The journey to the Western Heaven was a path fraught with peril, a test of faith and endurance that stretched across thousands of miles of rugged terrain. Among the most dangerous segments of this trek was the passage through the White Tiger Ridge, a place where the jagged peaks of Zhangjiajie seemed to touch the heavens themselves. The mountains were shrouded in an eternal mist, and the silence was often broken only by the eerie howls of distant beasts. In this desolate wilderness, the monk Tang Sanzang and his three disciples—Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing—traveled toward their sacred goal. They were weary and hungry, their supplies dwindling as the sun began to dip below the horizon. Sanzang, a man of immense compassion but limited worldly perception, sat beneath a twisted pine tree to rest, his mind occupied by sutras and the heavy burden of his mission.
Deep within the shadows of the mountain, a malevolent spirit known as Baigujing, the White Bone Demon, watched them with predatory interest. She was not a living being but a skeleton that had gained sentience and dark powers through centuries of absorbing the essence of the moon and stars. To Baigujing, the Tang Monk was not a holy man but a rare delicacy; legend whispered that a single bite of his flesh could grant a demon immortality. However, she was acutely aware of the formidable protector by the monk's side. Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, possessed 'Fiery Golden Eyes' that could see through any transformation and a golden cudgel that had leveled mountains. Knowing she could not defeat the Monkey King in open combat, the demon decided to employ the weapon of deception, hoping to drive a wedge between the monk and his protector.
Baigujing first transformed herself into a beautiful young girl of eighteen, carrying a wicker basket filled with steamed buns and fragrant rice. She emerged from the forest with a graceful step and a face that radiated innocence. As she approached the camp, the greedy Zhu Bajie was the first to notice her, his stomach growling at the sight of the food. Sanzang, struck by her apparent kindness, greeted her with a polite bow. The girl claimed to be a local villager whose parents lived just over the ridge, and she offered the food to the hungry travelers as an act of merit. Just as Sanzang was about to reach for a bun, Sun Wukong returned from his search for fruit. With one look from his golden eyes, he saw not a maiden, but a pile of skeletal remains wreathed in a foul, dark miasma. Without a moment's hesitation, he swung his Jin Gu Bang, the golden-hooped rod, and struck the girl down. The 'girl' collapsed, but Baigujing used her 'Disembodied Spirit' technique to escape, leaving behind a fake corpse while her essence fled back into the shadows.
Sanzang was horrified. To his eyes, Wukong had just murdered an innocent, generous girl in cold blood. The monk's voice trembled as he scolded his disciple for his perceived cruelty. 'Wukong! How could you commit such a senseless act of violence against a soul who sought only to help us?' Wukong tried to explain, pointing to the basket which now contained nothing but crawling maggots and rotting frogs, but Zhu Bajie, fueled by his own hunger and a slight jealousy of Wukong’s power, whispered into Sanzang’s ear. 'Master, do not listen to him. He used his magic to make the food look like filth to cover up his crime.' Sanzang, influenced by the Pig's words and his own strict Buddhist vows against killing, began to recite the Tight-Fillet Spell. The golden band around Wukong's head tightened, causing him agonizing pain that felt as though his skull were being crushed. Wukong fell to the ground, crying out for mercy, and only when Sanzang ceased the prayer did the pain subside, though the mistrust remained.