Chapter Summaries

Wukong learned that Ao Tu had deceived him with a fabricated origin for the fan, then discovered Ao Guang was Ao Tu’s uncle and sought Venerable Ananda for help. Ao Tu learned Wukong had uncovered their relationship, urged Ao Guang to flee, and attacked him as Nezha and Heavenly King Li intervened.

• Ao Tu gave Wukong a false tale about a Six-Obscured Adept, and Wukong spent a day searching before an elderly priest explained the deception.
• Wukong returned to Yellow Wind Cave, found Tang Sanzang and the others still bound, and discovered Ao Guang dining in a separate room.
• Wukong confronted Ao Guang, learned Ao Tu was his nephew and a former Bell Keeper under Buddha, then left to seek Venerable Ananda.
• After Wukong departed, Ao Guang warned Ao Tu to release Tang Sanzang and flee, but Ao Tu declared he would sever ties with his uncle.
• Ao Guang broke through the cave entrance to escape, and Ao Tu attacked him until Nezha and Heavenly King Li came to his aid.

Wukong went to Spirit Mountain for help rescuing Tang Sanzang, but Venerable Ananda demanded a courtesy gift before acting. At Yellow Wind Ridge, Ao Tu killed Ananda with his fan, and he and Great Sage Yellow Wind prepared to flee before the Buddhas’ vengeance.

• Wukong told Tathagata that demons at Yellow Wind Ridge had captured Tang Sanzang, and Tathagata sent him to fetch Ananda.
• Ananda demanded a courtesy gift from Wukong before agreeing to help, and Wukong promised him treasure from the demons’ cave.
• Ananda immobilized Great Sage Yellow Wind with a Glass Bowl, but Ao Tu swept him with his fan and destroyed his body and soul.
• Wukong picked up Ananda’s cracked Glass Bowl while Ao Tu pursued Ananda’s lotus-wrapped true spirit without catching it.
• Ao Tu returned to Yellow Wind Cave and warned Great Sage Yellow Wind that Tathagata’s followers would seek vengeance, so they had to flee.

After killing Ananda, Ao Tu fled Yellow Wind Ridge with Tiger Vanguard and his two sons, while Sun Wukong and Guanyin rescued Tang Sanzang and the other captives. Ao Tu reached the West Sea, raided Ao Run’s treasury to arm his companions, and left with the Water-Reversing Seal as he warned his uncle to deny any connection to him.

• Ao Tu declined Great Sage Yellow Wind’s offer to match him with Half-Body Guanyin and left Yellow Wind Cave with Tiger Vanguard and the tiger cubs hidden between his scales.
• Sun Wukong told Tathagata that Ananda had died, and Tathagata sent Guanyin to help subdue Ao Tu and rescue Tang Sanzang.
• Wukong and Guanyin found Yellow Wind Cave abandoned, rescued Tang Sanzang, Bajie, Lingji Bodhisattva, and the Water Virtue Star Lord, and Guanyin healed them.
• Ao Tu entered the West Sea and told Ao Run he needed weapons for Tiger Vanguard and his sons.
• Ao Tu broke into Ao Run’s treasury, armed Tiger Vanguard and the cubs, and took medicinal pills and other supplies.
• Ao Run gave Ao Tu the Water-Reversing Seal, and Ao Tu departed after warning him to deny any connection to the raid.

Ao Tu reached the Flowing Sand River, defeated Sha Wujing, then recruited him to pose as a false obstacle before joining Tang Sanzang’s pilgrimage. After Tang Sanzang left Yellow Wind Ridge, Ao Tu collected his rewards and began the next quest at Flowing Sand River.

• Ao Tu left the two tiger cubs with Little Alligator Dragon, then traveled to the Flowing Sand River and sent Tiger Vanguard to investigate.
• Tiger Vanguard fought Sha Wujing and fled, so Ao Tu burned Sha Wujing with his treasured fan until he surrendered.
• Ao Tu healed Sha Wujing, revealed a false decree ordering him to obstruct the Pilgrim, and told him to use the alias Sha Tuolong while posing as a fisherman.
• Sha Wujing changed the river marker to Black Water River, removed the skulls from his neck, and waited for the Pilgrim as a fisherman.
• After Tang Sanzang and his disciples left Yellow Wind Ridge, Ao Tu received four rewards for sixty-four days of obstruction, with thirty-four days carried over.
• The system started the Flowing Sand River quest, where Ao Tu had thirty-four days of progress toward obstructing the Pilgrim.

