Journey to the West: Reviewing the Eighty-One Tribulations, Even Gods and Buddhas Must Be Investigated

Li Xuance transmigrates into the Journey to the West and becomes a traveling record keeper personally appointed by Tang King Li Shimin, tasked with accompanying Tang Sanzang westward and recording what they encounter along the way. Everyone thinks he's just a powerless minor official of the Great Tang. Until, at Shuangcha Ridge, demons set a pot to cook people, Taibai Jinxing hides in the clouds waiting to stage a rescue, and the Buddhist and Heavenly Courts have already divided up the merit. Li Xuance opens the Nine-Nine Tribulation Audit Ledger in his hands and stamps it with a blood-red seal on the spot. “Creating tribulations by taking innocent mortals' lives fails the audit!” In an instant, the Merit Golden Lotus on Spirit Mountain explodes. Taibai Jinxing is stunned. Guanyin Bodhisattva falls silent. For the first time, Tathagata Buddha realizes that an auditor no one can bypass has joined the Journey to the West tribulation he has spent countless years plotting. Beneath Five Elements Mountain, Sun Wukong has been imprisoned for five hundred years. Li Xuance immediately asks, “Where's the judgment? How long is the sentence? Who authorized the daily feeding of molten copper and iron pellets?” The Buddhist seal becomes evidence on the spot, and the Buddhist sect is forced to compensate Sun Wukong for five hundred years of losses. The Six Bandits ambush them on the road? Investigate! Buddhist guardians possess mortals and lead Sun Wukong to kill. All their merit is confiscated! At Guanyin Monastery, people are murdered and buried, while Elder Jinchi refines souls and amasses wealth. The pig demon at Gao Village is taken in as a son-in-law, and forged records in the old case of Marshal Tianpeng come to light. Nine skulls rise to the surface of the Flowing Sand River, and the truth about Tang Sanzang's deaths in his previous nine lives is laid out on the table. Demons who commit evil must be put on trial. So must gods and Buddhas who cause tribulations. When the Eighty-One Tribulations finally reach their end, the pilgrimage team arrives at Spirit Mountain. The gods and Buddhas across the heavens are ready to confer Buddhist ranks. Li Xuance slowly closes the Tribulation Audit Ledger and looks up at Tathagata. “Let's put the scriptures aside for now.” “Buddha, it's time to settle the full account for the Eighty-One Tribulations.”