Chapter Summaries

Lord Xiongshan tore off Monk Lu’s arm and ate it while the Five Directions Attendants watched, then mutilated Tang Sanzang before the attendants finally intervened and killed the demons. Tang Sanzang confronted Golden Head Attendant, accusing him and the others of watching the suffering before choosing to save him.

• Lord Xiongshan tore off Monk Lu’s arm, and Monk Lu died from his injuries as Tang Sanzang pleaded in vain for help.
• Lord Xiongshan tore off Tang Sanzang’s little finger while General Yin permitted him to keep Tang Sanzang alive.
• Parola Attendant ordered the Five Directions Attendants to intervene, and they used Buddha Light to destroy Lord Xiongshan, General Yin, Techushi, and the other demons.
• Golden Head Attendant approached Tang Sanzang to free him, expecting gratitude, but Tang Sanzang asked why the attendants had come only then.
• Tang Sanzang accused Golden Head Attendant and the other attendants of watching as the demons tortured and killed their companions.

Tang Sanzang confronted the Five Directions Attendants over their failure to protect his followers, while Lin Zhu watched from above with Venus Deity and decided to oversee the Journey to the West himself. Lin Zhu then headed for Five Elements Mountain, where Sun Wukong had spent five hundred years refining his resolve and waiting for the chance to escape.

• Golden Head Attendant freed Tang Sanzang and explained that the massacre had been a trial, but Tang seized his robe and accused the gods and Buddhas of abandoning his followers.
• Golden Head Attendant knocked Tang away and fled with the other four Attendants, leaving Tang alone with his grief and growing demonic nature.
• Lin Zhu told Venus Deity that Western Heaven had allowed the demons to remove Tang's followers and warned that Tang's fury made intervening dangerous.
• Venus Deity returned to the Heavenly Court, while Lin Zhu said he would keep watch over the journey and rode toward Five Elements Mountain.
• Sun Wukong remained trapped beneath Five-Finger Mountain, having spent five hundred years tempering his resolve and waiting for the Scripture Seeker who could release him.

Lin Zhu visited Sun Wukong beneath Five Elements Mountain, bringing him wine and telling him that he would be freed within three days if he escorted the Scripture Seeker west. Sun Wukong vowed to use his freedom to take revenge, and Lin Zhu revealed a mysterious purple fruit whose power surpassed the Peaches of Immortality.

• Lin Zhu reached Sun Wukong beneath Five Elements Mountain and greeted his old friend, who reacted with joy and disbelief.
• Lin Zhu gave Sun Wukong spiritual wine, and Sun Wukong vented his hatred of Tathagata and the Heavenly Court for imprisoning him.
• Lin Zhu told Sun Wukong that he would be freed within three days but would have to escort the Scripture Seeker west, and Sun Wukong resolved to defy the plans laid for him.
• Lin Zhu warned Sun Wukong about the karmic backlash of disrupting the Journey to the West, but Sun Wukong insisted that only he could decide his fate.
• Lin Zhu asked what Sun Wukong loved most, then produced a purple fruit whose spiritual power and aura overwhelmed the Buddhist power around the mountain.

Lin Zhu gave Sun Wukong a Yellow Center Plum that transformed his cultivation, then met the battered Xuanzang on the road to Five Elements Mountain. After Lin Zhu restored Xuanzang’s severed finger, the monk knelt in gratitude, his faith in the Buddhist Sect already turning into anger and a vow to collect its debt.

• Lin Zhu fed Sun Wukong a Yellow Center Plum, and its power rapidly strengthened his body and cultivation beneath Five Elements Mountain.
• Lin Zhu warned Sun Wukong that the road ahead was unpredictable and suggested he seek help at the Heavenly Court before leaving.
• Sun Wukong suspected Lin Zhu had seen through his resentment and plans, then renewed his resolve to break free and bring chaos to the Three Realms.
• Xuanzang limped toward Five Elements Mountain, blaming the Buddhist Sect for failing to save Monk Lu and his attendants and vowing to collect the debt.
• Lin Zhu approached Xuanzang without being detected by the Five Directions Attendants and restored his severed finger with Clear Radiance.
• Xuanzang fell to his knees and thanked Lin Zhu, calling himself Xuanzang and praising the healing as a new life.

