Chapter Summaries

Yaoshi Buddha volunteered to confront Lin Zhu, while the Jade Emperor chose to support Lin Zhu indirectly by preparing the Heavenly Prison and going to South Heaven Gate. At Two Realms Mountain, Lin Zhu devastated the Buddhist forces, and Immoveable Wisdom King was close to death as Sun Wukong slaughtered the Buddhist army.

• Yaoshi Buddha offered to go to Two Realms Mountain, and Tathagata warned him not to fight Lin Zhu directly and to bring Guanyin and Immoveable Wisdom King back safely.
• The Jade Emperor refused to send Heavenly troops into the battle and decided to prepare the Heavenly Prison for Sun Wukong and cover Lin Zhu's retreat at South Heaven Gate.
• Lin Zhu's God-Slaying Spear destroyed Immoveable Wisdom King's Vajra Lasso and battered him until he begged for mercy, while Guanyin shouted that the Buddhist side surrendered.
• Sun Wukong swept through the Buddhist army with his Golden Hoop Staff, leaving less than one-tenth of its soldiers alive after half a day.

Sun Wukong routed the Buddhist army while Lin Zhu defeated Immovable Wisdom King and prepared to kill him. Medicine Lapis Lazuli Light Tathagata arrived with Sunlight Bodhisattva and Moonlight Bodhisattva and demanded that Lin Zhu spare Immovable Wisdom King.

• Sun Wukong struck Venerable Ananda as he tried to flee, forcing the wounded commander to escape while the remaining Buddhist troops scattered.
• Sun Wukong watched Lin Zhu overwhelm Immovable Wisdom King and resolved to grow strong enough to control his own fate.
• Lin Zhu shattered Immovable Wisdom King's Dharma form, pinned him with the God-Slaying Spear, and ignored his desperate pleas for mercy.
• Medicine Lapis Lazuli Light Tathagata arrived with Sunlight Bodhisattva and Moonlight Bodhisattva and warned Lin Zhu to spare Immovable Wisdom King.

Lin Zhu rejected Yaoshi Buddha’s claim that he had once saved him and killed Immovable Wisdom King despite Yaoshi Buddha’s threats. Yaoshi Buddha’s attempt to justify his past betrayal and force Lin Zhu to back down ended with Immovable Wisdom King’s primordial spirit and body annihilated by the God-Slaying Spear.

• Yaoshi Buddha asked Lin Zhu to spare Immovable Wisdom King, claiming he had saved Lin Zhu at Great Thunderclap Monastery.
• Lin Zhu revealed that Yaoshi Buddha had shifted blame onto Maitreya Buddha to protect Spirit Mountain, and Sun Wukong condemned him for betraying his brother.
• Yaoshi Buddha defended his actions as necessary to protect the Three Realms and warned Lin Zhu that killing Immovable Wisdom King and taking Sun Wukong would provoke Western Heaven.
• Lin Zhu dismissed Yaoshi Buddha’s threats, recalled his past conflict with Western Heaven, and declared that he would kill even Tathagata if necessary.
• Immovable Wisdom King taunted Lin Zhu from beneath the God-Slaying Spear, and Lin Zhu drove the spear into his brow, annihilating him.

After killing the Immovable Wisdom King, Lin Zhu confronted Yaoshi Buddha and used Tang Sanzang’s needed pills and Sun Wukong’s custody to pressure Western Heaven. When Yaoshi Buddha tried to stop them, Lin Zhu revealed the Heavenly Origin Demonic Stone, empowered the God-Slaying Spear, and forced the Buddha to hesitate.

• Lin Zhu killed the Immovable Wisdom King beyond any chance of resurrection, provoking Yaoshi Buddha and the two Bodhisattvas to threaten him.
• Lin Zhu revealed that he held the Nine Revolutions Soul-Restoring Pill and declared that he would take Sun Wukong to the Ninth Heaven Prison.
• Yaoshi Buddha blocked Lin Zhu and Sun Wukong, demanding the pill, Sun Wukong, and Lin Zhu’s surrender.
• Lin Zhu produced the Heavenly Origin Demonic Stone and merged it into the God-Slaying Spear, greatly increasing its destructive power.
• Lin Zhu recalled how the empowered spear had crippled Maitreya Buddha and warned Yaoshi Buddha to leave or die.
• Yaoshi Buddha backed down under the threat of the spear, while Lin Zhu and Sun Wukong prepared to depart.

