Recaps

Wukong fought the Yellow-Browed Old Demon, then let Ao Tu capture him in the Bundle so he could imprint a Taiji talisman on it and break its power. The demons celebrated, unaware that Wukong had deliberately allowed himself to be caught.

• Wukong revealed himself and battered the unarmed Yellow-Browed Old Demon through the temple, smashing the demon’s weapons and the temple’s statues and furnishings.
• Dongdong Qiangqiang and Xiangxiang Dangdang returned and warned the Yellow-Browed Old Demon that Wukong had impersonated them, while Wukong disguised himself among the four little demons.
• Ao Tu ordered the four demons bound and questioned them; the Yellow-Browed Old Demon initially mistook Wukong for the real Dongdong Qiangqiang, but Ao Tu identified the demons without waist tokens as the real ones.
• Wukong revealed his true form and tried to break the specially refined ropes, but Ao Tu trapped him in the Bundle.
• Wukong pressed his palm to the Bundle and imprinted a Taiji talisman on it, fixing it in the present and breaking its power.

Wukong escaped the Bundle and freed Tang Sanzang, his disciples, Mucha, and the assembled gods. After trapping Ao Tu in the Golden Cymbals, Wukong led the group away, while Ao Tu discovered the Taiji talisman in the powerless Bundle and fell into contemplation.

• Ao Tu had Wukong tied up and taken to the Buddha Hall, where Wukong pretended to be unconscious until the guard left.
• Wukong revealed he was alive, cut through his ropes with a transformed monkey hair, and freed Tang Sanzang, Bajie, Sha Wujing, Mucha, and the assembled gods.
• The Yellow-Browed Old Demon entered the hall to retrieve his Golden Cymbals, and Wukong and the others fought him until he fled.
• Ao Tu tried to capture the group with the Bundle, but its power failed, so Wukong trapped Ao Tu in the Golden Cymbals and led everyone away.
• The Yellow-Browed Old Demon released Ao Tu, who found the Taiji talisman in the Bundle and became absorbed in contemplating its principles.

Ao Tu and the Yellow-Browed Old Demon pursued Tang Sanzang’s group, then battled Wukong outside the South Heaven Gate while the Jade Emperor and Buddha arranged a response. Ao Tu volunteered to confront the demon with Nezha, and the chapter left them setting out for the fight.

• Ao Tu and the Yellow-Browed Old Demon caught Tang Sanzang’s group, trapping Bajie in Golden Cymbals and Sha Wujing beneath a Mysterious Tripod.
• Wukong fought the two demons alone, then lured them to the Nine Heavens and battled them outside the South Heaven Gate.
• Heavenly King Guangmu shut the gate and reported the battle, while Mucha informed Guanyin Bodhisattva, who chose to wait quietly during the Peach Banquet.
• The Jade Emperor had the Demon-Revealing Mirror reveal the Yellow-Browed Old Demon, and Tathagata Buddha identified him as a monster born of tribulation energy and ordered the Bodhisattvas and Arhats to subdue him.
• After the Jade Emperor declined Heavenly King Li’s offer to lead troops, Ao Tu volunteered to go with Nezha, and the Jade Emperor approved.

Ao Tu and Nezha joked on their way to the South Heaven Gate, where Ao Tu’s incarnation and the Yellow-Browed Old Demon fought Wukong and the Buddhist host. Ao Tu tricked the Yellow-Browed Old Demon into boasting that he was a Buddha, and the Jade Emperor asked Tathagata whose seat the Lesser Thunderclap Temple was.

• Nezha mistook Ao Tu’s incarnation for proof that he had achieved Corpse-Slaying, but Ao Tu explained it came from a secret cultivation method.
• Ao Tu and Nezha teased each other as they headed for the South Heaven Gate, where the Bodhisattvas and Arhats had arrived to subdue the demons.
• Ao Tu’s incarnation persuaded the Yellow-Browed Old Demon to hold off the Buddhist host while he went after Wukong, but Wukong retreated behind the Bodhisattvas.
• The Jade Emperor had Heavenly King Li project the battle into Yaochi with the Demon-Revealing Mirror, while the immortals watched.
• Ao Tu’s incarnation called the Yellow-Browed Old Demon the Yellow-Browed Old Buddha and urged him to proclaim his claim to the Peach Banquet; the demon loudly declared himself the master of the Lesser Thunderclap Temple.
• The Jade Emperor asked Tathagata Buddha whose seat the Lesser Thunderclap Temple was.

