Recaps

Xuanzang began his journey west with Sun Wukong, refusing to rely on coercion and meeting each danger with compassion. After helping the Black Bear Spirit repent and make amends, Xuanzang’s party left Black Wind Mountain and learned of a demon troubling a village.

• Guanyin appointed Xuanzang to retrieve the scriptures, and Xuanzang challenged her about why the Buddha did not spread the Dharma directly.
• Xuanzang left Chang'an alone, defeated General Yin and his companions with the Heart Sutra, and received the Dharma Eye after helping Liu Boqin’s family.
• At Five Elements Mountain, Xuanzang freed Sun Wukong only after he swore not to harm the innocent, then accepted him as a disciple who chose to accompany him willingly.
• Xuanzang stopped Sun Wukong from killing the tiger from Shuangcha Ridge, and the tiger became their mount as Guanyin watched the journey’s unusual changes unfold.
• Sun Wukong fought Ao Lie over the stolen luggage, but Xuanzang refused to turn the dragon prince into a horse and accepted him as an attendant instead.
• At Guanyin Monastery, Xuanzang lent Elder Jinchi the Brocade Kasaya, but a fire broke out and the Black Bear Spirit stole it, and Jinchi later repented and returned it before dying in meditation.
• Xuanzang confronted the Black Bear Spirit and offered him the kasaya three times, leading the demon to repent and promise to rebuild the monastery and restrain the local demons.
• Guanyin reclaimed the kasaya, the Heavenly Dao granted Xuanzang the Red-Blood Buddha Wheel, and the party left Black Wind Mountain before Sun Wukong volunteered to catch a village demon.

Xuanzang gathered Zhu Bajie, Wuji, and Sha Wujing as disciples while confronting the Yellow Wind Monster and restoring the Sihali Kingdom. After freeing the souls trapped in the Weak Water, the pilgrims resumed their journey west with Sha Wujing carrying the luggage.

• Xuanzang exposed Elder Gao’s betrayal of Zhu Wuneng, accepted him as a disciple, and named him Zhu Bajie after he parted from Gao Cuilan.
• Xuanzang resisted Chan Master Wuchao’s heart-demon trial and continued west with Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Ao Lie, and A-Hu.
• Tiger Vanguard captured Xuanzang, but Zhu Bajie killed him before Xuanzang confronted Great King Yellow Wind over the ruined Sihali Kingdom.
• Xuanzang returned to Yellow Wind Cave as promised, learned that Fuban had deceived Great King Yellow Wind, and purified the rat-people at the cost of his Buddha Wheels.
• Guanyin saved Xuanzang, and he traded his merit to restore Sihali’s vitality before accepting Ao Lie as his disciple Wuji.
• Xuanzang freed the red-haired stranger from his delusion about a flying sword, ordained him as Sha Wujing, and crossed the Weak Water with the pilgrims on a Dharma Boat.
• Xuanzang recited the Rebirth Mantra, freeing the river’s restless souls and gathering his nine former lives into himself.
• Xuanzang let Sha Wujing carry the luggage, and the disciples set off west together.

Xuanzang and his disciples faced a test of temptation at Wuzhuang Temple, where Xuanzang freed the suffering Ginseng Fruit Tree and helped Zhen Yuanzi attain Primordial Unity. Sun Wukong then confronted the White Bone Spirit, while Xuanzang’s compassion revealed the grief and harm behind her and White Bone’s story.

• Old Mother Lishan, Guanyin, Manjushri, and Samantabhadra tested Xuanzang and his disciples with the offer of marriage, and Zhu Bajie refused it.
• At Wuzhuang Temple, Xuanzang learned that the Ginseng Fruit Tree absorbed baleful qi and resolved to end its suffering.
• Xuanzang destroyed the tree and drew its baleful qi and karmic punishment into himself, then gave Zhen Yuanzi the luminous orb that became his son, Lingzhan.
• Zhen Yuanzi attained Primordial Unity, and Sun Wukong accepted Lingzhan as his disciple.
• Xuanzang gave Sun Wukong charge of the next trial, and Wukong encountered the White Bone Spirit at White Tiger Ridge.
• Wukong listened to the White Bone Spirit’s pleas, saw through her false corpse when she fled, and declared that he had overcome his cognitive obstruction.
• The White Bone Spirit attacked Xuanzang after recounting her fiancé’s abandonment, and Little White Dragon and Wukong struck at her as she escaped in spirit form.
• Xuanzang brought the White Bone Spirit back and cut flesh from his arm while telling her the story of Matanga and Ananda, until his compassion released the wronged souls inside her.
• White Bone emerged from the remains and told Xuanzang how misguided Buddhist practice and attachment led him to kill, transform his beloved, and become a skeleton.
• Xuanzang told White Bone that his actions had trapped his beloved in suffering, and her spirit emerged from the skeleton before dissolving into light as Xuanzang recited Amitabha Buddha.

Xuanzang’s party confronted the tangled fates of Baihuaxiu, Kui Mulang, and the Jade Maiden before continuing into the Lotus Cave demons’ trap on Pingding Mountain. Silver Horn captured Bajie, then used a red light to carry away Xuanzang and the little fox as Wukong pursued him.

• Xuanzang’s vow softened the skeletal monk, who became a scholar and departed for hell after asking whether the woman in red could be reborn.
• Bajie met Kui Mulang in Boyue Cave, then carried Baihuaxiu’s letter to Baoxiang Kingdom and revealed that the Yellow-Robed Monster had abducted her.
• Wukong and Bajie fought Kui Mulang, rescued Baihuaxiu and her sons, and brought them before the king, where the elder son died and the younger son’s soul began to scatter.
• Kui Mulang gave up his inner core to save his sons and died, while Baihuaxiu also died, and Xuanzang proposed mortal trials for Kui Mulang and the Jade Maiden and helped restore Baihuaxiu to life.
• Baihuaxiu chose to remember what happened and live openly with her parents, while Kui Mulang and the Jade Maiden entered the Reincarnation Well for thirteen lifetimes of retribution.
• On Pingding Mountain, Xuanzang’s party met a little fox who warned them about the demons of Lotus Cave and guided them along a secluded trail.
• Silver Horn captured Bajie in the Purple-Gold Red Gourd, then disguised himself as Bajie and tried to seize the little fox, but Wukong recognized him and fought him.
• Silver Horn summoned mountains onto Wukong, then called out to carry Xuanzang and the little fox away in a red light as Wukong raced after him.