Chapter Summaries

Ao Tu prepared Miaoshan’s birthday feast before leaving to meet Wukong, who sought gifts for Patriarch Bodhi and guidance on dealing with Hua Yunlong. After Wukong visited his absent master, he returned to Blood Sea and chose Ao Tu’s plan to guide Hua Yunlong toward goodness through a scripture.

• Ao Tu, Nezha, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Bajie, Sha Wujing, and Tang Sanzang prepared a feast for Miaoshan’s birthday.
• Ao Tu met Wukong in Blood Sea and gave him two nine-thousand-year Peaches of Immortality as gifts for the Old Immortal he planned to visit.
• Wukong returned to Mount Lingtai Fangcun, found Patriarch Bodhi’s cave deserted, and offered the peaches while asking his master’s forgiveness.
• Patriarch Bodhi told Wukong that helping the Buddhists with their Eastern Migration would be meritorious and that he must go into the blood sea to overcome the difficulty.
• Wukong returned to Ao Tu and rejected force and recruitment as ways to subdue Hua Yunlong, choosing instead to spread a scripture that could guide him toward goodness.
• Ao Tu gave Wukong the Scripture Book formed from three divine banners to copy and spread in the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom.

Wukong brought Ao Tu’s teachings to the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom, where the King ordered them spread and Ao Tu gained many followers. After Ao Tu manifested to drive away monks burning his scriptures, he taught the believers to rely on wisdom and rallied the merchants against Hua Yunlong; thousands marched out of the city beneath his banner.

• Wukong presented Ao Tu’s scriptures to the King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom, who ordered them copied and enshrined throughout the kingdom.
• Ao Tu gained many believers but refused to answer their prayers with material blessings or frequent manifestations.
• Buddhist Soldiers burned Ao Tu’s scriptures, so Ao Tu revealed his immense Dharma Body and blew the monks outside the city.
• Ao Tu appeared in his followers’ hearts, rejected material offerings, and told them to use wisdom to solve their problems.
• Ao Tu gave the merchants a banner and promised his protection as they organized to confront Hua Yunlong.
• Five or six thousand merchants and volunteers marched out of the city to attack Hua Yunlong, and the guards opened the gates.

Ao Tu exposed the bandits, reunited Wukong with Tang Sanzang, and helped remove Wukong’s Tightening Fillet. The kingdom built a temple for learning, charity, and community support rather than worship, while Ao Tu and the others prepared to leave.

• The merchants and militia stormed Bandit Mountain, captured Ground-Digging Tiger and One-Eyed Dragon, and burned the bandits after Patriarch Styx was taken away by the scriptures.
• Ao Tu revealed that Hua Yunlong was actually Patriarch Styx and explained that he had staged the events to guide Wukong toward goodness.
• Ao Tu asked Guanyin Bodhisattva to remove Wukong’s Tightening Fillet, and Tang Sanzang agreed; Ao Tu lifted it from Wukong’s head and kept it as gold.
• The kingdom’s faithful began raising funds for a temple, and Ao Tu instructed them to use it for charity, teaching, and community gatherings instead of worshipping him.
• The merchants and commoners built the first temple in the Western Ox Continent without a divine statue, where believers studied, poor people received food, and children learned to read.

Ao Tu returned to the Blood Sea and planned the Dharma-Extinguishing faith’s expansion while Patriarch Styx pressed him to prepare for its next steps. After Tang Sanzang and his disciples left the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom, Ao Tu received rewards and began preparing to forge a weapon for White Bone Spirit.

• Ao Tu returned to the Blood Sea with Patriarch Styx, reassured his companions that he would stay, and said he would wait to spread the faith until his disciple infiltrated Spirit Mountain.
• Patriarch Styx asked about naming the faith, opening the Evil Realm, and finding a way to ferry followers’ souls; Ao Tu gave him the Golden Bushel of Primordial Unity to use for the task.
• Ao Tu spent about a month in the Blood Sea, thinking over the faith’s plans, while Patriarch Styx carried out the soul-ferrying work.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples left the territory of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom, triggering rewards for Ao Tu, including the Ying Pearl, Gold Within Kan, and a Qingping Sword fragment.
• Ao Tu called White Bone Spirit over and offered to forge her a weapon, then asked what kind she wanted.

