Chapter Summaries

The Golden-Winged Great Peng slaughtered the Eight Divisions of Heavenly Dragons, and Ao Tu’s party continued to Lion Camel City, where Tang Sanzang began reciting sutras to deliver the dead. The ritual transported Tang Sanzang into a vision of a prosperous kingdom, where he met an old king and asked him to seal his Passbook.

• At Ao Tu’s command, the Golden-Winged Great Peng killed the Eight Divisions of Heavenly Dragons and brought their corpses back, but Manjushri Bodhisattva and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva stopped Green Lion and White Elephant from eating them.
• Ao Tu’s party reached Lion Camel City, where the Golden-Winged Great Peng arranged for a statue of Ao Tu and asked how often the demons should worship.
• Ao Tu told Tang Sanzang to deliver the vengeful souls, and Tang Sanzang climbed a platform and began reciting sutras.
• Black fog and a whirlwind swept through the city, and Tang Sanzang found himself among the people and officials of a prosperous kingdom, where he met an old king.
• Tang Sanzang explained his journey from the Great Tang and asked the old king to affix his seal to his Passbook.

Tang Sanzang discovered that the people of Lion Camel City had been unjustly killed and began delivering their vengeful souls, while Golden-Winged Great Peng admitted to eating them. Ao Tu then repeatedly sent Golden-Winged Great Peng to devour groups of deities sent from the Western Heaven, and the chapter ended as another group arrived to investigate.

• The Old King refused to stamp Tang Sanzang’s Passbook until he delivered the souls of the kingdom’s dead, and Ao Tu revealed that the city’s people were all vengeful ghosts.
• Tang Sanzang learned that Golden-Winged Great Peng had eaten Lion Camel City’s inhabitants five hundred years earlier, then rested for nearly half a month before beginning the difficult work of delivering their souls.
• Kasyapa sent groups of the Eight Divisions of Heavenly Dragons to investigate their missing members, and Ao Tu repeatedly ordered Golden-Winged Great Peng to eat them.
• After Kasyapa sent another hundred or so deities, the Great Brahma King secretly followed them and discovered remains of several kinds of heavenly beings outside Lion Camel City.
• Ao Tu spotted the latest group of deities and again told Golden-Winged Great Peng to eat them.

Golden-Winged Great Peng attacked the Eight Divisions of Heavenly Dragons, prompting the Great Brahma King to seek justice from Tathagata and Mahamayuri Bodhisattva. After they refused to punish the peng, the Great Brahma King left with a piece of Tathagata’s flesh, while Ao Tu’s formation in Lion Camel City continued to gather power.

• Golden-Winged Great Peng ate members of the Eight Divisions of Heavenly Dragons until the Great Brahma King drove him away and brought the survivors to Spirit Mountain.
• Tathagata Buddha acknowledged Golden-Winged Great Peng’s wrongdoing but sent the Great Brahma King to ask Mahamayuri Bodhisattva to capture him.
• Mahamayuri Bodhisattva defended his younger brother, swallowed the witnesses, and fought the Great Brahma King, who lost one of his heads.
• Tathagata Buddha accepted Mahamayuri Bodhisattva’s reasoning and gave the Great Brahma King a piece of his flesh to feed Golden-Winged Great Peng.
• Ao Tu used his blood essence and the Twelve Divine Fiends Formation to control the demons’ offerings, causing dark clouds and thunder to gather over Lion Camel City.

Ao Tu thwarted the Great Brahma King's attempt to capture the Golden-Winged Great Peng and sacrificed Tathagata's flesh and blood to strengthen his formation. Back on Spirit Mountain, Tathagata urged an Eastern Migration while the monks argued over whether to confront Ao Tu, then sent Guanyin to borrow Taishang Laojun's Southern Earth-Leaving Flame-Light Banner.

• The Great Brahma King used Tathagata's flesh and blood to lure the Golden-Winged Great Peng outside Lion Camel City, but Ao Tu killed the swan carrying him and the Great Peng escaped.
• Ao Tu cut the flesh and blood from the Golden-Winged Great Peng's belly and sacrificed it to the divine statues, adding power to his formation.
• The Great Brahma King told Tathagata that Ao Tu had disrupted his plans, and Tathagata examined Lion Camel City with his Wisdom Eye before calling the monks to deliberate on an Eastern Migration.
• The Great Brahma King urged the monks to fight Ao Tu, winning support from many, while Maitreya Buddha and Buddha Randeng lamented that those who joined the battle would enter the tribulation.
• Tathagata sent Guanyin to borrow the Southern Earth-Leaving Flame-Light Banner from Taishang Laojun, who told a child to fetch it.

