Chapter Summaries

Sun Wukong, Ao Run, and Princess Iron Fan reached the trapped group and reunited with Little White Dragon and Red Boy. The old earth god warned that most of them were too exhausted or injured to escape through the earth veins, and Wukong suggested Little White Dragon and Red Boy could help.

• Sun Wukong praised Little White Dragon for standing firm, and Little White Dragon thanked him.
• Ao Run rushed to his son, checked his injuries, and scolded him before Little White Dragon bowed and promised to remember his words.
• Princess Iron Fan embraced Red Boy instead of scolding him, and he finally hugged her back and sobbed.
• The old earth god explained that using the Water-Fire Golden Light Drill had exhausted him and that Ao Run and Princess Iron Fan were also injured.
• Sun Wukong pointed out that Little White Dragon and Red Boy might help the group return through the earth veins.

Wukong reunited Red Boy with Princess Iron Fan and got the boy to apologize to the old Earth God. After Red Boy and Little White Dragon recovered, they combined their powers with the Earth God’s method and launched the group upward through the Earth Veins.

• Princess Iron Fan made Red Boy acknowledge Wukong as his uncle and apologize to him.
• At Wukong’s urging, Red Boy knelt and apologized to the old Earth God for bullying him, thanking him for saving his life.
• Wukong explained that escaping required the Earth God’s Water-Fire Golden Light Drill, and Little White Dragon warned that Red Boy could not withstand the deep pressure alone.
• Red Boy and Little White Dragon recovered their strength, then combined Samadhi True Fire, spirit water, and the Earth-Escape Technique while Wukong prepared to clear the way.
• Ao Run and Princess Iron Fan held on to their sons, Wukong carried the weakened Earth God, and the group fused into a red, blue, and gold drill that shot upward.

Wukong and the others escaped the earth veins, but Princess Iron Fan collapsed from fire poison after their ascent. As Red Boy begged Xuanzang to save her, Guanyin Bodhisattva arrived.

• Wukong and the others burst out of the ground and landed near Xuanzang and the others.
• Red Boy discovered that Princess Iron Fan was unconscious and cold, and Wukong realized the fire poison had caused her three souls to leave her body.
• Red Boy pleaded with his mother to wake and poured his recovered magical power into her, but she did not respond.
• Xuanzang began tending to Princess Iron Fan as Red Boy begged him to save her.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva appeared amid fragrant breezes, falling lotus blossoms, and auspicious clouds.

Guanyin Bodhisattva arrived to treat Princess Iron Fan, whose life was threatened by fire poison. After Red Boy mistook her healing method for an attack and charged at her, Wukong and Little White Dragon stopped him; Guanyin explained her method, and Red Boy knelt before her.

• Guanyin Bodhisattva arrived at Wukong's request and told Xuanzang to stop channeling the Nectar Buddha Wheel because Princess Iron Fan's injuries required her intervention.
• Guanyin placed Princess Iron Fan on a Thousand-Petal Lotus Pedestal, which transformed into a bed of Heavenly Dipper Blades that pierced her body and drew out black smoke.
• Red Boy accused Guanyin of harming his mother and charged at her with his Fire-Tipped Spear.
• Little White Dragon knocked the spear from Red Boy's hand, and Wukong restrained him and told him Guanyin was saving his mother.
• Guanyin explained that the blades had to pierce Princess Iron Fan's meridians to force out the fire poison, and Red Boy knelt before her.

Guanyin Bodhisattva healed Princess Iron Fan and gave Red Boy spiritual water to purge the remaining fire poison. When Princess Iron Fan realized Guanyin had come to take Red Boy, she clung to him in terror and grief, and Guanyin announced that the time had come for him to go with her.

• Guanyin Bodhisattva transformed the Lotus Pedestal into a crystal urn and used spiritual light and sweet dew to heal Princess Iron Fan.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva gave Red Boy poison-dispelling spiritual water, and he fed it to Princess Iron Fan until she woke.
• Princess Iron Fan embraced Red Boy and wept instead of thanking Guanyin Bodhisattva, while the others wondered at her reaction.
• Princess Iron Fan understood that Guanyin Bodhisattva had come to take Red Boy, and she held him tighter as he tried to comfort her.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva addressed Princess Iron Fan as Rakshasa Woman and said the time had come for Red Boy to go with her.

Guanyin revealed that Red Boy was Hariti’s son Pingala, reborn in Princess Iron Fan’s womb through a temporary mother-son bond, and that their separation had been agreed upon from the start. With his trial complete, Pingala stood one step from attaining true fruition as Guanyin asked him to leave with her.

