Journey to the West: Traces of the Buddha, Shadows of Demons

Just forty-nine days after the Five Sages attained their true forms, a shocking upheaval struck Spirit Mountain. Before the morning bell rang, Ananda and Kashyapa were stunned to find the lotus throne empty inside the Great Hall of the Thunderclap Monastery. Tathagata Buddha had vanished into thin air from Spirit Mountain, where the laws of all things were inviolable, leaving behind only an enigmatic verse: “The Eight Tribulations are not true; the calamities were falsely told. If you would find me, walk the old road west again.”

Sun Wukong, the Victorious Fighting Buddha, was entrusted with the crisis. His Fiery Golden Eyes pierced the strange phenomena on Spirit Mountain, and he caught the faint, bloody scent of “divine rank” mixed with sandalwood. This was no ordinary disappearance, but a shocking conspiracy aimed at the highest seat in Buddhism. Those Eighty-One Tribulations of old: were they trials ordained by Heaven, or a man-made deception?

To uncover the truth behind the Buddha’s disappearance, Sun Wukong had no choice but to don his Golden Chainmail Armor once more and set out on the old road west with Bajie and Sha Seng. This time, what they must see through is no longer the illusions of demons, but the shocking labyrinth hidden behind “Journey to the West: The Legend of Subduing Evil”: the tribulations that were altered, demon kings whose identities are a mystery, the simmering struggle between Buddhism and Daoism, and the unfathomable fractures of power within Spirit Mountain.

As the command to “walk the old road west again” overlaps with memories of the past, Sun Wukong must choose between faith and truth: obey Heaven’s will and uphold the dignity of Buddhism, or overturn the board and investigate the whole affair in the name of the Victorious Fighting Buddha?