Chapter Summaries

Sun Wukong escaped Li Jing’s Exquisite Pagoda after discovering Li Jing’s talismans had suppressed its restrictions, then attacked Li Jing and faced the Heavenly Court’s forces. Nezha stood by Sun Wukong, who promised to make him an Immortal Emperor when they stormed Heaven.

• Sun Wukong mocked Li Jing for carrying the unrefined Exquisite Pagoda and learned from Nezha why he resented his father.
• Enraged on Nezha’s behalf, Sun Wukong fought through the pagoda’s levels and broke out with Nezha.
• The Martial Virtue Star Lord explained that Li Jing’s talismans had weakened the pagoda because Li Jing had not refined its restrictions.
• Sun Wukong struck Li Jing with the Jingu Bang, but the Martial Virtue Star Lord weakened the blow and Li Jing fell from the sky.
• Nezha declared he would help Sun Wukong against the Heavenly Court, and Sun Wukong called him his little brother and promised to make him an Immortal Emperor.

Nezha swore brotherhood with Sun Wukong and fought the Heavenly Court forces alongside him. Sun Wukong routed the immortals and heavenly army, threatened the Southern Heavenly Gate, and returned to Flower Fruit Mountain to prepare for a renewed assault on the Heavenly Court.

• Nezha insisted that he would keep his promise to become Sun Wukong’s younger brother, and Sun Wukong accepted him.
• Martial Virtue Star Lord ordered the immortals to capture Sun Wukong but told them not to hurt Nezha.
• Nezha fought off the immortals while Sun Wukong resisted their attacks and drove them into retreat.
• Sun Wukong led the demons against the heavenly soldiers and generals, who collapsed into disorder and fled behind the Southern Heavenly Gate.
• Sun Wukong threatened the Heavenly Court with destruction unless Zhang Bairen was driven from the throne and the demons welcomed him as the new Heavenly Emperor.
• Sun Wukong returned to Flower Fruit Mountain with the demons for a victory banquet, while news of their defeat spread through the Heavenly Court.

After Sun Wukong’s defeat of the Heavenly Court’s forces, Taibai Golden Star persuaded the Jade Emperor to seek Yang Jian’s help. Yang Jian initially refused at Guanjiang Estuary, but Taibai’s revelations about the court’s infighting led him to set out to capture the demon monkey.

• The Jade Emperor asked the assembled immortals how to deal with Sun Wukong, and Taibai Golden Star suggested summoning Erlang God Yang Jian.
• The Jade Emperor issued Taibai Golden Star an imperial decree, and Taibai completed the required procedures before traveling to Guanjiang Estuary.
• Yang Jian refused to help, accused the Jade Emperor of scheming against him, and ordered Taibai to leave.
• Taibai hinted that the Heavenly Court’s great gods would not act because of their interests, then revealed that others were watching him and would seal his Daoxing if he intervened.
• Yang Jian stopped Taibai, considered his explanation, and ordered his forces to set out and capture the demon monkey.

Sun Wukong’s feast on Flower Fruit Mountain was interrupted by Yang Jian’s arrival, and Yang Jian’s force routed the demon army. After fighting Yang Jian to a standstill, Sun Wukong invited him to join the rebellion against the Jade Emperor.

• The demons on Flower Fruit Mountain celebrated Sun Wukong’s defiance of Heaven until Yang Jian’s war drums threw them into disarray.
• Sun Wukong sent Gui Yuan and Hu Shan to test Yang Jian, but Yang Jian’s divine generals killed both of them.
• A fox demon identified Yang Jian as the former Judicial Heavenly God and the Jade Emperor’s nephew, while Sun Wukong dismissed his reputation as undeserved.
• Yang Jian killed Sun Wukong’s successive vanguards, then mocked Sun Wukong as a little demon and Bimawen.
• Sun Wukong and Yang Jian fought for hundreds of exchanges without either defeating the other, and Sun Wukong urged Yang Jian to help overthrow the Jade Emperor.

Yang Jian battled Sun Wukong while his forces routed Flower Fruit Mountain, and the Green Ox helped subdue the monkey. Sun Wukong woke bound to a pillar among the immortals, convinced they had trapped him.

• Yang Jian and Sun Wukong fought for thousands of exchanges, but neither could overcome the other.
• Yang Jian blocked Sun Wukong from returning to Flower Fruit Mountain as his forces defeated the mountain's demons.
• Sun Wukong used an illusion to evade Yang Jian and attack the divine generals, but the Howling Celestial Hound and Heaven-Pouncing Eagle failed to stop him.
• The Green Ox ambushed Sun Wukong with the Black Mountain Spear and fought him alongside Yang Jian.
• A Golden Bracelet struck Sun Wukong unconscious, and he awoke shackled to a pillar among the immortals.

