Recaps

Ao Tu devised a plan to stop the war between the Huoluo Kingdom and the Fadi Kingdom without killing anyone, and Tang Sanzang agreed to persuade the Fadi King to withdraw. Tang Sanzang reached the Fadi Kingdom, where its King considered having him killed.

• The Fadi Kingdom attacked over the bridge, and the Huoluo King sent five thousand troops to defend the border.
• Ao Tu refused the Huoluo Kingdom’s request to intervene, and Tang Sanzang worried that the bridge had caused the war and might lead to common people dying.
• Ao Tu proposed destroying the Fadi army, but Tang Sanzang rejected violence and agreed to negotiate with the Fadi King while Ao Tu and Wukong worked to halt the fighting.
• The Huoluo King sent Tang Sanzang to the Fadi Kingdom under escort, with Bajie and Sha Wujing accompanying him.
• The Fadi King became angry when he heard Tang Sanzang had come to plead for Huoluo and wanted him killed, but one of his ministers objected.

Tang Sanzang tried to persuade the King of the Fadi Kingdom to end the war, but the King rejected his counsel and planned to challenge him to a debate with the kingdom's monks. Meanwhile, Ao Tu and Wukong approached the Fadi Kingdom's general with a plan to maintain a harmless stalemate, and Ao Tu offered him payment after the general refused.

• The King of the Fadi Kingdom spared Tang Sanzang after his minister warned that Tang Sanzang was King Tang's Imperial Younger Brother.
• The King of the Fadi Kingdom offered Tang Sanzang gifts and tried to keep him from interfering, but Tang Sanzang urged him to end the war over the bridge.
• Bajie accused the King of the Fadi Kingdom of fighting to collect bridge tolls, and Tang Sanzang criticized the King for burdening the people with war.
• A minister advised the King of the Fadi Kingdom to summon the kingdom's monks to debate Tang Sanzang, and the King ordered them to be called.
• Ao Tu and Wukong disguised themselves as Huoluo Kingdom envoys and proposed that the Fadi Kingdom's general maintain a harmless stalemate; when the general rejected the plan, Ao Tu offered to pay him.

Ao Tu helped halt the war between the Fadi Kingdom and the Huoluo Kingdom through bribery and a profitable exchange of weapons, while Tang Sanzang continued winning scripture debates. After seeing Master Ganjia defeated, the King of the Fadi Kingdom used Tang Sanzang’s arrival as an excuse to withdraw his troops and end the war.

• Ao Tu paid the Fadi Kingdom's general, who welcomed him and his companion, and the general and inspector later apologized for mistaking them for enemy spies.
• The Fadi Kingdom and Huoluo Kingdom fought for half a month without casualties, then the Fadi Kingdom sold its damaged weapons' arrows to Huoluo and requested more supplies from its king.
• The King of the Fadi Kingdom repeatedly sent reinforcements as the costly war dragged on, while officials delayed him with claims about Tang Sanzang's scripture debate.
• After the Fadi Kingdom's provisions were raided and burned, its ministers proposed withdrawing, and the King learned Tang Sanzang had won over many monks and onlookers.
• The King watched Master Ganjia lose his debate with Tang Sanzang, then summoned Tang Sanzang to the palace and declared that the Fadi Kingdom would withdraw and end the war.

After returning from the Fadi Kingdom, Tang Sanzang and his disciples crossed the newly completed Black Water River bridge and explored a temple commemorating its construction. On the bridge, the true Black Water River God recovered his seal from Ao Tu, who parted peacefully with the group after his scheme to delay them was no longer needed.

• The Fadi Kingdom and Huoluo Kingdom restored friendly relations, and both kings honored Tang Sanzang before he resumed his journey.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples reached the completed bridge, where local people welcomed them and shared food.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples explored a temple whose statues and murals portrayed their deeds and the bridge's construction.
• Halfway across the bridge, the true Black Water River God asked Wukong to uphold justice, but fell silent when Ao Tu appeared.
• Ao Tu returned the Black Water River God's seal and explained that he had borrowed it; the River God leaped back into the river.
• Ao Tu took leave of Tang Sanzang and his disciples without attacking, since the war had already given him enough time to meet his one-year goal.