• Guanyin told Princess Iron Fan that her Rakshasa bloodline could not bear children with Bull Demon King and that Red Boy was not her biological son.
• Princess Iron Fan accused Guanyin of placing Red Boy in her womb, and Guanyin recounted how Buddha taught Hariti to stop devouring children and return her son Pingala.
• Guanyin explained that Hariti had entrusted Pingala to Princess Iron Fan for rebirth, warning that their bond would be brief and that Princess Iron Fan would suffer.
• Guanyin said Princess Iron Fan hid Red Boy and pushed him into arduous cultivation, while her obsession strained her marriage to Bull Demon King.
• Guanyin told Red Boy that he had completed his trial and asked him to come with her as Pingala, leaving Princess Iron Fan behind.

Red Boy rejected Princess Iron Fan as his mother and unleashed an uncontrolled sea of Samadhi True Fire, but she embraced him until Guanyin extinguished the flames. Hariti Heaven then appeared in a body identical to Princess Iron Fan’s, and Xuanzang prepared to tell the story that would explain their connection.

• Red Boy accused everyone of lying about his mother and erupted into a sea of Samadhi True Fire that threatened the mountain and himself.
• Princess Iron Fan embraced Red Boy despite the flames burning her, and he tried to withdraw the fire when he saw her suffering.
• Guanyin poured water from the Pure Water Vase to extinguish the fire, and Red Boy sobbed in his mother's arms.
• Guanyin healed Xuanzang's throat, and Xuanzang asked whether someone was still missing.
• Guanyin called Hariti Heaven down from the clouds, revealing that her True Body looked exactly like Princess Iron Fan.
• Hariti Heaven apologized to Red Boy and Princess Iron Fan, and Xuanzang began to tell the story behind their connection.

Xuanzang revealed the Buddha’s account of Hariti Heaven’s past life and the wicked vow that drove her to devour children. Hariti learned that her beloved Pingala had been the only merchant who tried to save her, while she remained transfixed by Red Boy.

• Xuanzang corrected the account of Hariti’s meeting with the Buddha, describing how she found Pingala in an alms bowl, only for the child to turn into bones and broth.
• The Buddha explained that Hariti had once been a pregnant cowherd woman abandoned by five hundred merchants after she miscarried during their festivities.
• As she died, the cowherd woman vowed to become an evil ghost and devour the merchants and their children, then became Hariti and developed an urge to eat infants.
• The Buddha revealed that Hariti’s five hundred children were reincarnations of the merchants, and Pingala was the one man who had tried to return to help her.
• The Buddha said Hariti could end her suffering only by eating the child she loved most, while Hariti stared at Red Boy and Princess Iron Fan wept silently.

Xuanzang and Hariti Heaven recounted how Red Boy’s former life as Pingala sacrificed himself to free his mother from suffering, and how Hariti vowed to guide her remaining children toward goodness. Hariti’s story ended with her vows, while Red Boy listened beside Princess Iron Fan.

• Xuanzang told Red Boy that Pingala had pleaded with Buddha to save Hariti and willingly sacrificed himself to become broth for her.
• Red Boy remembered Pingala’s sacrifice as tears fell, while Princess Iron Fan hesitated to touch him for fear of losing him.
• Hariti Heaven asked Xuanzang to let her continue and described learning that Pingala had given his body to free her from suffering.
• Hariti said Buddha had told her that Pingala’s soul was enduring Avici Hell for her and her other children’s karmic debts.
• Hariti recalled vowing never to kill again, to protect the Dharma and children, and to guide her remaining children toward goodness so Pingala could be freed from suffering.

Hariti Heaven revealed that Princess Iron Fan had been created from her shed rakshasa body to become Pingala’s mother, and apologized for the suffering her obsession caused. As Red Boy struggled with whether he was Pingala or Niu Shengying, Xuanzang asked him who he thought he was and who the two mothers had acted for.

• Hariti Heaven recounted finding and redeeming her 499 children, then learned that Pingala would be reincarnated but still had to endure trials to attain true fruition.
• Hariti Heaven explained that she created Princess Iron Fan from her former rakshasa body so Princess Iron Fan could become Pingala’s mother.
• Hariti Heaven admitted she had caused Princess Iron Fan’s suffering, and Princess Iron Fan told her she did not blame her and claimed Red Boy as her son.
• Red Boy became overwhelmed by memories of both lives and questioned whether he was Pingala or Niu Shengying.
• Xuanzang approached Red Boy and asked who he thought he was and who the two mothers had done everything for.