After the Demon-Slaying Platform and the Heavenly Court’s departments failed to harm Sun Wukong, Taishang Laojun proposed taking him to the Eight Trigrams Furnace and refining him into an Immortal Elixir. Sun Wukong recognized the bracelet in Laojun’s hand, leaving his next move uncertain.

• The Jade Emperor ordered Sun Wukong beheaded, but six guillotine blades shattered without injuring him.
• The Jade Emperor asked his ministers how to deal with Sun Wukong, and immortals from several departments tried and failed to harm him.
• Taishang Laojun offered to take Sun Wukong to the Eight Trigrams Furnace and refine him into an Immortal Elixir.
• Sun Wukong noticed the bracelet in Taishang Laojun’s hand and remembered something.

After surviving Taishang Laojun’s Eight Trigrams Furnace, Sun Wukong gained an Indestructible Vajra Physique and rampaged through the Heavenly Court. He challenged the Jade Emperor’s rule and fought the guards outside the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

• Sun Wukong recognized Taishang Laojun’s Golden Bracelet as the weapon that had knocked him unconscious, and Taishang Laojun took him to Tusita Palace.
• Taishang Laojun put Sun Wukong in the Eight Trigrams Furnace and had Golden Horn and Silver Horn tend it for forty-nine days.
• When the furnace opened, Sun Wukong blasted Golden Horn and Silver Horn aside, emerged with an Indestructible Vajra Physique, and overturned the furnace.
• Sun Wukong swallowed all the Immortal Elixirs, wrecked Tusita Palace, and fought through the Heavenly Court while taunting the Jade Emperor.
• Sun Wukong reached the Illuminated Hall outside the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, where Wang Lingguan and Ma Lingguan barred his way, and he attacked them with the Jingu Bang.

Sun Wukong stormed the Lingxiao Treasure Hall and demanded that the Jade Emperor surrender his throne, confident that his new strength made him invincible. After the Jade Emperor summoned reinforcements, Sun Wukong defeated the attacking gods and leaped toward the Jade Emperor with his staff.

• Sun Wukong defeated the two guardians outside the Illuminated Hall and entered the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.
• Sun Wukong taunted the Jade Emperor and demanded that he hand over the Heavenly Emperor’s throne.
• The Jade Emperor ordered the Thunder, Fire, Dipper, Water, Plague, and Military Departments to capture Sun Wukong.
• Over a hundred gods attacked Sun Wukong, but he sent them flying with his Jingu Bang.
• Sun Wukong leaped toward the Jade Emperor and swung his staff down at him.

Sun Wukong rampaged through the Lingxiao Treasure Hall and demanded the Jade Emperor surrender the throne, prompting the Jade Emperor to summon Tathagata Buddha Patriarch. After the immortals secretly attacked Sun Wukong, Tathagata offered him a chance to leave peacefully, but Sun Wukong challenged him to say what he could do if he refused.

• The Jade Emperor watched Sun Wukong overpower the immortals and ordered Taibai Golden Star to summon Tathagata Buddha Patriarch from Western Spirit Mountain.
• While Sun Wukong mocked Heavenly Court, several immortals secretly struck him and then pretended they had not attacked.
• Tathagata Buddha Patriarch arrived amid auspicious signs, and Sun Wukong told him to stay out of Heavenly Court's affairs.
• Sun Wukong blamed the Jade Emperor's treatment of him for his rebellion and demanded that the Jade Emperor surrender the throne.
• Tathagata warned Sun Wukong of the Jade Emperor's power and offered to let him return to the lower world without punishment, but Sun Wukong asked what Tathagata would do if he refused.

Tathagata Buddha Patriarch confronted Sun Wukong as he threatened Heavenly Court, and boasted of Spirit Mountain’s vast power. He proposed a bet that could give Sun Wukong control of Heavenly Court or the Buddhist Sect, and Sun Wukong was tempted but had not yet accepted.

• Sun Wukong insulted Tathagata Buddha Patriarch and ordered him to leave Heavenly Court’s affairs alone.
• Tathagata Buddha Patriarch described the countless Buddhas and Buddhist realms under his command, making Sun Wukong wary of his strength.
• Sun Wukong recalled why he wanted to rule Heavenly Court and bring his Fangcun Mountain master and fellow disciples there.
• Tathagata Buddha Patriarch proposed that Sun Wukong could rule Heavenly Court if he won, while a loss would send him back to Flower Fruit Mountain to cultivate.
• Tathagata Buddha Patriarch promised to give Sun Wukong Spirit Mountain and the title of Buddha Patriarch if he could not fulfill his side of the bet.
• Sun Wukong was tempted by the offers but had not yet agreed to the bet.

Sun Wukong accepted Tathagata Buddha Patriarch’s wager to escape from his palm, confident that his hidden Earth-Crossing Golden Light would let him win. After entering the vast palm, Sun Wukong revealed his secret technique, but Tathagata remained unimpressed.