After Lin Zhu forced Yaoshi Buddha to make way, Yaoshi Buddha unleashed the Glazed Illusionary Light in a retaliatory attack, killing all life across a thousand-mile region. Lin Zhu and Sun Wukong were caught by the spreading light, and Lin Zhu's defenses began to fail as he fought to protect them.

• Lin Zhu left with Sun Wukong after Yaoshi Buddha yielded, while Guanyin Bodhisattva watched them go.
• Yaoshi Buddha unleashed the Glazed Illusionary Light and claimed that killing Lin Zhu would justify sacrificing the lives in the surrounding region.
• The poisonous light swept across a thousand miles, killing Liu Boqin, his family, villagers, and all other life in its path.
• Lin Zhu sensed danger too late and raised the Auspicious Cloud Golden Lamp and Thirteenth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus to shield himself and Sun Wukong.
• The Glazed Illusionary Light shattered the Auspicious Cloud Golden Lamp and began corroding the Merit Golden Lotus as Lin Zhu struggled to hold it back.

Yaoshi Buddha’s Glazed Illusionary Light nearly killed Lin Zhu and destroyed the South Heaven Gate, but the Jade Emperor intervened with Inverting Yin and Yang. After Yaoshi Buddha fled, the Jade Emperor arranged Sun Wukong’s formal imprisonment and began explaining the weapon used in the attack.

• The Glazed Illusionary Light overwhelmed Lin Zhu’s Auspicious Cloud Golden Lamp and Thirteenth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus, but the Jade Emperor’s Inverting Yin and Yang shielded Lin Zhu and Sun Wukong.
• The remaining light dissipated after corroding the South Heaven Gate and devastating a thousand miles around Two Realms Mountain.
• The Jade Emperor revealed that he had anticipated Western Heaven’s retaliation and arrived to protect Lin Zhu; Lin Zhu and Sun Wukong thanked him.
• Yaoshi Buddha fled toward Spirit Mountain, and the Jade Emperor condemned his attack and vowed that Western Heaven would answer for it.
• The Jade Emperor ordered Lin Zhu to take Sun Wukong to the Ninth Heaven Prison under the pretense of punishment, then returned to Lingxiao Palace.
• The Jade Emperor told Lin Zhu that the attack had used Western Heaven’s secret Glazed Illusionary Light.

The Jade Emperor explained how Lin Zhu had survived Yaoshi Buddha’s deadly Glazed Illusionary Light and vowed to hold Western Heaven accountable, while Lin Zhu urged him to wait and planned his own response. Lin Zhu brought Sun Wukong to a comfortable cell in the Ninth Heaven Prison, where the monkey began recovering with imperial wine and immortal pills.

• The Jade Emperor described the lethal Glazed Illusionary Light and revealed that he had saved Lin Zhu by using Inverting Yin and Yang.
• Lin Zhu thanked the Jade Emperor, noted that he had completed his mission by bringing Sun Wukong in, and resolved to reach the Quasi-Saint Realm.
• Sun Wukong eagerly asked to go to prison, and Lin Zhu explained that Western Heaven had attacked law enforcers while escaping accountability for its own crimes.
• Lin Zhu told the Jade Emperor he would make Western Heaven recognize its mistakes and provide compensation, while the Jade Emperor considered a separate lesson for the attack on the Heavenly Court.
• Lin Zhu escorted Sun Wukong to a comfortable Ninth Heaven Prison cell and offered him imperial wine and immortal pills.
• Sun Wukong drank the wine and ate the pills, felt his old injuries begin to heal, and was moved by the comfort after five hundred years of suffering.

Lin Zhu left Sun Wukong in his luxurious cell, where Wukong discovered that the Ninth Heaven Prison housed powerful demon kings and offered extravagant provisions. After Lin Zhu drank Merit Divine Water, a profound aura erupted from him, leaving his breakthrough or transformation underway.

• Lin Zhu described fried dragon meat to Sun Wukong, then left him to rest in his cell.
• Sun Wukong explored the comfortable cell and encountered Nezha and several powerful inmates, including Bull Demon King and Black Bear Spirit.
• Sun Wukong overheard jailers mock-complaining about their lavish food, pills, and cultivation allowances, and realized the prison was far more luxurious than he had imagined.
• Lin Zhu drank Merit Divine Water from a treasure gourd, and Sun Wukong was stunned to learn Lin Zhu had earned it through his work and expected another source of merit soon.
• Lin Zhu suddenly radiated a profound aura as spiritual energy gathered around him.

