Chapter Summaries

Guanyin warned Tang Sanzang and his disciples that the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom killed monks, so Wukong disguised them as laymen to enter the city. On the road, they claimed to be horse merchants, only to be surrounded by bandits demanding their silver.

• Guanyin appeared as an old woman and warned that the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom’s King had nearly completed his vow to kill ten thousand monks.
• Wukong went into the city to investigate, found no sign of evil, and stole merchants’ clothes to disguise the group.
• Tang Sanzang, Wukong, Bajie, and Sha Wujing changed into lay clothes and agreed to pose as horse-trading brothers.
• A man in a brocade robe confronted them on the road and revealed himself as a bandit leader, while twenty bandits surrounded the group and demanded silver.

Tang Sanzang and his disciples escaped a roadside robbery by Patriarch Styx and his bandits, then entered the city disguised as horse traders. After the inn’s workers learned of their supposed wealth and alerted the bandits, Patriarch Styx led a new attempt to rob them.

• Wukong frightened Ground-Digging Tiger, One-Eyed Dragon, and the other robbers with his enlarged Golden Cudgel, then used his doubles to catch and release them after they promised to stop their crimes.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples entered the city and told the landlady they were horse traders, arranging first-class service while avoiding being recognized as monks.
• Wukong persuaded the landlady to serve vegetarian food and send the young lady away, then had the group sleep inside a large chest to hide their shaved heads.
• The inn’s workers overheard Wukong speak of their supposed silver and reported it to Ground-Digging Tiger and One-Eyed Dragon.
• Patriarch Styx persuaded Ground-Digging Tiger, One-Eyed Dragon, and the other robbers to try again, and they climbed over the city wall toward the inn.

Patriarch Styx and his bandits stole the sealed cabinet carrying Tang Sanzang and his disciples, then hid at Patriarch Styx’s home until morning. The captives learned the bandits planned to kill them, while Ao Tu and Guanyin Bodhisattva secretly mourned their fate at the cabinet.

• Patriarch Styx’s bandits stole White Dragon Horse and carried the sealed cabinet out of the inn, then stopped at the city wall and decided to hide at Patriarch Styx’s house until daybreak.
• Patriarch Styx woke Ao Tu and Guanyin Bodhisattva, who pretended to be frightened of a demon before welcoming their son and his bandits inside.
• Ao Tu and Guanyin Bodhisattva prepared food for the bandits, while Bajie and the others heard Ground-Digging Tiger say that the bandits would kill the merchants and divide their wealth.
• Ao Tu and Guanyin Bodhisattva offered incense beside the cabinet and lamented that they could not save the captives.

Wukong escaped the cabinet and used his magic to shave the heads of everyone in the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom, prompting the king to vow never to kill monks again. The soldiers brought the cabinet and the four pilgrims before the king, who learned they were seeking scriptures and heard of Wukong's strength.

• Ao Tu reported Hua Yunlong and the captured merchants to the authorities, and the commander sent more than a thousand troops to arrest the bandits.
• Patriarch Styx led the bandits out through the city gate, while the troops seized White Horse and the cabinet containing Tang Sanzang and his disciples.
• After Tang Sanzang fell asleep, Wukong left the cabinet and used his duplicates and the Earth Gods and City Gods to shave everyone in the palace and government offices.
• The king and officials discovered they were bald, and the king vowed never to slaughter monks again.
• The commander presented White Horse and the cabinet at court, and the four pilgrims emerged when the soldiers opened it.
• Wukong explained that the pilgrims had disguised themselves because the king killed monks, and Bajie praised Wukong's skill against Hua Yunlong.

Wukong secured the King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom’s promise to stop killing monks and endorsed travel papers in exchange for capturing Hua Yunlong. At Hua Yunlong’s family home, Wukong learned that the bandit abused his elderly parents and vowed to confront him.

• The King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom asked Wukong to capture Hua Yunlong, and Wukong agreed in exchange for an end to monk killings and approved travel papers.
• Wukong restored the hair of the King and his officials, then received the endorsed travel papers and led Tang Sanzang and the others toward Hua Yunlong’s home instead of accepting a palace feast.
• Ao Tu and Guanyin Bodhisattva welcomed the four travelers, and Tang Sanzang explained what had happened in the kingdom.
• Wukong questioned Ao Tu and Guanyin Bodhisattva about Hua Yunlong, and Ao Tu explained that his son had become a violent bandit despite the family’s efforts to correct him.
• After Ao Tu revealed that Hua Yunlong had beaten his parents and once tried to kill him, Wukong angrily vowed to punish the bandit, but Ao Tu warned that his son could fight.

