For the next stretch of time, Xie Yunfan kept overseeing the game’s development, and because the process was kept strictly secret, the competitors had no idea how far along the game was.

Yafan Studio’s official Weibo account was flooded with daily requests for updates, but it still gave no reply. Xie Yunfan also never announced exactly when the next chapter would go live.

That made some players start worrying.

“Could it be abandoned?”

“When exactly is Chapter Three coming? Can we get a definite answer?”

“Why did Little Sailboat disappear again? Did something go wrong in production?”

“I’m afraid it’ll be abandoned, so I haven’t dared play it yet. I’m waiting until it finishes.”

There were all kinds of guesses online.

Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye, and Journey to the West’s download count kept rising. Clearly, during the gap between updates, quite a few people were still joining in late.

On July 31, Yafan Studio’s official Weibo suddenly posted a statement:

“Dear players, thank you for waiting.

After half a month of careful polishing, Journey to the West Chapter Three is now officially available for download. You can go directly to the Mobile Game House section or Yafan Studio’s official website to download it. Price: 5 yuan.

Thank you for your support. We hope you enjoy the game ^^”

As soon as the post went up, the players were stunned.

【Damn, another sudden drop?】
【An update with zero warning? I thought this was going to be abandoned】
【Little Sailboat has once again air-dropped a Great Sage onto the players】
【I’ve waited long enough. I’m downloading it right now!】

This surprise launch didn’t just shock the players — it also surprised Wings of Dream’s executives.

Tang Tonghai frowned. “Wasn’t the animation production for this game supposed to be stalled? How did it suddenly go live?”

The PR manager said blankly, “Yes… I heard that at Colorful Cinema, Chapter Three’s animation had only been half done. Then the boss, Liang Anwei, disbanded the team…”

Tang Tonghai was confused. “Then how could the game still launch smoothly?”

If Xie Yunfan had found another animation company to cooperate with, there was no way it would have happened this quickly.

While everyone was puzzled, Ye Teng, who often traveled to Rongcheng on business, called back to report bad news.

“Mr. Tang, I found out that Qihang Group’s Rongcheng branch has recently been renovated. The location is in Nanyang Park, right next to Yafan Studio.”

Tang Tonghai’s expression changed. “Roc Hang set up a branch in Rongcheng?”

Qihang Games had its own animation department. This time, it was very possible that Roc Hang helped Xie Yunfan through the crisis, adding manpower to rush the animation and finish it.

As for Liang Anwei dissolving the animation company, that might have just been a cover — a deliberate act to deceive Tang Tonghai.

The real core staff may already have been brought to Yafan Studio. The employees who had been bought off probably only received fake information and were being used to mislead the enemy.

Roc Hang and Xie Yunfan — were these two going to join forces again?

Tang Tonghai suddenly felt a headache coming on.

In the past, the smaller studios had barely been any match for Wings of Dream. But Xie Yunfan was a different beast — completely impervious to persuasion or pressure. And now Roc Hang had come out to help him. He was becoming harder and harder to deal with.

Tang Tonghai said grimly, “Ye Teng, stay in Rongcheng for the second half of the year and keep a close eye on Qihang’s movements. The moment anything happens, report to me immediately.”

Ye Teng said, “Understood, boss.”

---

On the Mobile Game House website, Qin Fang had already known about the update in advance. He added several extra servers ahead of time to handle the huge influx of players. Yafan Studio’s official site also had emergency plans ready.

This time, the sudden drop held up. The servers didn’t crash.

Everyone’s paid download went through smoothly.

Game streamers immediately opened the game and continued playing.

Mengtu had spent the last few days practicing team coordination with the master-and-disciple squad in the wild. The mobs in Wuzhuang Temple were level 25 to 30, so once players surpassed level 30, they stopped giving much EXP.

They were still great for practice, though, and useful for getting used to group combat.

For example, letting Zhu Bajie fly out and pull aggro, then having Sun Wukong use AoE to wipe the mobs — if you weren’t practiced at that, you could easily fail when fighting stronger enemies.

She had been grinding mobs in the wild every day, and after replaying the Wuzhuang Temple boss several times, she had become quite skilled at switching among the five party members.

