The Great One, Laozi, believes that the Dao is the source of all things, while Buddhism has elevated the Jade Emperor to the leader of all the gods, ruler of Heaven, Earth, and the mortal realm. This greatly displeases the Daoist founder, the Great One, Laozi, so he hints that Bajie should travel through the Three Realms and get to the bottom of things. Driven by a momentary selfish desire, Bajie angers Bai Xuanzi, the eight-hundredth-generation descendant of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, and provokes the Peony Fairy, an eighth-generation descendant of Lu Dongbin. As a result, he finds himself in constant trouble with both Daoism and Buddhism. In search of the true meaning of the Dao, Bajie goes about doing good and devotes himself to cultivation. At Mount Luopan, he befriends the child prodigy Wu Yonggang, never guessing that Wu Yonggang will later become a chancellor for twenty years, representing only the will of mortals and clashing fiercely with the gods. At the Lingxu Inn, the Ming Cult disciple and head of Lingxu Pavilion, Yue Hua, bewitches him with her demonic beauty, seriously clouding Bajie's judgment of the Dao, Buddha, and the Dharma as he cultivates. From then on, peace never returns to the Three Realms, nor is there anyone wise enough to restore it. Bajie becomes both the one who resolves the Three Realms' troubles and the one who causes them.
