Chapter Summaries

After Wei Zheng killed the Jing River Dragon King, Li Shimin feared the broken promise would bring consequences. The Dragon King dragged Li Shimin’s soul to the Netherworld, where Li Shimin entered the City of Wrongful Deaths seeking a way back to the living.

• Li Shimin realized Wei Zheng had tricked him into failing to save the Jing River Dragon King and worried about the consequences.
• That night, the headless Jing River Dragon King appeared beside Li Shimin’s bed and accused him of breaking his promise.
• The Dragon King dragged Li Shimin’s soul from his body and brought him to the Netherworld Prefecture.
• Li Shimin resolved to return to the living and walked past the river and bridge without crossing them.
• Ghost soldiers let Li Shimin enter a city in the Netherworld, where he walked through the ghost-filled streets.
• Li Shimin reached a gate marked City of Wrongful Deaths.

Li Shimin encountered the vengeful souls of Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, their nephews, and the soldiers killed in the Xuanwu Gate Incident, but Ksitigarbha drove them back and advised him to hold a Water-Land Assembly to deliver them. Ksitigarbha explained that Li Shimin could return to life, then led him to the Yama Halls, where King Yama came out to receive him.

• Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, their nephews, and the dead soldiers surrounded Li Shimin at the City of Wrongful Deaths and demanded his life.
• Ksitigarbha arrived and used golden light to force the Lost Souls, including the Jing River Dragon King, back into the mist.
• Ksitigarbha told Li Shimin that a Water-Land Assembly could deliver the Lost Souls and ease the resentment clinging to him.
• Ksitigarbha explained that Li Shimin's allotted lifespan had not ended and that he could return to life by settling the matter with King Yama.
• Ksitigarbha escorted Li Shimin to the Yama Halls, where King Yama personally came out to receive him.

Li Shimin returned from the Underworld with fifty years added to his lifespan and ordered a Water-Land Assembly, where Xuanzang was chosen to preside. During the assembly, Xuanzang revealed the letters and bundle that explained how he had been separated from his parents.

• King Yama checked the Book of Life and Death and extended Li Shimin's lifespan from thirty-two to eighty-three years of Zhenguan.
• Judge Cui told Li Shimin to hold a Water-Land Assembly to deliver the dead souls of the Jing River Dragon King and Li Jiancheng, and Marshal Zhu escorted him back to life.
• Li Shimin awoke in the imperial palace and ordered a Water-Land Assembly in Chang'an, selecting Xuanzang to preside.
• Xuanzang preached scriptures at White Horse Temple, while the dead souls stopped troubling Li Shimin.
• Xuanzang brought Li Shimin letters and a bundle, then revealed that his father, Chen Guangrui, had been murdered by Liu Hong and his mother, Yin Wenjiao, had set him adrift as an infant.

Xuanzang reunited with his grandfather Yin Kaishan, then accepted the mission to travel west and retrieve the scriptures as Tang Sanzang. After tigers killed his attendants on Twin-Fork Ridge, hunter Liu Boqin saved him and offered to guide him across the mountain.

• Li Shimin summoned Yin Kaishan, who recognized Xuanzang as his grandson and embraced him while the emperor ordered an investigation into Liu Hong's murder of Chen Guangrui.
• Ananda and Kasyapa revealed themselves as Arhats, urged Xuanzang to seek Mahayana Dharma at Spirit Mountain, and left behind a Brocade Kasaya, a Nine-Ring Staff, and three hoops.
• Xuanzang agreed to journey west, and Li Shimin named him Tang Sanzang and sent him from Chang'an with two attendants and provisions.
• On Twin-Fork Ridge, fierce tigers attacked Tang Sanzang and killed his two attendants before hunter Liu Boqin charged in and killed a tiger.
• Liu Boqin introduced himself, invited Tang Sanzang to rest at his home, and offered to escort him across the mountain the next day.

Tang Sanzang crossed Two-Boundary Mountain and discovered Sun Wukong trapped beneath it, who asked him to remove Tathagata’s talisman so he could join the journey west. Tang Sanzang climbed to the summit but hesitated when he read a warning on the talisman.

• Liu Boqin hosted Tang Sanzang overnight, and Tang Sanzang recited scriptures for Liu Boqin’s late father and prayed for his mother.
• Liu Boqin escorted Tang Sanzang to the edge of Two-Boundary Mountain, then returned home while Tang Sanzang continued alone.
• Tang Sanzang crossed the mountain’s dangerous paths and spent the night outdoors before continuing his journey the next morning.
• Sun Wukong called out to Tang Sanzang and explained that he was pinned beneath the mountain and had been told by Saint Zhunti to accompany him west.
• Tang Sanzang agreed to free Sun Wukong and climbed to the summit, where he stopped after seeing the talisman’s warning that removing it would doom his whole family.