Lin Zhu comforted Tang Sanzang after Monk Lu and the attendants died, then claimed Monk Lu had been killed as an anomaly whose unorthodox way of living revealed a truer Buddhist path. Tang Sanzang struggled to reject Lin Zhu’s attack on his faith, but Lin Zhu’s questions deepened his doubts about the Western Heaven’s teachings.

• Tang Sanzang grieved over the deaths and asked Lin Zhu why the Buddha had not protected his companions.
• Lin Zhu promised to watch over the dead men’s souls and told Tang Sanzang that Monk Lu, rather than the Scripture Seeker, had been the trial’s real target.
• Tang Sanzang recalled Monk Lu’s compassion and candor, and admitted that he had learned some Buddhist principles from him despite his disregard for monastic rules.
• Lin Zhu suggested that Western Heaven had arranged Monk Lu’s death because his way of life could undermine its approved Buddhist teachings.
• Tang Sanzang begged Lin Zhu to explain how to study Buddhism, and Lin Zhu presented Monk Lu’s worldly experiences as a shortcut to understanding Buddha nature.
• Tang Sanzang protested that Lin Zhu’s claims contradicted the scriptures, but Lin Zhu asked how many monks had truly attained the Dao through strict observance, leaving Tang Sanzang unable to answer confidently.

Lin Zhu dismantled Tang Sanzang’s faith by challenging Buddhist precepts with accounts of Buddhist soldiers who supposedly attained Buddhahood after killing in war. Tang Sanzang embraced a twisted interpretation of Buddhism, drank demonic liquor, and passed out after Lin Zhu vanished, while a faint presence lingered near Five Elements Mountain.

• Lin Zhu questioned how Buddhist precepts could coexist with Buddhist soldiers and commanders attaining Buddhahood after killing in war, leaving Tang Sanzang’s faith shaken.
• Tang Sanzang concluded that the Eight Precepts were meant to restrain others and protect him, and Lin Zhu encouraged his distorted interpretation.
• Tang Sanzang found a jar of foul demonic liquor in the cave, drank it, and celebrated what he believed was Buddhist enlightenment.
• Lin Zhu urged Tang Sanzang to spread his new interpretation, offered a riddle about everyone becoming a volume of the Sanzang True Scriptures, and disappeared.
• Tang Sanzang continued muttering about his newfound beliefs as he drank himself unconscious, while a faint, cold presence stirred from the direction of Five Elements Mountain.

Lin Zhu received a huge Merit reward after teaching Tang Sanzang subversive Buddhist ideas, while the Five Directions Attendants decided to hide Tang Sanzang’s strange behavior. The next morning, Tang Sanzang woke beside a dead tiger and learned from Liu Boqin that, while drunk, he had fought and killed several beasts.

• Lin Zhu received 100,000 Merit points, noticed that his Nine Revolutions Pangu True Body Art was labeled only as “Revolution,” and left for his next target.
• The Five Directions Attendants agreed to conceal Tang Sanzang’s drunken behavior and continue protecting him without interfering.
• Tang Sanzang woke in a forest beside a dead tiger and asked Liu Boqin how he had gotten there.
• Liu Boqin told Tang Sanzang that he had seen him drunkenly kill wolves and leopards, then strangle a tiger with a dead python.

Tang Sanzang discovered that the demon king’s wine had given him rudimentary spiritual strength, then insisted on taking the tiger he killed to Liu Boqin’s home to cook. Liu Boqin brought him to his village, where the residents stared in fear and amazement at the monk dragging a tiger corpse.

• Liu Boqin told Tang Sanzang how he had strangled a tiger while drunk, and Tang claimed his violent behavior had resulted from a Buddhist breakthrough.
• Tang revealed his identity and recounted his role in the Water and Land Dharma Assembly, convincing Liu Boqin that the rumors about the fierce monk from Chang'an were true.
• Lin Zhu realized that Tang had absorbed some spiritual energy from the demon king’s blood wine and gained rudimentary strength, disrupting the plan for a helpless mortal scripture seeker.
• Liu Boqin invited Tang to his home, but Tang chose to take the tiger corpse and asked to borrow cooking utensils and seasonings.
• Tang dragged the tiger through the forest to Liu Boqin’s village, where the startled villagers gathered and Liu introduced him as a powerful, compassionate monk from Great Tang.

Tang Sanzang taught Liu Boqin and Lady Liu a distorted version of Buddhism, and their enthusiastic acceptance spread it through Liu Family Village. Lin Zhu gained a point of Merit Vow Power before a hidden quest tasked him with further disrupting Western Heaven’s plan for the Journey to the West.