Xuanzang told Red Boy the story of Sudhana’s search for wisdom, then revealed that Sudhana was the cowherd girl’s child reborn after dying amid evil karma. The chapter ended with Xuanzang telling Red Boy that he was Sudhana.

• Xuanzang recounted how Sudhana, troubled by others’ greed, followed Manjushri Bodhisattva’s advice and learned from fifty-three Good Spiritual Friends.
• Wukong and Bajie joked during the story while Little White Dragon told them to stop interrupting Xuanzang.
• Red Boy insisted he had not listened and told Xuanzang to leave him alone.
• Xuanzang revealed that the cowherd girl’s child had died in darkness, then been reborn through many lives while continuing to do good.
• Xuanzang explained that the child’s accumulated good deeds led to his rebirth as Sudhana and told Red Boy that Sudhana was his name.

Guanyin Bodhisattva explained how Sudhana, Pingala, and Hariti’s karmic debts were resolved when Sudhana merged with Pingala in Avici. Red Boy rejected the idea that he was any of them and insisted on being himself.

• Xuanzang asked Guanyin Bodhisattva to explain what happened to Sudhana.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva revealed that Sudhana’s, Pingala’s, and Hariti’s intertwined karmic debts formed an endless deadlock.
• Sudhana went to Avici with Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, climbed the mountain of blades, and merged with Pingala, resolving their karmic burdens and fulfilling Hariti’s vow.
• Hariti collapsed, and Princess Iron Fan tried to comfort Red Boy, who pushed her away.
• Red Boy challenged Guanyin Bodhisattva and Xuanzang, rejecting their claims that he was Sudhana, Pingala, or merely Hariti’s child.

Red Boy resisted the past-life identities emerging within him until Little White Dragon confronted him about accepting that they were all part of him. Red Boy finally saw his tearful mother and stood stunned, his flames gone.

• Red Boy’s body sprouted two additional heads as he demanded that the identities of Pingala and Sudhana leave him.
• Xuanzang asked Little White Dragon to answer Red Boy, and Little White Dragon stopped Red Boy from striking the other heads.
• Little White Dragon explained that past lives formed part of a person’s consciousness without erasing who they were in the present.
• Little White Dragon rebuked Red Boy for rejecting the guidance of Pingala, Sudhana, Hariti, and Guanyin Bodhisattva, and urged him to look at Princess Iron Fan.
• Red Boy saw his mother’s tear-streaked face, fell silent, and lost the flames surrounding him.

Little White Dragon awakened to his path and helped Red Boy recover his true form. After Xuanzang explained how past thoughts and deeds shaped but did not define him, Red Boy chose to enter the Buddhist path under Guanyin Bodhisattva.

• Little White Dragon subdued Red Boy with his words, then received praise from Xuanzang, Guanyin Bodhisattva, and his fellow disciples.
• Princess Iron Fan and Hariti Heaven urged Red Boy to return home and promised to protect him.
• Red Boy thanked Princess Iron Fan and Hariti Heaven, apologized to his mother, and said he would not go back because he now knew what he ought to do.
• Xuanzang taught Red Boy that past deeds were like drops in a flowing stream and that he should hold to the present thought.
• Red Boy thanked Xuanzang and asked to enter the Buddhist path and cultivate under Guanyin Bodhisattva.

Red Boy accepted Guanyin Bodhisattva’s precepts and became Sudhana, then received a powerless pilgrimage to Mount Luojia as penance. Princess Iron Fan and Hariti Heaven were assigned to accompany and guard him, while his formal acceptance as Guanyin’s disciple remained contingent on completing the journey and fifty-three visits.

• Red Boy declared he wanted to live for himself and learn from Ao WujI, and Guanyin Bodhisattva shaved his head and named him Sudhana, or Good Fortune Boy.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva explained that Princess Iron Fan had endured the mountain of blades in Sudhana’s place, so Sudhana had to walk from Hao Mountain to Mount Luojia without magical power.
• Princess Iron Fan agreed to accompany Sudhana without using magic, and Guanyin Bodhisattva ordered Hariti Heaven to serve as their guardian without intervening except in mortal peril.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva instructed Sudhana to seek Good Spiritual Friends through fifty-three visits before she would formally accept him as her disciple.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva departed for the South Sea after Xuanzang and his companions bid her farewell.

Sudhana said goodbye to Xuanzang and his companions before setting out with Princess Iron Fan and Hariti Heaven, determined to cultivate and reconnect with his father. After Xuanzang advised Dragon King Ao Run to trust Little White Dragon and let him follow his own path, Ao Run took his son aside for a private talk.