Ao Tu prepared Sha Wujing to impersonate a fisherman and delay Tang Sanzang’s party at the Flowing Sand River while he waited for the Five-Colored Divine Light reward. After crossing Yellow Wind Ridge, Tang Sanzang and his disciples reached the river, where Wukong suspected the fisherman was a monster but Tang Sanzang insisted on approaching him.

• Ao Tu reviewed his rewards and decided to delay Tang Sanzang for nearly two months to obtain the Five-Colored Divine Light.
• Ao Tu had Sha Wujing prepare a hut and instructed him to disguise himself as a fisherman and obstruct the Pilgrim.
• Tang Sanzang, Wukong, and Bajie reached the eight-hundred-li-wide Black Water River after traveling west through autumn and winter.
• Wukong warned that the isolated household and sudden fisherman might be a monster in disguise, but Tang Sanzang dismissed his suspicions.
• The fisherman sang as he poled away, and Tang Sanzang threatened to use the Tight-Fillet Spell if Wukong kept blocking him.

Sha Wujing posed as a fisherman and told Tang Sanzang and his disciples about three monsters near the Black Water River. Wukong was trapped in Ao Tu’s Red Sand Formation, and Tiger Vanguard deceived Bajie with a forged letter claiming Wukong had gone home.

• Sha Wujing invited Tang Sanzang, Wukong, and Bajie to his home and claimed a Bodhisattva had told him to wait for a holy monk from the Great Tang.
• Sha Wujing described the Three Scourges near the Black Water River, and Wukong went alone to confront the vicious tiger in the southern forest.
• Wukong struck a tiger-skin decoy and fell into Ao Tu’s Red Sand Formation, where red sand knocked down both him and his escaping primordial spirit.
• Ao Tu forged a letter in Wukong’s handwriting and ordered Tiger Vanguard to give it to Bajie if he came searching.
• After Wukong failed to return, Bajie went to the forest, where Tiger Vanguard claimed Wukong had gone home and said he had left a letter.

Tang Sanzang grew angry when he learned Sun Wukong had returned to Flower-Fruit Mountain, while Ao Tu kept Wukong trapped to isolate him from the others. Bajie stalled his attempts to fight Tiger Vanguard, but after their clash he realized he could defeat the demon once he guarded against the demon’s treasure.

• Bajie delivered Sun Wukong’s letter, and Tang Sanzang rebuked Wukong for returning home without telling him.
• Tang Sanzang ordered Bajie to subdue the tiger and dragon, but Bajie asked to visit Gao Village and was threatened with dismissal.
• Ao Tu kept Sun Wukong trapped in the Red Sand Formation, counting on the pilgrims’ hidden protectors not to intervene while Tang Sanzang and Bajie remained free.
• Bajie avoided entering the woods for two days, then fought Tiger Vanguard on the third day and fled after the demon struck him with a treasure.
• Bajie told Tang Sanzang that hundreds of demons had surrounded him, but privately concluded that Tiger Vanguard was weaker and that he could capture him if prepared for the treasure.

Ao Tu kept Sun Wukong trapped in the Red Sand Formation while deceiving Bajie into believing he was Sun Wukong and delaying him from seeking help. After Tang Sanzang's Tight-Fillet Spell jolted Sun Wukong awake, Sun Wukong realized he had to escape and remembered the three Life-Saving Hairs from the Bodhisattva.

• Ao Tu repeatedly fought Bajie while holding back, then persuaded Bajie to return to Tang Sanzang instead of seeking the Bodhisattva.
• Ao Tu disguised himself as Sun Wukong, gave Bajie a gift and a pearl, and claimed he was going to visit a sworn brother.
• Bajie returned to Tang Sanzang and concealed Ao Tu's deception, persuading Tang Sanzang to wait for Sun Wukong.
• Ao Tu continued trapping Sun Wukong with red sand as Tang Sanzang waited past the time specified in Sun Wukong's message.
• Tang Sanzang recited the Tight-Fillet Spell, waking Sun Wukong from the red sand's befuddlement and causing him unbearable pain.
• Sun Wukong searched for a way out of the Red Sand Formation and remembered the Bodhisattva's three Life-Saving Hairs.

Ao Tu escaped Sun Wukong by capturing Tang Sanzang and Bajie and taking them into the Flowing Sand River, where Sha Wujing revealed his role in the scheme. Sun Wukong pursued them into the water and was struck from behind by Ao Tu’s Water-Reversing Seal.