Lin Zhu reached the perfected Half-step Quasi-Saint realm, while Sun Wukong marveled at his strength and the Heavenly Prison’s extravagant comforts. At Spirit Mountain, Tathagata awaited news of the mission against Lin Zhu, but Venerable Ananda returned gravely wounded and said Lin Zhu had not hurt him.

• Lin Zhu completed his breakthrough to the perfected Half-step Quasi-Saint realm after consuming Merit Divine Water, and Sun Wukong watched in shock.
• Lin Zhu sent Sun Wukong back to his cell, described the prison’s lavish food and drink, and refused the monkey’s suggestion to cause trouble and be imprisoned for ten thousand years.
• At Great Thunderclap Monastery, Tathagata worried about Golden Cicada Child’s ruined body and the need to seek a Nine Revolutions Soul-Restoring Pill from Grand Supreme Elder.
• Bodhisattva Manjushri and Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing reassured Tathagata that Yaoshi Buddha and Immovable Wisdom King would defeat Lin Zhu, though Tathagata remained uneasy.
• Venerable Ananda crashed into the monastery hall with his Golden Body badly damaged, and he told Tathagata that Lin Zhu had not injured him.

Venerable Ananda reported that Sun Wukong had reached the Grand Luo Golden Immortal realm and devastated the Buddhist forces, while Guanyin revealed that Lin Zhu had killed Immovable Wisdom King and that the Jade Emperor had blocked Yaoshi Buddha’s attack. Tathagata vomited blood at the losses, and the Buddhist assembly confronted the threat posed by Lin Zhu and the Heavenly Court.

• Venerable Ananda told Tathagata that Sun Wukong had shattered the Buddhist army’s formation and left him gravely wounded.
• Ananda falsely assured the Buddhas that Yaoshi Buddha, Guanyin, and Immovable Wisdom King had Lin Zhu and Sun Wukong under control.
• Yaoshi Buddha and Guanyin returned without Immovable Wisdom King, and Guanyin reported that Lin Zhu had killed him with the God-Slaying Spear.
• Guanyin revealed that the Jade Emperor had blocked Yaoshi Buddha’s Glazed Illusionary Light and taken Lin Zhu and Sun Wukong back to the Heavenly Court.
• Tathagata vomited blood as the Buddhas reacted with shock and fear to Immovable Wisdom King’s death and the Buddhist Sect’s defeat.

After Yaoshi Buddha blamed Lin Zhu and the Jade Emperor for Immovable Wisdom King’s death, Tathagata weighed how to salvage Journey to the West without provoking the Heavenly Court. White Lotus Boy then arrived at Great Thunderclap Monastery, bringing Saint Jieyin’s presence into the crisis.

• Yaoshi Buddha blamed Lin Zhu and the Jade Emperor for the failed mission, while the Buddhas privately criticized his decisions.
• Tathagata ordered a salvation rite for Immovable Wisdom King, and Li Jing urged Spirit Mountain to pressure the Heavenly Court for Sun Wukong and a Nine Revolutions Great Return Pill.
• Tathagata rejected direct demands against the Heavenly Court and ordered the Buddhas to search for another source of the pill or a substitute method.
• White Lotus Boy descended into Great Thunderclap Monastery, and Tathagata and the Buddhas bowed to Saint Jieyin’s personal servant.

White Lotus Boy brought Saint Jieyin’s offer of the Azure Lotus Precious Color Flag to Spirit Mountain, revealing that Lin Zhu held the only remaining Nine Revolutions Great Return Pill. Tathagata chose Li Jing to carry Western Heaven’s demands to the Heavenly Court, leaving Li Jing trapped by his own earlier bravado.

• White Lotus Boy told Tathagata that the Nine Revolutions Great Return Pill needed to revive Golden Cicada Child was in Lin Zhu’s hands.
• White Lotus Boy presented the Azure Lotus Precious Color Flag, which could protect its bearer from Karmic Force, and offered it to Tathagata on Saint Jieyin’s orders.
• Tathagata proposed sending an envoy to demand Sun Wukong’s release and Lin Zhu’s pill, while the Buddhas avoided volunteering.
• Tathagata appointed Li Jing as Western Heaven’s envoy because of his earlier calls to pressure the Heavenly Court, and ordered him to depart immediately.
• The Buddhas urged Li Jing to accept the mission as he stammered in shock.

