It was modern day China in the Tang city. Tripitaka/Sanzang or even Xuanzang depending on who ever is speaking to Tripitaka, runs the largest and very successful monastery in the large Tang city. Happily guiding people in prayer, assisting in charity drives, training novices, and even guiding those who seek or need help. The last part becomes important when government official Guanyin (who’s secretly a bodhisattva but now hides as a government official for the Jade president in China but no one needs to know that in modern times) gives Tripitaka the mission to guide three juveniles in becoming their better self’s and let the temple become the place where they’ll work until they can be pardoned of their crimes. Tripitaka easily accepted the mission and asked what kind of ex criminals he’ll be taking in, he starts to regret ever accepting the mission at all. The oldest of the criminals and has been behind bars the longest, Sun Wukong. An ex criminal who rampaged through the government, stole the peach medals that give a person a lot of political power to make people listen to him, found about the government’s secret about actually being a celestial court in disguise and forced them to teach him how to be immortal in favor of him being quiet about the whole thing, and still kept being an absolute menace after all of that like beating up multiple gangs during his original time and dominating all of them. It doesn’t help that he’s a martial arts master who could defeat any force trying to take him until he was finally captured. He’s lived at least 700 years when some kind of government disguised was being form and was in prison for the 500 other years. No one knows how he’s been alive for that long and no one wants to ask. Zhu Bajie, he used to be a military general with one really good win during an intense war but unfortunately let that glory get into his head. Flirting with a secretary during a banquet at the main government building, getting banned from at least 40 buffets, and causing chaos, he was finally jailed. Sha Wujing, the only one Tripitaka was understanding of to take in. Accidentally dropping a political important vase and almost caused a war on pure accident, he was stripped of his general position and all of the good and glory he brought and was imprisoned. Helping to clean up trash to hopefully earn his way out and had gotten very good in water from it. The three criminals main job is to protect the temple, from any demons disguised as unreasonably wealthy CEOs trying to buy out the impeccably good land the temple is sat upon or force Tripitaka to sell the land to them. Sometimes they kidnap him to force this decision onto him as the head. Misadventures from this whole thing quickly starts around the temple as Tripitaka starts being kidnapped more than he’d like to admit and the other three have to find new ways to save their master. The newest addition into the group is a young girl who starts coming to the temple a year in Tripitaka’s almost impossible mission to reform these ex criminals. She’s a young fifteen year old student who goes to the local cram school in attempt to study for the impossible gao kao and enters the temple for the first time for some guidance and desperate fresh air. The more she visits, the more she becomes the temple’s little sister figure. Being very fond of the criminals and very dedicated to Tripitaka and willingly become his disciple as well. He did not want that as woman don’t traditionally become disciples or monks , but her cute and very eager face to become his disciple broke through to him and became her master. Though, it’s through her that they learn the modern cram schools have turned to very toxic ways to teach their kids and ‘discipline’ them. Adding more chaos to their misadventures then here needed to be, especially when the youngest disciple starts texting everyone in a panic at whatever is happening near the school now