Recaps

Ionia’s defenders received reinforcements from across the First Lands as Noxus brought its second wave of troops and Xu Xiao to the coast. Both sides prepared for the decisive battle, with Xu Xiao taking charge of Noxus’s next moves.

• Zed, Xayah, Rakan, and the Order of Shadow joined Ionia’s battered forces after Noxus’s rapid advance.
• Irelia and the others discussed the strength of Noxus’s Arcane Warriors and mourned Master Yi, whose death had damaged Ionian morale.
• Shen arrived and announced that the Kinkou Order, Her Excellency the Apocalypse One, the monastery’s cultivators, the warrior monks, and other orders were coming to defend Ionia.
• Kelrak and the Blood Shadow Legion arrived with Noxus’s second wave, while mage corps summoned more than a hundred Arcane Warriors around Xu Xiao.
• Xu Xiao praised Darius for preparing the coastal fortifications and Ley Line Anchor Points, then began deploying Noxian forces for the decisive battle.

On the seventh day of the invasion, Ionia and Noxus launched a massive battle while Xu Xiao prepared a magic array and their elite fighters clashed. LeBlanc’s scheme brought the newly unsealed Darkin toward Noxus, hoping to weaken Xu Xiao and reclaim what she had lost.

• Karma led Ionian cultivators in a ritual while Irelia, Kennen, Xayah, Rakan, and Lee Sin fought Noxian forces across the battlefield.
• Xu Xiao watched the battle from a tower and ordered Noxian mages to channel Native Magic through the Ley Line Anchor Points to form an ancient array.
• Zed and the Order of Shadow infiltrated the Noxian rear, but Katarina, Talon, and other Noxian assassins ambushed them.
• The Darkin crossed the ocean toward the battlefield after Mahamu promised them that a Noxian mage wielded Arcane power.
• LeBlanc revealed that Mahamu was her clone and that she had unsealed the Darkin to force Noxus into a second war and create an opening to reclaim her losses.

Xu Xiao completed the Ley Line Great Annihilation Array, pulling the Spirit Realm into the material world and cutting Ionia off from the First Lands’ magic. As the Spirit of Ionia fought back, Xu Xiao advanced toward it.

• The battlefield split apart during Xu Xiao’s hidden clash with Karma and Ionia’s cultivators, forcing both armies to rescue their fallen soldiers.
• Karma ordered the Ionian forces to destroy the Noxian anchors, and their suicidal charges began pushing the Noxian army back.
• Xu Xiao activated the 108 Ley Line Anchor Spikes, opening a rift that revealed the Spirit Realm and drew out the Spirit of Ionia.
• Irelia, Shen, Kennen, and Yasuo attacked Xu Xiao and the anchors, but he stopped their efforts with ease.
• Xu Xiao activated the Great Annihilation Array and used Space: Confinement to manifest the Spirit Realm in the material world.
• Xu Xiao advanced toward the Spirit of Ionia as it stopped hiding and began to fight back.

Xu Xiao defeated the Spirit of Ionia by using a Rune of Destruction, then entered the damaged Spirit Realm and found the sealed golden ape. The monkey recognized Xu Xiao and asked to be taken home, and Xu Xiao agreed.

• The Spirit of Ionia attacked Xu Xiao, and Darius ordered the Noxian and Ionian soldiers to retreat behind the safety line.
• Xu Xiao formed a Rune of Destruction and sent it against the Spirit of Ionia’s Runes, destroying the Spirit.
• Xu Xiao entered the Spirit Realm and forced his way into the mysterious space where the golden ape was sealed.
• The monkey broke through the seal, recognized Xu Xiao, and asked him to take it home.
• Xu Xiao told the monkey he had come to take it home, and they smiled at each other.

After rescuing the monkey's reincarnated true spirit from the Spirit of Ionia, Xu Xiao prepared to use the arriving Darkin to find it a new body. He killed the first Darkin to reach shore and gathered its remains, leaving the rest of the approaching force as his next targets.