Guanyin Bodhisattva returned from borrowing the Southern Earth-Leaving Flame-Light Banner and accompanied Great Brahma King to challenge the demons at Lion Camel City. The monks reached the closed gates, and Great Brahma King proposed fighting Blood Sea Old Monster while Guanyin kept Demon Dragon away with the banner.

• Guanyin Bodhisattva borrowed the Southern Earth-Leaving Flame-Light Banner from Lord Lao and returned to Spirit Mountain troubled by Sage Taiqing’s intentions.
• The old Bhikshu Monk urged Guanyin Bodhisattva to trust the Path she had forged, and she agreed to accompany Great Brahma King against Demon Dragon.
• Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva advised the monks to migrate east, but Great Brahma King rejected his warning and led the others toward Lion Camel City.
• Ao Tu ordered the demons to shut the city gates after the Crow Spirit reported the monks’ arrival, and Great Brahma King’s followers were too afraid to serve as vanguard.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva proposed that Great Brahma King challenge Blood Sea Old Monster while she used the banner to keep Demon Dragon away.
• Great Brahma King accepted the plan but asked Guanyin Bodhisattva to secure him with her Willow Branch so she could rescue him if the fight went badly.

The Great Brahma King fought the Blood Sea King but was defeated when the Soul-Scattering Gourd overwhelmed his treasures. Guanyin Bodhisattva rescued him, then chased Ao Tu through countless transformations before warning him that the Southern Earth-Leaving Flame-Light Banner belonged to the Supreme Dao Ancestor and urging him to withdraw.

• The Great Brahma King challenged the Blood Sea Old Monster, but Green Lion came out instead and was badly wounded by the Great Brahma King's thunderbolt.
• The Blood Sea King joined the fight, and Ao Tu ordered his Blood Sea Incarnation to kill the Great Brahma King while he watched Guanyin Bodhisattva.
• The Blood Sea King used the Soul-Scattering Gourd to destroy the Great Brahma King's defenses, and Guanyin Bodhisattva used the Southern Earth-Leaving Flame-Light Banner to shield and rescue him.
• Ao Tu captured the Southern Earth-Leaving Flame-Light Banner with the Golden Bushel of Primordial Unity and pursued Guanyin Bodhisattva through many transformations.
• After they were alone, Guanyin Bodhisattva revealed that the banner belonged to the Supreme Dao Ancestor and scolded Ao Tu for refusing to withdraw from Spirit Mountain.

Ao Tu outwitted Guanyin Bodhisattva and brought her back to the city, where he revealed five Eight-Turn Golden Elixirs and asked her to help him refine a ninth-turn elixir for the Dao Ancestor. Guanyin agreed to lend him her power, and Ao Tu began the refinement.

• Guanyin Bodhisattva tried to take Ao Tu back to Mount Luojia, but he tricked her into releasing her hold and captured both her hands.
• Ao Tu persuaded Guanyin Bodhisattva to return with him by promising to offer the Dao Ancestor a gift and accept her guidance if the gift was refused.
• Ao Tu brought Guanyin Bodhisattva to the city, dismissed the demons, and prepared his alchemy equipment as monks reported their defeat and the Great Brahma King's injuries to Tathagata Buddha.
• Ao Tu showed Guanyin Bodhisattva five Eight-Turn Golden Elixirs and explained that he needed her profound realm to help condense a Dao Fruit and refine a ninth-turn elixir.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva agreed to assist, and Ao Tu began refining the elixir while she watched his skill.

Ao Tu refined a Nine-Turn Golden Elixir with Guanyin Bodhisattva’s help, but the process wounded her and left the elixir’s inner world flawed. After deciding to present it to the Dao Ancestor and seek his guidance, Ao Tu left Lion Camel City for heaven, while the chapter also revealed that the monks had brought the injured Great Brahma King to Tathagata Buddha for treatment.