After the Black Water River crossing, Ao Tu received his rewards and accidentally disturbed the sun and moon while examining the Great Formation of Stars of the Celestial Cycle. He reached Chechi Kingdom to challenge its three Daoist state preceptors, while Wukong and the pilgrims stopped to rest nearby.

• Ao Tu received seven rewards, including Great Demon Essence Blood, an Ancient Buddha Relic, and the Great Formation of Stars of the Celestial Cycle Formation Diagram.
• Ao Tu used his Double Pupils on the Ancient Buddha Relic and witnessed an Ancient Buddha being shattered by a huge hand holding a scripture.
• Ao Tu began opening the Formation Diagram, which drew upon the stars and made the sun shift and the moon rise, so he quickly put it away.
• Wukong noticed the sun behaving strangely as Tang Sanzang and his disciples settled beside a hill, then rode off to beg for food.
• Ao Tu entered the Chechi Kingdom region and saw that his new side quest required keeping the pilgrim there.
• Ao Tu disguised himself as a Daoist priest, entered the capital, and told the gate soldiers he had come to discuss the Dao with the kingdom's three Daoist state preceptors.

Ao Tu visited Chechi Kingdom to meet its three State Preceptors and learned how their rainmaking was credited with ending famine and bringing prosperity. At the temple, he questioned a Buddhist monk forced to serve Daoists and claimed the monks had failed to pray for rain properly, ending by asking how much oil and gold they had offered.

• Ao Tu arrived in Chechi Kingdom and learned that visiting Daoists received a monthly rice allowance from the king.
• A rice shop proprietor told Ao Tu that the three State Preceptors had ended a devastating drought and brought rain each year since.
• Ao Tu went to the Three Pure Ones Temple and found a Buddhist monk serving as its gatekeeper.
• The monk explained that the king had ordered Buddhist monks to work in Daoist temples after they failed to bring rain during the drought.
• Ao Tu told the monk that the Buddhists had prayed incorrectly and asked how much lamp oil and gold they had offered.

Ao Tu visited the three state preceptors of Chechi Kingdom, questioned a monk about the monks’ failed rain prayers, and gained the Taoists’ hospitality. After teaching two young Taoists a basic cultivation technique, he met Great Immortal Huli, Deer Power Immortal, and Great Immortal Yang Li and assessed their true forms and abilities.

• Ao Tu challenged a monk’s claims about sincere prayers for rain, and the monk explained that the king turned against the monks after the three state preceptors ended a drought.
• Two young Taoists welcomed Ao Tu, who introduced himself as Perfected One Taixi and was given a guest room and a meal.
• Ao Tu taught the two young Taoists to gather and circulate their magical power so they could better withstand cold and heat.
• After their ritual ended the next day, Great Immortal Huli, Deer Power Immortal, and Great Immortal Yang Li hurried to meet Ao Tu.
• Ao Tu recognized the three preceptors as a yellow tiger, a white deer, and an antelope, judged their magical power ordinary, and noticed that they had accumulated a small amount of merit.

Ao Tu discussed the Dao with the three royal preceptors of Chechi Kingdom and persuaded them to reconsider their persecution of Buddhist monks. The preceptors agreed to seek the monks’ release and considered teaching them Daoist magic so they could earn a living, while Ao Tu promised to seek the Three Pure Ones’ approval.

• Ao Tu recited verses that revealed the identities of Great Immortal Huli, Deer Power Immortal, and Great Immortal Yang Li, and they bowed to him as a senior cultivator.
• Ao Tu challenged the preceptors’ claim that they sought nothing and helped them recognize that their standing came from protecting Chechi Kingdom, not suppressing monks.
• Great Immortal Huli agreed to petition the ruler to release the monks and provide them with money and grain, though he worried they could not support themselves.
• Ao Tu proposed that the preceptors teach the monks Daoist arts, and he offered to pray to the Three Pure Ones for a decree approving it.
• The preceptors accepted that they would teach the monks if the Three Pure Ones agreed, and Ao Tu suggested the monks could disguise themselves as Daoists when performing rites.

