Journey to the West: Taking a Staff to Spirit Mountain and Retracing the Pilgrimage

Sun Wukong died.

He died beneath a bodhi tree at the foot of Spirit Mountain.

It was because the Buddha, the World-Honored One, ordered the unruly monkey to go practice on Mount Emei after becoming a Buddha, and he refused.

He swung his staff at the Buddha, toppled the Great Thunderclap Temple, and left three thousand bodhisattvas dead and tens of thousands of arhats to be reincarnated. Buddhism’s great flourishing, which should have followed the successful completion of the pilgrimage, had yet to blossom before the place became a wasteland of death.

The Tathagata’s sixteen-foot golden body was shattered, and his huge hand clamped tightly around Sun Wukong. The old monk pleaded for mercy, offering his own life in exchange.

In the end, the Monkey King died beneath the tree.

The pig demon cried until his voice was hoarse, Sha Wujing clenched his fists, and the White Dragon knelt on the ground, unable to rise for a long time.

The old monk gazed at his badly wounded eldest disciple. His hands trembled as he pressed his palms together, closed his eyes, and shed two lines of tears. “Heaven above, I, this humble monk, offer my life and cultivation in exchange. I beg the Heavenly Dao to let my poor disciple live another life…”

…

When those golden eyes opened again, everything had returned to the moment before Guanyin Monastery.

(This blurb doesn't do it justice. Dear readers, please move on to the main story.)