[Journey to the West + strong heroine + political intrigue, kept straightforward and easy to follow + unhinged characters + comedy]
Yin Wenjiao opens her eyes and finds herself the most miserable pawn in Journey to the West.
Her husband is “dead,” her son is being groomed to become a Buddha, and her fate comes down to four words: die willingly and with dignity.
To avoid dying as fate dictates, she binds herself to the Tribulation System, follows Heaven’s will by personally tossing the newborn Tang Sanzang into the river, and steals ninety thousand merit points. That very day, she takes a blade to her enemy, and even the monk who happens to pass by and try to break up the fight gets verbally demolished.
Eighteen years later, she is the virtuous and benevolent Marquis of Tang, outwardly abstaining from meat, doing good deeds, and showing mercy to all, while secretly earning merit to raise her cultivation. She has long since become an immortal.
Then her son Xuanzang returns to find his family.
Chen Guangrui comes back to life and tries to claim the spoils? She takes advantage of the emperor’s suspicions to force the gods and Buddhas to choose: the Journey to the West, or sticking to protocol.
Xuanzang is forced to choose whether to perform rites for his own father.
When the journey begins, his unhinged birth mother insists on joining the party herself.
Sun Wukong is rebellious? Bow your head and call me Grandma.
Bajie won’t stop talking? Zip it and show some respect to your elder.
The gods and Buddhas want to take a share of the merit from the pilgrimage?
Yin Wenjiao sneers. “You can go fetch the scriptures, but the merit stays with me. Once I attain sainthood through merit, I’ll settle the score with you over this ‘die willingly and with dignity’ fate.”