Mengtu said excitedly, “Family, Little Sailboat finally updated Chapter Three. Let’s keep going — I can’t wait to see what kind of adventures the master-and-disciple group will have next!”

The first stage of Chapter Three was a place called White Tiger Ridge.

The mobs here had extremely high attack power and were very troublesome. Luckily, Mengtu was already quite good at controlling the party, so she lured and killed mobs all the way until she reached the story point.

A demon on the mountain top spotted Tang Seng and muttered to itself, “This Tang Seng is Jin Chanzi’s reincarnation. If I eat his flesh, I can live forever. I should go meet him!”

The demon turned into a beautiful woman.

With his fiery eyes, Sun Wukong immediately saw that she was trying to poison his master’s food, and in a fit of rage went to fight her.

Mengtu looked at the battle screen and said in surprise, “We’ve been training with this team composition for so long, and the moment Chapter Three starts, it’s a solo fight? All that practice was for nothing!”

The White Bone Demon’s first form was a young woman. Her pale claws did huge damage when they scratched you.

Mengtu dodged while attacking, and after finally killing her, the demon used a corpse-dissolving technique to vanish and reappear as an old woman to fool Tang Seng.

Sun Wukong, of course, saw through the true form and went into battle again.

Mengtu said, “This old lady’s attack is even stronger than the young woman’s. Be careful!”

After finally killing the old woman, the demon again left behind a fake corpse and slipped away, then turned into an old man claiming to be looking for his wife and daughter.

【What the hell, does this demon ever stop?】
【How many times do we have to kill it?】
【White Bone spirits have no flesh body, so they can transform freely. That’s so annoying】
【Tang Seng still doesn’t believe Monkey — unbelievable】

Sun Wukong entered battle again.

The White Bone Demon could not only use claw attacks, but also teleport around, making it elusive and hard to pin down.

This kind of flexible boss was indeed troublesome. Since the three boss battles were all solo fights, nobody could heal Sun Wukong. If he entered the third battle with low HP, there was no way he’d clear it.

Luckily, during the downtime after the update, Mengtu had been bored enough to go treasure-hunting in the Dragon Palace and collected a lot of healing items called coral grass.

Mengtu laughed. “See? This is why you always explore! Remember to go back to the Dragon Palace when you’re free. The coral grass inside the shells heals you. If your team doesn’t have Tang Seng and you have to solo bosses with Monkey, keeping healing items on hand can literally save your life!”

The players all said they had learned something.

A game with high freedom always had many ways to beat a boss.

Mengtu kept fighting and eating coral grass to heal. After half an hour, she finally killed all three forms of the White Bone Demon.

She thought the stage was over.

But what happened next shocked everyone.

Tang Seng believed Sun Wukong had been cruel and bloodthirsty, killing the daughter, the old woman, and the old man from one family without mercy.

Sun Wukong tried to show him the bones on the ground and explain that she was a White Bone Demon.

Tang Seng didn’t believe him, and Zhu Bajie kept adding fuel to the fire. In a fit of anger, Tang Seng began reciting the tightening spell. Sun Wukong rolled on the ground in agony, and the master and disciple actually fell out with each other.

Tang Seng even wrote a banishment letter and expelled Sun Wukong from the order.

Sun Wukong, eyes full of tears, said, “Master saved my life under Five-Element Mountain. Now the journey west has been abandoned halfway, and I can’t attain true fruit. Please accept this bow from your disciple, and I’ll leave in peace!”

Tang Seng turned coldly away. “I have no such cruel disciple. I do not dare accept your bow.”

Sun Wukong plucked out three hairs and turned them into three clones.

Four monkeys, from four directions, bowed toward Tang Seng together and called him “Master!”

When Mengtu saw this scene, her eyes instantly reddened.

“I’m done for! Tang Seng, are you blind?”

The chat exploded too.

【I can’t believe this stupid plot】
【Master has no heart. He wrongly accused my Monkey!】
【Wukong must be heartbroken】
【Tang Seng is blind and too easily swayed — let the demons eat him already!】
【That pig Zhu Bajie is such a troublemaker. I think he’s taking revenge on Monkey】
【Damn it, forget the scriptures. Great Sage, let’s not go anymore!】

Mengtu was on the verge of tears.

Playing a game and getting emotionally wrecked by the story — what kind of situation was this?