• Sun Wukong escaped Ao Tu’s formation and battled him in the air, but fled when Ao Tu unleashed the Five-Fire Seven-Bird Fan.
• Ao Tu overturned Sha Wujing’s house, captured Tang Sanzang and Bajie, and bound them to a pillar beneath the Flowing Sand River.
• Sha Wujing revealed to Tang Sanzang that he was the third scourge, while Ao Tu reflected that his scheme had gone awry and noted that his progress was still twenty-three days short of a season.
• Sun Wukong churned the river to force the demons out, and Sha Wujing challenged him before pretending to flee underwater.
• Sun Wukong chased Sha Wujing into the river, where Ao Tu struck him from behind with the Water-Reversing Seal.

Sun Wukong learned from Ao Guang and Ao Run that Sha Tuolong was the Jing River Dragon King’s youngest son and uncovered why the dragon family resented his master. He asked Ao Run to accompany him to Black Water River and persuade the demon dragons to release his master.

• Sun Wukong escaped Ao Tu’s underwater attack with his cracked Glazed Bowl and turned toward the Southern Sea before remembering Ao Guang’s warning about Black Water River.
• Sun Wukong confronted Ao Guang, who identified Sha Tuolong as Little Alligator Dragon, the youngest son of the Jing River Dragon King, and summoned Ao Run.
• Ao Run listed the Jing River Dragon King’s nine sons and explained that the fisherman Yuan Shoucheng’s predictions threatened the dragon children who had transformed into Golden Carp.
• Ao Run recounted how the Jing River Dragon King lost his wager with Yuan Shoucheng, disobeyed the Jade Emperor’s rain decree, and was executed, prompting his sons to blame Tang King for his death.
• Sun Wukong asked Ao Run to accompany him to Black Water River and persuade Ao Tu and Little Alligator Dragon to release his master, while Ao Run warned that Ao Tu had taken many treasures from his palace.

Sun Wukong agreed to let Ao Tu keep Tang Sanzang captive until the Beginning of Spring and used his leave to visit Flower-Fruit Mountain. He found the mountain devastated and its monkeys hunted, drove off the hunters, restored the mountain, and said he would stay only twenty-four days before continuing west.

• Dragon King Ao Run of the West Sea tried to persuade Ao Tu to surrender, but Ao Tu bound him and left him beneath the river with Tang Sanzang and Bajie.
• Ao Tu promised to release Tang Sanzang at the Beginning of Spring, twenty-four days later, and Wukong agreed before setting off for Flower-Fruit Mountain.
• Wukong found Flower-Fruit Mountain ruined and learned from the surviving monkeys that heavenly forces and hunters had killed or captured most of their people.
• Wukong sent more than a thousand hunters five hundred li away with a fierce wind, then borrowed rain and restored the mountain with the monkeys’ help.
• The monkeys begged Wukong to remain, but he said he would stay for only twenty-four days before resuming his journey west.

Ao Tu released Tang Sanzang after holding him for ninety-one days, and Guanyin helped the pilgrims cross the Flowing Sand River after Sha Wujing joined them. Guanyin began planning to capture Ao Tu, while he collected his rewards and learned his next side quest would be the Four Saints Test Chan Mind.

• Wukong returned to the Flowing Sand River, and Ao Tu released Tang Sanzang, Bajie, and the West Sea Dragon King.
• Wukong and Sha Wujing went to Guanyin, who explained that Ao Tu had deceived them and gave Wukong a Red Gourd to help cross the river.
• Guanyin accompanied Wukong and Sha Wujing to the Flowing Sand River, where Tang Sanzang accepted Sha Wujing as his disciple and Guanyin made a Willow-Leaf Boat to carry them across.
• Guanyin worried that Ao Tu might turn Wukong against the pilgrimage and agreed with Mucha to invite Manjushri, Samantabhadra, and Old Mother Lishan to help set a trap.
• Ao Tu received a Three-Turn Soul-Reviving Pill, a Six-Thousand-Year Peach of Immortality, two Houtian spiritual treasures, and Five-Colored Divine Light, with one excess day carried over to the Four Saints Test Chan Mind side quest.

Ao Tu received five rewards, mastered the Five-Colored Divine Light, and entered the area of Guanyin Bodhisattva’s plan to test the pilgrims. Recognizing the trap, he pretended to seek a bride and turned the test into a mock marriage contest, leaving Guanyin and her companions angry and unable to stop him without abandoning their larger plan.

