Recaps

Wukong recruited divine help against the Yellow-Browed Old Demon and Ao Tu, until Maitreya Buddha intervened and captured Ao Tu’s incarnation. Ao Tu shattered the Bundle by changing the distant past, and Tang Sanzang’s party resumed its journey toward another trap at Seven Absolutes Mountain.

• Wukong disabled the Bundle with a Taiji talisman and freed Tang Sanzang and the captive gods, but Ao Tu and the Yellow-Browed Old Demon captured his companions again.
• Ao Tu and Nezha helped repel the Yellow-Browed Old Demon at Heaven, while Ao Tu’s incarnation rescued the demon from the Buddhist host.
• Wukong followed Ao Tu’s advice and recruited allies whose capture prompted the Jade Emperor to send Heavenly King Li and a heavenly army.
• Maitreya Buddha stopped the gods from killing the Yellow-Browed Old Demon and captured Ao Tu in the Bundle after the demon blamed Ao Tu for his crimes.
• Wukong and the gods failed to open the stolen Bundle, while Ao Tu resisted conversion and traveled into the distant past, where he severed his good corpse.
• Ao Tu’s actions in the past shattered the Bundle and gravely injured Maitreya Buddha, whom the gods mistakenly carried to Heaven for burial.
• Tathagata Buddha revived Maitreya Buddha, the Jade Emperor sentenced the Yellow-Browed Old Demon to five hundred years in the Land of the Nine Netherworlds, and Tang Sanzang’s party resumed its journey.
• Ao Tu enlisted a trapped Red-Scaled Great Snake in another scheme, while Tang Sanzang and his disciples struggled into the rotten persimmon gullies of Seven Absolutes Mountain.

Tang Sanzang’s party freed the Snake Spirit, who later killed villagers before Wukong defeated it and helped revive one victim. Ao Tu then began obstructing the pilgrimage in Zhu Zi Kingdom by arranging for Tang Sanzang to perform rites for the sick king, leaving the party delayed for months.

• Tang Sanzang freed the Snake Spirit and accepted its help crossing the mire, but it threw him and his disciples into the swamp before returning to attack the village.
• Wukong and Bajie killed the Snake Spirit, and Ao Tu helped Wukong recover the butcher’s soul and revive him in a new body.
• Ao Tu forged the Bone Boat, welcomed Hu Qi into the Great King of the Blood Sea’s service, and entered Zhu Zi Kingdom disguised as a scholar.
• Ao Tu confronted Sai Taisui, revealed himself as Mahamayuri Bodhisattva, revived two palace maids, and began treating patients to gain the king’s attention.
• Ao Tu told the King of Zhu Zi Kingdom to summon a virtuous monk, and Tang Sanzang arrived in the capital seeking an audience and travel papers.
• Wukong exposed Ao Tu’s claims about the king’s illness, but Ao Tu arranged for Tang Sanzang to lead palace rites while keeping the pilgrims in the kingdom.
• Tang Sanzang led the rites for more than three months, then agreed to continue for another six months at Ao Tu’s request, further delaying the pilgrimage.