• Ao Tu used Guanyin Bodhisattva’s support to enter the Great Luo realm and successfully formed a Nine-Turn Golden Elixir, though his Axe Light split it open and wounded her hand.
• Ao Tu repaired the elixir and explained that its inner world could last at most ninety thousand origin cycles; Guanyin Bodhisattva urged him to refine another, but he chose to offer it to the Dao Ancestor.
• Ao Tu slowly retrieved the lingering Axe Light from Guanyin Bodhisattva’s wound, then waited half a year for a discipleship banquet before heading to heaven and leaving his Blood Sea Incarnation to guard Lion Camel City.
• The monks brought the unconscious Great Brahma King to Tathagata Buddha and explained that the Blood Sea Old Monster had wounded him and captured Guanyin Bodhisattva and the Treasure Banner.
• Medicine Buddha of Lapis Lazuli Light offered a Lapis Lazuli Golden Elixir to heal the Great Brahma King, and Tathagata Buddha asked him to treat the injured king.

The Great Brahma King enlisted four Medicine Buddhas to help him attack Ao Tu, while Ao Tu prepared three gifts for Xiao Zhenying’s apprenticeship ceremony. After Xiao Zhenying formally became his disciple at the Cloud Tower Palace, Nezha offered to demonstrate how to use her new treasures.

• The Medicine Buddha of Lapis Lazuli Light revived the badly injured Great Brahma King, who persuaded four Buddhas to join him in attacking the Demon Dragon after a day’s rest.
• Ao Tu forged a Longevity Lock, a Treasure Casket, and a Daoist Attendant Robe for Xiao Zhenying.
• Ao Tu met Xiao Zhenying and Nezha, then went with them to the Cloud Tower Palace for the apprenticeship banquet.
• Li Zhenying performed the formal apprenticeship rites before Ao Tu, who gave her the three treasures he had made.
• Nezha told Xiao Zhenying that a treasure’s value depended on how it was used and asked her to hand him the Longevity Lock and Treasure Casket for a demonstration.

Ao Tu brought Xiao Zhenying to the Flower Realm as his apprentice, then presented an elixir to Taishang Laojun and learned that his self corpse was nearing the point of being slain. On his way back, he joined the immortals watching the Blood Sea King’s forces face four Buddhas, where the Great Brahma King killed Crow Spirit and led a charge toward the demons.

• Xiao Zhenying reclaimed the longevity lock and treasure casket from Nezha, then left with Ao Tu to study Daoist arts and alchemy in the Flower Realm.
• Ao Tu presented his Nine-Turn Golden Elixir to Taishang Laojun, who explained the conditions attached to the flag and said Ao Tu was about to slay his self corpse.
• Ao Tu learned that a demon was fighting four Buddhas in the lower realm and went with the Treasure-Summoning God to Lingxiao Hall to watch the battle.
• The Blood Sea King sent Crow Spirit to ask the Buddhas how they wished to fight, but the Great Brahma King accused Crow Spirit of betraying them and killed him with Divine Thunder.
• The Great Brahma King led the monks in a charge, but his cloud drifted backward, prompting Celestial Worthy Jade Emperor to laugh.

The four Buddhas fought the Blood Sea King, but their attacks barely harmed him and he destroyed their treasures. They trapped his limbs in their Buddhist realms at the cost of their believers, then called on the Great Brahma King to help finish him.

• The four Buddhas surrounded the Blood Sea King with their Buddhist realms and resisted the red sand and blood fiend energy from his Soul-Scattering Gourd.
• The Great Brahma King watched the believers of the four Buddhas hold firm and envied their faith, remembering how his own worlds had been destroyed.
• The four Buddhas attacked with precious flames and magic treasures, but the Blood Sea King endured their assaults and shattered the Demon-Subduing Pestle, sarira, medicine bowl, and precious mirror, wounding all four Buddhas.
• The four Buddhas changed tactics and trapped the Blood Sea King's limbs in their respective Buddhist realms, where his limbs became Zhurong, Gonggong, Jumang, and Roushou.
• The four realms became deadly landscapes that killed many believers, and as the Buddhas struggled to contain the Blood Sea King, they called to the Great Brahma King for help.

The Blood Sea King broke free and slaughtered the Buddhist forces, while the Great Brahma King’s betrayal left Red Boy badly injured. The Blood Sea King captured the four Buddhas and prepared to steam them, but Red Boy asked him to wait until his wounds healed.

• The Great Brahma King ambushed Red Boy, but Nine-Headed Bug stopped him from striking again.
• The four Buddhas failed to hold the Blood Sea King, who broke free and killed or defeated the monks and deities who challenged him.
• Golden-Winged Great Peng ate Vayu Deva and Yama Deva, while Nine-Headed Bug killed the surrendering Sati Bodhisattva.
• The Blood Sea King killed the Great Brahma King and ordered his demons to prepare the four captured Buddhas for steaming.
• The Blood Sea King carried the injured Red Boy on his back, and Red Boy asked him to delay the meal until he recovered.

