In the Dark Journey to the West, I Ascend to Godhood Through Martial Arts

That year, the Monkey was still pinned beneath Five Elements Mountain.

That year, the Great Han Divine Court had long since fallen, and no one knew when the prosperous Tang would come.

That year, there weren't enough peaches from the Peach Garden of Immortality or golden elixirs to go around in the Celestial Court.

That year, the Age of Decline, originally meant to last 5,400 years, was extended by an unprecedented three centuries.

To prolong their lives, Ghost Immortals contemplated all things, hid from Heaven's will, lodged themselves in the fortunes of dynasties, manipulated the fates of prodigies, and extended their own lives.

Earth Immortals drove stars and swallowed worlds, refined the cosmos, and replenished their inner realms in pursuit of immortality.

Heavenly Immortals scattered illusory spiritual energy, using all living things as soil and heaven and earth as a furnace to brew the Great Elixir.

Ancient Buddhas spread evil across the heavens, let demon gods roam the Sea of Worlds, carved out territories and crowned themselves kings, and kept all living things in captivity. Only those who worshiped Buddha were allowed to survive.

The human world, then in the chaos of the Five Dynasties, had become a hellish wasteland.

“Spiritual energy is poisonous, the Dao is flawed, and Heaven's secrets are sealed. Quite a clever trick...”

Ji Xuan, brought into this world by the blessings of the Three Sovereigns, gazed at the demons filling the sky and smiled disdainfully.

“Pity. I forged my body from all the forms of heaven and earth, my meridians from the primal qi of the ten directions, my organs from the Five Emperors in rotation, and my apertures from the gods of the stars. Can you withstand the power of three hundred years behind this punch?”

(This is a heavily reimagined, dark Journey to the West. Please don't flame it if it's not your thing.)