Ao Tu examined the treasures he had obtained and agreed to forge White Bone Spirit a yin Blood-Transforming Divine Saber. After using the Essence of Li Fire to create a tiny Li Fire Divine Bird, he tucked it into his robe and brought out the Ancient Buddha Remnant Body.

• White Bone Spirit asked Ao Tu to forge her a weapon, and they settled on a Blood-Transforming Divine Saber made from Yin Fiend Bloodstone and ancient wood.
• Ao Tu examined the Bodhi Leaf, Eight Trigrams Mirror, and Power of Extinguishing the Outflows, noting that he had completed Buddhism’s Six Divine Powers.
• Ao Tu considered how to use the Essence of Li Fire and decided to give it life rather than use it for cultivation or crafting.
• Ao Tu bestowed creation upon the Essence of Li Fire, bringing forth a tiny Li Fire Divine Bird that called him Daddy and promised to serve as his mount.
• Ao Tu tucked the bird into his robe and took out the Ancient Buddha Remnant Body.

Ao Tu examined his treasures, forged White Bone Spirit a Blood-Transforming Divine Saber, and returned to White Tiger Ridge after learning Qiao'er's parents had died. He summoned Qiao'er's father's soul to arrange his next life, but the old man revealed that he wanted to be emperor.

• Ao Tu had his Self Corpse stitch the Ancient Buddha Remnant Body onto the Gratitude Bag, then put away the damaged Qingping Sword because he could not restore it.
• Ao Tu refined a Blood-Transforming Divine Saber from Yin Fiend Bloodstone and gave it to White Bone Spirit.
• Ao Tu took White Bone Spirit to White Tiger Ridge, where Qiao'er mourned her parents, and comforted her by promising to handle their next lives.
• Ao Tu brought Qiao'er to the wooden house and summoned her parents' souls to ask about their wishes.
• Qiao'er's father told Ao Tu that he had not truly wanted a peaceful life and begged to be made emperor.

Ao Tu arranged new lives for Qiao'er's parents, then persuaded Qiao'er to leave her old home with him. After sharing a meal with Qiao'er and the White Bone Spirit, he prepared to take them away the next morning.

• Ao Tu arranged for Qiao'er's father to be reborn as the ruler of a small kingdom in Northern Utarakuru, while Qiao'er's father declined the chance to keep his memories in a lower world.
• Ao Tu sent Qiao'er's mother to a cultivation world as a female immortal, granting her a phoenix-blood divine body and innate spirit eyes.
• Ao Tu invited Qiao'er to return with him, and she agreed despite her lingering attachment to her old home.
• Ao Tu asked Qiao'er to cook before they left the next morning, then took her to the river and caught small fish and shrimp for their meal.
• The White Bone Spirit joined Ao Tu and Qiao'er for dinner and whispered to Qiao'er that she would help her plenty that night.

Ao Tu reached Hidden Mist Mountain to prepare for Tang Sanzang and his disciples, then discovered the Leopard Spirit had been killed and the remaining demons remembered him from his past campaigns. He decided to take the mountain disguised as a Daoist and use its dispute with the pilgrims to test Wukong and accuse him of disloyalty.

• Ao Tu left the Blood Sea and arrived at Hidden Mist Mountain, where a quest offered rewards for delaying the pilgrims.
• Ao Tu followed patrol demons to their cave and learned from the Black Dog Spirit that the Leopard Spirit had been killed at Pansi Ridge.
• Ao Tu found the Leopard Spirit inside his Soul-Scattering Gourd and returned him to managing evil souls.
• Ao Tu questioned the little demons, learned they had eaten humans only when defending themselves from hunters, and heard how their banner deterred rival demons.
• Ao Tu planned to seize the mountain in Daoist disguise, distribute Tribute Rice and Talisman Water, and make the demons ask Wukong to reclaim their cave when Tang Sanzang arrived.