Tang Sanzang tore off the talisman and freed Sun Wukong from Five Elements Mountain, but Sun Wukong immediately killed the Five Directional Guardians. Tang Sanzang regretted releasing him, yet set off with him to retrieve the scriptures.

• Tang Sanzang tore off the talisman, freeing Sun Wukong and restoring his sealed strength.
• Sun Wukong burst out of Five Elements Mountain and hunted down and killed all five Jiedi.
• Tang Sanzang saw the bodies and feared that he had unleashed a demon by removing the talisman.
• Sun Wukong found Tang Sanzang, dismissed his objections to the killings, and urged him to begin the scripture journey.
• Tang Sanzang decided to trust the Saint and set off with Sun Wukong, who rode on his horse and promised to find him a faster mount.

After leaving Tang Sanzang to find food, Sun Wukong returned to Flower Fruit Mountain and discovered that the remaining monkeys were impoverished and bullied by monsters. Their continued faith in him moved him to tears, and he flew to the East Sea Dragon Palace to ask the Dragon King for a place to stay and a drink.

• Sun Wukong drew a protective circle around Tang Sanzang, left him flatbreads, and flew east to find food.
• Sun Wukong reached Flower Fruit Mountain and saw that fewer than a thousand frail monkeys remained.
• A wolf monster demanded tribute, beat the Old Monkey, and blamed Sun Wukong for the monkeys' suffering.
• Sun Wukong transformed into a burly stranger and killed the wolf monster and the other attacking monsters.
• The monkeys defended their absent king when Sun Wukong pretended to insult him, and he fled in tears after realizing they still believed in him.
• Sun Wukong went to the East Sea Dragon Palace, where the East Sea Dragon King welcomed him and ordered wine and food.

Sun Wukong asked the Dragon King to protect Flower Fruit Mountain while he traveled with Tang Sanzang, and the Dragon King agreed. Sun Wukong then visited the True Lord Temple to see Yang Jian, but the divine generals insulted him and challenged him to fight.

• Sun Wukong reminisced with the Dragon King about his past and asked him to keep demons from bullying the monkeys of Flower Fruit Mountain.
• The Dragon King agreed to send sea-patrolling Yakshas to watch over Flower Fruit Mountain.
• Sun Wukong left the Dragon Palace and went to the True Lord Temple at Guanjiang Estuary to see Yang Jian.
• The temple’s divine generals stopped Sun Wukong and scorned him for being a demon monkey escorting a monk to retrieve scriptures.
• Sun Wukong demanded that Yang Jian come out, and a warrior pointed his spear at him and challenged him to fight.

Sun Wukong left Guanjiang Estuary after thanking Yang Jian, then discovered Tang Sanzang had gone missing while he was away. The Four Duty Merit Officers told him that demons at Twin-Fork Ridge had nearly eaten Tang Sanzang, but Taibai Golden Star had rescued him and taken him to a Mountain God Temple.

• Sun Wukong thanked Yang Jian for sparing Flower Fruit Mountain and flew away from Guanjiang Estuary.
• Sun Wukong returned to find Tang Sanzang, the horse, and the luggage gone, and the local earth god told him Tang Sanzang had headed west.
• Sun Wukong searched for Tang Sanzang but could find no trace of his aura or divine signs.
• The Four Duty Merit Officers told Sun Wukong that demons at Twin-Fork Ridge had captured Tang Sanzang and that Taibai Golden Star had rescued him.
• Sun Wukong hurried toward the Mountain God Temple where Taibai Golden Star had taken Tang Sanzang.

Sun Wukong and Tang Sanzang argued in a Mountain God Temple over Wukong’s absence and Sanzang’s hunger, with each defending his own hardships and priorities. Taibai Golden Star arrived and interrupted them, easing some of Wukong’s anger.

• Sun Wukong entered the Mountain God Temple and found Tang Sanzang eating porridge after being rescued from demons.
• Sun Wukong scolded Tang Sanzang for leaving the protective circle, while Tang Sanzang complained that Wukong had left him hungry and delayed their scripture journey.
• Sun Wukong reminded Tang Sanzang that he had endured fourteen hundred years trapped beneath Five Elements Mountain and wanted to visit his family after his release.
• Sun Wukong and Tang Sanzang exchanged angry accusations until Taibai Golden Star arrived and greeted them.
• Sun Wukong’s anger eased when he recognized Taibai Golden Star and asked how the old official had been.