Buddha Tathagata ordered Li Jing to demand Sun Wukong and the Nine Revolutions Great Return Pill from the Heavenly Court, then sent White Lotus Boy to incite a war against the Great Tang. In the Ninth Heaven Prison, Lin Zhu began repairing his damaged treasures and received a system mission to upgrade the Merit Golden Lotus.

• Buddha Tathagata rejected Li Jing's request for an escort and ordered him to go alone to the Heavenly Court.
• Buddha Tathagata commanded White Lotus Boy to use the Azure Lotus Precious Color Flag and mobilize Tianzhu Buddha Kingdom's forces to attack the Great Tang within three days.
• White Lotus Boy eagerly accepted the order to plunge Southern Jambudvipa into war and pressure the Heavenly Court.
• Lin Zhu used Nüwa Blood Jade to repair the Auspicious Cloud Golden Lamp and the Thirteenth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus.
• The system issued Lin Zhu a mission to gather materials and upgrade the Thirteenth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus into the Fifteenth-Grade Chaos Merit Golden Lotus.

Lin Zhu considered seeking rare lotus-upgrade materials from Buddha Tathagata, then learned that Li Jing had arrived at Lingxiao Palace as Western Heaven’s envoy. He went to confront Li Jing after warning Nezha that Western Heaven might be plotting elsewhere, and the chapter ended with the battered envoy terrified at Lin Zhu’s appearance.

• Lin Zhu realized that Buddha Tathagata and Spirit Mountain might have the rare materials needed for his merit lotus upgrade.
• Nezha told Lin Zhu that Li Jing had arrived alone at Lingxiao Palace to negotiate with the Jade Emperor, and Lin Zhu suspected Western Heaven had sent him as a disposable pawn.
• Lin Zhu ordered Nezha to monitor Spirit Mountain and the Tianzhu Buddha Kingdom, then set out with him to meet Li Jing.
• The Barefoot Immortal and Great Emperor Zhaosheng led the Immortals in beating Li Jing until Lin Zhu entered and stopped them.
• Venus Deity told Lin Zhu that the Jade Emperor had left him in charge and would support him even in an assault on Spirit Mountain.
• Li Jing recognized Lin Zhu and was overcome with terror.

Lin Zhu and the Heavenly Court’s Immortals beat Li Jing after he insulted Nezha, then forced him to explain Western Heaven’s demands. Li Jing revealed that Western Heaven wanted Sun Wukong released and a Nine Revolutions Great Return Pill for Golden Cicada Child, and Lin Zhu confronted him over how a Saint had learned of the pills.

• Lin Zhu warned Li Jing not to pass out, and Nezha declared that Li Jing was a traitor who had forfeited his standing in the Heavenly Court.
• Li Jing insulted Nezha as an unfilial son, so Lin Zhu slapped him and the Barefoot Immortal, Great Emperor Zhaosheng, and other Immortals beat him until he begged for mercy.
• Li Jing recognized that Nezha had reached the Half-step Quasi-Saint realm and muttered resentfully that Nezha did not deserve the opportunity.
• Lin Zhu stopped the beating and ordered Li Jing to explain his mission, threatening to have him executed if he could not stand.
• Li Jing reported that Buddha Tathagata wanted the Heavenly Court to release Sun Wukong and give Golden Cicada Child a Nine Revolutions Great Return Pill.
• Lin Zhu asked how Western Heaven had learned about the pills and suspected that Jie Yin or Zhun Ti had directed Li Jing; Li Jing struggled to conceal the truth.

After Li Jing revealed that White Lotus Boy had taken the Azure Lotus Precious Color Flag to Southern Jambudvipa, Lin Zhu learned that Tianzhu had invaded the Great Tang and massacred civilians to pressure the Heavenly Court. Lin Zhu ordered Ninth Heaven Prison reinforcements to the border and set out himself, while the battle continued to devastate the region.

• Li Jing confessed that White Lotus Boy had taken Saint Jieyin’s flag to the mortal realm and that Western Heaven planned to use turmoil and force to make the Heavenly Court release its people and hand over the pill.
• The Abyssal Golden Turtle reported that Tianzhu had broken the peace treaty, invaded the Great Tang border, and slaughtered civilians with the aid of Buddhist cultivators.
• Lin Zhu ordered the Ninth Heaven Prison’s Grand Yi Golden Immortals to reinforce the border and protect mortals, then decided to take Li Jing with him under Nezha’s guard.
• Lin Zhu flew toward Southern Jambudvipa and declared that neither White Lotus Boy, the flag, nor a Saint’s status would stop him.
• Tianzhu forces used the Azure Lotus Precious Color Flag to destroy Ironwall Pass, killing its inhabitants, then attacked nearby villages as Great Tang troops rushed to meet them in battle.