Ao Tu and Nezha arrived as the Yellow-Browed Old Demon was overwhelming the Arhats, and Ao Tu intervened with Nezha’s weapons to trap him. The demon challenged Ao Tu to prove he could defeat his supposedly indestructible body.

• Tathagata Buddha assured the Jade Emperor that he would subdue the Yellow-Browed Old Demon while Ao Tu’s Incarnation fought Manjushri, Samantabhadra, and Guanyin.
• The Yellow-Browed Old Demon battered the Arhats until many were gravely wounded, while Heavenly King Li warned that the demon was about to break through.
• Ao Tu and Nezha arrived at South Heaven Gate, where Ao Tu gave spirit pills to the injured heavenly soldiers and heard Heavenly King Guangmu’s account of the battle.
• As the Yellow-Browed Old Demon gained the upper hand, Ao Tu ordered Nezha to strike him with the Universe Ring and ensnare him with the Wind Fire Wheels.
• Ao Tu challenged the trapped demon to surrender, but the Yellow-Browed Old Demon mocked him and boasted that his body could not be destroyed.

Ao Tu gravely wounded Yellow Brows with Yuqing Divine Thunder, then used his incarnation to rescue him from the Bodhisattvas and escape. At the Southern Gate of Heaven, Ao Tu treated the injured Arhats with healing elixirs while the immortals praised his generosity.

• Ao Tu struck beside Yellow Brows with Yuqing Divine Thunder, but the blast's residual force badly injured the demon.
• Ao Tu pretended to be exhausted as the Arhats advanced, then his incarnation knocked aside the Bodhisattvas, seized Yellow Brows, and fled westward.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva struck Ao Tu as he escaped, causing Yellow Brows to wake and scream, but Ao Tu carried him away.
• Ao Tu thanked the injured Arhats outside the Southern Gate of Heaven and gave them healing Immortal Elixirs.
• Heavenly King Li considered urging Nezha to pursue the demons, while Kashyapa planned to ask for the elixirs that Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming had not taken.

Ao Tu and Wukong returned to Yaochi after the immortals failed to capture the Yellow-Browed Old Demon, whose powerful backing kept them from using their full strength. The Peach Banquet ended in drunken celebration, and Ao Tu carried the unconscious Wukong and Nezha back to the Flower Realm.

• Ao Tu told Wukong that the immortals had held back against the Yellow-Browed Old Demon because of the demon’s powerful master, but refused to reveal who it was.
• Nezha met Guanyin, Manjushri, and Samantabhadra, and they returned to Yaochi after failing to capture the demon; the Jade Emperor rewarded them for repelling it.
• Kasyapa hinted and then demanded that Wukong give him peaches and golden elixirs, so Wukong ate them in front of him instead.
• Wukong discovered the Bull Demon King had become the Golden Ox Star Lord and celebrated with him and the other immortals at the banquet.
• After the Peach Banquet ended, Ao Tu carried the drunken Nezha and Wukong back to the Flower Realm.

After Kasyapa drove Wukong away from Spirit Mountain, Wukong returned to Ao Tu and asked for help dealing with the demon holding Tang Sanzang captive. Ao Tu devised a plan to provoke Heaven into sending an army, and Wukong set out to recruit allies.

• Ao Tu brought the drunken Nezha and Wukong back to the Flower Realm, where Nezha sobered first and left, while Wukong later headed for Spirit Mountain.
• Kasyapa barred Wukong from seeing Tathagata Buddha because he still smelled of wine, and Wukong accused him of taking revenge before angrily withdrawing.
• A bhikkhu advised Wukong to seek Guanyin, but Wukong instead visited the True Lord of the West and returned to the Flower Realm.
• Wukong told Ao Tu about Kasyapa's obstruction and proposed borrowing the Treasure Fan and asking the Jade Emperor for troops to defeat the demon.
• Ao Tu instructed Wukong to recruit Bodhisattva Great Sage State Preceptor King, Emperor Zhenwu, and Erlang Shen, let their forces be captured, then report the demon's crimes to Heaven.
• Wukong praised Ao Tu's strategy and set out to invite the three allies one at a time, while Ao Tu assured him that the demon would not harm Tang Sanzang.