Taibai Golden Star helped Sun Wukong understand that Tang Sanzang was a vulnerable mortal, and the two resumed their journey with a little more sympathy for each other. They reached a village for the night, where an elderly farmer asked Tang Sanzang about the monkey immortal imprisoned beneath a great mountain.

• Taibai Golden Star explained that Tang Sanzang was an ordinary mortal who needed food and feared the wilderness, and Sun Wukong agreed to pay closer attention to his needs.
• Taibai Golden Star departed, and Sun Wukong packed their supplies before he and Tang Sanzang left the Mountain God Temple together.
• As they traveled west, Sun Wukong considered Tang Sanzang's mortal limits, while Tang Sanzang reflected that he had been too harsh about Sun Wukong's wish to revisit Five Elements Mountain.
• Sun Wukong gently told Tang Sanzang they would stay in a village, and Tang Sanzang apologized for speaking harshly and called him Wukong for the first time.
• The two found lodging in an old farmer's woodshed, where the farmer asked Tang Sanzang whether he knew the monkey immortal imprisoned beneath the great mountain.

Qingyuan was cultivating Great Thousand Worlds near Golden Ao Island when Jieyin and Zhunti came to visit. They asked to let the Western Teachings participate in establishing the All-Heavens Worlds, leaving Qingyuan to consider their renewed request.

• Qingyuan cultivated while countless complete Great Thousand Worlds revolved around him.
• Qingyuan sensed Jieyin and Zhunti approaching and withdrew his aura, making the surrounding worlds fade.
• Jieyin and Zhunti greeted Qingyuan, and he asked why they had left the scripture pilgrim during Journey to the West.
• Zhunti claimed he had come to thank Qingyuan after recovering from his injuries, but Qingyuan dismissed the excuse and told them to return if they had no other business.
• Jieyin revealed that he and Zhunti wanted the Western Teachings to participate in establishing the All-Heavens Worlds, and Qingyuan remained silent.

Qingyuan refused Jieyin and Zhunti’s offer to help, then went to the beach on Golden Ao Island and fished into the Temporal Void. When the line went taut, he sat up and tried to haul in whatever he had hooked.

• Jieyin and Zhunti offered Qingyuan Western Teachings’ disciples and resources, but he told them he had already handled most of the matter.
• Jieyin and Zhunti accepted Qingyuan’s refusal and left Golden Ao Island.
• Qingyuan lay on the beach and cast a bare fishing line that passed through the world and into the Temporal Void.
• After the line drifted through Chaos and shattered laws, it suddenly went taut, and Qingyuan sat up and gripped the rod.
• Qingyuan shouted and pulled, attempting to draw his catch out of the Void.

Qingyuan struggled against the Temporal Void and pulled out a withered Sun Star with his Great Dao Fishing Rod. Its ruined state showed him that the Primordial Wilderness had ended in an Immeasurable Calamity and everything had returned to the Void.

• Qingyuan was pulled from the beach into the Chaos of the Temporal Void as his fishing line met fierce resistance.
• Qingyuan reinforced himself with Hunyuan Method Power and Great Dao Law, endured the Void’s attacks, and hauled the catch upward.
• Qingyuan pulled a withered, shrunken Sun Star from the Void and recognized it as a remnant of the Primordial Wilderness.
• Qingyuan realized that the Immeasurable Calamity had ended the Primordial Wilderness and returned all things to the Void.

Qingyuan used the Chaos Demon God Blood Pool to restore the extinguished Sun Star, sacrificing the pool's origin in the process. After the Sun Star revived inside the Chaos Pearl, he discovered three Life Sources within it, quietly absorbing its energy.

• Qingyuan concealed the Heavenly Secrets with formations and placed the extinguished Sun Star into the Chaos Demon God Blood Pool.
• The Sun Star devoured the Blood Pool's liquid, Chaos Law fragments, and Dao Resonance until the pool was nearly drained.
• A golden beam erupted as the Sun Star emerged from the pool, restored and blazing with Solar True Fire.
• Qingyuan drew the growing Sun Star into the Chaos Pearl, where it expanded to fill the skies and bathed the world in powerful sunlight.
• Qingyuan examined the Sun Star's core and found three pulsing Life Sources absorbing energy from its origin.

