Chapter Summaries

Tang Sanzang and his disciples reached the Tongtian River, an eight-hundred-li-wide river with no ferries in sight, and took shelter in a ruined temple. There, Bajie startled a filthy child out from beneath an altar table, and the group gave him food.

• Tang Sanzang and his disciples heard the river and found the Tongtian River, whose tablet said it stretched eight hundred li across.
• Wukong searched the banks from the air but found no ferries, so the group headed for a nearby temple to seek shelter.
• The disciples discovered the temple was ruined, and Bajie tried to move an altar table to block the doorway from the wind.
• A small dark figure darted out from beneath the altar table, frightening Bajie before Wukong found a thin, dirty child hiding in the temple.
• Tang Sanzang asked Bajie to feed the child, and Bajie gave him dry rations while explaining that the dirt helped protect him from the cold.

Tang Sanzang and his companions learned that Little Shitou had been hidden in a ruined temple to protect him from the monsters of the Tongtian River. They discovered that the new river monster, Great King Pingyou, demanded thirteen children in exchange for thirteen years of good weather and the return of children eaten by the former monster.

• Tang Sanzang and his companions questioned Little Shitou, but he refused to leave the ruined temple because he feared the man-eating demons outside.
• Wukong followed a man from the temple to Chen Family Village and overheard him and his wife mourning that Little Shitou might have been eaten.
• The next morning, Tang Sanzang and his disciples took Little Shitou toward Chen Family Village, where villagers recognized him and called for the village head.
• The villagers had offered children to Great King Linggan for thirteen years, until Great King Pingyou arrived and ate him.
• Great King Pingyou demanded thirteen boys and girls to recover from his injuries, promising thirteen years of favorable weather and to revive the twenty-six children Great King Linggan had eaten.

Tang Sanzang and his disciples brought Little Shitou home and learned why Chen Si had hidden him in a ruined temple. Chen Si revealed that a monster named Great King Linggan demanded a boy and a girl from Chen Family Village each year, leaving Wukong ready to confront it.

• Bajie carried Little Shitou to Chen Family Village while Tang Sanzang asked about the hardship that had made his parents hide him.
• Little Shitou reunited with Chen Si and his wife, who had believed he was dead and were burning paper money for him.
• Chen Si and his wife mistook Bajie, Sha Wujing, and Wukong for monsters before the travelers explained who they were.
• Tang Sanzang asked Chen Si why he had hidden his son, and Wukong promised to help with the family's trouble.
• Chen Si explained that Great King Linggan had come to the village thirteen years earlier and demanded one boy and one girl each year in exchange for protecting the people.

Wukong learned that Great King Pingyou had replaced Great King Linggan and demanded thirteen children as sacrifices, then promised Chen Si’s family and the villagers that he would stop the monster. He confronted deputy village head Chen Qing and revealed his true form after Chen Qing mocked him.

• Chen Si told Wukong that Great King Pingyou had eaten Great King Linggan and demanded thirteen children to heal his wounds.
• Chen Si explained that he had hidden his son Shitou, delaying the village’s drawing of lots for the sacrifice.
• Wukong promised to capture Great King Pingyou and prevent further sacrifices.
• Chen Qing led villagers to Chen Si’s home to seize Shitou, and Wukong went outside disguised as a little monk.
• Chen Qing mocked Wukong and threatened to drive him away, so Wukong revealed his true form.

Wukong revealed himself to the villagers, who attacked him until he easily scattered them and frightened them into begging for mercy. After Chen Qing and other villagers pleaded with Tang Sanzang’s group to stop interfering with the sacrifices, Wukong learned that their own children had been sacrificed in earlier years, and Chen Qing challenged the idea that those deaths had been for nothing.

• Wukong revealed his true form, and Chen Qing urged the villagers to attack him despite his offer to subdue the river monster.
• Wukong shook off the villagers, broke their weapons, and threatened them until Tang Sanzang intervened and persuaded him to spare them.
• Chen Qing identified Tang Sanzang as a monk from the Great Tang and admitted that the villagers were gathering children for the monster’s sacrifice.
• Chen Si explained that Chen Qing’s family had lost children to the sacrifices, and Wukong apologized for accusing him of doing evil.
• Chen Qing and about twenty villagers knelt and begged Tang Sanzang’s group not to interfere, explaining that their children had been sacrificed for the village’s safety.
• Wukong accused the families of trying to sacrifice others’ children in hopes of reviving their own, and Chen Qing tearfully asked whether his children had died for nothing.

Wukong challenged the villagers’ faith in Great King Pingyou and flew to the Tongtian River to investigate the monster. Tang Sanzang stayed with the villagers while Bajie joined Wukong to lure the monster out.