• The monkey explained that the Spirit of Ionia had captured him, destroyed his reincarnated body, and left him with only a small portion of his true spirit.
• Xu Xiao promised to find the monkey a suitable body and ordered his troops away from the coastline as the Darkin approached.
• A turtle-shaped Darkin leaped from the ships and charged ashore, followed by the other Darkin.
• Xu Xiao confronted the turtle-shaped Darkin, who attacked him after questioning how he wielded the power of the Arcane.
• Xu Xiao killed the turtle-shaped Darkin and gathered its flesh and blood to extract an essence for the monkey's new body.

Xu Xiao defeated LeBlanc and returned to Tushita Palace, where he and the monkey experienced lives across different worlds for five hundred years. When the Journey to the West began, Xu Xiao confronted Guanyin over her manipulation of mortal karma and headed to the Heavenly Court to verify her actions.

• Xu Xiao killed the Darkin, used the Rune of Destruction to destroy LeBlanc through her clone, and gathered the Darkin remains to help forge the monkey a new body.
• Xu Xiao and the monkey continued experiencing the lives of their scattered true spirits while waiting for the five hundred years to pass.
• After five hundred years, Guanyin arranged a karmic connection between the newly crowned top scholar and Mantangjiao to begin the Journey to the West.
• Xu Xiao challenged Guanyin over manipulating mortal karma and said he would verify her actions in the Heavenly Court.
• Xu Xiao rode a cloud toward the Heavenly Court as the Journey to the Westward Calamity began.

Xu Xiao and the monkey received the Jade Emperor’s orders to enter the Journey to the West calamity as Heavenly Court officials, though the Jade Emperor withheld details of their roles. Afterward, Zhenwu invited Xu Xiao and the monkey to his residence, hinting that he might share information about the journey.

• Xu Xiao told Taibai Jinxing that Guanyin had entangled the cause and effect of Chen Guangrui and Yin Wenjiao, and said he would report the matter regardless of whether anyone punished her.
• Taibai Jinxing brought Xu Xiao and the monkey to meet the Jade Emperor, who ordered them to enter the Journey to the West calamity without disgracing the Heavenly Court.
• Xu Xiao asked how he and the monkey would enter the calamity, but the Jade Emperor said the Shakya Sect would discuss arrangements with them and sent them away.
• Zhenwu called Xu Xiao and the monkey over and invited them to his residence to talk.

Xu Xiao and Wukong met with Great Emperor Zhenwu to learn how the Daoist and Western Sects planned to shape the journey west. Zhenwu warned that the Western Sect would target Xu Xiao, while the Daoist elders promised protection from beings above the Daluo level as the next tribulation approached.

• Xu Xiao and Wukong drank tea with Great Emperor Zhenwu, and Wukong asked how the Western Sect would interfere with their journey.
• Zhenwu explained that Jin Chanzi would still seek Buddhist scriptures, but Xu Xiao's intervention had changed who stood at the center of the tribulation.
• Wukong rejected the idea of protecting the Western Sect's scripture-seeking mission, while Zhenwu said the Western Sect would find a way to draw him into the journey.
• Zhenwu warned Xu Xiao that the Western Sect would target him and might make him either a participant or a tribulation along the road.
• Xu Xiao accepted the risks, and Zhenwu promised the Daoist elders would prevent anyone above the Daluo level from intervening and urged Xu Xiao to seek help when needed.
• Zhenwu warned that the Western Sect would likely draw Xu Xiao into the tribulation within two days.

Xu Xiao and the monkey were appointed to escort Tang Sanzang on the westward journey, which Xu Xiao believed the Western Sect had arranged to manipulate and exploit. After they reached Chang'an, he explained the journey’s hidden purpose and warned that the Western Sect might target him.

