★ Copyright sold: Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Russian!

★ The Japanese edition ranked consecutively in 2022 on two globally authoritative mystery lists: “Kono Mystery ga Sugoi!” and “Weekly Bunshun’s Best 10 Mystery Novels”. It marked the first time a Chinese novel was shortlisted for the “Mystery Writers of Japan Award”!

★ The original novel of the TV drama Four Directions Hallstarring Tan Jianci, with more adaptations in development! The author spent 13 years meticulously crafting this work, hailed as a masterpiece of Chinese cultural suspense fiction!

★ Highly recommended by Chinese suspense writers Ma Boyong and Lei Mi, Japanese mystery writer Natsuhiko Kyogoku and more.

★ The author brilliantly reimagines the classic fantasy IP Journey to the West, blending history, fantasy, mystery, and detective elements. Xuanzang takes on the role of Di Renjie, using the eighty-one tribulations (eighty-one cases) of his arduous 108,000-li pilgrimage as the narrative foundation. The divine and demonic realms are reconstructed into historical crime scenes, exhausting every category of worldly crime. Each case exposes the greed, selfishness, and evil lurking in human nature, interrogating the meaning of life and the truth of mortality.

This series consists of 5 volumes:
1. The Hell Prison of the Tang Dynasty
2. Chronicles of the Western Kings
3. The Heavenly Record of the Tang Dynasty
4. The Dunhuang Transformation of the Tang Dynasty
5. The Song of Striking the Earth in Chang’an

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“I began wandering at the age of ten after taking my monastic vows. I walked across battlefields ravaged by the endless wars between Wang Shichong and the Wagang rebels, through the dying days of the Sui Dynasty in Chang’an, along the Three Gorges, and across the lands of Jingchu. In Kaishan Temple, I heard the true teachings of the sutras; in Danyang, I witnessed the corpses strewn across the earth after the Tang Dynasty crushed Fu Gongshi. I have traversed this sky, this earth, this mortal realm, and these passing years. Yet I am confined by this mortal flesh, unable to glimpse the scenery beyond it. Sometimes, when I preach the Dharma to sentient beings, it feels like telling winter tales to summer insects. But if one day a Maitreya incarnation were to teach me the true Dharma, I would fear I might be that very summer insect. So, elder brother, if I were inside this room, I would push open the door to see the people and the city. And if this courtyard and the city were trapped within his alms bowl, I would still smash the bowl and tear through this flesh, to glimpse the world beyond, to see past lives and this one.”

In the third year of the Zhenguan era (AD 629), Xuanzang disguised himself as a refugee and fled from Chang'an to travel to the West. However, as soon as he entered Liangzhou, he was apprehended by the authorities. It turned out that Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, was preparing to wage war against the Eastern Turks and, to prevent the leakage of intelligence, had strictly forbidden anyone from leaving the border without permission.

At this point, someone informed Xuanzang that there was a hidden ancient path in Dunhuang that could lead directly to the Western Regions. However, on his way there, pursuers, assassins, and spies followed one after another. Xuanzang fled, wandering between the desert and oases. From Dunhuang to Yumen Pass, he climbed cliffs and entered Buddhist caves... and unexpectedly stumbled upon a forbidden secret of Dunhuang: a conspiracy involving multiple countries, including the Turks, Sogdians, Bactrians, Persians, and Tuyuhuns, which could potentially disrupt the Silk Road.

Outside the conspiracy was the vast desert, the Buddhist caves of Dunhuang, and the flying apsaras murals...

Inside the conspiracy was bloodshed in the yellow sands, the sorrow of white bones, and the inescapable life-and-death tribulations on the journey to the West.

Chen Jian​​

A renowned writer, screenwriter, member of the China Writers Association, and council member of the Henan Provincial Writers Association. He has authored over ten novels, including University Bridge, Ears Underground, Freud’s Forbidden Zone, and The Age of Emperors. The Journey to the West Eighty-One Casesseries is his magnum opus, a meticulously crafted novel born from years of research into the classic Journey to the Westand 13 years of dedication. It is hailed as a masterpiece of Chinese cultural suspense fiction.