For three hundred years, the Monkey King ruled his mountain. Then one night, at a banquet, a monkey fell from a branch. Dead.

"Death," the old monkey said. "It comes for all of us."

"Not for me," Sun Wukong declared.

He set out on a raft, crossing oceans, searching for immortality. His journey took him to the Western Continent, to a mountain called the Terrace of the Mind. There, in a cave lit by eternal starlight, he found the immortal master Subhuti.

"Teach me to live forever," Wukong begged.

"There are three hundred and sixty gates to the Way. Which do you seek?"

"The one that defeats death."

For seven years, Wukong studied under Subhuti. He learned to guard his spirit and concentrate his essence. But the master withheld the final teaching.

At the third watch, in the deepest hour of night, Subhuti came to Wukong in secret. He whispered three words into the monkey's ear, struck him three times on the back of the head, and departed.

Wukong understood.

"You now possess what no creature of earth or heaven can take from you," Subhuti said. "But remember — pride is the one weapon against which immortality offers no defense."

Wukong did not understand. He would learn.