Ao Tu and Guanyin Bodhisattva revealed their devotion to redeeming their rebellious son, while Wukong mocked their prayers and Ao Tu's affection for his wife. After Wukong angered Ao Tu, Ao Tu devised a scheme with Patriarch Styx to provoke Wukong into helping Styx reform, as the meal was prepared.

• Ao Tu showed Wukong and Tang Sanzang the incense slips he and Guanyin Bodhisattva had collected while praying for their son, and Bajie persuaded him that Wukong could help.
• Ao Tu went to prepare a vegetarian meal, while Guanyin Bodhisattva pulled him aside and Wukong overheard their affectionate conversation.
• Wukong repeated Ao Tu's praise of his wife to Tang Sanzang and the others, making them laugh and angering Ao Tu.
• Ao Tu sent his primordial spirit to Patriarch Styx and instructed him to provoke Wukong, lose to him, and claim he would reform once he got a suitable weapon.
• Patriarch Styx agreed to follow Ao Tu's plan, and Guanyin Bodhisattva finished preparing the meal.

Wukong and Bajie posed as Ao Tu and Guanyin Bodhisattva to let Patriarch Styx abduct them, then tried to persuade him to abandon banditry. When their confrontation turned into a fight, Patriarch Styx challenged Wukong to battle without weapons, and Wukong agreed.

• Wukong and Bajie transformed into Ao Tu and Guanyin Bodhisattva and waited for Patriarch Styx to return with his bandits.
• Patriarch Styx and the bandits carried Wukong and Bajie away in sacks, while the two used the Thousand-Pound Drop to knock down their captors along the way.
• In a clearing, Wukong and Bajie urged Patriarch Styx to give up banditry, but he boasted of his skills and revealed that he had recognized their transformations.
• Wukong and Bajie returned to their true forms, and Wukong identified himself as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven protecting Tang Sanzang.
• Patriarch Styx and Wukong exchanged insults and drew their weapons; Wukong broke Patriarch Styx's saber, then agreed to fight him without weapons.

Wukong was knocked all the way to Flower-Fruit Mountain by Patriarch Styx and left Bajie to escape the thieves alone. Ao Tu explained to Guanyin Bodhisattva that he had arranged the trial for Wukong’s benefit, and the chapter ended with Wukong waking on Flower-Fruit Mountain and asking where he was.

• Patriarch Styx let Ground-Digging Tiger and One-Eyed Dragon strike Wukong, but both injured themselves against him.
• Patriarch Styx struck Wukong hard enough to send him to Flower-Fruit Mountain, then claimed victory when Wukong did not return.
• Bajie fought off the thieves and escaped with his Rake.
• Ao Tu told Guanyin Bodhisattva that he intended to have Sun Xingzhe deliver Sun Wukong, and recalled being alone when he fought Minghe.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva prepared breakfast the next morning while Wukong woke on Flower-Fruit Mountain and questioned a little monkey about his location.

After Patriarch Styx sent Wukong flying back to Flower-Fruit Mountain, Wukong visited his monkeys and returned to the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom. He learned from Ao Tu that Hua Yunlong had been taught by a mysterious, unorthodox master, but Ao Tu did not know the teacher’s identity.

• Wukong woke on Flower-Fruit Mountain, recognized his home, and visited Water Curtain Cave, where the monkeys welcomed him as their Great King.
• Wukong concealed how he had been injured and let the monkeys pamper him before returning to the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom.
• Bajie and Sha Wujing argued about Wukong’s disappearance until Wukong returned and explained that Hua Yunlong was no ordinary bandit.
• Wukong and the others visited Ao Tu, who explained that Hua Yunlong had learned superior martial arts from a strange, extraordinary person during childhood.
• Ao Tu said the teacher was neither Buddhist nor Daoist and blended the three teachings, but admitted that he did not know the teacher’s origins.

Wukong learned that Hua Yunlong had robbed another traveler and questioned the local gods, who revealed where he often struck. He set out with Bajie to lure the bandit out, but Bajie tried to flee, wary after seeing Wukong lose to Hua Yunlong before.

• Ao Tu asked Wukong to stop Hua Yunlong from committing worse crimes, and Wukong agreed to help.
• Two constables told Ao Tu that Hua Yunlong had robbed a wealthy merchant on the road south of the city.
• Wukong searched the road, then summoned the City God, Earth God, and Mountain God, who said Hua Yunlong had robbed them and pointed him toward the bandit's territory.
• Wukong brought Bajie and the White Dragon Horse to the southern road, planning to disguise himself as a merchant and Bajie as a driver to lure Hua Yunlong out.
• Bajie tried to leave, reminding Wukong that Hua Yunlong had previously knocked him away with a palm strike.

Wukong and Bajie disguised themselves as a wealthy merchant and driver to lure Hua Yunlong’s bandits into the open. After Wukong followed the bandits to their mountain hideout, he revealed himself and demanded three thousand taels of silver as the price of their lives.

