The road to the West was not paved with gold, but with the discarded ink of a thousand failed drafts.
As the group moved past the Five Elements Mountain, the environment began to shift according to the "Setting Interventions" of the one holding the golden revolver.
Kim Hajin walked at the front, his tiger-skin kilt rustling against the tall grass of the White Ridge Mountain.
Every few miles, he would stop, look at a rock or a tree, and murmur a sentence that would immediately solidify into a golden system message.
⸢The path of the King was long, but every step was a defiance of the stars. His loyal servants followed him with hearts full of...⸥
Hajin felt a sudden, sharp chill on the back of his neck.
He turned around.
Ouroboros was looking at him with a serene, terrifyingly peaceful gaze that seemed to see the very neurons firing in Hajin's brain.
Beside him, Boss—draped in her Tang Sanzang robes—pierced him with a look so deathly it could have wilted a forest.
"...servants?" Boss whispered, her voice a low, dangerous vibration.
Hajin coughed, his ears turning red. He quickly tapped the holographic air.
⸢His companions helped him on the way, their strength equal to his own.⸥
The weight of the gazes lifted.
Cheok Jungyeong, currently the most muscular Zhu Bajie in existence, let out a booming laugh that scattered a flock of crows.
"That's more like it, kid! Call me a servant again and I'll turn that golden gun into a toothpick!"
The journey through the Black Wind Mountain and the Sorrowful River followed the traditional beats of the Journey to the West, but the music had changed.
In the original myth, the Yogoes were obstacles to be purged—demons whose only purpose was to test the resolve of the pilgrims.
But Hajin saw them differently.
Through his [Observation and Reading], he saw the "Deleted Files" of the Star Stream.
At the Village of the Old Willow, they were ambushed by a Spider Queen. In any other Fable Chamber, she would have been incinerated by the Monkey King's fire.
"IlovethemIloveIloveIloveIlovethem!"
Hajin raised his Golden Ruyi Jingu Bang Pistol.
Click-clack.
[You aren't a demon,] Hajin said, his voice echoing with the authority of the [Author]. [You were the weaver who made the clothes for the poor of this village before the
[Target: Yogoe #1,092 is being 'Re-Authored'!]
The Spider Queen froze.
Her chitinous legs softened into silk.
She didn't dissolve; she reclaimed her name: Arachne of the Silent Loom.
"I... I remember," she whispered, tears of black ink falling from her eyes.
Instead of leaving, she joined the group.
And she wasn't the only one.
Behind the group, a bizarre and beautiful procession began to grow.
A Wolf-General who was once a fallen hero; a River-Spirit who had been edited into a mindless beast; a thousand minor "mobs" who had been granted backstories and names.
This was the "Pilgrimage of Yogoes."
[The 'Outer God' shares of the Great Fable are skyrocketing!]
[Current Share: 18.5%... 22.1%... 25.9%!]
The Star Stream's live-chat windows were a chaotic mess of awe and indignation.
[Constellation who likes to change genders is weeping at your mercy!]
[Constellation who likes to change genders has sponsored you 10,000 coins!]
[Constellation 'God of Wine and Ecstasy' says it's a bit 'cringe' but likes the gun.]
[Constellation 'Queen of the Darkest Spring' is watching your 'Remake' with deep interest.]
[Constellation 'Bald General of Justice' feels a sense of kinship with the 'Author'.]
[A portion of 'Absolute Good' Constellations are praising the 'New Way'!]
However, the
[Constellations of the
[Rating Shock! The traditionalists are leaving the channel!]
[Current Rating: 4.2%]
"They're losing their grip," Anna Croft remarked, her Great Demon's Eye spinning.
Hajin looked at his smartwatch.
The SP was rolling in like a tidal wave.
He felt the weight of the Golden Headband loosening with every soul he saved.
He wasn't breaking the lock; he was convincing the lock that it didn't need to be closed.
As the group reached the banks of the Tongtian River, the world suddenly stuttered.