Ao Tu exchanged a Water-Reversing Seal for Great Immortal Yang Li’s white dragon and offered to examine the ailing king. During a temple ceremony, he was summoned to the Grand Patriarch’s Flower Realm, where Golden Horn told him a Divine Official would soon invite him to serve in heaven and asked him to help find herbs.

• Ao Tu discussed Daoist cultivation and magical arts with the three great immortals, then exchanged the Water-Reversing Seal for Great Immortal Yang Li’s white dragon.
• The three immortals described the king’s illnesses, and Ao Tu offered to examine him if they met.
• The next day, Ao Tu led a temple ceremony, but the invocation brought him to the Heaven of Parting Hatred.
• Golden Horn told Ao Tu the Grand Patriarch expected a Divine Official to invite him to take office in heaven and proposed that he become a steward there.
• Golden Horn explained that the Flower Realm had become overgrown and asked Ao Tu to help find the remaining spiritual herbs; Ao Tu agreed.

Ao Tu and Golden Horn gathered herbs in the Flower Realm, then Ao Tu returned to Chechi Kingdom after the Three Pure Ones approved the monks’ release. He examined the ailing King and promised to refine an elixir, leaving the palace preparing a furnace and chamber for him.

• Ao Tu and Golden Horn gathered 102 immortal herbs and more than 3,000 spiritual herbs in the Flower Realm before Golden Horn gave Ao Tu a Taiji Talisman Seal.
• Ao Tu learned that the Three Pure Ones had granted the State Preceptors’ request, and he urged them to release the monks.
• Ao Tu and the three State Preceptors went to the palace, where the King sent for Ao Tu after hearing he could examine his illness.
• Ao Tu examined the King and said his illness came from old age and declining vital energy, but he could refine pills to relieve his suffering.
• The King agreed to prepare an Elixir Chamber and furnace according to Ao Tu’s instructions, and offered him the title of Great Perfected Master of Chechi Kingdom.

Chechi Kingdom built an alchemy compound, where Ao Tu forged an Alchemy Furnace and sought eight disciples to help refine pills. Meanwhile, the released monks of Zhiyuan Monastery returned after more than twenty years and began restoring their monastery and recovering its assets.

• Chechi Kingdom completed the three-hall alchemy compound, and Ao Tu forged an Alchemy Furnace from copper, silver, and gold, then announced he would take eight disciples.
• Great Immortal Huli and his two companions released the surviving monks who had been forced to labor at the Three Pure Ones Temple, giving each ten taels of silver.
• The monks returned to Zhiyuan Monastery, elected a new abbot, and found the monastery in disrepair after more than twenty years away.
• The new abbot discovered Zhiyuan Monastery's land deeds and promissory notes hidden beneath the statue of Chechi Kingdom's Great Ancestor.
• The new abbot directed the monks to use their compensation to repair the monastery, collect traceable debts, and inspect the monastery's fields before deciding what rent to collect.

The new abbot of Zhiyuan Monastery tried to restore the monastery, but the monks failed to collect its debts or recover its properties. He led more than five hundred monks to petition the authorities, where an official accepted their complaint and told them to wait.

• The new abbot hired craftsmen to repair Zhiyuan Monastery and paid a deposit after negotiating the price down to thirteen thousand five hundred taels.
• A monk demanding repayment from a poor family was thrown out after the family’s sons tore up the promissory note and kicked him away.
• Another monk returned beaten after a landlord refused to repay a loan and ordered his guards to destroy the promissory note.
• The monks returned with almost no money, while the people occupying Zhiyuan Monastery’s properties refused to recognize its deeds.
• The new abbot led more than five hundred monks to the government office, where an official accepted their petition and told them to wait.

Zhiyuan Monastery’s monks tried to recover their debts and land through the county government, but officials obstructed them and dismissed their evidence. The new abbot left court without justice after learning the monastery’s property had been reclaimed by imperial decree.