Wukong sought help from Bodhisattva King State Preceptor, but the Bodhisattva sent Little Zhang Crown Prince and four generals to fight the Yellow-Browed Old Demon. Ao Tu stayed behind to guard Tang Sanzang, then trapped the rescuers with the Mysterious Tripod after Wukong fled.

• Wukong visited Bodhisattva King State Preceptor and asked him to defeat the demon and rescue Tang Sanzang.
• Bodhisattva King State Preceptor claimed the flooding Huai River kept him from going and sent Little Zhang Crown Prince and four Divine Generals instead.
• Ao Tu studied Lord Lao's Yin-Yang Talisman and realized he understood its principles but lacked the strength to use it.
• The Yellow-Browed Old Demon led his lesser demons outside to fight Little Zhang Crown Prince and the four generals.
• Wukong struck the Yellow-Browed Old Demon, then fled when Ao Tu hurled the Mysterious Tripod at him.
• The Mysterious Tripod trapped Little Zhang Crown Prince and the four generals, while the Yellow-Browed Old Demon dismissed Wukong's blows as weak.

Wukong sought help from Emperor Zhenwu and then Erlang to rescue Tang Sanzang from the Yellow-Browed Old Demon. After the Golden Cymbals trapped Erlang, Wukong fled to the Southern Heavenly Gate to seek the Jade Emperor’s aid.

• Wukong enlisted Emperor Zhenwu’s Turtle-Snake Generals and Five Great Dragon Gods to attack Lesser Thunderclap Temple, but the Yellow-Browed Old Demon captured them in his cauldron.
• The Yellow-Browed Old Demon ordered Tang Sanzang, his disciples, and the captured gods locked in a cellar beneath the treasure hall.
• Wukong asked Erlang for help, and they challenged the demons together, with Wukong fighting Ao Tu while Erlang stormed the temple.
• Erlang fought the Yellow-Browed Old Demon and gained the advantage, but Ao Tu trapped him inside the Golden Cymbals.
• Wukong fled to the Southern Heavenly Gate and called out to the Jade Emperor for help.

Wukong appealed to Celestial Worthy Jade Emperor for help against the Yellow-Browed Old Demon, and Heavenly King Li led a massive force to attack the Lesser Thunderclap Temple. Ao Tu turned the battle around by driving off the gods, while Wukong broke the Golden Cymbals and freed Erlang Shen.

• Wukong told Celestial Worthy Jade Emperor that the Yellow-Browed Old Demon had captured Erlang Shen and many others, so the Jade Emperor dispatched Heavenly King Li and a great army to destroy the demon.
• Nezha refused Heavenly King Li’s request to join the expedition, and Li led the assembled troops to surround the Lesser Thunderclap Temple.
• Ao Tu and the Yellow-Browed Old Demon argued over who should face the gods, and the Yellow-Browed Old Demon went outside to meet them while Ao Tu guarded the temple.
• Heavenly King Li summoned Divine Thunder, and the Seven Northern Dipper Star Lords and other gods subdued the Yellow-Browed Old Demon.
• Ao Tu transformed into a dragon, forced Heavenly King Li to retreat, and held off the assembled gods while the injured Yellow-Browed Old Demon fled back into the temple.
• Wukong encountered the Yellow-Browed Old Demon, drove him off, and smashed the Golden Cymbals to free Erlang Shen.

Wukong and Erlang captured the Yellow-Browed Old Demon, but Maitreya Buddha arrived and claimed the demon had acted under Ao Tu’s influence. Maitreya seized Ao Tu in his Bundle and planned to convert him after three days, though Ao Tu’s incarnation remained protected by the Supreme Lord’s talisman.

• Wukong and Erlang trapped the Yellow-Browed Old Demon, and the Four Sages prepared to kill him with the Heaven-Opening Pearl and Earth-Splitting Pearl.
• Maitreya Buddha appeared, stopped the jewels, and said he had sent the Yellow-Browed Old Demon down to test Wukong and his companions.
• The Yellow-Browed Old Demon blamed Ao Tu for the crimes, and Maitreya accepted his account while Wukong challenged the lack of corroborating evidence.
• Ao Tu tried to flee, but Maitreya reclaimed his Bundle and captured him inside it, promising to bring him before the throne in three days.
• Ao Tu realized the Bundle would convert him once the talisman’s power wore off, but noted that his true body was still in the celestial realm.

After Heavenly King Li rescued Tang Sanzang and the imprisoned gods from Little Western Heaven, Wukong, Bajie, the Bull Demon King, and the twenty-eight star deities secretly stole Maitreya Buddha’s Bundle. They reached a secluded place, but Wukong could not untie it, leaving Ao Tu’s fate unknown.