Ao Tu sent his incarnation Youde Taoist to Hidden Mist Mountain to seize the Immortal Elixirs, and Youde lured a group of hunters into the mountain by turning dog fur into a wounded goat. The hunters and little demons clashed, and Youde stepped forward to condemn the demons.

• Ao Tu split off Youde Taoist and sent him to Hidden Mist Mountain while he headed east to rest and visit Little Fox.
• Youde posed as a hungry wandering Daoist and stayed overnight with a young hunter and his mother, who warned him about the powerful leopards on the mountain.
• The young hunter gathered village hunters to escort Youde along the mountain’s outskirts as they checked their traps.
• Youde plucked fur from a yellow dog, transformed it into a goat, and used the wounded animal to draw the hunters deeper into the mountain.
• The hunters and little demons encountered one another and fought; a hunter was gravely injured by a demon’s meteor hammer.
• Youde stepped forward and shouted at the demons for daring to hurt people.

Ao Tu subdued the demons at Hidden Mist Mountain Zheyue Lianhuan Cave, settled there, and promised to teach the hunters Daoist arts. After the hunters failed to master his lesson, he had the demons cultivate twenty mu of grain and used witchcraft to bring it to maturity at once.

• Ao Tu captured the Little Demons, healed a wounded hunter with talisman water, and agreed to rid the mountain of its demonic scourge.
• Ao Tu stopped the hunters from killing the demons, claimed Zheyue Lianhuan Cave as his home, and forced the demons to renovate it and surrender their Immortal Elixir.
• The demons tried to escape overnight, but Ao Tu caught them again, then taught the hunters the Great Product Celestial Immortal Mudra the next morning.
• When none of the hunters could comprehend the art, Ao Tu sent the demons to clear and sow twenty mu of land.
• Ao Tu cast a spell that instantly ripened the grain, leaving the hunters astonished.

Ao Tu used magically grown grain and healing talisman water to attract people to his teachings, while his little demons worked to support the growing crowds. As Tang Sanzang and his disciples traveled toward Hidden Mist Mountain, Ao Tu returned to the Western Liang Women's Kingdom, reunited with White Chi, and was greeted by the queen.

• Ao Tu grew grain with witchcraft, and the hunters took some home before inviting neighbors to hear his teachings; crowds soon flocked to Hidden Mist Mountain while the little demons labored to serve them.
• Ao Tu cured people with disabilities using talisman water, while physicians among his listeners learned new methods of treatment.
• Tang Sanzang asked Wukong to beg for food, and Wukong returned with rice and side dishes from an ordinary-looking household so the four travelers could eat before continuing west.
• Ao Tu returned to the Western Liang Women's Kingdom and reunited with White Chi, who had been looking after the queen and bringing rain.
• The queen heard the commotion and came out to greet Ao Tu.

Ao Tu reunited with the Queen of the Western Liang Women's Kingdom and invited her to leave the mortal realm with him. She agreed, and they bathed together before returning to the couch as the little red bird and White Chi accidentally disrupted the pool’s temperature.

• Ao Tu caught the Queen when she twisted her foot and helped her put on her shoe.
• The Queen told Ao Tu she had passed the throne to a new sovereign and had stopped managing the kingdom’s affairs three years earlier.
• Ao Tu asked the Queen to return with him, explaining the differences between his heavenly and earthly Cave Heaven residences, and she agreed.
• The maids prepared food and a warm bath after Ao Tu told them the Queen had heatstroke.
• Ao Tu and the Queen entered the bathing pool together, where the little red bird and White Chi fell in and made opposite halves of the water icy and scalding.
• Ao Tu carried the Queen from the pool to the couch, and the little red bird and White Chi followed to apologize.