After Ironwall Pass and nearby villages were annihilated, Li Shimin arrived at the devastated border, mourned the dead, and ordered Great Tang’s armies to march against Tianzhu. The chapter ended with White Lotus Boy appearing before the troops and Li Shimin’s arrows failing to reach him, as the boy’s plot to lure Lin Zhu into the mortal world was revealed.

• Surviving Tang soldiers repelled the Tianzhu attackers, but Ironwall Pass and surrounding villages lay destroyed, with casualties exceeding 150,000.
• Li Shimin received the bloody dispatch, rushed to the border, and broke down at the sight of the dead and ruined city.
• A one-armed lieutenant identified a cyan-flagged figure as the one who had destroyed Ironwall Pass with a single wave.
• Li Shimin blamed Western Heaven, ordered the army to invade the Tianzhu Buddha Kingdom, and prepared to fight despite the odds.
• White Lotus Boy appeared above the army, and the lieutenant recognized him as the attacker; Li Shimin ordered the soldiers to shoot, but their arrows shattered before reaching him.
• White Lotus Boy ignored the soldiers and revealed that he had attacked mortals under Saint Jieyin’s decree to lure Lin Zhu into the mortal world and use the resulting crisis against him.

White Lotus Boy killed Yuchi Gong and prepared to destroy Li Shimin and the Tang Army, dismissing mortals as ants. Just as his enormous meteor threatened to wipe them out, an unknown voice commanded it to break, and black radiance erased it.

• White Lotus Boy turned Li Shimin’s arrow around and killed Yuchi Gong with it.
• Li Shimin mourned Yuchi Gong and declared that Great Tang would wage war against the Western Heaven Buddhist Kingdom.
• White Lotus Boy called mortals ants and summoned a gigantic meteor to destroy Li Shimin and the Tang Army.
• As the meteor descended, an unknown voice said, “Break,” and black radiance annihilated it without a trace.

Lin Zhu destroyed the meteorite threatening Great Tang and struck White Lotus Boy with the God-Slaying Spear, but White Lotus Boy sacrificed his body and treasures to escape. After receiving 150,000 Merit for completing an emergency mission, Lin Zhu surveyed the devastation and mourned the civilians killed to lure him out.

• White Lotus Boy launched a sneak attack on Lin Zhu with the White Lotus Azure Flower Sword, but Lin Zhu had already targeted him with the God-Slaying Spear.
• Lin Zhu's spear shattered the White Lotus Azure Flower Sword, pierced White Lotus Boy, and destroyed his fleshly body.
• White Lotus Boy sacrificed his body and part of his treasures to separate his primordial spirit and flee west, while Lin Zhu chose not to pursue him.
• The Great Tang soldiers cheered Lin Zhu, and the system awarded him 150,000 Merit for resolving the border crisis.
• Lin Zhu descended onto the ruined battlefield and grieved over the more than one hundred thousand people killed to lure him into the mortal realm.

Lin Zhu explained that White Lotus Boy had slaughtered 145,623 people in Great Tang to seize the Nine Revolutions Great Return Pill and ambush him, leaving Li Shimin devastated by Western Heaven’s cruelty. Lin Zhu then used his Merit to try to pull Yuchi Gong’s soul back from Reincarnation, but the attempt remained uncertain as the Merit poured away.

• Li Shimin thanked Lin Zhu for saving him, and Lin Zhu revealed White Lotus Boy’s connection to Saint Jieyin and Western Heaven’s scheme for the pill.
• Li Shimin grieved over the 145,623 dead, then steadied himself and urged the army and people to prepare for Western Heaven’s next move.
• Li Shimin asked whether Yuchi Gong could be saved, and Lin Zhu found that his soul had already left his body and entered the path of Reincarnation.
• Lin Zhu poured his Supreme Merit into Yuchi Gong’s body and used it to try to halt his soul’s descent and reconnect it to life.
• As the Merit reached forty thousand, golden light surrounded Yuchi Gong’s body and soul, but Lin Zhu had not yet brought him back.