• The monks waited days for their petition to be heard, then the new abbot led five hundred monks to block the government office.
• His Honor agreed to hear the case, and the clerk demanded two hundred taels from the new abbot before arranging a hearing.
• At court, His Honor rejected the promissory notes because their guarantors and the abbot’s master were dead, while a clerk falsely claimed the fingerprints could not be compared.
• The new abbot appealed over Zhiyuan Monastery’s seized lands, but His Honor said an imperial decree had reclaimed them and awarded them to others.

After Zhiyuan Monastery lost its lawsuit, the new abbot struggled with debts and dwindling food as the monks failed to earn money. Alu secretly found work by learning Daoist rites at Three Pure Ones Monastery, and he began teaching other monks the same approach.

• The new abbot discovered that monastery repairs had left Zhiyuan Monastery owing over nine thousand taels, and the monks could not earn enough by performing rites or begging.
• Alu returned with flatbreads and silver from a household celebration, then continued bringing money to the monastery while the other monks went hungry.
• A junior monk asked Alu how he found work, and Alu took him to Three Pure Ones Monastery to learn Daoist rites and scriptures.
• Alu's junior monk began earning money, and more monks came to Alu to learn what they called Buddhist sutras.
• Alu expanded his teaching to monks under fifty, while the chapter ended with the secret becoming harder to conceal.

Alu and the monks who secretly practiced Daoist arts were exposed, but they overthrew Zhiyuan Monastery’s leadership and made Alu abbot. Alu then openly joined the Daoist school and was deliberately selected by Ao Tu to learn alchemy.

• The new abbot caught Alu and several disciples wearing Daoist robes and carrying Daoist items, then ordered them expelled for apostasy.
• The monks defended Alu, and one secretly burned the talisman papers with Daoist arts, prompting the abbot to accuse the group of apostasy.
• Alu condemned the elderly monks for exploiting the disciples and losing monastery property, and hundreds of monks backed him as abbot.
• Alu’s supporters defeated the elderly monks, acclaimed Alu as abbot, and locked the former abbot and stubborn elders in meditation chambers.
• Alu led the monks to become disciples of the State Preceptors and openly practice Daoism at Zhiyuan Monastery.
• Ao Tu selected Alu among eight disciples to learn alchemy, choosing him deliberately.

Ao Tu organized his eight new disciples to prepare for and learn alchemy while Tang Sanzang and his companions entered Chechi Kingdom. Heavenly officials reviewed the Black Water River God’s and Mingniang’s deeds, awarding both major merit, and Mingniang was selected for a post in the Queen Mother of the West’s Flower Realm.

• Ao Tu told his disciples they could keep their usual clothes, then ordered Alu to change back into his kasaya because he remained a Buddhist Sect disciple.
• Ao Tu assigned the merchant to buy alchemy ingredients, the commoner to tend the furnace fire, and the royal grandson and princess to clean the Alchemy Furnace.
• After Alu returned in his kasaya, Ao Tu began refining an elixir and openly taught all eight disciples how to handle the ingredients and fire.
• Tang Sanzang and his three disciples entered Chechi Kingdom on the Spring Festival, while the changing of their Heavenly Court attendants’ shifts prompted a review of the year’s reports.
• Merit officials revised the Black Water River God’s record to one major merit for building a bridge that aided Tang Sanzang’s journey, and awarded Mingniang a major merit for feeding the pilgrims.
• The Queen Mother of the West selected Mingniang to tend plants in her Flower Realm after recruiting female immortals.

Mingniang became a female immortal and met Jiangzhu while learning about the Flower Realm. Meanwhile, Tang Sanzang and his disciples entered Chechi Kingdom, where they saw monks conducting a religious ceremony despite hearing that the kingdom detested monks.

• Mingniang entered the Celestial Immortal Pool, gained an immortal body, and was registered as a female immortal.
• Mingniang met Jiangzhu in the flower pool and learned that Jiangzhu was transferring her vital essence to help the Immortal Peony survive transplantation.
• Mingniang questioned Jiangzhu about the Heavenly Realm, then left after learning little from her.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples reached Chechi Kingdom and discussed avoiding trouble because the kingdom was said to detest monks.
• Bajie and Sha Wujing pointed out two monks entering a household to conduct a religious ceremony.