• Two villagers dragged Little Shitou away, and Sha Wujing stopped them from carrying him off.
• Tang Sanzang recognized that the village was divided into four groups, each with different reasons for supporting or opposing the sacrifice.
• Wukong warned the villagers that Great King Pingyou might be deceiving them, and the villagers described seeing him in different forms when he rescued them.
• Wukong flew to the Tongtian River to confront the monster, while Tang Sanzang asked Bajie to help him.
• Chen Qing agreed to let Little Shitou go for now and invited Tang Sanzang to his home.
• At the river, Wukong asked Bajie to scout underwater and lure the monster up so he could catch it.

Ao Tu extracted a child’s true spirit from Great King Linggan while keeping the goldfish alive. Tiger Vanguard fought Bajie at the underwater mansion, then forced him back with a ringing attack until Wukong intervened; Tiger Vanguard retreated, leaving Wukong and Bajie without a way to lure him onto shore.

• Ao Tu used the Soul-Scattering Gourd to extract an intact fragment of a child’s true spirit from Great King Linggan without killing him.
• Tiger Vanguard led aquatic soldiers out to fight Bajie after Ao Tu ordered him to stay in the water and watch for Wukong.
• Bajie fought Tiger Vanguard and his troops, but Tiger Vanguard rang his horn against his hammer and weakened Bajie with the sound.
• Wukong struck Tiger Vanguard into the water, splitting his hands and driving him back to the underwater mansion.
• Wukong and Bajie called for Tiger Vanguard to come out, but he stayed inside, so they returned without drawing him onto the bank.

Wukong tried to learn how to draw Great King Pingyou out and discovered that villagers had mixed feelings about the demon. A woman revealed that a mysterious black wind had saved her family’s house from a fire, leaving Wukong with a possible clue to the demon’s movements.

• Wukong and Bajie returned to Chen Qing’s house and described their fight with the demon, upsetting Chen Qing and Chen Cheng by calling Great King Pingyou evil.
• Chen Qing hosted Tang Sanzang and his disciples but refused to reveal when Great King Pingyou came ashore.
• Wukong decided to question the villagers about the demon while Bajie ate the meal and took the others’ steamed buns.
• Wukong asked Chen Family Village residents about Great King Pingyou, but their reactions varied and he found no way to lure the demon out.
• A woman offered to help Wukong, and after her husband reluctantly yielded, she said a black wind had extinguished a fire at their home two months earlier.

Wukong struggled with the villagers’ plan to lure out the monster, then suspected a family had deliberately started a fire in Chen Family Village’s ancestral hall. Tiger Vanguard extinguished the blaze, but Wukong let him leave, and the family’s scheme was exposed.

• Wukong returned to Tang Sanzang without revealing the family’s plan, while wondering why the monster helped villagers despite demanding children to eat.
• A fire erupted on all sides of Chen Family Village’s ancestral hall, and the villagers rushed to fight it.
• Wukong recognized the family he had spoken with and suspected they had set the fire, while Tang Sanzang asked him to use magic to stop it.
• Tiger Vanguard arrived and extinguished the fire with demonic wind, and the villagers mistook him for Great King Pingyou.
• Wukong did not attack Tiger Vanguard, and the family revealed they had set the ancestral hall alight to lure him out before Tang Sanzang and his disciples left.

Wukong, Bajie, and Sha Wujing fought Tiger Vanguard after a couple revealed they had lured him out, but Chen Qing’s false warning let the wounded monster escape. After the pilgrims left, Chen Qing gathered the villagers and went after the couple who had set fire to the ancestral hall.

• The woman revealed that she and her husband had lured Tiger Vanguard out, prompting Bajie and Sha Wujing to attack him.
• Tiger Vanguard charged at the couple, and Wukong intervened to protect Tang Sanzang before joining Bajie and Sha Wujing in the fight.
• Bajie wounded Tiger Vanguard and Sha Wujing severed one of his tails, but Chen Qing cried that another monster was coming, giving Tiger Vanguard a chance to flee.
• Wukong, Bajie, and Sha Wujing found no sign of the supposed monster, and Wukong covered for Chen Qing’s lie.
• After Tang Sanzang left, Chen Qing gathered the villagers and set out to find the couple who had gone home.

The household that set fire to Chen Family Village’s ancestral hall was caught, and the woman blamed Sun for ordering the arson. Chen Qing kept the family alive for the night and confronted Tang Sanzang the next morning, leaving the accusation unresolved.

