The four master and disciples, horse included, fled Coiling Silk Ridge in a miserable state, reeking of Coiling Silk Cave's special "Seven-Colored Spider Silk Perfume" and missing several plucked eyebrow hairs.
After that.
No one knew how many more years of cold and heat they traveled.
They endured several more "minor tribulations" where immortals forcibly added scenes.
Such as:
Hidden Mist Mountain's Mountain-Splitting Chain Cave: the Mountain King of the Southern Hills, a flower-spotted leopard spirit, tricked away their master with the "Petal-Plum Scheme."
Xuanzang was locked in the cave as a "hostage," forced to listen to the little demons rehearse their "kidnapping and ransom extortion" lines, and even made to critique their acting skills. "Benefactor... your expression when saying 'tear up the hostage'... isn't savage enough..."
Fengxian Prefecture's prayer for rain: the prefectural lord overturned the offering table, and the Jade Emperor punished the region with three years without rain.
Sun Wukong went to Heaven to argue the case, only to be shut down by the Jade Emperor with one line: "The procedures aren't complete, and the Key Performance Indicator hasn't been met."
Xuanzang was forced to host a "Nationwide Repentance Assembly," leading the entire prefecture in a melodrama called "Tearful Sincerity: Genuine Remorse," moving the Heavenly Court.
(Jade Emperor: Not bad ratings. Approved.)
Yuhua Prefecture's taking of disciples: three princes became disciples to learn the arts. On a whim, Sun Wukong and the other two left the Golden Hoop Staff, Nine-Toothed Rake, and Monster-Subduing Staff at a blacksmith shop "as samples."
The result was that the Yellow Lion Spirit stole the treasures, triggering the "Rake Banquet."
Xuanzang was forced to serve as the "banquet mascot," watching demons drool at the rake while inwardly complaining, This taste in aesthetics... this humble monk cannot comprehend it...
At the Lantern Festival