• Wukong encouraged Sudhana to protect his mother and promised to help if he encountered trouble, while Sudhana asked him to tell his father that he still acknowledged him as his son.
• Bajie, Little White Dragon, and Xuanzang exchanged farewells with Sudhana, who thanked Xuanzang for his guidance and promised to devote himself to cultivation.
• Sudhana clasped Princess Iron Fan's hand and invited Hariti Heaven to take his other hand, then set off with both women after saying he would apologize to the earth gods first.
• Ao Run prepared to return to the Western Sea and asked Xuanzang and his companions to look after Little White Dragon.
• Xuanzang urged Ao Run to communicate with Little White Dragon, encourage him, and trust him to walk his own path; Wukong and Bajie also promised to protect him.
• Ao Run signaled Little White Dragon to follow him aside, and the father and son stood facing each other privately.

Ao Run praised Little White Dragon for surviving the ordeal, and the two shared a heartfelt farewell before Ao Run returned to the Western Sea. After more than a month of travel, Xuanzang and his disciples reached a strange, foul-smelling black river that even Wukong could not identify.

• Ao Run warned Little White Dragon to act cautiously and follow Xuanzang, then admitted that he had brought honor to his father and the Dragon Tribe.
• Little White Dragon urged Ao Run to rest and take care of himself, and Ao Run left with the Western Sea’s aquatic folk after telling his son to pay his respects when he returned home.
• General Carp noticed Ao Run’s tearful eyes, but Ao Run blamed the strong wind and ordered the procession back to the palace.
• Little White Dragon watched Ao Run disappear into the clouds, then rejoined Xuanzang and the others as they continued west.
• After traveling for more than a month, Xuanzang and his disciples reached a vast black river; Little White Dragon, Sha Wujing, and Wukong found that its water was unusually heavy and coated Wukong’s cudgel in greasy black residue.

Wukong concluded that the Blackwater River had darkened from rotting vegetation, and Xuanzang's party prepared to cross. A crocodile demon named Tuo Jie emerged and revealed he was Little White Dragon's cousin, then invited the travelers to stay at his underwater residence for the night.

• Wukong examined the black mud and explained that decayed leaves and branches from Hao Mountain had colored the river.
• Wukong suggested that A-Hu carry Xuanzang across while the others flew over on their clouds.
• Tuo Jie emerged from the river, greeted Xuanzang, and recognized Little White Dragon as his cousin.
• Little White Dragon remembered Tuo Jie, his cousin from the North Sea Dragon King's family.
• Tuo Jie explained that his uncle had sent him to oversee the Blackwater River and invited Xuanzang's party to dine and stay at his underwater dwelling.

Xuanzang and his disciples accepted Tuo Jie's invitation and entered his Blackwater River God Mansion for a meal. Wukong grew suspicious of their host and ended by questioning why the river was dark and had no fish or shrimp.

• Bajie warned Wukong that Tuo Jie's excessive hospitality might be a trap, but Xuanzang agreed to stay at his residence.
• Tuo Jie parted the Blackwater River and led Xuanzang and the others down to his underwater mansion.
• Bajie eagerly ate the vegetarian feast while Little White Dragon noticed that Tuo Jie called his residence a River God Mansion despite his Dragon Tribe blood.
• Wukong asked Tuo Jie why the river had no decent fish or shrimp and why its water was so dark.
• Tuo Jie blamed the dark water on its being dirty, and Wukong studied him without asking more.

Tuo Jie asked Xuanzang to let him join the Journey to the West, hoping to attain True Fruition, but Xuanzang explained that the journey was about cultivation and helping others, not guaranteed rewards. Xuanzang's companions affirmed they would follow him for as long as he chose to travel, and he asked Tuo Jie whether he still wanted to come.

• Tuo Jie asked Xuanzang to take him west as a disciple so he could seek True Fruition, and Wukong and Bajie privately mocked his motives.
• Xuanzang questioned Tuo Jie about why he wanted to join and explained that the group traveled to cultivate, spread the scriptures, and deliver others from suffering, with no promise of reaching the Western Heaven or gaining spiritual rank.
• Tuo Jie doubted Xuanzang's explanation and asked whether his disciples would agree to endure such a journey without reward.
• Wukong, Bajie, Little White Dragon, A-Hu, and Sha Wujing each said they would remain with Xuanzang for as long as he traveled.
• Xuanzang asked Tuo Jie whether he still wished to travel west after hearing the others' answers.