After the battle, Ao Tu healed Tiger Vanguard and Red Boy, then ordered Red Boy to steam four captured Buddhas. The Kitchen God fetched the Dragon King of the North Sea under false pretenses, bringing him to Lion Camel City as the Buddhas were being cooked.

• Ao Tu returned to Lion Camel City, tended the wounded demons, and healed Tiger Vanguard's blinded eye and Red Boy's scorched skin.
• Ao Tu ordered Red Boy to lead the demons in steaming four captured Buddhas, and Red Boy agreed.
• Green Lion, White Elephant, and Golden-Winged Great Peng joined Red Boy to watch over the prisoners and eat the Buddha flesh.
• Red Boy's demons put Buddha Jewel Light, Buddha Well-Praised, Buddha Solemn Light, and Buddha Without Worries into a steamer and lit the fire with Red Boy's samadhi true fire.
• The Kitchen God, afraid to intervene directly, tricked the Dragon King of the North Sea into coming to Lion Camel City by claiming Ao Tu had invited him to a feast.

The Dragon Kings of the North Sea and Southern Sea tried to help the four Buddhas in Ao Tu’s steamer, but their actions made the fire hotter, and the Buddhas abandoned their bodies and escaped to Spirit Mountain. Tathagata Buddha refused to recover their bodies, so the Medicine Buddha of Lapis Lazuli Light agreed to ask Ao Tu for them.

• The Dragon King of the North Sea summoned Ao Qin, the Dragon King of the Southern Sea, who conjured eight fire dragons to gather the Samadhi True Fire beneath the steamer.
• The four Buddhas judged the intensified heat dangerous and sent their Primordial Spirits and Buddha nature back to Western Heaven, leaving their bodies behind.
• Ao Tu found the four Great Luo shells still in the steamer and told Red Boy to let them cook slowly for a feast.
• After half a month, Ao Tu sent his uncles home while Green Lion, White Elephant, and Golden-Winged Great Peng eagerly waited for the meat.
• The four Buddhas begged Tathagata Buddha to recover their bodies, but he refused, as did Maitreya Buddha and Buddha Randeng.
• The Medicine Buddha of Lapis Lazuli Light agreed to visit Ao Tu and ask for the four Buddha bodies back.

Red Boy’s demons spent three months steaming four Buddhas, while the cooking fragrance helped Tang Sanzang deliver the city’s vengeful souls. When the Buddha flesh was finally ready and portions were sent to Ao Tu and the Blood Sea King, Golden-Winged Great Peng asked Ao Tu if they could send some to his elder brother.

• The demons kept steaming the four Buddhas after Golden-Winged Great Peng judged their skin cooked but their flesh and bones still raw.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples found the city’s vengeful souls easier to deliver, and Ao Tu explained that the city’s fragrant smoke came from steaming the Buddhas rather than burning incense.
• Ao Tu defended killing and eating the Buddhas, arguing that their rendered fat helped release the souls, while Tang Sanzang wondered whether cooking smoke could equal temple incense.
• After three months, the four Buddhas’ skin, flesh, sinews, and bones were tender, and Red Boy had dishes prepared for Ao Tu and the Blood Sea King.
• Golden-Winged Great Peng asked Ao Tu whether they could send several catties of Buddha flesh to his elder brother.

Ao Tu sent Buddha Flesh to Golden-Winged Great Peng, who delivered it to his brother Peacock on Snow Mountain. Ao Tu distributed the remaining flesh among his demons, and Buddha Gelatin soon became a costly product across the Western Ox Continent.

• Ao Tu reassured Guanyin Bodhisattva that he would not eat the Buddha Flesh and sent Red Boy to deliver four plates to Golden-Winged Great Peng.
• Ao Tu removed Red Boy’s Golden Fillets, then kept them while joking with Guanyin Bodhisattva about making collar bells for future mounts.
• Golden-Winged Great Peng flew to Snow Mountain with the Buddha Flesh and nearly fell because half the peak had been blasted away.
• Peacock scolded Golden-Winged Great Peng for causing trouble, but snatched the Buddha Flesh and said he would keep it for him.
• Ao Tu divided the remaining Buddha Flesh among his demon kings and generals and had the lesser demons’ share turned into soup.
• Merchants sold Buddha Gelatin across the Western Ox Continent, where it became expensive and difficult to distinguish from imitations.