• Heavenly King Li destroyed the Lesser Thunderclap Temple, rescued Tang Sanzang, his companions, and the imprisoned gods, and sent the divine forces back to their homes.
• Wukong sneaked into Maitreya Buddha’s tent to steal the Bundle, and Bajie and the Bull Demon King arrived separately to do the same.
• Wood Wolf Kui and the twenty-eight star deities gathered outside the tent, then Sun-Rat Xu entered to help steal the Bundle.
• Wukong, Bajie, the Bull Demon King, and the star deities quietly carried the Bundle away while Maitreya Buddha and Yellow Brows slept.
• Wukong tried to untie the Bundle in a secluded place, but he could not open it.

Wukong and the gods tried in vain to open Maitreya Buddha’s Acquired Bag, then returned it when Ao Tu warned them it could not be broken in the present. Inside the Bag, Ao Tu resisted Maitreya’s attempt to convert him, and the yin-yang Great Dao appeared behind him as his peril deepened.

• Wukong and the gods, joined by the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper and Fire Virtue Star Lord, pulled and burned Maitreya Buddha’s Bundle but could not damage it.
• Ao Tu told the gods that the Bundle could not be opened with supernatural abilities in the present and urged them to return it to Maitreya Buddha.
• Wukong handed the Bundle back to Maitreya Buddha, who realized Ao Tu had not been converted and decided to stay another day.
• Ao Tu resisted Maitreya Buddha’s Buddhist Dharma in the future, suppressing his own cultivation rather than becoming a Buddha.
• Ao Tu’s comprehension rose under the pressure, and the yin-yang Great Dao appeared behind him, transforming the future around him into yin and yang.

Ao Tu resisted Maitreya Buddha's Bundle as his Buddhist and Daoist cultivation threatened to force him to attain Buddhahood. While his incarnation fought in the future, Ao Tu's true body traveled into the past to provoke a backlash against Maitreya, and yin-yang power enabled him to continue beyond his apparent limit.

• Ao Tu's incarnation resisted Maitreya Buddha's Bundle, while its rising Buddhist and Daoist cultivation threatened to overwhelm his other bloodlines and his true body.
• Ao Tu used the Apricot Immortal and Jiangzhu to suppress his Buddhist and Daoist cultivation briefly, then resolved to strike back rather than abandon his incarnation.
• Ao Tu's incarnation used the Great Way of Yin and Yang to contend with Maitreya in the river of the future, while Ao Tu's true body set out to alter the past.
• Ao Tu traveled backward past the Five Elements Mountain, the Chu-Han Contention, the unification of the lands, and the Spring and Autumn period, reaching the phoenix's cry at Western Qi.
• Ao Tu pushed beyond the limit he reached after the Conferment of the Gods Calamity as his intertwined benevolence and malice formed yin-yang fish and gave him new power.

Ao Tu used his three powerful bloodlines to travel farther into the past, hoping to create ripples that would trouble Maitreya Buddha. After invoking Pangu’s power, he opened a path beyond the Dragon-Han Initial Tribulation and prepared to go earlier still.

• Ao Tu reached the age of the ancient Heavenly Court by using the Demon Emperor’s essence blood as a medium.
• He used Ancestral Shaman Essence Blood to travel to the age of Mount Buzhou, then the Ancestral Dragon’s essence blood to reach the Dragon-Han Initial Tribulation.
• Ao Tu fused the three bloodlines and summoned a thread of Pangu’s power to break through the barrier in the river of the past.
• Ao Tu decided to travel earlier than the Dragon-Han Initial Tribulation, and Pangu’s power parted the river to reveal an unseen path.

Ao Tu traveled to the beginning of heaven and earth, where contemplating Pangu’s creation rapidly advanced his cultivation and unknowingly formed his good corpse. As the past swept him away, he failed to seize the Twelfth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus, but his good corpse settled inside the Twelfth-Grade World-Cleansing White Lotus.

