The Bodhi Tree had long since died.
Once, it towered above the Central Plains, its branches touching the clouds and roots reaching the underworld. But that was before the Immortal Court fell, before the Dao fractured, and before the System awakened again.
Now it stood crooked and withered, blackened by heavenly tribulation fire. Beneath its gnarled trunk, a young monk stirred.
He gasped for breath, lungs heaving as if reborn from drowning. His robes were charred, torn at the sleeves, and his head—shaved clean—still bore the mark of eight faint golden rings.
[System Initialization: Scripture Quest System activated.][Host soul recognized: Xuanzang, Scholar of the Ninth Heaven.][Karma Level: Severely Negative (-8,888). Mission Status: Mandatory Reincarnation Quest.]
Xuanzang opened his eyes.
They were calm, impossibly so for someone who'd just clawed their way out of death. A swirling golden sigil spun behind his pupils for a moment before fading. The weight of past lives pressed down on him—but they were sealed, for now. All he remembered was a name. His name.
And the mission.
Main Quest: Journey Westward. Retrieve the Lost Scriptures of Heaven.Reward: Soul Redemption. Karma Reset. Dao Ascension Potential Unlocked.Failure Penalty: Eternal Soul Dissolution.
"...The West," Xuanzang murmured, voice hoarse like sand. "Of course."
The land around him was barren. What was once a lush sacred mountain was now reduced to scorched stone, haunted by the echoes of fallen cultivators. High above, remnants of a shattered floating palace hung in the sky like bleeding constellations.
Suddenly, the ground trembled.
From the ruins, a howl echoed—deep, guttural, unnatural. A beast approached, its Qi corrupted, twisted by resentment. Bone-gnawing wind tore through the valley as it appeared: a hulking creature with the torso of a tiger, horns of a bull, and a third eye blinking on its forehead.
[Enemy Identified: Corrupted Qi Beast – "Three-Eyed Raksha" (Stage: Core Formation)][Warning: Host cultivation level – None. Combat inadvisable.]
Xuanzang stared at the incoming beast, unflinching.
A thought flashed.
[System Option: Summon Bound Companion – Monkey King (Limited Awakening). Cost: 1,000 Karma Points.]Insufficient karma. Do you wish to invoke emergency debt?[Accept? Y/N]
He didn't hesitate. "Accept."
[System Override: Karma Credit engaged. Summoning: Host of the Battle Avatar System...][Waking fragment of... Sun Wukong.]
Lightning split the sky.
From the ashes of the Bodhi Tree, a golden staff erupted — heavy, ancient, inscribed with forgotten battle sutras. It landed with a tremor beside the monk. And from behind the falling dust, a figure emerged:
Bare-chested, bound in golden chains, with wild hair like a stormcloud and eyes that burned like twin suns.
The Monkey King had returned.
"Eh?" he muttered, stretching. "Someone had the balls to wake me up this early?"
He glanced down at Xuanzang and cracked a grin full of fangs.
"You must be my new master. Hah! You look weak enough to be fun."
The Raksha roared and lunged.
Sun Wukong lifted his staff.
The world held its breath.