Medicine Buddha descended to Lion Camel City in disguise to recover the Four Buddhas’ bodies and the Treasure Banner, but his cures made him famous among the demons. Ao Tu recognized his eastern karmic origin and had him seized, then demanded his name and reason for coming.

• Medicine Buddha rejected Tathagata Buddha’s warning, descended the mountain, and entered Lion Camel City disguised as an ugly Daoist.
• Medicine Buddha cured a jackal spirit’s neck lump and persuaded it to become vegetarian.
• Medicine Buddha saw a statue filled with blood fiend and recognized the Demon Dragon’s attempt to establish another faith.
• Medicine Buddha paid the red fox spirit’s market fee with transformed dirt, opened a stall, and gained the demons’ respect by treating their illnesses.
• Ao Tu examined the disguised Medicine Buddha, suspected his identity, and ordered the demons to bind and bring him over.
• Ao Tu asked Medicine Buddha who he was and why he had come to the city.

Ao Tu fought Medicine Buddha, whose lapis lazuli Golden Body and restorative elixir let him endure repeated attacks, while Ao Tu and the Blood Sea King killed Medicine Buddha’s summoned forces. Medicine Buddha began slaughtering Ao Tu’s demons with a golden branch, and Ao Tu ordered them to retreat behind his divine statue.

• Ao Tu exposed Medicine Buddha’s attempt to counsel him and fought him after Medicine Buddha revealed his true form.
• Ao Tu trapped Medicine Buddha in the Five-Colored Divine Light, but released him when his Golden Body and Eastern Pure Lapis Lazuli World resisted.
• Ao Tu and the Blood Sea King repeatedly damaged Medicine Buddha, while the Medicine Buddha Gourd’s elixir restored his body and the Blood Sea King killed the Twelve Divine Generals and eighty-four thousand yakshas.
• Medicine Buddha struck the demons with a golden Uṣṇīṣa Vijaya Haritaki Fruit Branch, killing many despite Ao Tu and the Blood Sea King attacking him.
• Ao Tu ordered the demons to retreat behind his divine statue.

Medicine Buddha destroyed the statue in Lion Camel City, but Ao Tu activated the Twelve Divine Fiends Formation and used its Pangu-like giant to shatter Medicine Buddha’s body and attack his Dao law. Medicine Buddha swore to release his resentment and offered Ao Tu a precious elixir and a gourd, leaving Ao Tu pleased but still wary.

• Ao Tu ordered the demons to retreat and activated the Twelve Divine Fiends Formation after Medicine Buddha broke through the city wall and destroyed the blood-charged statue.
• The twelve deities formed a giant that split Medicine Buddha’s Path, destroyed the Eastern Pure Lapis Lazuli World, and shattered his golden body.
• Ao Tu tried to sever Medicine Buddha’s Dao law, but Heaven and Earth resisted, and Medicine Buddha begged for mercy and swore he held no resentment.
• Medicine Buddha offered Ao Tu the Lapis Lazuli Golden Elixir as compensation, and Ao Tu accepted it while keeping the formation active.
• Medicine Buddha offered him a gourd to hold the elixir, and Ao Tu remained cautious.

Ao Tu restored Medicine Buddha with a Sarira and a newly forged medicine bowl, then asked him to help lure Tathagata Buddha away from Spirit Mountain. Medicine Buddha returned to Spirit Mountain and claimed he had subdued Ao Tu, prompting the monks to demand that Tathagata capture the Demon Dragon.

• Ao Tu gave Medicine Buddha his Lapis Lazuli Golden Elixir and Medicine Buddha Gourd, then sent Golden-Winged Great Peng to retrieve a Nirvana Sarira from Spirit Mountain.
• Medicine Buddha reconstructed his body from the Sarira, and Ao Tu stabilized it with a Lapis Lazuli Golden Elixir.
• Ao Tu forged Medicine Buddha a medicine bowl using materials from himself, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, and Guanyin Bodhisattva; Golden-Winged Great Peng later searched Northern Utarakuru for Medicine Buddha's lost treasures but found nothing.
• Ao Tu asked Medicine Buddha to help trick Tathagata Buddha into leaving Spirit Mountain so Ao Tu could prolong his obstruction of Tang Sanzang and his disciples.
• Tathagata Buddha ordered Kasyapa and the monks to move their belongings, but Medicine Buddha returned and told the monks he had subdued Ao Tu and spared him.
• Vishnu Bodhisattva and the other monks urged Tathagata Buddha to capture Ao Tu and bring him back to Spirit Mountain for punishment.