Tang Sanzang and his disciples were rejected by a household in Chechi Kingdom that claimed to invite only Daoists, though Bajie and Sha Wujing had seen two monks enter. They headed for Zhiyuan Monastery and discovered that its monks disguised themselves as Daoists, explaining how the two had disappeared.

• Bajie tried to join a household ceremony with Tang Sanzang and the others, but the servant refused to let the monks inside.
• Wukong investigated the house and found only Daoists performing rites, while Bajie and Sha Wujing insisted they had seen two monks enter.
• An old man warned Tang Sanzang that the people of Chechi Kingdom detested monks and directed the group to Zhiyuan Monastery.
• The disciples watched Daoists approach Zhiyuan Monastery, reveal their shaved heads, and change from Daoist robes into kasayas.
• Wukong realized the Daoists were monks in disguise and understood how the two monks had vanished earlier.

Ao Tu presented the King of Chechi Kingdom with a Body-Nourishing Pill, curing his illness and earning a high title and rewards for his disciples. Meanwhile, Tang Sanzang and his companions explored Zhiyuan Monastery, where the monks’ Daoist practices angered Wukong, and the chapter ended with the group facing a rude dismissal.

• After seven times seven days, Ao Tu finished refining thirteen pills and sent three to the State Preceptors while preparing one for the King of Chechi Kingdom.
• Alu presented the pill to the King, who recovered from his illness after taking it and granted Ao Tu a lofty title and authority over the Three Teachings.
• The King of Chechi Kingdom rewarded Ao Tu’s eight disciples, and Ao Tu later saw signs that Tang Sanzang and his companions had entered the city.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples entered Zhiyuan Monastery and saw monks practicing sword techniques, reciting the Yellow Court Scripture, and making talismans.
• Wukong challenged a monk about the monastery’s Daoist customs, but the monk dismissed the group and left, leaving Wukong furious.

Wukong discovered that the monks of Zhiyuan Monastery were imprisoned and learned how Daoist immortals had oppressed them. The old abbot began explaining how the monks had been tricked into debt, leaving Wukong poised to investigate the scheme.

• Tang Sanzang and his disciples reached the guest quarters but found the monks unwilling to give them food.
• Wukong followed two monks and found elderly monks confined in secluded chambers, then froze the attendants and went inside.
• The old abbot recognized Wukong and said the monks had been imprisoned after three immortals gained the King's trust and promoted Daoism.
• The old abbot explained that Buddhist Guardian Garan had promised the monks a Great Tang pilgrim and Wukong would come to save them.
• The old abbot said the Daoists arranged inflated repair costs that left the monastery deeply in debt.

Wukong learned that Daoists and corrupt officials had seized Zhiyuan Monastery’s property, while Abbot Alu had imprisoned the former abbot and the other elderly monks. After promising to seek justice, Wukong planned to investigate Perfected One Taixi at court, and he spotted Alu’s return with royal rewards as well as a ceremony at Ao Tu’s location.

• The former abbot told Wukong that the Daoists had taken Zhiyuan Monastery’s farmland and debts, and that Alu had joined them and imprisoned the old monks.
• Wukong promised to get the former abbot justice, then confronted two monks and learned they had been told to pretend not to recognize him and drive him away.
• The two monks revealed that Alu was making elixirs with Perfected One Taixi, and Wukong told Tang Sanzang he would investigate at court the next day.
• Bajie suggested Wukong use his Fiery Golden Eyes to identify Taixi and the other Daoists, and the pilgrims ate the food the monks had left before going to sleep.
• Alu returned with royal rewards for helping Taixi make elixirs, while a ceremony honoring the Three Pure Ones took place near Ao Tu; Wukong saw both events from the air.

Wukong, Bajie, and Sha Wujing sneaked into the Three Pure Ones Monastery and ate all the offerings after Wukong drove away the Taoists with a wind spell. They disguised themselves as the Three Pure Ones and were still in the hall when Great Immortal Huli and the others arrived to investigate.