Qingyuan discovered three clusters of Life Source in the rekindled Sun Star, then began uniting the Great Thousand Worlds into a single Myriad Worlds formation. He placed the Sun Star beside the Mysterious Yellow Mother Qi Tower, and its light began strengthening and connecting the worlds.

• Qingyuan found three clusters of Life Source inside the Sun Star whose auras resembled those of Di Jun, Tai Yi, and Chang Xi.
• Qingyuan decided to use the Sun Star to nourish the Great Thousand Worlds and placed the Mysterious Yellow Mother Qi Tower at their center.
• Qingyuan arranged thousands of Innate Spiritual Treasures as Formation Eyes and summoned the Great Thousand Worlds around him.
• Qingyuan used the tower's Mystic Yellow Qi to arrange the worlds into a unified pattern, with larger and brighter worlds nearer the center.
• Qingyuan placed the Sun Star beside the tower, and their energies combined and spread through the worlds.
• The Sun Star's light strengthened the worlds' Laws and spiritual energy, while changes in one world began affecting its neighbors.

Qingyuan watched the Great Thousand Worlds slowly connect and share energy, then rested as their network developed. In Zixiao Palace, Dao Ancestor Hongjun worried that Qingyuan might interfere with the Journey to the West and turned his attention to Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong, who were resting at a farmhouse.

• Qingyuan observed the Sun Star and Mysterious Yellow Mother Qi Tower nourishing the linked Great Thousand Worlds, then sat on the beach to commune with Chaos.
• Dao Ancestor Hongjun watched Jieyin and Zhunti repeatedly visit Golden Ao Island and grew displeased with their closeness to Qingyuan.
• Hongjun weighed the Western Flourishing against his fear that Qingyuan might use the Journey to the West to seize authority over the Heavenly Dao.
• Hongjun saw Tang Sanzang eating a meager meal while Sun Wukong idled at a farmhouse where the two had agreed to rest another day.

Sun Wukong killed the bandits who raided a farmhouse, rejecting Tang Sanzang's pleas to spare them because he judged them to be habitual killers. Afterward, Sun Wukong laughed with relief while Tang Sanzang stood among the corpses, furious at his disciple.

• The one-eyed brute led more than three hundred bandits down the mountain toward a settlement.
• Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong left an old farmer's home, then saw the bandits raid the farmer's household and attack his family.
• Sun Wukong attacked the bandits with Jingu Bang and killed many of them.
• Tang Sanzang tried to stop Sun Wukong, but Sun Wukong argued that the bandits would harm the family after the pilgrims left and continued killing them.
• Sun Wukong sensed that the bandits were experienced killers rather than desperate men and killed the remaining bandits.
• Sun Wukong laughed after the fight, while Tang Sanzang angrily called him a monster for killing so many people and disobeying his master.

Tang Sanzang dreamed that an Old Immortal warned him Sun Wukong was a dangerous demon and gave him three Golden Hoops to restrain his disciple. After secretly burying and retrieving the hoops, Tang Sanzang finally demanded that Sun Wukong wear one or return to Flower Fruit Mountain, leaving Sun Wukong silent.

• Tang Sanzang continued traveling in silence while Sun Wukong followed him after their quarrel.
• At a ruined temple, Tang Sanzang dreamed that an Old Immortal warned him about Sun Wukong's murderous past and told him to use a Golden Hoop to control him.
• Tang Sanzang awoke holding three Golden Hoops, secretly buried them beneath a tree, then dug them up at dawn.
• Tang Sanzang spent several days trying unsuccessfully to persuade Sun Wukong to wear a Golden Hoop.
• Tang Sanzang laid out the three hoops and told Sun Wukong to wear one if he still accepted him as his master, or leave for Flower Fruit Mountain; Sun Wukong fell silent.

Tang Sanzang used the Tightening Curse to force Sun Wukong to submit after the monkey put on the Golden Hoop and tried to attack him. Sun Wukong finally stopped resisting, then flew west on his Somersault Cloud.

• Sun Wukong chose the smallest Golden Hoop and put it on, while Tang Sanzang recited the Tightening Curse and made the hoop tighten painfully around his head.
• Sun Wukong begged Tang Sanzang to stop and promised to obey, but Tang Sanzang finished reciting the scripture and demanded that he stop killing.
• Sun Wukong approached Tang Sanzang and tried to strike him with the Jingu Bang, but the Golden Hoop tightened and sent him howling to the ground.
• Tang Sanzang continued reciting the curse until Sun Wukong pleaded that he was truly afraid and would obey.
• Tang Sanzang stopped reciting, and Sun Wukong leaped onto the Somersault Cloud and vanished westward.