She choked up and said, “Our Wukong may be a little mischievous, but hasn’t he been doing everything he can to protect you all along? He has fiery eyes and can see through demon disguises. You’re just a mortal, Master — of course you can’t see through them. Why won’t you believe Monkey?”

“You wrongly accused him, then recited the tightening spell over and over. He was already rolling on the ground in pain, and you kept chanting it!”

“Fine. Don’t go then. Damn stupid plot!”

“Damn the devs, they’re hurting my Monkey again!” Mengtu wiped at her tears. “I’m so mad!”

The fact that this sweet-tempered streamer was cursing so much showed just how hated this storyline was.

The chat was full of people complaining too.

【This plot is emotionally murderous!】
【I played a game and got cried over. Damn it, my Monkey wasn’t worth this】
【Forget it, I’m going back to Flower-Fruit Mountain to play with the Seventy-Two Transformations】
【Let’s disband. This stupid pilgrimage isn’t worth it】
【Rename the game to The Monkey King of Flower-Fruit Mountain and let’s just go back there】

Less than an hour after the update, a topic had already been pushed to the top of the trending list by players.

#JourneyToTheWest: A Plot That Breaks Your Heart

Clicking in, all you saw were players crying and venting.

That night, countless players cried out on behalf of the Great Sage, and many more angrily cursed Tang Seng, Zhu Bajie, and even the devs.

The competitors saw the trending topic and immediately thought:

Journey to the West is getting dragged on Weibo?

Great opportunity!

So a lot of paid shills began steering the conversation online:

“Trash game, uninstall and quit.”

“Too much suffering for the sake of suffering. No fun. I uninstalled too.”

“I can’t keep playing this, deleted it. Goodbye.”

Some even posted screenshots of themselves uninstalling the game.

But as these comments increased, players began to feel something was off. Weren’t they all supposed to be sympathizing with the Great Sage? Why was the conversation suddenly turning into “uninstall the game”?

Once it became clear that paid shills were deliberately steering the discussion, Xie Yunfan immediately posted a statement:

“The story of Journey to the West will include many twists and turns. We respect different player opinions.

Guanyin Bodhisattva already said at the start that the road to the scriptures will be full of hardships. That is, in itself, a process of cultivation. When conflicts and crises appear, there will always be ways to resolve them.

We hope everyone can find their own fun in the game.

Those who don’t like the story can skip it and freely explore the world. Those who want to watch it can continue following the plot — all causes and effects will be explained in due time.

We hope everyone enjoys the game~”

That post temporarily calmed the angry players.

Quite a few rational players spoke up too:

“Even though the plot really hit me hard, it doesn’t mean I should uninstall right away, right? Going back to Flower-Fruit Mountain to play the Seventy-Two Transformations is still great.”

“From Tang Seng’s perspective, he really couldn’t tell that was a demon. Monkey killed three people in a row, so his anger is understandable. The way he handled it was just too extreme.”

“Isn’t this just a classic melodramatic misunderstanding from novels? If it’s a misunderstanding, it’ll definitely get cleared up later, so why rush?”

“So many people are this emotionally invested in the Great Sage? Monkey, you’re really popular now.”

“Our Great Sage has way too many fans. A game character alone has been pushed to the top of the trending list. Is that not because he’s too popular?”

“I wrote ‘Tang Seng’ on paper just now and slashed him a few times, and now I feel better. Back to the game.”

“I’m definitely going to play until Tang Seng regrets it and cries! Damn him for bullying my Great Sage — when he gets captured by demons later, he’ll regret it to death!”

Because the game’s organic word-of-mouth was so strong, the competitor’s attempt to control the narrative failed.

Most players did not uninstall because of this storyline.

A few who were especially angry just took Monkey back to Flower-Fruit Mountain for a while, where they also triggered a scene of the local monkeys being attacked by bandits.

At midnight, another trending topic suddenly appeared near the top of Weibo:

#ThePilgrimageSquadMadeUpAgain

---

The smear campaign completely lost control.

So fast? They made up already? What was going on?

It turned out that the players who were eager to watch the continuation released the plot content from Chapter Two, and the discussion was so intense that it pushed the topic back onto the hot search.

Other passersby saw the frequent trending topics and were confused.

“A game story can be this dramatic?”