• Wukong persuaded Bajie to help lure out Hua Yunlong, and they traveled with a carriage loaded with disguised treasure.
• Ground-Digging Tiger and the bandits ambushed them, but Bajie escaped after knocking Ground-Digging Tiger down and reopening his injured hand.
• Patriarch Styx stopped the bandits from killing Wukong and ordered them to take the valuables while leaving him alive.
• Wukong claimed he wanted to join the bandits as a merchant and went with them to their isolated inn hideout.
• After One-Eyed Dragon recorded the treasure, Wukong valued it at three thousand taels and declared the bandits owed him that sum for their lives.

Wukong confronted Patriarch Styx and was beaten, but learned that the bandit claimed to seek a weapon rather than wealth. After Wukong explained the Golden Cudgel’s origin, Patriarch Styx decided to demand a treasure from the East Sea Dragon King.

• Wukong exposed the bandits’ crimes and challenged Patriarch Styx, who defeated him and had him bound.
• When the stolen treasure turned to dirt, Patriarch Styx questioned Wukong, who revealed that he had transformed it with magic.
• Patriarch Styx claimed he had robbed travelers to gain fame and fund the forging of a suitable weapon, and promised to return the riches once he obtained one.
• Patriarch Styx asked about Wukong’s Golden Cudgel and decided to seek a treasure from the East Sea Dragon King.
• Wukong warned that seizing a treasure would provoke trouble, but Patriarch Styx boasted of his skills and said he feared no one.

Wukong learned that Hua Yunlong was robbing travelers to obtain a weapon and promised to borrow one for him in exchange for a pledge to abandon evil. After returning to Ao Tu’s home, Wukong explained the situation, but Ao Tu feared that arming his son would lead to worse crimes.

• Patriarch Styx asked Wukong to help him find a weapon, and Wukong agreed on the condition that he turn from evil.
• Wukong left the bandits and wondered where he could borrow a suitable weapon.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva bought two old hens to spare them from being killed, and Ao Tu offered to cook while she cared for them.
• Wukong returned and told Tang Sanzang and Ao Tu that Hua Yunlong wanted a weapon to make a name for himself.
• Ao Tu warned that Hua Yunlong might use the weapon to commit worse crimes, but Wukong insisted he would keep his promise to turn good.

Wukong gathered divine materials and arranged for craftsmen to forge a weapon for Hua Yunlong, hoping to help him abandon banditry. After an eighty-one-day forging, Wukong brought the finished rod to Hua Yunlong, but Patriarch Styx dismissed it as too light and unsuitable.

• Wukong collected divine materials from the Heavenly Court but found Perfected Lord Taixi away and returned without having them forged.
• Bajie suggested copying one of the brothers’ weapons, and Wukong told Tang Sanzang, Sha Wujing, and Ao Tu about the plan.
• The King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom summoned craftsmen, and Wukong, Bajie, and Sha Wujing chose to copy Wukong’s Golden Cudgel.
• Wukong gathered the gods and Buddhist guardians to aid the craftsmen, who forged a non-transforming rod after eighty-one days.
• Wukong presented the rod to Hua Yunlong, but Patriarch Styx called it too light and asked him to bring another weapon.

Wukong repeatedly forged weapons for Hua Yunlong, who kept demanding more before finally accepting a Demon-Subduing Staff and a set of royal armor. Hua Yunlong then insisted that his case records be erased, and Wukong recognized the elderly Grand Preceptor as Li Chang Geng, leaving the court meeting in chaos.

• Hua Yunlong rejected Wukong’s iron staff and then a jeweled Nine-Toothed Rake, complaining that neither suited him.
• Wukong forged an 8,400-jin Demon-Subduing Staff, which Minghe accepted after Ao Tu urged him to stop provoking Wukong.
• Hua Yunlong demanded armor and clothes, so Wukong obtained a Treasure Garment, White-Jade Armor, Python-Skin Boots, and a Luminous-Pearl Crown from the King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom.
• Hua Yunlong then demanded that the King erase his case records and destroy the wanted documents before he would leave the mountain.
• The King consulted his ministers, and the elderly Grand Preceptor proposed recruiting and pacifying Hua Yunlong with a minor official post if he returned the stolen silver.
• Wukong recognized the Grand Preceptor as Li Chang Geng and grabbed him, startling him into a seizure before Wukong revived him with immortal breath.

The Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom appointed Hua Yunlong Five-City Commandant, and Wukong escorted him from bandit to official while fretting that the post might involve tending horses. After the travelers left, Ao Tu instructed Hua Yunlong, who held a banquet that exposed how little respect the court’s nobles had for his new office.