• Liu Boqin brought Tang Sanzang to his family courtyard, where Tang ordered the servants to prepare the tiger he had killed and agreed to teach Lady Liu about Buddhism.
• Tang Sanzang claimed that wine and meat nourished the body, breaking monastic conventions revealed true Buddhism, and the Eight Precepts restrained others rather than oneself.
• Liu Boqin accepted Tang Sanzang’s teachings and persuaded Lady Liu to join them in eating tiger meat and drinking wine.
• Lady Liu spread the new doctrine among village believers, and it quickly became popular throughout Liu Family Village.
• Lin Zhu watched the village embrace the teachings and received one point of Merit Vow Power from the system.
• The system triggered a hidden quest for Lin Zhu to guide Tang Sanzang’s deviation and undermine Western Heaven’s plan to promote orthodox Buddhism through the pilgrimage.

Tang Sanzang continued promoting Lin Zhu’s New Buddhism after a night of wine and roasted tiger meat, while Guanyin confronted Lin Zhu and warned him not to disrupt the Journey to the West. Tang Sanzang reached Five Elements Mountain, where a voice calling him “Master” announced the arrival of his first disciple.

• Lin Zhu received 100,000 Merit Points after Tang Sanzang’s new teachings disturbed local faith, and planned more ways to influence him.
• Tang Sanzang woke refreshed in Liu Family Village, while the Five Directions Attendants arrived late and concealed his drunken behavior from Guanyin.
• Guanyin appeared as a Half-step Quasi-Saint, confronted Lin Zhu, and backed down after he reminded her of his past control over her.
• Tang Sanzang left Liu Family Village with Liu Boqin and traveled toward Two Realms Mountain, also known as Five Elements Mountain.
• After Liu Boqin turned back at the mountain boundary, Tang Sanzang continued alone and heard someone shout, “Master! Your disciple is here!!!”

Tang Sanzang fled from Sun Wukong’s cry, but Liu Boqin calmed him with the story of the imprisoned monkey, and Tang continued toward Five Elements Mountain. He reached the stone chest and found Sun Wukong pinned beneath the mountain.

• Tang Sanzang panicked at Sun Wukong’s shout of “Master” and ran back down the trail to Liu Boqin.
• Guanyin asked Lin Zhu to stop Tang Sanzang from abandoning the journey, and Lin Zhu demanded another thirty thousand strands of Merit Golden Light before agreeing.
• Liu Boqin explained that a divine monkey who had caused Havoc in Heaven was trapped beneath Five Elements Mountain and could not escape.
• Tang Sanzang regained his nerve, and Liu Boqin left him to approach the imprisoned monkey alone.
• Tang Sanzang found Sun Wukong’s head exposed beneath the mountain and brushed weeds and moss from it.

Sun Wukong persuaded Tang Sanzang to accept him as a disciple so he could be freed from Five Elements Mountain, while Guanyin Bodhisattva grew suspicious of his sudden obedience and watched Lin Zhu closely. Tang Sanzang climbed to the summit and found Buddha Tathagata’s Six-Syllable Golden Talisman, preparing to remove it.

• Sun Wukong recognized Tang Sanzang as the Scripture Seeker and claimed that Guanyin Bodhisattva had told him to wait for the monk and become his disciple.
• Sun Wukong asked Tang Sanzang to accept him and promised to protect him on the journey to the West, and Tang Sanzang agreed.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva questioned Lin Zhu about Sun Wukong’s tame behavior, but Lin Zhu denied interfering as Guanyin kept her forces on alert.
• Sun Wukong told Tang Sanzang that removing the Six-Syllable Golden Talisman from the mountain’s summit would free him.
• Tang Sanzang used his spiritual power to climb Five Elements Mountain and found the talisman on a boulder at the summit.

Tang Sanzang removed the talisman, freeing Sun Wukong from Five Elements Mountain, but Sun Wukong immediately killed Tang Sanzang. The Golden Cicada Child Primordial Spirit escaped toward the Great Tang, while Guanyin summoned the Immoveable Wisdom King to confront Sun Wukong and Lin Zhu.