“Didn’t they just say the story was emotionally murderous? Why did they make up again in less than an hour?”

“They reconciled way too fast!”

Many players who had been emotionally wounded by the Great Sage’s suffering saw this and immediately said it was delicious again — they wanted to go back and watch Tang Seng regret his actions.

Players didn’t curse the devs. Instead, they started praising Little Sailboat:

“The misunderstanding got resolved so fast? Nice pacing! Unlike some TV dramas, where a misunderstanding drags from the beginning to the ending.”

“They made up? Fine, I’m going back to play.”

“Did Tang Seng apologize to my Monkey?”

“I heard he did! Damn, I’m going to see the rest.”

After Monkey left the party, not long afterward, Master was captured by a demon.

This demon was very powerful and, when transformed into human form, was quite handsome. He had abducted the princess of the Baoxiang Kingdom’s wife, and the princess secretly let Tang Seng go, asking him to bring a letter to her father.

Tang Seng went to the king for help and explained the whole situation.

But the demon transformed into a handsome man and went to the king’s side, falsely accusing Tang Seng of being the monster who abducted the princess, while claiming that he himself had rescued her.

Tang Seng naturally argued back.

While they were arguing, the demon suddenly cast a spell and turned Tang Seng into a tiger.

The demon said, “Your Majesty, see? The one who abducted the princess was this tiger demon!”

Tang Seng, now turned into a tiger, had no way to defend himself. The king was terrified by the sight of Tang Seng becoming a tiger on the spot, and immediately ordered him captured. Poor Tang Seng was thus locked in an iron cage.

The players burst out laughing.

【Master, this is karmic payback~】
【Tang Seng finally got to feel what it’s like to be wrongly accused by Wukong】
【You kept saying demons can transform into humans and still didn’t believe it — now look, you’ve turned into a demon yourself】
【Instant karma came very quickly】
【Tang Seng is probably miserable, but I’m kind of laughing, hahaha!】

Everyone still sympathized with Tang Seng a little, but remembering how he had wronged Monkey, they felt the arrangement was actually pretty satisfying — only this way would he truly believe Sun Wukong.

Nothing is more convincing than firsthand experience.

This stage was also very interesting, and White Dragon Horse’s third skill, Transformation, finally got used.

Since Bajie and Sha Seng weren’t present, only White Dragon Horse saw everything. Late at night, he transformed back into the Dragon King’s third prince and challenged the demon one-on-one.

Players could finally control the human form of White Dragon Horse.

“White Dragon Horse’s attack is really low, not even half of Monkey’s. It’s not even as strong as old pig.”

“This stage is a bit hard!” Mengtu said excitedly after hearing that there was a twist. “But White Dragon Horse is fast, so let’s win through speed.”

When the boss’s HP dropped to 10%, the following story triggered.

White Dragon Horse couldn’t beat the demon, retreated after getting hurt, and told the master’s suffering to his second senior brother, urging him to go ask the eldest senior brother to come back.

Zhu Bajie had no choice but to go to Flower-Fruit Mountain and invite Sun Wukong.

The players were happy now.

【This pig stirred things up, got my Monkey angry, and now he has the nerve to come ask him back?】
【I even suspect he’s a heavenly spy, deliberately stopping everyone from going west】
【Monkey, don’t agree to him too easily】

Of course, Sun Wukong did not agree easily.

After teasing Zhu Bajie for a long time in Flower-Fruit Mountain, he secretly followed him and overheard Bajie’s complaints, and only then did he learn that the master was in danger.

Sun Wukong angrily said, “You idiot! Why didn’t you say Master was captured sooner?”

The two rode clouds and rushed to the place where Master was in trouble.

Sun Wukong used a plan to force the demon out. With the exception of Tang Seng not being in the team, the rest of the disciples were finally reunited. Once the group battle started, as long as Bajie tanked properly, the stage was not hard.

After the demon was defeated, someone from Heaven arrived.

It turned out that this demon was Kui Mulang, a star official from Heaven. He had fallen in love at first sight with a fairy in the celestial realm, but Heaven did not allow romance, so the two had agreed to meet in the mortal world as husband and wife.

The fairy had been reincarnated into the princess he abducted.

Mengtu was stunned.