• Ao Tu used Pangu’s bloodline to reach the beginning of the past and absorbed the laws revealed as Pangu opened heaven and earth.
• Ao Tu’s cultivation and Buddhist Dharma advanced, and his benevolent thoughts formed a good corpse that he did not recognize.
• Ao Tu saw innate spiritual treasures scatter, but the Pangu Banner and Taiji Diagram vanished before he could reach them.
• Ao Tu chased the Twelfth-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus and then the Twelfth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus, but both escaped him.
• As the river swept Ao Tu toward the present, he touched a petal of the Twelfth-Grade World-Cleansing White Lotus before being carried away.
• Ao Tu’s good corpse climbed into the Twelfth-Grade World-Cleansing White Lotus and settled in its lotus seat.

Ao Tu severed his good corpse in the past, but the backlash left him injured in the Flower Realm while his incarnation remained trapped by Maitreya Buddha in the River of the Future. A tidal wave created by Ao Tu’s actions overwhelmed Maitreya and shattered the Bundle, leaving the gods to decide what to do with the unconscious Buddha.

• Ao Tu returned to the Flower Realm in his true dragon form after severing his good corpse, and Jiangzhu and Apricot Immortal treated him as he rested.
• Maitreya Buddha cornered Ao Tu’s incarnation in the River of the Future, but a vast wave stirred by Ao Tu’s past actions swept through and shattered the Bundle, grievously injuring Maitreya.
• Yellow Brows summoned the gods, Wukong, Bajie, Sha Monk, and Tang Sanzang after Maitreya collapsed unconscious and the Bundle burst apart.
• The gods debated how to transport Maitreya’s body, but they had brought no coffin.
• Wukong offered to demand a Crystal Coffin from Ao Run, the West Sea Dragon King, and agreed to take Bajie with him, while the Grand Marshal of the Four Sages stopped Yellow Brows from leaving.

Wukong and Bajie visited the West Sea Dragon King to demand burial expenses for the Buddha, whom they claimed had been killed by the Dragon King’s nephew. As rumors spread that the nephew had conquered Spirit Mountain, Crown Prince Mo Ang rushed back to the palace to learn what had happened.

• Wukong and Bajie arrived at the West Sea Dragon Palace and announced that the Dragon King’s nephew had killed someone, demanding silver for the burial.
• The West Sea Dragon King denied responsibility for his estranged nephew but agreed to provide burial expenses.
• Wukong revealed that the dead victim was Maitreya Buddha, and the West Sea Dragon King reacted with surprise and poorly disguised disappointment.
• Aquatic creatures spread rumors that the Fifth Master had conquered Spirit Mountain and killed the Buddha.
• Crown Prince Mo Ang heard the rumors, questioned the creatures, and hurried back to the palace with his troops.

After Maitreya Buddha was killed, the Four Seas Dragon Kings arranged his funeral and brought his remains to Heaven, where Wukong and the others confirmed the death to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor heard the report and smiled as he convened court, while Yellow Brows mourned beside the coffin on the way to Heaven.

• The West Sea Dragon King welcomed Wukong and Bajie, then summoned his brothers to arrange Maitreya Buddha's funeral.
• The Four Seas Dragon Kings contributed funeral goods and treasure, and their procession carried Maitreya's remains from Lesser Thunderclap Temple toward Heaven with Yellow Brows under guard.
• Tang Sanzang asked Wukong to learn whether the scripture pilgrimage could continue, and Wukong left for Heaven while Bajie stayed behind with Sandy.
• Yellow Brows wept over the coffin as the procession neared the Demon-Slaying Platform, and the gods took his grief as a sign of filial devotion.
• Heavenly King Li reported that Demon Dragon Ao Tu had killed Maitreya Buddha, and the gods, Wukong, and the Dragon Kings confirmed the account to the Jade Emperor.

The Jade Emperor, Tathagata Buddha, and Guanyin Bodhisattva discovered that Maitreya Buddha was gravely injured rather than dead, and Tathagata revived him with the Holy Buddha Relic. After Maitreya awoke and asked about Yellow Brows, the Jade Emperor learned that Guanyin had stopped the demon’s soul from being annihilated and meant to plead for him.

• The Jade Emperor sent Taibai Jinxing, Wang Lingguan, and True Lord Kehansi Zhangren to examine Maitreya Buddha before identifying him as gravely injured, not dead.
• The Jade Emperor summoned Guanyin Bodhisattva and Tathagata Buddha to treat Maitreya, while Guanyin persuaded a merit officer to postpone annihilating the Demon Dragon’s soul.
• Guanyin’s Three Lights Divine Water failed to heal Maitreya, so Tathagata used the Holy Buddha Relic to revive him.
• Maitreya thanked the Jade Emperor, changed out of his burial clothes, and joined the immortals’ celebration.
• Maitreya asked what had happened to Yellow Brows, and the Jade Emperor learned that Guanyin had stopped the demon’s soul from being annihilated so she could plead for him.

