Recaps

Wukong freed the oppressed monks of Chechi Kingdom and faced the Three Mao Lords in contests meant to settle an old karmic debt. In the first round, he restored the monkey kind’s names to the Jade Register at the cost of his title and pilgrimage merit, and the second round began with Bajie searching for a candidate for immortality.

• Wukong discovered that Chechi Kingdom’s Daoist rulers had enslaved its monks, freed them, and challenged the three National Preceptors.
• Wukong defeated Great Immortal Huli, Deer Power Immortal, and Great Immortal Yang Li, then made them serve the monks under Mao Zhong’s orders.
• The Three Mao Perfected Lords invoked Yuanshi Tianzun’s karmic debt and proposed three contests against Xuanzang’s disciples.
• Mao Ying’s first contest showed Wukong the suffering of his monkeys, whose names he had erased from the Book of Life and Death.
• Wukong traded his title, registers, and Journey to the West merit for the restoration of the monkey kind’s names, then conceded that he had not won the round.
• Xuanzang ruled the first round a draw, declined to judge the remaining contests, and returned to the stands after Guanyin Bodhisattva urged him to trust his disciples.
• Taibai Jinxing announced the Mind-Seeing Trial, pairing Mao Gu with Zhu Wuneng, who had to find the person suited for immortality among Yellowstone Town’s residents.

Bajie, Wujing, and Wukong faced the Three Mao Lords’ trials, and Wujing won the final match by taking the trapped ghosts into himself and carrying the White Jade Divine Elephant from the Black Sea. After the party won the contest and received the Bitter Bamboo Ruler, they resumed the pilgrimage and approached Chechi Kingdom.

• Bajie failed twice to identify the person beneath the locust tree, then won Mao Gu’s final test by accepting his attachments to the people of Yellowstone Town.
• Mao Zhong sent Wujing into a painted city and challenged him to save its residents from a flood, but Wujing’s efforts freed thirteen thousand evil ghosts from their prison.
• Wujing and Little White Dragon fought to keep the ghosts from escaping, then Wujing entered the Black Sea and contained them inside himself while rescuing the White Jade Divine Elephant.
• Wujing returned carrying the Black Mountain and the White Jade Divine Elephant, and Mao Zhong conceded the final match after Xuanzang affirmed Wujing’s choice.
• The Pilgrim’s party won the contest, and Yuanshi Tianzun used the Bitter Bamboo Ruler to expel or join energies within the disciples and form a connection with Xuanzang.
• The Three Mao Lords, Taibai Jinxing, and Guanyin Bodhisattva departed after the trial, while Xuanzang and his companions set out toward Chechi Kingdom with five hundred monks.
• The king of Chechi Kingdom learned that the three National Preceptors were missing, then ordered officials to welcome Xuanzang’s approaching party.

After exposing the wrongs of Chechi Kingdom, Xuanzang and his disciples continued west as Xuanzang’s identity and the meaning of his journey came under scrutiny. At Tongtian River, they found a village forced to sacrifice children to Great King Linggan, and Wukong and Bajie took the children’s places to confront the threat.

• Xuanzang exposed the persecution of monks in Chechi Kingdom, urged its ruler to repair the harm, and departed after the ruler ordered restitution and investigations.
• Wukong questioned Xuanzang’s identity and whether their journey was real, and Xuanzang revealed that his life as a monk seeking scriptures in the west had been a dream from another life.
• After the Tribulation Master warned that Xuanzang’s old memories would return, Xuanzang collapsed with visions of a woman and the name Jiang Liuer, then continued the journey with his disciples.
• At Tongtian River, Xuanzang told his disciples that his strange behavior was part of a trial, and the group reached Chen Family Village seeking shelter.
• Chen Qing and Chen Cheng revealed that Great King Linggan demanded their children, Guan Bao'er and One Tael of Gold, as sacrifices, and Wukong agreed to help them.
• Xuanzang and Sanzang argued through a bronze mirror about fear, choice, and the hardships of the pilgrimage, and Xuanzang challenged Sanzang to a wager.
• Wukong transformed into Guan Bao'er and Bajie into One Tael of Gold, then the two let villagers carry them on offering trays to Linggan Temple.
• The villagers made their offerings and left, while Wukong and Bajie waited beside the spirit tablet for Great King Linggan, who did not appear.

Xuanzang and Wukong confronted Great King Linggan and uncovered Subhuti’s role in shaping Sanzang’s life. After Sanzang attained enlightenment and vanished, Xuanzang began debating Golden Cicada Child over the nature of consciousness and reality, ending with his explanation of the three natures.

• Great King Linggan swallowed Sanzang, but Wukong resisted his illusions, defeated him in the Tongtian River, and restored the cave.
• Subhuti revealed that he was Golden Cicada Child and had shaped Jiang Liuer’s past and Sanzang’s trials while seeking to save Wukong and understand his own attachment.
• Wukong struck Sanzang as he recited verses on emptiness, and Sanzang attained enlightenment before fading into red motes that gathered at Subhuti’s brow.
• Golden Cicada Child reappeared and wagered with Xuanzang over their shared body, while Wukong and the others trusted Xuanzang to find a way forward.
• Xuanzang debated Golden Cicada Child about nonabiding, consciousness, compassion, and the karmic seeds that linked successive thoughts.
• Xuanzang told the story of a painter who let a muddy beggar carrying a carp enter his immaculate studio and then painted the woman the beggar revealed.
• Xuanzang explained the painter’s story through conceived nature, dependent arising, and perfectly accomplished nature, then reached into the pool and grabbed the carp.