[2] In the story, the Monkey King is trapped in a dream world by the Qing Fish demon, an embodiment of desire, who wishes to eat his master, the Tang Sanzang.

He also explains why he waited to reveal the monster at the end of the novel, why Monkey serves as King Yama, and the peculiarities of time travel in the dream world.

Evidence in favor of the former includes references to the stench of nearby “Tartars,” a possible allusion to the Manchus who would eventually found the Qing dynasty of China.

Evidence in favor of the latter includes references to Buddhist sutras and the suppression of desire and the lack of political statements “lament[ing] the fate of the country.”[4] The novel can ultimately be linked to the Ming because a mid-17th century poem dates it to the year 1640.

While on a mission to find food, Monkey comes upon a large city flying the banner “Great Tang’s New Son-of-Heaven, the Restoration Emperor, thirty-eighth successor of Taizong.” This strikes him as odd as it was Taizong who had originally sent them to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures in India.

He flies to heaven in order to learn more about the Great Tang, but finds that the gates are locked because an imposter Monkey has stolen the Palace of Magic Mists.

But when Monkey tries to intercept the messenger, the person is nowhere to be found, and he instead comes upon mortal men flying on magic clouds picking at the foundations of heaven with spears and axes.

Monkey goes to the Emerald Green World, Little Moon King's imperial city, to fetch his master, but is blocked from entering once inside the main gate.

When he uses his great strength to break open the wall, he falls into a magic tower of mirrors, gateways to different points in history and other universes.

After resuming his normal form, some junior devils appear and tell him that King Yama has recently died of an illness and that Monkey must take his place as judge of the dead until a suitable replacement can be found.

Monkey puts Qin through a series of horrific tortures, after which a demon uses its magic breath to blow his broken body back into its proper form.

He finally sends a demon to heaven to retrieve a powerful magic gourd that sucks anyone who speaks before it inside and melts them down into a bloody stew.

Sometime later, the devil, apparently under the evil influence of the blood wine, murders his personal religious teacher and escapes into the "gate of ghosts," presumably being reborn into another existence.

Tang Sanzang begins to amass a huge army to fight the forces of desire led by King Paramita (Perfection), one of Monkey's five sons born to Lady Iron Fan.

When he finally awakens, having dreamed the entire adventure in only a few seconds, he discovers that the demon has infiltrated the Tang Priest's retinue by taking on the form of a young and beautiful Buddhist monk.

The author answers this question with a quote by the philosopher Mencius: “There is no better way of learning than to seek your own strayed heart.”[5] The third asks why Dong waited to reveal the monster Monkey faces at the end of the novel, instead of doing so in the title of one of the chapters like in the original.

[f] The English translators of the book, who appear neutral in the debate, point out three things that may support this view: First, the reason Dong included Qin Hui in the story may have been because the Prime Minister historically betrayed the Song to the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty.

Second, Monkey is offended by an odor created by Tartars “right next door.”[9] Since the Manchus resided “next door” to northern China, the idea of an invasion may have been on Dong's mind while he was writing the book.

Third, Dong may have been ridiculing the Ming's inaction towards an imminent Manchu invasion when the New Ancient tells Monkey that his body will take on the stink of the barbarians if he stays too long.

The author Dong Yue is known to have been alienated by Buddhism's denigration of desire, and so the Tang Priest's position as the General of “Qing-killing” is simply a satire aimed at the religion.

Additionally, a note appearing in the poem “Random Thoughts” (1650) comments that the author Dong Yue “supplemented the Xiyouji ten years ago”, which dates the writing of the novel to 1640.

The Jade Emperor of heaven initially wishes to punish Sima for his blasphemy, but the embodiment of the Planet Venus talks him into letting the scholar act as the King of Hell for twelve hours to test his worth.

Sima is given Yama's throne under the stipulation that he will enjoy success in his next life if he solves hell's most difficult cold cases, but will be damned never to be reborn into the human realm if he fails.

[16] Feng Menlong later used such oral tales when he adapted the aforementioned story about Sima Mao to write "Humu Di Intones Poems and Visits the Netherworld," which was included in his collection.

[17] It is about a poor Yuan dynasty scholar named Humu Di (胡母迪) who fails to gain a government post because he cannot pass the imperial exams.

After a bout of drinking, Humu writes a series of poems criticizing heaven for not punishing the wicked and states he would torture Qin Hui for the murder of Yue Fei if he was the king of hell.

The official explains after three years of continuous torture, Qin will be reborn on earth as all manner of animals, including pigs, to be slaughtered and eaten until the end of time.

After having tea with the souls of righteous men waiting on their rebirths, Yama sends Humu back to the world of the living satisfied that the heavenly hierarchy is doing its job.

This story is about a rich, drunken Song dynasty scholar named Hu Di (胡迪) who writes a blasphemous poem and is himself dragged to hell for his remarks about King Yama.

[21] The story of Qin's torture in hell is so well known that the Daoist Eastern Peak Temple, which is famous for its statuary representations of the celestial hierarchy, has a small hall dedicated to Yue Fei in which a likeness of the former Prime Minister is being led off to the underworld by a demon.