• Ao Tu received a Three-Turn Soul-Reviving Pill, a Six-Thousand-Year Peach of Immortality, a Headache Chime, a Dragon-Binding Rope, and the Five-Colored Divine Light; he used the peach and mastered the divine light.
• Ao Tu and Tiger Vanguard reached a palace where a woman was seeking a husband for her three daughters, and the system announced a side quest to keep the Pilgrim in the area for increasing rewards.
• Ao Tu realized Guanyin Bodhisattva and her companions had arranged the marriage test, but he pretended to be a suitor and entered the palace with Tiger Vanguard.
• The woman introduced herself as Jia and presented Zhenzhen, Aiai, and Lianlian, who were Manjushri, Samantabhadra, and Guanyin Bodhisattva in disguise.
• Ao Tu mocked Buddhist precepts and teased the disguised Bodhisattvas while Guanyin grew furious and Manjushri and Samantabhadra restrained her.
• Ao Tu proposed that the three maidens wear bridal veils and try their luck at a Heavenly Marriage.

Ao Tu continued to outwit Guanyin Bodhisattva and her companions, refusing to marry Lianlian unless they captured Tang Sanzang for a wedding feast. When Tang Sanzang and his disciples arrived, Ao Tu joined the three disguised Bodhisattvas in a direct attack, and the battle began with the master’s companions fighting to protect him.

• Ao Tu evaded the Bodhisattvas’ attempt to catch him, then refused to wear the wedding circlet and demanded Tang Sanzang’s flesh as the wedding feast.
• Ao Tu struck the Little Maid when she urged him to try on his wedding clothes, and Guanyin Bodhisattva left in anger.
• Ao Tu stayed with the woman for nearly two months, making Guanyin serve him while he waited for Tang Sanzang’s party to arrive.
• Ao Tu assigned Zhenzhen, Aiai, and Lianlian to fight Sha Monk, Zhu Bajie, and Sun Wukong, while he claimed he would capture Tang Sanzang.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva, Manjushri, and Samantabhadra attacked Tang Sanzang’s party, and Ao Tu watched as the three disciples fought them.

Sun Wukong failed to stop the Four Sages and sought heavenly aid after Ao Tu captured Tang Sanzang and his companions. Nezha confronted Ao Tu, who retreated to the manor and urged everyone to flee, while the woman insisted her daughters could help.

• Guanyin Bodhisattva, Manjushri, and Samantabhadra fought Sun Wukong together, and Ao Tu captured Tang Sanzang, Bajie, Sha Wujing, and the white horse.
• Sun Wukong followed Ao Tu to the manor, overheard the plan to eat Tang Sanzang and capture him, then went to seek help from the Jade Emperor.
• The Jade Emperor sent Heavenly King Li and Nezha with heavenly troops to subdue the demons.
• Nezha fought Ao Tu, wounded him, and drove him back to the manor.
• Ao Tu urged the woman and her daughters to flee, but the woman said Zhenzhen, Aiai, and Lianlian could help defeat Nezha.

Manjushri Bodhisattva captured Nezha, but the demons repelled a hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, prompting Sun Wukong to seek help from the Buddha. With the Eighteen Arhats surrounding the estate, Ao Tu agreed to marry and made the Bodhisattvas pay respects to his late father, alarming the underworld officials.

• Manjushri Bodhisattva bound Nezha with the Dragon-Binding Pillar, while Sun Wukong and Heavenly King Li fled and later reported the demons’ strength to the Jade Emperor.
• The Jade Emperor sent a hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, but Perfected One Samantabhadra’s Celebration Cloud shielded the manor from their attacks.
• Heavenly King Li advised Sun Wukong to seek Buddhist help, and the Buddha sent the Eighteen Arhats to surround the demons’ residence and wait.
• The three Bodhisattvas urged Ao Tu to marry, and he agreed on the condition that he first pay respects to his late father.
• Ao Tu called Guanyin Bodhisattva Lianlian and demanded that she burn offerings for his father, so she and the other Bodhisattvas reluctantly joined Old Mother Lishan in the ritual.
• The Burn-Register Underworld Official reported to Lord Yama that Old Mother Lishan and the three Bodhisattvas were burning paper money for the Jing River Dragon King.

King Yama and the other Kings of Hell arranged to send incense offerings to the Jing River Dragon King in the Nine Netherworlds. Meanwhile, Ao Tu escaped Guanyin Bodhisattva and the assembled heavenly forces, but the exhausted dragon was still pursued by Guanyin.