• The fleeing couple and their child were caught by villagers and brought before Chen Qing, who ordered them burned for destroying the ancestral hall.
• The woman claimed Sun had told them to set the fire, so Chen Qing halted the execution and led villagers to check whether Tang Sanzang and his disciples had fled.
• Finding Tang Sanzang, his disciples, and the white horse still at Chen Qing’s residence, the villagers locked up the family until morning.
• Chen Qing prepared breakfast for Tang Sanzang, then accused him of repaying hospitality with enmity by secretly ordering the ancestral hall burned.

Tang Sanzang and his disciples confronted the couple who had framed him, and Wukong secretly revived them after they attempted suicide. The travelers settled in Chen Family Village and prepared to cross the Tongtian River, while Ao Tu plotted to return the revived Little Guan Bao as they were about to leave.

• Chen Qing brought Tang Sanzang and his disciples before the villagers, where the couple admitted framing Tang Sanzang and begged for their child's life.
• The husband killed himself, and the woman tried to do the same; Tang Sanzang asked Chen Qing to spare their son, who agreed to take the child as a slave.
• Wukong stopped the Wuchang Ghost from collecting the husband's soul and secretly healed both parents, while the Duty Officer of Merit and the Five Directional Guardians recorded their offenses.
• Tang Sanzang and his disciples settled in Chen Family Village, and Chen Qing arranged for a boat to take them across the river.
• Ao Tu played with the revived Little Guan Bao and planned to return him to Chen Family Village as Tang Sanzang and his disciples were about to depart.

Tang Sanzang and his disciples waited in Chen Family Village for a merchant ship to cross the Tongtian River, while Chen Qing prepared offerings for Great King Pingyou. During the riverbank rites, Tiger Vanguard returned with the resurrected Little Guan Bao, leaving the villagers astonished and hopeful.

• Tang Sanzang agreed to wait for a sturdy merchant ship after Chen Qing warned him about crossing the Tongtian River in small boats.
• Chen Qing explained that he still honored Great King Pingyou for avenging his family and saving the village, so Tang Sanzang sent Wukong to watch over the sacrifice.
• Wukong persuaded Bajie to follow him and secretly take the offerings for themselves rather than let them be thrown into the river.
• Ao Tu sent the wounded Tiger Vanguard to the riverbank with the resurrected Little Guan Bao and instructed him to keep up appearances as a gravely injured monster.
• Tiger Vanguard returned on White Softshell Turtle's back and gave Little Guan Bao to Chen Qing, telling him the child had been brought back to life in repayment for his kindness.
• The villagers recognized Little Guan Bao and reacted with disbelief and hope.

After Tiger Vanguard abandoned the villagers’ sacrifices and returned to the river, the families whose children remained missing blamed Tang Sanzang and blocked the pilgrims from leaving. Tang Sanzang promised to help, and Wukong went to the Netherworld to ask King Yama how the dead children might be rescued.

• Tiger Vanguard told the villagers he had lost his magical power and needed five hundred years to recover, then left with the White Softshell Turtle.
• Chen Qing brought Little Guan Bao home, and Tang Sanzang celebrated the boy’s rescue before Wukong and Bajie warned him that more than twenty families’ children were still missing.
• After a merchant ship arrived, villagers blocked Tang Sanzang and his disciples from leaving and demanded that he return their children.
• Tang Sanzang promised to help rescue the children, and Wukong decided to investigate their deaths in the Netherworld.
• Wukong obtained the children’s birth dates and hours, reached the Hall of Senluo, and was greeted by the Ten Kings of Hell.

Wukong investigated the missing souls of the sacrificed children and learned Diting knew the truth but would not reveal it. He discovered Ao Tu in the Aquatic Palace and challenged him over the sacrifices and the child he had revived, leaving them poised to fight.

• Wukong asked the Ten Kings of Hell to find the souls of the twenty-five sacrificed children, but their summons failed.
• Wukong visited Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, where Diting said he knew where the souls had gone but could not speak without disturbing cause and effect.
• Wukong returned to Chen Family Village, told Tang Sanzang and the others that the monster was suspicious, and took Bajie to investigate the Aquatic Palace.
• Wukong found Ao Tu in the palace and recognized him as the Blood Sea King, but Ao Tu exposed and expelled Wukong from his disguise.
• Wukong accused Ao Tu of taking the children and reviving the village head’s son, while Ao Tu denied holding the souls and refused to reveal his secret art.
• When Wukong threatened to use force, Ao Tu summoned his treasure.

Wukong was injured by Ao Tu’s Soul-Scattering Gourd and returned to Chen Family Village without Bajie, then recovered and asked Heaven for help against the Blood Sea King. While Heaven summoned Perfected Lord Taixi to join the campaign, Ao Tu successfully refined a Second-Turn Golden Elixir.