【This demon came from Heaven?】

Kui Mulang returned to Heaven, said goodbye to his mortal wife, and the princess returned to her father.

With the demon gone, Sun Wukong returned to the palace to rescue Master.

Tang Seng had been turned into a tiger and kept in a cage for the night. By then he had finally been turned back into a human. Seeing Sun Wukong, he could not help crying.

“Wukong, why are you here?”

Zhu Bajie quickly explained that the senior brother had gone through great trouble to save the master.

Tang Seng choked up and said, “Wukong, Master was wrong. I wrongly accused you!”

Sun Wukong’s eyes reddened too, and he turned away. “You wrote a banishment letter and said you didn’t recognize me as your disciple!”

Tang Seng hurriedly said, “Where is the banishment letter?”

Sun Wukong took out the proof that he had been expelled from the sect, and Tang Seng tore it up on the spot.

The master and disciple hugged each other and cried.

Many players also couldn’t hold back tears.

Mengtu sniffled and said, “It’s fine as long as they made up. Wukong still cares about Master, and Master cares about Wukong too. It was just the way they handled it that was wrong.”

“Our pilgrimage team needs to stay together. No more quarrels.”

“Watching this game’s story is exhausting — one moment it makes me sad, the next moment happy. This game is poisonous!”

Although the plot had some twists and turns, the misunderstanding was resolved quickly, which was good. At least it didn’t drag on until the next update. If Monkey had to stay misunderstood for half a month, the players probably would have gone mad.

Little Sailboat, you knew what you were doing.

Mengtu kept going, and the later stages were also very interesting.

There were the Golden Horn and Silver Horn boys from Taishang Laojun’s side, who came down to the mortal world to refine elixirs and brought a pile of magical treasures, like opening a chemistry lab in the mortal realm.

This stage was especially funny. Monkey was so mischievous that he kept changing names — “Sun Xingzhe,” then “Walker Sun,” then “Traveler Sun” — and went to challenge the demon house to test out their magical treasures.

The demon was amazed. “So many monkeys? Did I walk into a monkey nest?”

In reality, it was all Sun Wukong in disguise.

The players were dying of laughter.

The final boss battle was also very hard. The Gold Horn and Silver Horn were incredibly strong, with all kinds of item support.

After the fight, Taishang Laojun came to take them back.

Later they met another monster who had harmed the true king and impersonated him for three years. It turned out to be the lion that was the Bodhisattva’s mount, having descended to the mortal world and become a spirit.

The players all said:

【Do all these monsters have backgrounds?】
【Most of them seem to come down from Heaven to cause trouble!】
【I seriously suspect this is all an intentional test arranged by Guanyin Bodhisattva】

The short weekend soon ended, and after finishing Chapter Three, players were still left wanting more.

Every member of the main party had a role.

Zhu Bajie pulled aggro and reflected damage, Sha Seng controlled the battlefield, Tang Seng healed and cleansed debuffs, White Dragon Horse boosted speed, and Sun Wukong was the powerful DPS.

The team composition was complete, and the gameplay became richer and richer. The story stayed good too.

Every boss had a different background and a different skill set.

After every boss fight, there was a real sense of “opening up the map” and clearing new content.

On Sunday night, players once again went to Weibo begging for updates:

“When is the next chapter coming out?”
“The bosses are getting harder and harder. It’s so fun — update faster!”
“If I shake Little Sailboat, will more chapters fall out?”

Yafan Studio’s Weibo interaction area was very lively, and among all domestic game accounts, its official account had become one of the most active.

The update-hungry crowd spammed every day under the account.

Sun Wukong’s Three Visits to the White Bone Demon, Tang Seng turning into a tiger, and many other highlight scenes were widely spread, and the game’s popularity climbed another level.

By then it was late July, during summer vacation.

Countless college students on break also joined the update-chasing crowd.

By August 1, the paid chapters of Journey to the West had already surpassed 500 million yuan in total revenue. After deducting the platform cut, Xie Yunfan alone had netted 475 million yuan from Mobile Game House.

No matter what tricks the competitors used to smear it, the pilgrimage squad — Sun Wukong, Tang Seng, Zhu Bajie, Sha Seng, and White Dragon Horse — had already become household names in the game industry.

The game had exploded far beyond its niche. Nobody could stop it anymore.