• Sun Wukong questioned Tathagata Buddha Patriarch’s wager and suspected it was a trap.
• Tathagata promised to give up Spirit Mountain and make Sun Wukong its master if he lost.
• Sun Wukong agreed to the wager and threatened Tathagata if he broke his promise.
• Sun Wukong landed in Tathagata’s palm, where the landscape seemed vast beyond measure.
• Sun Wukong laughed and revealed that he planned to escape with Earth-Crossing Golden Light.
• Tathagata Buddha Patriarch questioned why Sun Wukong thought that technique would help him escape.

Sun Wukong believed he had escaped Tathagata Buddha Patriarch’s palm and won control of the Heavenly Court, but his journey only proved that he remained trapped. Tathagata declared that Sun Wukong had lost, leaving the watching immortals more wary of his power.

• Sun Wukong boasted that he had beaten Tathagata and used Earth-Crossing Golden Light to race away from his palm.
• Sun Wukong collided with a Heavenly Pillar, then mistook it for a pillar at the edge of heaven and continued onward.
• Sun Wukong reached the fourth Heavenly Pillar, carved his name into it as proof, and flew back to demand that Tathagata honor their agreement.
• Tathagata Buddha Patriarch calmly told Sun Wukong that he had lost, while the immortals grew more fearful of Tathagata.

Sun Wukong challenged Tathagata Buddha Patriarch’s claim that he had never left his palm, insisting he had reached the Four Extremities Heaven and written proof on a Heavenly Pillar. Tathagata revealed the pillars were his fingers, then trapped Sun Wukong beneath a growing mountain and crushed him into the earth.

• Sun Wukong accused Tathagata Buddha Patriarch of lying and demanded that he honor the promise to persuade the Jade Emperor to leave the Heavenly Court.
• Sun Wukong claimed he had reached the Four Extremities Heaven, seen its pillars, and written his name on one of them.
• Tathagata revealed that Sun Wukong had never left his palm and that the four pillars he saw were his fingers; the writing appeared on Tathagata’s finger.
• Sun Wukong tried to escape, but Tathagata pressed his palm down and formed a mountain around him.
• Sun Wukong’s attempts to flee or enlarge himself failed as the mountain grew with him and rooted into his flesh.
• Sun Wukong escaped through the Southern Heavenly Gate, but the mountain expanded into a vast range and crushed him into the ground.

Tathagata Buddha Patriarch trapped Sun Wukong beneath Five Elements Mountain with the Six-Syllable Mantra, while the Jade Emperor ordered a campaign against Flower Fruit Mountain and used compensation to win support from Heavenly Court officials. As the Heaven-Pacifying Assembly was prepared, Yang Jiao mobilized to descend against Flower Fruit Mountain, and Erlang of Guanjiang Estuary learned of the plan.

• Tathagata Buddha Patriarch gave the Jade Emperor a talisman and explained that attaching it to Five Elements Mountain would suppress Sun Wukong.
• The Jade Emperor ordered Martial Virtue Star Lord to attach the talisman and tasked Yang Jiao’s Judicial Heavenly God Hall with eradicating the demons of Flower Fruit Mountain.
• The Jade Emperor ordered Taibai Golden Star to tally the damage and arrange compensation, prompting many neutral immortals to voice support for him.
• Martial Virtue Star Lord affixed the Six-Syllable Mantra to Five Elements Mountain, trapping Sun Wukong beneath it.
• The Jade Emperor invited Tathagata Buddha Patriarch to a Heaven-Pacifying Assembly, while Yang Jiao prepared to lead troops to Flower Fruit Mountain and Erlang of Guanjiang Estuary learned of the matter.

Yang Jian defied the Heavenly Court’s order to exterminate Flower Fruit Mountain’s demons, while Yang Jiao confronted him and heard why he sympathized with Sun Wukong. Yang Jian burned the mountain after the slaughter, and Sun Wukong remained trapped beneath Five Elements Mountain without his powers.

• Yang Jian ordered Guanjiang Estuary’s forces to attack Flower Fruit Mountain, sparing low-karma monkeys while killing demons who resisted.
• Yang Jiao appeared beside Yang Jian and challenged him for showing mercy and disobeying the imperial decree.
• Yang Jian explained that Sun Wukong’s fate reminded him of how he and his brothers had been manipulated as pieces by powerful schemers.
• Yang Jiao left after telling Yang Jian to handle the matter cleanly, and Yang Jian’s forces defeated the demons and burned Flower Fruit Mountain to a barren wasteland.
• Trapped beneath Five Elements Mountain, Sun Wukong discovered that the mountain had stripped away his cultivation and magical power, and he begged Tathagata to release him.

