Recaps

Lin Zhu freed three Jie Sect immortals, plundered Spirit Mountain, and used its treasures to strengthen the Ninth Heaven Prison. After Guanyin danced to secure Sun Wukong’s release, Lin Zhu warned King of Tang about the challenges ahead as Great Tang pursued Tianzhu.

• Lin Zhu traded White Lotus Boy’s release and a Nine Revolutions Great Return Pill for the mounts of Manjushri, Samantabhadra, and Guanyin, freeing Qiu Shou Xian, Ling Ya Xian, and Golden Light Immortal.
• Lin Zhu and Wu Yun Xian deceived Akshobhya Buddha and stripped the Merit Pool of its water, treasures, and foundation before Lin Zhu escaped with the spoils.
• Lin Zhu brought the three freed immortals to the Heavenly Court and used Spirit Mountain’s treasures and Buddha Soldiers to build and staff the Ninth Heaven Prison’s Enforcement Hall.
• Lin Zhu upgraded the Merit Golden Lotus into a Thirty-Six Grade Creation Green Lotus, then traded five hundred thousand Merit Divine Water to the Jade Emperor for seven hundred thousand Merit of Faith.
• Guanyin came to retrieve Sun Wukong, and Lin Zhu made her dance before the Ninth Heaven Prison Enforcers in exchange for his release.
• Lin Zhu sent Sun Wukong to protect Tang Sanzang, while Guanyin took Little White Dragon Ao Lie to Five Elements Mountain.
• Lin Zhu told King of Tang that Western Heaven would not directly interfere in mortal wars, and King of Tang vowed to bring Tianzhu into Great Tang within two years.
• King of Tang refused Yuchi Gong’s request to massacre Kashmir’s civilians and ordered him to pursue the guilty while preserving Great Tang’s principles.

Lin Zhu tried to keep Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong on the Journey to the West as Guanyin’s plans repeatedly went awry. After Lin Zhu took control of the Tightening Fillet and Yaoshi Buddha attacked him, Tathagata’s avatar was destroyed protecting him, leaving Guanyin to explain the incident while Tang Sanzang remained in danger.

• Lin Zhu gave Li Shimin the Xuanyuan Sword and left Wind Snow City to help Guanyin restart the Journey to the West.
• Tang Sanzang woke without his memories, and Lin Zhu persuaded Sun Wukong to protect him as they resumed their journey west.
• Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong repeatedly tried to abandon the journey, but Lin Zhu and Guanyin got them moving again.
• Tang Sanzang beat the Six Thieves and, after Lin Zhu explained their symbolic names, killed them to sever his worldly roots.
• Guanyin tried to trick Sun Wukong into wearing the Tightening Fillet, but Tang Sanzang put it on himself and Guanyin’s spell left him unconscious.
• Tathagata subdued Sun Wukong and ordered him to wear the fillet, but Lin Zhu took it and later returned it after mutating it with Merit Divine Water and the Muni Light Pearl.
• Sun Wukong agreed to wear the fillet only if Lin Zhu put it on him, while Yaoshi Buddha ambushed Lin Zhu and Tathagata’s avatar shielded him until it was destroyed.
• Lin Zhu used the Thirty-Six Grade Creation Green Lotus to dispel Yaoshi Buddha’s attack, then slapped him, leaving Guanyin to claim Tathagata had acted for the Journey to the West.

Lin Zhu humiliated Yaoshi Buddha, extracted the Enforcement Hall’s ceiling from Western Heaven, and secretly gave Sun Wukong the real Tightening Fillet. As Tang Sanzang’s journey began, Lin Zhu exposed Guanyin Bodhisattva’s plan to bind Ao Lie as a Buddhist mount, destroyed its saddle, and let Ao Lie join the journey as White Dragon Horse.

• Lin Zhu beat Yaoshi Buddha until he fled, then demanded the Enforcement Hall’s ceiling from Western Heaven as compensation before Sun Wukong could wear the Tightening Fillet.
• Buddha Tathagata ordered Guanyin Bodhisattva to deliver the Enforcement Hall’s ceiling, while Lin Zhu gave Sun Wukong the real Tightening Fillet and a spell that granted him cultivation.
• Lin Zhu sent Tang Sanzang west with Sun Wukong, who pretended to obey him, while Guanyin Bodhisattva followed and Tang Sanzang accused her attendants of abandoning his murdered companions.
• At Eagle Stream Ravine, Ao Lie ate Tang Sanzang’s horse, and Sun Wukong discovered that a strange mist blocked his view beneath the water.
• Tang Sanzang ordered Sun Wukong to attack Golden Head Attendant over the deaths of his attendants, but Guanyin Bodhisattva stopped the fight and tried to control Sun Wukong with the Tightening Fillet Spell.
• Ao Lie revealed that Lin Zhu had helped him and that Guanyin Bodhisattva had taken credit, then refused to wear the saddle and bridle she had arranged to turn him into a Buddhist mount.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva paid Lin Zhu one hundred thousand portions of Merit Divine Water, and Lin Zhu crushed the saddle and bridle, then agreed that Ao Lie could join the journey as White Dragon Horse.
• Lin Zhu erased the Luojia Mountain God for helping conceal the artifact, warned Guanyin Bodhisattva to overlook his future schemes, and returned with her and Ao Lie to Eagle Stream Ravine.