Guanyin Bodhisattva learned that Ao Tu’s whereabouts remained unknown while the Yellow-Browed Old Demon was punished in the Land of the Nine Netherworlds. At Spirit Mountain, Tathagata Buddha assigned Guanyin to extend King Tang Li Shimin’s life, and she realized Ao Tu may have fought Maitreya Buddha over the opportunity.

• The Celestial Worthy Jade Emperor spared the Yellow-Browed Old Demon at Maitreya Buddha’s request, sentencing him to five hundred years in the Land of the Nine Netherworlds.
• Wukong and Nezha packed food and wine from the heavenly banquet to take back for their companions, while Guanyin Bodhisattva searched unsuccessfully for news of Ao Tu.
• The Yellow-Browed Old Demon found the Jing River Dragon King in the underworld and claimed to be his son because Ao Tu was his senior brother.
• Tathagata Buddha summoned Guanyin Bodhisattva to Spirit Mountain and asked her to extend King Tang Li Shimin’s life, explaining that Dipankara Buddha and Maitreya Buddha could not undertake the journey.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva suspected that Ao Tu had fought Maitreya Buddha over the chance to extend King Tang’s life.

After Maitreya Buddha survived his clash with Ao Tu, Guanyin accepted the task of extending King Tang’s life, and Tang Sanzang’s group resumed their journey. Ao Tu received his interception rewards while recovering from his injuries and learned that his incarnation at Seven Absolutes Mountain would need another way to stop the pilgrims.

• Guanyin agreed to extend King Tang’s lifespan by ten years after Tathagata said Maitreya would face a future tribulation.
• Wukong returned to the Lesser Thunderclap Temple, told Tang Sanzang and the others that Maitreya was alive but badly injured, and recounted what happened in the Heavenly Realm.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples resumed their journey and left Little Western Heaven’s territory, while the system transferred 434 surplus days to the Seven Absolutes Mountain side quest.
• Ao Tu examined his rewards, including the Saintly Whip, Swallowing Heaven and Devouring Earth, the Remnant Willow Branch, and the Capital-Heaven Divine Fiend Grand Formation, while he and his incarnations continued recovering.
• Ao Tu realized that his injured incarnation at Seven Absolutes Mountain might struggle to stop Tang Sanzang’s group and resolved to devise another stratagem.
• Nezha visited Ao Tu with food and wine, teased him about his injuries, and fed him after Ao Tu asked.

Ao Tu recovered on Seven Absolutes Mountain and found a snake demon imprisoned in a Daoist formation. He tricked the snake demon into planning to lure Tang Sanzang into releasing it, then left after it offered to marry him and share its prey.

• Ao Tu found a Red-Scaled Great Snake trapped in an Eight Trigrams Demon-Locking Formation and refused to free it without learning more.
• Ao Tu questioned a village elder, who explained that Alu had captured the mountain demon and that rotten persimmons made the mountain paths dangerous.
• Ao Tu decided to use the snake demon to draw Tang Sanzang and his disciples into a trap, knowing Bajie would avoid clearing the path if he could.
• Ao Tu disguised himself as a minor demon and convinced the snake demon to pretend to reform and carry Tang Sanzang across the persimmon forest so the monk would release it.
• The snake demon claimed it was the mountain’s treasure and proposed marrying Ao Tu, who laughed and left.

Tang Sanzang and his disciples reached Seven Absolutes Mountain, where rotten persimmons filled the paths and gullies. They began picking their way through the foul terrain, but a disguised pit left Tang Sanzang, Bajie, Sha Wujing, and White Dragon Horse splattered with pulp.

• Tang Sanzang and his disciples found shelter with an old man, who warned them that Seven Absolutes Mountain was blocked by deep heaps of rotten persimmons.
• The next day, the travelers reached the mountain and struggled through its stench; Bajie and Sha Wujing fell into a sludge pit, while White Dragon Horse narrowly escaped another.
• Tang Sanzang probed the way with a branch, and Bajie threw a rock onto what looked like level ground.
• The rock splashed rotten persimmons over Tang Sanzang, Bajie, Sha Wujing, and White Dragon Horse, revealing that the apparent road was a leaf-covered gully.