The sky turned a static gray, and a massive Great Dokkaebi manifested over the water, looking down at the Pilgrimage with cold, calculated eyes.
[Attention all 'Sun Wukongs'!]
[The 'Journey to the West Remake' is experiencing excessive narrative drift.]
[The Bureau has authorized 'Scenario Consolidation'!]
"Consolidation?" Khalifa asked, his spatial skulls vibrating. "What does that mean?"
"It means," Hajin said, looking at the horizon, "that the small rooms are being merged into one big one. The Bureau wants us to fight for the ending."
The river water began to boil.
From the mist, a gargantuan fleet of jade-armored battleships emerged.
These weren't NPCs or Yogoes.
These were the participants of the #1 Ranked Fable Chamber—'The Real Journey to the West', led by the Nepo-baby of
Fei Hu stood at the prow of the lead ship, his Ruyi Bang glowing with a pale-blue ghostly flame. Behind him stood Erlang Shen and Prince Nezha, their Statuses suppressing the very waves of the river.
"Black Lotus," Fei Hu's voice boomed across the water. "Your 'Remake' is a beautiful dream, but it lacks the weight of reality. A Fable without blood is just a bedtime story. We are here to reclaim the ink."
[Main Scenario #95 – 'The Naval Battle of Tongtian' has begun!]
[Fable Chamber #666 vs Fable Chamber #1!]
"Geyong! Khalifa!" Hajin yelled, his voice transforming into a narrative message that appeared above his head in bold, golden letters.
⸢The Author knew that the tide was high, but his companions were a storm that no ocean could hold.⸥
"Shut up and shoot something, Hajin!" Boss yelled, though her hand was already weaving the shadows of the river into a fleet of obsidian phantom ships.
Cheok Jungyeong didn't wait for orders.
He jumped from the bank, his Zhu Bajie form expanding until he was five meters tall.
He swung his nine-toothed rake, not at the soldiers, but at the river itself.
['Mountain-Moving Might' is activated!]
At the same time his skin began to bulge, turning a bright shade of red, he was using his Ultimate skill from the Tower.
The Tongtian River split in two.
The jade ships of Fei Hu's fleet were caught in the sudden vacuum, crashing into each other.
"Ranged support!" Audrey Hall commanded, her [Visionary] aura pacifying the panic of the Yogoes behind them. She used her Psychiatrist powers to link the minds of the a thousand saved monsters into a single, cohesive unit.
Hajin stood on the deck of Boss's shadow-ship.
He aimed his Golden Ruyi Jingu Bang Pistol at the sky.
He pulled the trigger.
A volley of silver-gold bullets cascaded into the air, each one tracking a Constellation in the enemy fleet.
[The 'Most Ancient Liberator' is cheering for your marksmanship!]
['Meihouwang' is betting 50,000 coins on your victory!]
[Rating Surge! Current Rating: 15.7%!]
The naval battle was a cacophony of exploding mana and clashing Fables.
Fei Hu leaped from his ship, his Ruyi Bang extending a hundred meters to smash into Hajin's position.
"You call yourself an Author?" Fei Hu roared. "Then let's see how you write your own death!"
Hajin didn't move.
[Many Constellations of
The Golden Headband on his forehead glowing with a blinding, defiant light.
[The 'Great Fable' is evolving!]
[Shares of Outer Gods in 'The Extra's Journey' have surpassed the 'Original'!]
A massive breach split the sky open.
===
< Main Scenario #95 – Owner of the [Journey to West] >
Category:Main
Difficulty:Indeterminable
Clear Conditions:Break past the horde of Yogoes and acquire [Sacred Texts] on the other side of the Tongtian River.
Time Limit:2 hours
Reward:Great Fable related to the 'Journey to the West', 5,000,000 Coins,???
Failure:―
===
Hajin sneered.
"It's time to test my new Story."
[Giant Story 'The One Who Shattered the Night's Throne' has begun its storytelling!]