• Bodhisattva Guanyin read the decree appointing Sun Wukong and Xu Xiao as guardians of Tang Sanzang’s journey, and the Jade Emperor ordered them to descend to the mortal realm.
• Xu Xiao and the monkey left the Ling Xiao Treasure Hall without acknowledging Bodhisattva Guanyin, who privately welcomed the chance to test them on the journey.
• In Chang'an, Xu Xiao told the monkey that joining the Western Sect’s tribulation would prevent others from calculating their fate and give the sect an excuse to scheme against them.
• Xu Xiao explained that immortals and Buddhas would create and resolve obstacles to claim merit, making the Journey to the West a prearranged play, and suspected the Western Sect planned to exclude him from its rewards.
• The monkey promised to fight for Xu Xiao if the Western Sect targeted him, and the two entered Chang'an’s imperial city.

Xu Xiao and the monkey began escorting Xuanzang west, leaving the attendants behind and making him handle the hardships of travel himself. When the monkey asked Xu Xiao to ease Xuanzang’s burden, Xu Xiao explained that he wanted to temper the monk before their conflict with Buddhism grew worse.

• Xu Xiao met Xuanzang in the palace, and Li Shimin agreed to let Xu Xiao and the monkey escort him west for scriptures.
• Li Shimin saw Xuanzang off beyond Chang'an, and Xu Xiao sent away the mortal attendants before the three continued on horseback.
• After reaching the border, Xuanzang struggled to prepare meals and perform his religious duties while Xu Xiao and the monkey handled only shelter and safety.
• The monkey privately asked Xu Xiao to give Xuanzang spirit medicines, saying the monk was decent and deserved some kindness.
• Xu Xiao refused, explaining that Xuanzang needed to grow accustomed to hardship and that Xu Xiao wanted to wear down his stubbornness before their conflict with Buddhism intensified.

Xu Xiao, Wukong, and Xuanzang crossed the Great Tang border and traveled peacefully to the foot of Two Realms Mountain. After Xu Xiao chose to wait at the old herdboy’s home to protect the family and test Xuanzang, a gang of bandits arrived and invaded the courtyard.

• Xu Xiao warned Xuanzang to follow his and the monkey’s instructions beyond the Great Tang border, and Xuanzang agreed.
• The party passed Double Fork Ridge and Two Realms Mountain without encountering the trials that should have occurred there.
• An old herdboy welcomed the travelers, and they stayed overnight and ate his family’s simple breakfast.
• Xu Xiao refused to leave, explaining that bandits would threaten the family and that he wanted to test Xuanzang’s courage and character.
• A gang of bandits spotted the home, broke into the courtyard, and startled Xuanzang and the old herdboy’s family.

Xu Xiao punished the bandits who attacked Xuanzang and the old herdsman, then burned them all to ash despite Xuanzang’s pleas. The courtyard fell silent, leaving Xuanzang confronted by Xu Xiao’s merciless response.

• The one-eyed bandit chief assaulted the old herdsman and his grandson, then stole Xuanzang’s brocade kasaya.
• Xu Xiao stopped the monkey from fighting and broke the bandits’ limbs while a living bamboo fence impaled the chief.
• Xu Xiao helped the old herdsman and the child, then gave them pills as the bandits screamed in pain.
• Xuanzang urged Xu Xiao to stop torturing the bandits and warned him about going to Hell.
• Xu Xiao dismissed Xuanzang’s warning and burned the bandits until they were reduced to ash.

Xu Xiao defended his execution of the bandits and challenged Xuanzang to judge them before the Underworld’s Karmic Mirror Terrace. He brought Xuanzang’s soul and the bandits’ souls to the Underworld, where Xuanzang resolved to pursue Buddhist teachings and oppose Xu Xiao’s killings.

• Xuanzang condemned Xu Xiao for killing the bandits, but Xu Xiao insisted they deserved punishment and challenged him to debate in the Underworld.
• Xu Xiao separated Xuanzang’s soul from his body, asked Wukong to guard the corpse, and gathered the bandits’ souls.
• Xu Xiao escorted Xuanzang to the Underworld and asked the gate officials to announce his visit to King Qinguang.
• Xu Xiao explained the Underworld to Xuanzang and showed him how to withdraw the merit light that was frightening nearby souls.
• Xuanzang watched the dead travel along Yellow Springs Road and vowed to seek Mahayana Buddhist teachings and prevent Xu Xiao from killing people at will.