• Tang Sanzang pulled the golden talisman from Five Elements Mountain, and a gale carried it away as the mountain began to shake.
• Sun Wukong broke free from Five Elements Mountain and caught the falling Tang Sanzang, then announced he would send him to Western Heaven and struck him dead.
• A golden light containing the Golden Cicada Child Primordial Spirit escaped toward the Great Tang, and Lin Zhu recognized that Tang Sanzang's primordial spirit had fled.
• Guanyin held back from attacking Sun Wukong while Lin Zhu watched, then sent a signal summoning the Immoveable Wisdom King.
• The Immoveable Wisdom King appeared in a towering dharma manifestation behind the clouds.

After Sun Wukong killed Tang Sanzang with one blow, the Buddhist Sect surrounded Five Elements Mountain to capture him. Lin Zhu stepped in to defend Sun Wukong, arguing that the Buddhist Sect’s coercion and unclear orders made it responsible for the death, and he left Guanyin struggling to answer his case.

• The Buddhist Sect deployed the Immovable Wisdom King, Ananda, the Five Directions Attendants, eight hundred Arhats, and a vast army around Five Elements Mountain.
• Lin Zhu received Merit points, a Heavenly Origin Demonic Stone, and the third fragment of the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation Diagram after Sun Wukong killed Tang Sanzang and escaped Western Heaven’s control.
• The Immovable Wisdom King and Guanyin condemned Sun Wukong and ordered him to surrender, but Sun Wukong mocked them and challenged them to fight.
• Lin Zhu moved between Guanyin and Sun Wukong, disputing that Sun Wukong was a murderer and blaming the Buddhist Sect’s past oppression and ambiguous instructions.
• Guanyin insisted Sun Wukong had to answer for Tang Sanzang’s death, while Lin Zhu asked whether the Buddhist Sect had clearly explained what escorting the Scripture Seeker meant.
• Sun Wukong confirmed that no one had given him detailed instructions, and Lin Zhu argued that the Buddhist Sect’s vague orders bore primary responsibility for the misunderstanding.

Lin Zhu defended Sun Wukong against Guanyin’s attempt to reclaim him, then arranged to take him to Heavenly Prison under the pretext of assessing damage to public property. When the Immovable Wisdom King threatened Lin Zhu, Lin Zhu summoned the God-Slaying Spear and Thirteenth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus and challenged Sun Wukong to join him in fighting the Buddhist army.

• Lin Zhu argued that Western Heaven’s ambiguous instructions, unlawful imprisonment, and coercion made the Buddhist Sect responsible for Sun Wukong’s actions.
• Guanyin conceded that other conditions could be negotiated if Lin Zhu did not take Sun Wukong away.
• Lin Zhu proposed temporarily detaining Sun Wukong in Heavenly Prison to assess the damage caused when he escaped from Five Elements Mountain, and Sun Wukong agreed.
• Guanyin tried to block Lin Zhu, but the Immovable Wisdom King threatened to execute him for opposing Western Heaven.
• Lin Zhu summoned the God-Slaying Spear and Thirteenth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus, accused the Immovable Wisdom King of violating Heavenly Edicts, and invited Sun Wukong to help slay the Buddhas.
• Sun Wukong eagerly accepted Lin Zhu’s challenge and prepared to fight the Buddhist army.

Lin Zhu and Sun Wukong fought the Buddhist Sect army at Five Elements Mountain, with Sun Wukong charging into the Buddhist formation and Lin Zhu facing Guanyin and the Immovable Wisdom King. After Lin Zhu wounded the Immovable Wisdom King and held off their attacks, Guanyin and the Wisdom King combined their power to strike at him.

• Sun Wukong joined Lin Zhu and charged into the Buddhist Soldiers' Great Array while Lin Zhu took on Guanyin and the Immovable Wisdom King.
• The Immovable Wisdom King tried to strike Sun Wukong, but Lin Zhu intercepted him and pierced his defenses with the God-Slaying Spear.
• Guanyin shielded the Immovable Wisdom King from Lin Zhu's spear, and their collision shattered space and damaged the surrounding battlefield.
• Guanyin warned the Immovable Wisdom King that Lin Zhu's treasures and combat power made him too dangerous to face alone, so they decided to join forces and keep him occupied.
• Lin Zhu blocked their attempt to divert attention toward Sun Wukong and forced Guanyin and the Immovable Wisdom King to defend against his demonic attack.
• Guanyin amplified the Immovable Wisdom King's golden sword strike, and they brought their combined attack down on Lin Zhu, who remained still without raising his spear.

