Recaps

Tianpeng’s encounter with Sun Wukong leads him to confess to Qingyuan, who then awakens Demon Ancestor Luohou and restores his strength. Qingyuan subdues Luohou and takes control of the Demon Realm, while Jieyin and Zhunti arrive to demand repayment for an old grievance.

• Marshal Tianpeng defended Sun Wukong, heard his dream of escaping Five Elements Mountain, and used the Moonlight Treasure Box story to help him choose to follow his heart.
• Tianpeng confessed to Qingyuan that fear had made him join others against him, and Qingyuan told him he had passed the test and could continue the Journey to the West.
• Qingyuan opened a path to the Demon Realm, met Demon Ancestor Luohou, and proved his strength before offering to make him a disciple and restore his former foundation.
• Luohou entered the Chaos Demon God Blood Pool and regained his Chaos Demon God Foundation, then tried to defy Qingyuan and seize the treasure for himself.
• Qingyuan repeatedly found and defeated Luohou throughout the Demon Realm, then used the Myriad Demons Core and other treasures to strengthen the realm and bind him.
• Qingyuan’s Demonic Dao Incarnation took command of the Demon Realm, while Qingyuan imprisoned Luohou and began constructing his Hunyuan core.
• Zhunti and Jieyin consulted Hongjun, who declined to intervene, then traveled to the Demon Realm to seek repayment from Luohou for the destruction of the Western Earth Veins.
• Zhunti and Jieyin broke through the Demon Realm’s barrier, and Luohou appeared to ask why they had come.

Luohou returned to the Demon Realm and killed Zhunti and Jieyin, then fought off the assembled Saints by drawing strength from their negative emotions. With Hongjun refusing to intervene, Jieyin sought Qingyuan’s help and agreed to appoint White Bone as the fourth Buddha Patriarch.

• Zhunti and Jieyin confronted Luohou over the Western Lands, but Luohou crushed Zhunti and nearly killed Jieyin before the other Saints intervened.
• Taiqing, Yuanshi, Tongtian, and Nuwa tried to defeat Luohou, but he repeatedly re-formed, killed Jieyin, and escaped their attacks.
• The Saints gathered to suppress Luohou, but Taiqing discovered that Luohou’s demonic sword grew stronger from their negative emotions, so the Saints withdrew.
• Jieyin fled to Zixiao Palace and begged Hongjun for help, but Hongjun sent him to Qingyuan and began investigating Luohou’s restored power.
• Jieyin went to Golden Ao Island and begged Qingyuan to rescue the Western Teachings from Luohou.
• Qingyuan said he would help only if Jieyin made White Bone a Buddha Patriarch and let him establish his own lineage.
• Jieyin agreed and returned to the Ultimate Bliss World, where he offered White Bone the status of the fourth Buddha Patriarch and the right to found a lineage.

White Bone became Universal Manifestation Tathagata and established a new Buddhist lineage, then defeated the leaders who challenged him and opened his Pure Land to all. With Western Flourishing prepared, Daoist Zhunti began the Journey to the West by drawing Li Shimin into a reckoning with the dead princes and their families.

• White Bone accepted Daoist Jieyin’s invitation to lead the Buddhist Sect, named himself Universal Manifestation Tathagata, and founded the Present-Moment Pure Land.
• Tathagata Buddha Patriarch, Maitreya, and Ancient Buddha Randeng confronted Universal Manifestation Tathagata, but he defeated their challenges and the gathered Buddhas departed.
• Universal Manifestation Tathagata welcomed rejected monks and other beings into his Pure Land, while Daoist Jieyin assured the Buddhist leaders that he would not disrupt Western Flourishing.
• Daoist Jieyin secured Qingyuan’s approval and arranged support and noninterference from the Heavenly Court, the Underworld Bureau, and other powers for the Journey to the West.
• As Great Tang flourished under Li Shimin, Daoist Zhunti persuaded Sun Wukong to escort a scripture seeker and obtained the other powers’ agreement to the journey.
• Daoist Zhunti urged Li Shimin to spare a white spirit deer and welcome Buddhist scriptures, but Li Shimin rejected him and ordered him away.
• Daoist Zhunti met Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, and their slain followers in the Underworld, then let them seek an explanation from Li Shimin without promising to help them.
• Daoist Zhunti borrowed the Human Dao Seal from Saint Taiqing and used it to draw Li Shimin’s consciousness from his body, where the dead princes and their families accused him of killing them.

Li Shimin’s encounters with the dead led him to launch Xuanzang’s pilgrimage west, where Tang Sanzang freed Sun Wukong and began traveling with him. After Sun Wukong killed a band of raiders, Tang Sanzang used a Golden Hoop to restrain him, and Sun Wukong flew off toward the west.

• Li Shimin faced the Lost Souls of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, met the executed Jing River Dragon King in the Netherworld, and returned to life after King Yama extended his lifespan and ordered a Water-Land Assembly.
• Xuanzang learned that Liu Hong had murdered his father, received sacred travel gear from Ananda and Kasyapa, and set out west as Tang Sanzang to seek Mahayana Dharma.
• Tang Sanzang freed Sun Wukong from Five Elements Mountain, and Sun Wukong revisited Flower Fruit Mountain before rejoining the monk after Taibai Golden Star rescued him from demons.
• Qingyuan drew a ruined Sun Star out of the Temporal Void, restored it, and used it with the Mysterious Yellow Mother Qi Tower to nourish and link the Great Thousand Worlds.
• Sun Wukong killed bandits attacking an old farmer’s family, and Tang Sanzang condemned him for the killings despite Wukong’s warning that the bandits would return to harm them.
• Tang Sanzang dreamed that an Old Immortal told him to control Sun Wukong with a Golden Hoop, then pressured Wukong to choose one and wear it.
• Tang Sanzang recited the Tightening Curse until Sun Wukong agreed to obey, but Wukong tried to strike him with the Jingu Bang and then flew away on the Somersault Cloud.