Ao Tu returned the Queen to Blood Sea after she chose to remain below, then appeared as a Daoist before Tang Sanzang and his disciples at Hidden Mist Mountain. After warning them to abandon their journey, he watched them stay calm and hung a pair of couplets outside his cave.

• The Queen chose to stay below so she could spend longer with Ao Tu, and he promised she could later meet his younger sister in heaven.
• Ao Tu took the Queen back to Blood Sea as Tang Sanzang and his disciples reached Hidden Mist Mountain.
• Wukong spotted demonic mist and urged the group to continue, despite Bajie accusing him of boasting.
• Ao Tu emerged disguised as a Daoist, insulted Tang Sanzang, and warned him that the journey ahead was too dangerous to complete.
• Tang Sanzang rejected Ao Tu’s offer to pass off Daoist scriptures as Buddhist ones and said he would continue to the Western Heaven.
• Ao Tu vanished into the mountain, reflected that the pilgrims had grown more patient, and hung a pair of matching couplets outside his cave.

Tang Sanzang and his disciples entered Ao Tu’s cave and saw a Bodhi Tree that gave Tang Sanzang a sudden spiritual insight. Ao Tu interrupted their contemplation and claimed the tree belonged to Daoism, while Wukong accused him of stealing it from Spirit Mountain.

• Bajie triggered a hunting trap and then a snare while the group climbed Hidden Mist Mountain, drawing laughter from Wukong.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples found Ao Tu’s cave, traded insults with him, and accepted his invitation to see his treasure.
• Ao Tu led them past a locked railing with a golden key to a Bodhi Tree in a pavilion at the rear of the cave.
• Tang Sanzang contemplated the tree and experienced a powerful spiritual insight, but Ao Tu pulled him away and blocked his view.
• Wukong recognized the Bodhi Tree and accused Ao Tu of secretly taking it from Spirit Mountain, while Ao Tu insisted it was a Daoist heirloom.

Ao Tu provoked Wukong over the ownership of a Bodhi Tree and then guarded it against Tang Sanzang and his disciples. Wukong and Bajie planned to steal it during the night, but Tang Sanzang stopped them by warning that theft would make them guilty and invite resentment.

• Wukong and Ao Tu argued over whether the Bodhi Tree belonged to the Buddhist Sect or the Daoist School, but Tang Sanzang made Wukong stop and apologized to Ao Tu.
• Ao Tu offered the travelers a large room far from the tree, explaining that he did not trust them near it, and Tang Sanzang led his angry disciples inside.
• Wukong decided to check whether Ao Tu was guarding the tree and, after seeing him asleep by the door with his key outside, planned to steal it with Bajie.
• Tang Sanzang woke and questioned Wukong and Bajie, then persuaded them that stealing the tree would make them thieves and cause Ao Tu to resent them.

Ao Tu preached to the villagers, gave a woodcutter two demons to help with milling, and sent Tang Sanzang and his disciples west with grain. When Wukong investigated the woodcutter’s house, he found the Black Dog Spirit being whipped and learned that the spirit recognized him.

• Wukong and Bajie abandoned their plan to steal Ao Tu’s precious tree after Tang Sanzang lectured them.
• Ao Tu preached to villagers, gave the woodcutter a Divine Whip and two demons, and gifted grain to Tang Sanzang and his disciples.
• The four travelers left Hidden Mist Mountain and stopped at the woodcutter’s home to borrow his stove and cook.
• Wukong sensed demonic energy and went ahead while Bajie and Sha Wujing hid Tang Sanzang in a mountain hollow.
• Wukong found the woodcutter whipping the Black Dog Spirit and a leopard spirit as they milled grain, and the Black Dog Spirit called for him to help.