Lin Zhu shattered Immovable Wisdom King's Kurikara Sword and trapped him, but Guanyin summoned a Golden Body Tathagata Dharma manifestation to shield him. Lin Zhu transformed into a Chaos Demon God and struck the manifestation with the God-Slaying Spear, blasting apart its left hand.

• The Thirteenth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus deflected Immovable Wisdom King's giant sword and shattered his Kurikara Sword, badly injuring him.
• Lin Zhu imprisoned Immovable Wisdom King in frozen space and approached him with the God-Slaying Spear.
• Guanyin used a Sarira from her Jade Pure Bottle to summon Tathagata's Golden Body Dharma manifestation, which blocked Lin Zhu's spear and allowed Immovable Wisdom King to retreat.
• Lin Zhu invoked Law, Heaven and Earth, merged with a Chaos Demon God Phantom, and poured his power into the God-Slaying Spear.
• Lin Zhu's strike shattered the manifestation's Buddha-light shields and blasted apart its left hand.

Lin Zhu continued overpowering the Buddhist forces and stopped Sun Wukong’s breakthrough tribulation with the God-Slaying Spear. The chapter ended with the heavenly tribulation destroyed and everyone on the battlefield stunned.

• Lin Zhu kept attacking Tathagata’s dharma manifestation while Guanyin and Immovable Wisdom King struggled to defend themselves.
• Sun Wukong challenged Venerable Ananda, absorbed the power of the purple Yellow Center Plum, and broke through to the Mid-stage Grand Luo Golden Immortal realm.
• Sun Wukong’s breakthrough summoned a terrifying tri-colored Chaotic Origin heavenly tribulation, which froze after Lin Zhu’s voice challenged it.
• Lin Zhu sent a strand of God-Slaying Spear light into the thunderclouds, drawing their lightning away from Sun Wukong.
• Lin Zhu ordered the God-Slaying Spear to disperse the tribulation, and its strike shattered the thunderclouds and cleared the sky.

Lin Zhu broke Tathagata’s Dharma manifestation while Sun Wukong annihilated much of the Buddhist army with a single strike. The Buddhist forces were routed, and Immovable Wisdom King was left exposed as Lin Zhu pressed the attack.

• Venerable Ananda rallied the Buddhist forces to form the Myriad Buddhas Pay Homage Array and attack Sun Wukong, while the Five Directions Attendants prepared to flee.
• Sun Wukong transformed into a colossal ape and swept his Golden Cudgel through the array, killing countless Buddhist Soldiers and scattering the Arhats as Venerable Ananda and the Five Directions Attendants escaped.
• Lin Zhu intensified his assault on Guanyin and Immovable Wisdom King, then pierced Tathagata’s Dharma manifestation and shattered its Golden Light Sarira.
• Immovable Wisdom King panicked when Tathagata’s manifestation collapsed and threatened Lin Zhu with Buddha Tathagata and Spirit Mountain, while Guanyin recognized that the threat would not deter him.

Lin Zhu and Sun Wukong overwhelmed Western Heaven’s forces at Five Elements Mountain, while Golden Cicada Child’s body remained destroyed and his rescue seemed out of reach. After the Golden Light Sarira shattered and the Five Directions Attendants reported the battlefield’s collapse, Tathagata realized the Journey to the West had become a chain of calamities for Western Heaven.

• Guanyin kicked the Immoveable Wisdom King and ordered him to fight alongside her as Lin Zhu resumed attacking them.
• A fragment of the shattered Golden Light Sarira escaped toward Spirit Mountain, while Lin Zhu continued battling Guanyin and the Immoveable Wisdom King.
• Golden Cicana Child pleaded with Tathagata to abandon the Journey to the West, and Tathagata rejected a lotus-root body and identified the Nine Revolutions Soul-Restoring Pill as the best remedy.
• Manjushri reminded Tathagata that the Nine Revolutions Soul-Restoring Pill had likely been destroyed, and Tathagata angrily rebuked him.
• The Golden Light Sarira’s fragment struck Tathagata, who learned that his divine sense within it had been annihilated and feared Guanyin and the Immoveable Wisdom King had fallen.
• The Five Directions Attendants reported that Lin Zhu was defeating Guanyin and the Immoveable Wisdom King and Sun Wukong had reached the Grand Luo Golden Immortal realm; Tathagata blamed Lin Zhu for Western Heaven’s endless calamities and threatened Manjushri.