The Five Directional Guardians taunted and tortured Sun Wukong beneath the Five Elements Mountain, then told him Erlang Divine Sage True Lord had burned Flower Fruit Mountain and killed its inhabitants. Sun Wukong clung to the belief that his monkeys could not have died because he had removed them from the Book of Life and Death, but the Golden-Headed Guardian’s cryptic reaction left him terrified.

• The Golden-Headed Guardian mocked Sun Wukong, and the other Jiedi joined in before he forced Copper-Juice Iron Pills and scalding copper juice down the monkey’s throat.
• The Golden-Headed Guardian told Sun Wukong that Erlang Divine Sage True Lord had destroyed Flower Fruit Mountain and killed its demons and monkeys.
• Sun Wukong was stunned by the news, then insisted his monkeys could not have died because he had removed their names from the Book of Life and Death.
• The Golden-Headed Guardian called Sun Wukong’s deed “brutal” and fell silent, leaving Sun Wukong increasingly alarmed as he demanded an explanation.

The Year Duty Merit Officer revealed that Sun Wukong’s erased monkeys could still die and become wandering ghosts, leaving Wukong devastated. The Heavenly Court immortals stood by him despite the Buddhist Sect’s objections, while Wukong stopped resisting his punishment.

• The Year Duty Merit Officer defied the Golden-Headed Guardian, struck him, and insisted Sun Wukong remained the Heavenly Court’s Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
• The Year Duty Merit Officer explained that removing the Flower Fruit Mountain monkeys from the Book of Life and Death had not made them immortal; if they died, they would become wandering ghosts.
• Sun Wukong fell silent and stopped resisting, and the Five Directional Guardians later forced Copper-Juice Iron Pills into him without opposition.
• A fellow Merit Officer asked why the Year Duty Merit Officer had defended Sun Wukong, and he said Wukong’s past kindness had created a bond he could not betray.

Yang Jian refused the Jade Emperor’s repeated summons over his decision to spare Flower Fruit Mountain’s demons, but agreed to attend the Heaven-Pacifying Assembly after Taibai Golden Star explained the invitation. Taibai returned to Heaven as preparations for the feast continued and heard the Jade Emperor roaring in anger.

• Yang Jian’s subordinates worried as the Jade Emperor repeatedly ordered him to ascend to Heaven and explain why he had spared Flower Fruit Mountain’s demons.
• Yang Jian dismissed their fears and told Shenhua to invite Taibai Golden Star inside.
• Taibai Golden Star told Yang Jian that the Jade Emperor had invited him to the Heaven-Pacifying Assembly, not to face censure.
• Yang Jian agreed to attend and told Taibai Golden Star to ensure that his subordinates’ military merits and rewards were properly calculated.
• Taibai Golden Star returned to Heaven, where preparations for the assembly were underway, and heard the Jade Emperor roaring furiously from Lingxiao.

In the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, Zhang Bairen berated Yang Jiao over Flower Fruit Mountain before Taibai Golden Star reported that the Heaven-Pacifying Assembly was drawing major powers. Zhang Bairen revealed he had planned to use Yang Jiao to infiltrate the Buddhist Sect, but Taibai Golden Star’s intervention stopped him, and Taibai explained why the plan would damage the Jade Emperor’s standing.

• Zhang Bairen angrily accused Yang Jiao and the Judicial Heavenly God Hall of failing to destroy Flower Fruit Mountain according to his decree.
• Taibai Golden Star reported that most invited Immortals had agreed to attend the Heaven-Pacifying Assembly and described Jin Chanzi’s fall into Reincarnation.
• Zhang Bairen confronted Yang Jiao about taking responsibility for Yang Jian’s mistake and offered to forgive him if he completed a task.
• Taibai Golden Star interrupted Zhang Bairen before he could recruit Yang Jiao, and Yang Jiao left the hall.
• Zhang Bairen accused Taibai Golden Star of ruining his scheme to use Yang Jiao as a pawn against the Buddhist Sect.
• Taibai Golden Star argued that targeting the former Immortal Emperor’s nephew would alienate Heavenly Court Immortals and make Zhang Bairen appear ungrateful.

Zhang Bairen and Taibai Golden Star clashed over Zhang Bairen’s plan to make Yang Jiao part of the Journey to the West party. Their argument turned into a fight in the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, where Taibai Golden Star met the Jade Emperor’s attack head-on.

• Taibai Golden Star defied Zhang Bairen and warned him not to interfere with Yang Jiao and the others.
• Zhang Bairen insisted he would make Yang Jiao part of the Journey to the West party, regardless of Taibai Golden Star’s support.
• Taibai Golden Star said he would help the Heavenly Emperor set Zhang Bairen back on the proper path.
• Zhang Bairen unleashed his Peak Quasi-Saint aura and attacked Taibai Golden Star with his Dharma Aspect.
• Taibai Golden Star blocked Zhang Bairen’s finger strike, shattering the void and leaving Zhang Bairen astonished by his strength.