• The King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom agreed to recruit Hua Yunlong, erased his criminal records, and appointed him Five-City Commandant.
• Wukong delivered the decree, and Hua Yunlong accepted the appointment, took two hundred taels of gold for his parents, and promised to return the stolen goods.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples left the kingdom, and Wukong hurried them away after seeing Hua Yunlong stationed at the city gate.
• Ao Tu waited for about twenty days, then summoned Patriarch Styx and gave him instructions.
• Patriarch Styx held a banquet for the court’s officials, but fewer than half attended, and a regional commander mocked his gatekeeping post.

Patriarch Styx abandoned his post as Five-City Commandant, returned to the mountain, and proclaimed himself King of the Qinfa Kingdom. After he defeated the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom’s troops, Wukong went to Heaven to seek help, and the Jade Emperor summoned the immortals.

• Patriarch Styx quit his post, returned to the bandits’ mountain, and led the bandits in seizing a cartload of government silver.
• The King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom recalled Tang Sanzang and his disciples to deal with Hua Yunlong, and Wukong confronted him on the mountain.
• After Hua Yunlong rejected the King’s demand to submit, the commander led two thousand troops to attack the mountain, while Wukong followed.
• Hua Yunlong extinguished the troops’ fires with a chill wind and captured the commander after Wukong calmed the panicked horses.
• Wukong promised the King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom that he would seek help in Heaven, and the Jade Emperor summoned the immortals to Lingxiao Hall.

Wukong asked the Jade Emperor for help against Hua Yunlong, but Nezha was defeated and injured by Patriarch Styx, who was posing as the bandit. Ao Tu secretly healed Nezha and revealed Styx’s identity, while Kasyapa later found Wukong beneath the Bodhi Tree at Spirit Mountain.

• Wukong asked the Jade Emperor to send troops against Hua Yunlong, and the Jade Emperor sent Nezha with him to investigate.
• Nezha and Wukong fought Patriarch Styx, who caught their weapons and knocked both of them down the mountain.
• Ao Tu carried the unconscious Nezha home, and Bajie's Jewel healed only his minor injuries.
• Ao Tu secretly used Three-Lights Divine Water to heal Nezha, who recognized Ao Tu and learned that Patriarch Styx had been posing as Hua Yunlong.
• Nezha planned to return to Heaven for reinforcements, but Ao Tu told him to let Wukong ask first; Guanyin Bodhisattva revealed herself after Nezha nearly guessed her identity.
• Kasyapa found Wukong planted beneath the Bodhi Tree and demanded to know whether he had paid an incense offering.

Wukong forced Tathagata Buddha to send Kasyapa and a hundred thousand Buddhist Soldiers to help defeat Hua Yunlong, then secured Heavenly King Li’s command when Kasyapa stalled. The army attacked Bandit Mountain, where Patriarch Styx routed the Buddhist Soldiers and sent Kasyapa’s Pagoda flying toward Spirit Mountain.

• Kasyapa tried to take Wukong’s alms bowl, so Wukong struck him and demanded that Tathagata Buddha send troops against Hua Yunlong; Tathagata Buddha ordered Kasyapa to lead a hundred thousand Buddhist Soldiers.
• Kasyapa accepted gold from Ao Tu and the King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom, then delayed the campaign until the king complained about the cost of housing the monks; Wukong forced Kasyapa to march to Bandit Mountain.
• Kasyapa refused to attack the mountain, so Wukong invited Heavenly King Li, who took command and surrounded Bandit Mountain with the Buddhist Soldiers.
• Patriarch Styx pulled down the Eight Great Vajras and transformed the mountain’s plants and stones into Blood Soldiers, routing the Buddhist army.
• Kasyapa fled, Nezha escaped on his Wind Fire Wheels, and Wukong chased Kasyapa while Patriarch Styx flicked Heavenly King Li’s Pagoda toward Spirit Mountain.

Patriarch Styx routed the Buddhist army, while the surviving monks forced the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom's people to worship despite their resentment. Wukong pursued Kasyapa to Spirit Mountain, then searched the Western Ox Continent for Tathagata Buddha's hinted destination and found his former mountain; he decided to borrow a gift from his Dragon Brother before visiting his Patriarch.

• Patriarch Styx defeated the Buddhist Soldiers, and the Blood Soldiers pursued them as they fled toward Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom City.
• The King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom ordered the people to offer incense, and Ao Tu and Guanyin Bodhisattva argued about the people's resentment before Ao Tu promised her a birthday feast.
• Wukong caught Kasyapa at Spirit Mountain's gate and brought him before Tathagata Buddha, who hinted that Wukong should return where he came from.
• Wukong searched the Western Ox Continent for half a month, recognized Rotten Peach Mountain as his Old Mountain Gate, and wondered if his Patriarch was there.
• Wukong decided to visit his Patriarch with a proper gift and set out to borrow one from his Dragon Brother in the sea of blood.