooth journey to obtain the true scriptures and save all beings. Instead, step by step, they enter a carefully woven trap. Guanyin’s pure-water vase holds foul, putrid blood. Taishang Laojun’s alchemy furnace burns screaming souls. Even the Buddhas on Spirit Mountain in the Western Heaven hide countless writhing tentacles beneath their golden bodies.

Only a handful of gods remain true to themselves. The Fiery Golden Eyes of the Fighting Buddha, Sun Wukong in his previous life, can see through the disguises of the corrupted. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva has built a defensive line deep in Hell, while Zhen Yuanzi uses his ginseng fruit tree to preserve the last wisp of pure energy between Heaven and Earth. When the pilgrims discover that the so-called “true scriptures” are merely bait used by the corrupted to harvest faith, must they tear apart this false Way of Heaven, or fight their way to survival through endless horrors?