Wukong freed two demons who accused Ao Tu of taking their cave and forcing them to work, then returned to Hidden Mist Mountain to question him. Ao Tu admitted to taking the cave and keeping the demons as servants, and Wukong demanded that he release them and give the cave back.

• The Black Dog Spirit and Little Spotted Leopard Spirit told Wukong that the Virtuous Daoist had seized their cave, stolen their Immortal Elixir, and enslaved them.
• Wukong immobilized the woodcutter and broke the Divine Whip, then promised the two demons he would help reclaim their cave and free their brothers.
• Tang Sanzang cautioned Wukong not to act until he had established whether the demons' accusations were true.
• Wukong returned to Hidden Mist Mountain and asked Ao Tu whether he had taken the demons' cave and Immortal Elixir.
• Ao Tu admitted he had taken the cave and made the demons servants, so Wukong demanded that he return the cave and release them.

Wukong fought Ao Tu and was defeated by the Daoist’s sticky Yin and Yang Dao Principles, losing his Golden Cudgel and captured hair-clones. He tried to steal the banner back while Ao Tu slept but failed, and the chapter ended with Wukong sneaking out of Ao Tu’s quarters.

• Ao Tu trapped Wukong’s Golden Cudgel and hair-clones with the Yin and Yang Dao Principles, then drove him away with his banner.
• Wukong escaped and told Tang Sanzang and the others about Ao Tu’s power and his lost cudgel.
• Tang Sanzang, Bajie, Sha Wujing, Black Dog Spirit, and the little leopard spirit cooked rice and rested in the wilderness.
• At the third watch, Wukong turned into a snake and entered Mountain-Folding Ring Cave through its drainage channel.
• Wukong tried to take Ao Tu’s banner but failed, was flicked against the door while disguised as an ant, and slipped out past the little tree.

After Wukong stole Ao Tu’s precious tree to trade for the Golden Cudgel, Ao Tu recaptured Tang Sanzang and his companions and imprisoned them. Tang Sanzang pleaded for the harmless demons’ release, but Ao Tu refused, leaving the group bound in his cave.

• Wukong uprooted Ao Tu’s precious tree and led Tang Sanzang, Bajie, Sha Wujing, Black Dog Spirit, and Little Leopard Spirit away at dawn.
• Ao Tu confronted the travelers, rebuked Tang Sanzang for the theft, and fought Wukong, Bajie, Sha Wujing, Black Dog Spirit, and Little Leopard Spirit.
• Ao Tu trapped the group with Yin and Yang Dao Principles, took back the tree, captured Tang Sanzang and the white horse, and returned them to his cave.
• Ao Tu replanted the tree, bound Tang Sanzang and his disciples, and ordered demons to dig prison caves where the captives would work to repay him.
• Tang Sanzang asked Ao Tu to release Black Dog Spirit and Little Leopard Spirit because they had harmed no one, but Ao Tu refused, citing Daoist teachings and saying he would keep them confined.

Ao Tu kept Tang Sanzang and his disciples imprisoned while Tang studied Daoist scriptures with Wukong and Bajie’s help. Meanwhile, Ao Tu visited Xiao Jiu on Pingding Mountain and confirmed that she had fully transformed into a Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox.

• Ao Tu refused to debate Tang Sanzang using Buddhist scriptures and delayed bringing Daoist texts until the Prison Cave was finished.
• The lesser demons completed the Prison Cave, and Ao Tu locked Tang Sanzang and his three disciples inside with Daoist scriptures.
• Wukong explained the scriptures to Tang Sanzang, warned him that Ao Tu would not accept defeat, and sent his Primordial Spirit to seek help from the Demon Dragon.
• Tang Sanzang asked Bajie to explain the scriptures, while Ao Tu’s true body left the sea of blood and went to Pingding Mountain to find Xiao Jiu.
• Ao Tu scattered emperor’s flowing essence to draw the foxes away, then examined Xiao Jiu and confirmed that she had completed her transformation into a Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox.