Recaps

The pilgrims uncovered the tragedy behind the Gold and Silver Horn Kings’ attempt to save their mother, then continued west as Xuanzang taught Sha Wujing about the wishes entrusted to him. At Baolin Temple, a sentient stone and the ghost of the Wuji Kingdom’s king revealed a murder and the seizure of his throne, leaving Xuanzang to investigate.

• Sun Wukong infiltrated Lotus Cave while Gold Horn and Silver Horn held Xuanzang and Zhu Bajie in the gourd, and Copper Horn helped free them.
• Gold Horn revealed that he had lured the pilgrims to help save his mother, and Xuanzang urged him to accept impermanence as the brothers’ plan ended in Silver Horn’s death.
• Xuanzang extinguished Gold Horn’s Yin-Blazing Fire, and the Old Lord restored Silver Horn, transformed Copper Horn into Ayu, and revived Old Fox.
• Fox Aqi reunited with his family, and Gold Horn and Silver Horn vowed to relieve suffering before the Old Lord departed with them.
• Sha Wujing told Xuanzang he had recorded villagers’ wishes in his scripture and recited them daily, and Xuanzang explained how faith and vows could help people find their own strength.
• At Baolin Temple, Sha Wujing met the sentient Stone Bodhisattva, which asked him to help it give pieces of itself to people again after its golden covering had sealed it away.
• The ghost of the Wuji Kingdom’s king told Xuanzang that a Daoist had pushed him into a well and taken his throne, then left Xuanzang a White Jade Gui as proof of his identity.
• Sha Wujing and Little White Dragon explained the Stone Bodhisattva’s wish-granting power, and Xuanzang told his disciples that the king’s ghost had come seeking justice against the Daoist.

Xuanzang and his disciples restored the Wuji Kingdom’s ruler, faced Manjushri’s test, and helped the Stone Bodhisattva become a Spirit Pearl. After leaving the kingdom, Xuanzang helped Little White Dragon confront his doubts before the pilgrims encountered a fire-wielding child demon on Drill Hao Mountain.

• Wukong and Bajie investigated the missing Wuji Kingdom Ruler in the underworld, then found his preserved body beneath the imperial garden and brought it to Xuanzang.
• Wukong recovered the ruler’s soul with help from the Stone Bodhisattva, and Xuanzang revived him with immortal qi.
• Sha Wujing lectured on the Heart Sutra and the burdens of wishes before a disguised Manjushri challenged Xuanzang to debate the Way.
• Manjushri revealed how the ruler had punished him during the drought and explained that the ruler’s three years in the well repaid his vow, then tested whether the ruler would govern the people properly.
• Xuanzang helped the Stone Bodhisattva become a Spirit Pearl, and he urged Baolin Temple’s Yongde to return to a simpler life of cultivation.
• The pilgrims left the Wuji Kingdom, and Xuanzang helped Little White Dragon face his feelings of inadequacy and recognize that his companions valued him.
• On a gloomy mountain, the pilgrims encountered Hong Yun, who disguised himself as a tied-up child before attacking them with samadhi true fire and Five Elements Chariots.
• Wukong defeated the fire demon’s assault, but Little White Dragon was dragged underground, and Wukong learned that the demon served Six-Hundred-Li Drill Hao Mountain.

Wukong and his companions rescued Little White Dragon and Red Boy from the Earth Veins, where the two had been trapped underground. After learning the truth of his past lives and the sacrifices made for him, Red Boy chose his own path and set out with Princess Iron Fan to seek Guanyin Bodhisattva’s teaching.

• Wukong learned Red Boy had taken Little White Dragon underground, then joined Ao Run and Princess Iron Fan in using the Water-Fire Golden Light Drill to reach them.
• Trapped deep beneath Hao Mountain, Little White Dragon helped Red Boy confront his loneliness and find confidence in choosing his own path.
• Wukong and the others rescued the pair, but Princess Iron Fan collapsed from fire poison, so Guanyin Bodhisattva healed her and revealed that Red Boy was Pingala reborn.
• Xuanzang and Hariti Heaven explained Pingala’s sacrifice, Hariti’s past, and Red Boy’s connection to Sudhana, leaving Red Boy unsure who he was.
• Little White Dragon told Red Boy that his past lives did not erase his present self, and Red Boy accepted Princess Iron Fan and Hariti Heaven as his mothers while choosing what to do next.
• Red Boy asked to cultivate under Guanyin Bodhisattva, who named him Sudhana and required him to walk from Hao Mountain to Mount Luojia without magic, accompanied by Princess Iron Fan and guarded by Hariti Heaven.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva instructed Sudhana to seek Good Spiritual Friends through fifty-three visits before she would formally accept him as her disciple, then departed for the South Sea.

Xuanzang and his companions encountered Tuo Jie at the Blackwater River, where Tuo Jie’s crimes led to a trial in the Underworld. Xuanzang helped Tuo Jie recognize the consequences of his actions, while the River God found peace and Ao Shun accepted his sentence.

• Ao Run praised Little White Dragon before returning to the Western Sea, and Little White Dragon continued west with Xuanzang and the others.
• At the Blackwater River, Tuo Jie welcomed Xuanzang’s party into his underwater mansion and asked to join them, but secretly plotted against them.
• Tuo Jie’s attack collapsed the mansion, and after Xuanzang escaped from his belly through the Heart Sutra, an old man killed Tuo Jie and revealed himself as the Blackwater River God.
• The River God accused Tuo Jie and Ao Shun in the Underworld, and Xuanzang insisted that both Tuo Jie’s charge against him and the River God’s complaint be heard in court.
• Diting revealed that Xuanzang’s attempt to save Tuo Jie had changed his fate, and Xuanzang helped Tuo Jie understand that his crimes still carried consequences while leaving him a chance to preserve goodness.
• Ao Shun admitted that he had failed the River God and protected Tuo Jie, while Tuo Jie confessed to his crimes and the River God withdrew his complaint against Ao Shun.
• Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva asked the River God to guide wronged souls in Wangsi City, and the River God accepted a green lamp and the task.
• King Yama sentenced Tuo Jie to five hundred years in Avici Hell and a hundred lifetimes as an animal, while Ao Shun was removed from command and sentenced to three hundred years in the Northern Sea’s Sea Eye.