• Wukong spotted three monster Taoists and an obscured figure at the monastery, then woke Sha Wujing and Bajie to join him.
• Wukong blew out the hall’s lamps with a powerful wind, prompting Ao Tu and the Taoists to leave.
• The three disciples entered the hall, exchanged courtesies, and transformed themselves into the Three Pure Ones’ likenesses.
• Bajie hesitated to move the Taishang Laojun statue, but Wukong sent all three statues away with a spell.
• Wukong, Bajie, and Sha Wujing ate every offering before a Taoist patrol alerted Great Immortal Huli.
• Great Immortal Yang Li slipped on a banana peel as the immortals investigated, and Wukong laughed from above.

Wukong, Bajie, and Sha Wujing tricked the three state preceptors into drinking their urine while disguised as the Three Pure Ones. After learning the travelers’ identities, the preceptors vowed to capture them, while Ao Tu tested whether they would pursue immortality by eating Tang Sanzang.

• Wukong told Great Immortal Huli and the other two to bring vessels for holy water, then he, Bajie, and Sha Wujing filled them with urine.
• Great Immortal Huli and Great Immortal Yang Li tasted the urine, and Huli sent a flask of it to Ao Tu before Wukong and his companions revealed themselves and fled.
• Great Immortal Huli and the others rushed to retrieve the flask, and Deer Power Immortal explained their humiliation to Ao Tu.
• Ao Tu identified the fugitives as Sun Wukong, Zhu Wuneng, and Sha Wujing, the disciples of Tang Sanzang, and the preceptors vowed to have the kingdom hunt them down.
• Ao Tu suggested that eating Tang Sanzang’s flesh could grant immortality, but the three preceptors rejected the idea as evil, and Ao Tu said he had only been testing them.

Ao Tu helped Great Immortal Huli and his companions restore the desecrated statues, then joined them at court as they accused Sun Wukong, Zhu Wuneng, and Sha Wujing of the offense. Wukong admitted the accusation after Ao Tu proposed a test, and Ao Tu challenged Wukong to prove his own charges against him.

• Ao Tu cleansed the eastern privy with lotus magic and helped Great Immortal Huli and his companions restore the Three Pure Ones statues.
• Great Immortal Huli and his companions asked the King of Chechi Kingdom to arrest Sun Wukong, Zhu Wuneng, and Sha Wujing for desecrating the statues.
• When Tang Sanzang and his disciples arrived to have their travel papers endorsed, the guards arrested them and brought them before the King.
• Wukong challenged the accusations and dismissed the rough portraits as insufficient proof, while Great Immortal Huli and his companions insisted they had recognized the disciples.
• Ao Tu suggested a sweet-water test, and Wukong warned Tang Sanzang not to drink before admitting that the disciples had caused the uproar.
• Ao Tu accused Wukong of shamelessness, and Wukong accused Ao Tu of oppressing monks and deceiving the King, prompting Ao Tu to demand proof.

Wukong challenged Ao Tu to a contest of magic after accusing the State Preceptors of harming the monks, but Tang Sanzang learned that the king’s account undermined those accusations. Ao Tu won the transformation contest and challenged Wukong to a treasure contest, exposing the Daoist origins of the pilgrims’ weapons.

• Wukong and Ao Tu argued over the monks’ deaths, and Wukong challenged Ao Tu to compete in magic despite Tang Sanzang’s concerns.
• Wukong stopped Great Immortal Huli’s rain spell and brought rain himself, but Ao Tu halted the gods’ weather and seized the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas.
• Wukong proposed a transformation contest, while Tang Sanzang questioned the king and learned that the monks’ resettlement money and the claims about elixirs were not as alleged.
• Ao Tu broke Wukong’s transformation by tickling him, claimed victory, and chose a treasure contest as the next wager.
• Ao Tu identified Wukong’s Golden Cudgel and Bajie’s rake as treasures of the Daoist School, leaving Wukong speechless and Bajie ashamed.