• King Yama and the other Kings of Hell agreed to have ghost messengers provide the Jing River Dragon King with daily incense offerings in the Nine Netherworlds.
• Lianlian asked Ao Tu to marry her, but Ao Tu caught Guanyin Bodhisattva attempting to bind him and revealed that he had anticipated her trick.
• Ao Tu bound Guanyin Bodhisattva with the Dragon-Binding Rope and drove back Manjushri and Samantabhadra with the Five-Fire Seven-Bird Fan.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva freed herself, and Ao Tu fled with Tiger Vanguard as the Bodhisattvas and heavenly forces pursued them.
• Ao Tu swept away the Four Heavenly Kings, the Thunder Department generals, the Nine Luminaries Star Lords, a hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, and the eighteen Arhats, then escaped using Earth-Traveling Golden Light.
• Ao Tu swept away Manjushri and Samantabhadra with black light, but Guanyin Bodhisattva continued pursuing him as his strength waned.

Ao Tu escaped Guanyin Bodhisattva by capturing her and the other pursuers with his Five-Colored Divine Light, then released them and fled. After the system settled his rewards, Tiger Vanguard brought a frightened woman from White Tiger Ridge to Ao Tu, who realized she was from the White Bone Spirit’s territory.

• Old Mother Lishan revealed herself to Wukong and asked him to stop Ao Tu and Guanyin Bodhisattva from fighting.
• Ao Tu ate a three-thousand-year Peach of Immortality, regained magical power, and swept Guanyin Bodhisattva and the pursuing heavenly and Buddhist forces into his Five-Colored Divine Light.
• Wukong arrived, and Ao Tu released his captives before fleeing; Guanyin Bodhisattva and the others mistakenly believed he had let them go because he was exhausted.
• Ao Tu hid by a river with Tiger Vanguard, and the system awarded him the Rebirth Mantra, Pointing to the Ground Turns It to Steel, a Purple-Patterned Peach of Immortality, and a Third-Grade Golden Lotus.
• Tiger Vanguard brought back a woman he found near White Tiger Ridge, and Ao Tu recognized the place as the White Bone Spirit’s territory.

Ao Tu rescued Qiao'er's parents from Lady White Bone, recruited the demon to capture Tang Sanzang and his disciples, and helped Qiao'er's family rebuild their home while arranging a pretend courtship with Qiao'er. After leaving with Tiger Vanguard, he reached Wuzhuang Temple and disguised himself as a Daoist priest, while Tang Sanzang's party was still several days away.

• Ao Tu learned that Qiao'er lived with her elderly parents on White Tiger Ridge and followed her home with Tiger Vanguard disguised as a hunter.
• Lady White Bone swept Qiao'er's parents into White Bone Cave, and Ao Tu captured her with the Dragon-Binding Rope and made her promise to capture the approaching monks.
• Ao Tu rescued Qiao'er's parents, healed Qiao'er's wrist, and asked her to pretend to accept his marriage proposal when he later asked for her hand.
• Ao Tu and Tiger Vanguard repaired the family's cottage and built a wooden house nearby, while Qiao'er's parents began hoping she would marry Ao Tu.
• Ao Tu left with Tiger Vanguard and went to Wuzhuang Temple, where he disguised himself as a Daoist priest after seeing that Tang Sanzang and his disciples were still several days away.

Ao Tu arrived at Wuzhuang Temple disguised as a Daoist, hoping to delay Tang Sanzang’s party and earn quest rewards while offering to heal the Ginseng Fruit Tree. After Qingfeng and Mingyue rejected his warning, he waited nearby as Tang Sanzang’s group reached the temple.

• Ao Tu entered the quest area and saw that delaying the Pilgrim would earn increasingly valuable rewards, including elixirs and spiritual treasures.
• Ao Tu learned that Zhen Yuanzi had left for a lecture and had instructed Qingfeng and Mingyue to offer Tang Sanzang two Ginseng Fruits.
• Ao Tu introduced himself as Vozhu Zhenshi Heavenly Venerable and warned Qingfeng and Mingyue that the Ginseng Fruit Tree would soon be toppled, offering to heal it with Three-Lights Divine Water.
• Qingfeng and Mingyue dismissed Ao Tu’s warning, so he left with Tiger Vanguard and waited on a nearby mountain.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples reached Longevity Mountain, discussed how far Spirit Mountain remained, and arrived at Wuzhuang Temple, where Qingfeng and Mingyue welcomed them.