• Ao Tu captured Bajie and sprayed Wukong with Red Sand after flooding his water residence, leaving Wukong badly weakened.
• Sha Wujing found Wukong unconscious in Chen Family Village, where Tang Sanzang and Sha Wujing cared for him until he awoke the next day.
• Wukong told Tang Sanzang that Ao Tu had captured Bajie and, after recovering, left to request Heavenly troops from the Jade Emperor.
• Wukong explained that the Blood Sea King had revived and was attacking at Tongtian River, then recommended Perfected Lord Taixi to command the campaign despite Heavenly King Li’s objections.
• The Jade Emperor ordered a Divine Official to summon Perfected Lord Taixi, while Ao Tu used Lord Lao’s Elixir Classic to successfully refine a Second-Turn Golden Elixir.

Ao Tu was appointed Demon-Subduing Grand Marshal and prepared to lead Heaven’s forces against the demon in Tongtian River. Wukong urged him to fight the wounded demon first, promising to seek Guanyin’s help if necessary, and Ao Tu set out with the troops.

• Ao Tu continued refining a Three-Turn Golden Elixir while Jiangzhu received a Jade Emperor’s Divine Official and gave him immortal tea and medicine as a courtesy gift.
• Wukong grew impatient waiting in Douniu Palace, found Ao Tu in the Flower Realm, and tried to take the unfinished golden elixir before Ao Tu returned it to the furnace.
• Ao Tu met the Divine Official and went with him to Lingxiao, where the Jade Emperor appointed him Demon-Subduing Grand Marshal and gave him a marshal’s banner and command token.
• Ao Tu mustered the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, clashing with Heavenly King Li over his preparations and rebuking him for challenging the marshal’s orders.
• Wukong told Ao Tu the demon was wounded and advised him to fight first, offering to ask Guanyin Bodhisattva for help if needed; Ao Tu finished preparing the troops to descend.

Nezha joined Wukong and Ao Tu’s Heavenly army to confront the Blood Sea King at Tongtian River. As the army prepared to attack, the Blood Sea King rewarded the White Softshell Turtle with a cultivation method, while Ao Tu began a secret plan to capture him.

• Nezha arrived as Ao Tu’s army was preparing to descend, and Wukong explained the Blood Sea King’s return and the danger he posed.
• Nezha agreed to join the expedition and was appointed vanguard by Ao Tu.
• The Heavenly army reached Tongtian River and spread a Heavenly Net while Tang Sanzang and Sha Wujing took shelter.
• The Blood Sea King urged the White Softshell Turtle to hide, then taught him the Four Seas Dragon Palace's Aquatic Cultivation Method as compensation for occupying his cave.
• Ao Tu asked Wukong about the Blood Sea King’s abilities, claimed to have devised a plan, and summoned Heavenly King Li, Nezha, and Wukong to discuss it privately.

Ao Tu’s plan to lure the Blood Sea King into battle began with Heavenly King Li confronting Tiger Vanguard, who overwhelmed him until the Blood Sea King intervened. Ao Tu, Wukong, and Nezha then surrounded the Blood Sea King and prepared to fight, while he protested that he had not eaten anyone.

• Ao Tu ordered Heavenly King Li to lure the Blood Sea King out, and Wukong persuaded the reluctant king to follow the plan.
• Tiger Vanguard emerged from Tongtian River and battered Heavenly King Li with his Lotus Hammer.
• Heavenly King Li unleashed his Pagoda, but the Blood Sea King knocked it away before it could trap Tiger Vanguard.
• Ao Tu, Wukong, and Nezha surrounded the Blood Sea King as Tiger Vanguard retreated into the river.
• The Blood Sea King denied violating the Heavenly Laws, but Ao Tu condemned him for wanting to eat children and attacked.

Ao Tu, Wukong, and Nezha battled the Blood Sea King, whose power kept the fight at a stalemate. After Heavenly King Li was caught by the Blood Sea King's Soul-Scattering Gourd, Ao Tu summoned Yuqing Divine Thunder, forcing the Blood Sea King to flee into the water.

• Ao Tu, Wukong, Nezha, and the Blood Sea King fought fiercely, with neither side using their full strength.
• Heavenly King Li's Heavenly Dipper Sabers were deflected toward Ao Tu, Nezha, and Wukong, and Ao Tu accused him of conspiring with the demon.
• Heavenly King Li sent out his Pagoda, but the Blood Sea King countered with the Soul-Scattering Gourd and trapped Heavenly King Li in its Red Sand.
• Ao Tu rescued Nezha as he and Wukong escaped the gourd's Red Sand.
• Ao Tu cast Yuqing Divine Thunder from beyond Chaos, and the Blood Sea King fled into the water to avoid its strike.