Xu Xiao brought Xuanzang to the Underworld to use the Karmic Mirror Terrace and show him the crimes of the bandits Xuanzang had killed. King Qinguang reluctantly agreed after Xu Xiao accepted responsibility, and the mirror began displaying the bandits’ past deeds.

• Black and White Impermanence and the Ten Yanluo welcomed Xu Xiao when he arrived in the Underworld.
• Xu Xiao told the Yanluo he wanted to use the Karmic Mirror Terrace to investigate the wicked bandits whose deaths had led to his planned debate with Xuanzang.
• King Qinguang warned that the dispute could affect the journey west, but Xu Xiao gave him his official token and claimed responsibility.
• King Qinguang led Xu Xiao and Xuanzang to the Karmic Mirror Terrace and explained how it worked.
• Xu Xiao cast the bandits’ souls before the mirror and activated it, telling Xuanzang to watch closely as scenes appeared.

Xu Xiao used the Karmic Mirror Terrace to show Xuanzang the bandits’ brutal crimes and challenged his belief that they could repent and become Buddhas. Xu Xiao then invoked the Law of Cause and Effect to show what would happen if the bandits were spared, and the mirror began rippling toward a new vision.

• The Karmic Mirror Terrace revealed how Zhang Erhu had murdered the scholar who took him in and spent decades committing atrocities.
• Xu Xiao forced Xuanzang to witness the bandits’ crimes, leaving him shaken and in tears.
• Xu Xiao burned the bandit souls with Hell’s Karmic Fire, then challenged Xuanzang’s faith in their capacity for repentance.
• Xuanzang defended compassion and the Buddha’s teachings, while Xu Xiao argued that sparing the bandits would only enable further evil.
• Xu Xiao used the Law of Cause and Effect on the Karmic Mirror Terrace, making its surface ripple as it began to show a new vision.

Xu Xiao used the Karmic Mirror Terrace to show Xuanzang a deduction of the devastation the bandits would cause if he spared them. The vision shattered Xuanzang’s Buddha heart and drained his merit, just as an unseen voice challenged Xu Xiao for treating the scripture pilgrim too harshly.

• Xu Xiao showed Xuanzang how the spared bandits returned to kill the old cowherd’s family and ravage a nearby village.
• The bandits found an evil cultivation manual, gained power through human sacrifice, and terrorized the region as demons.
• The vision showed the bandits becoming the Black Demon King’s lair, enslaving nearby people and turning villages into ghost domains.
• Xuanzang vomited golden Buddha essence as his Buddha heart shattered and his merit scattered.
• Xu Xiao mocked Xuanzang, and an unseen speaker asked whether he had been too harsh on the scripture pilgrim.

Xu Xiao confronted Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva over Xuanzang's shattered Buddhist heart and denounced Buddhist teachings as heresy. The Great Emperor of Fengdu intervened to prevent a fight, and Xu Xiao and Ksitigarbha agreed to debate the Dao with words instead of blows.

• Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva arrived at the Karmic Mirror Terrace with Diting and accused Xu Xiao of making things difficult for Xuanzang.
• Xu Xiao argued that Xuanzang's weak faith was his own failing and challenged Ksitigarbha's Buddhist teachings as heresy.
• Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva proposed debating the Dao, but hesitated to fight Xu Xiao.
• The Great Emperor of Fengdu arrived, greeted Xu Xiao as an old friend, and offered to witness a debate without violence.
• Xu Xiao and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva agreed to debate, and Xu Xiao asked Ksitigarbha to set the topic.

Xu Xiao rejected Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s attempt to debate good and evil, making clear that he would act according to his own principles despite the Western Sect’s opposition. After Ksitigarbha left, Xu Xiao told the Great Emperor of Fengdu that he had deliberately shattered Xuanzang’s Buddhist resolve to draw out his enemies, then departed ready to face the Western Sect.

• Xu Xiao and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva discussed good and evil in the Great Emperor of Fengdu’s Underworld, while Xuanzang and the Great Emperor of Fengdu listened.
• Xu Xiao declared that he sought freedom to act as he pleased and would face any karmic consequences, while Ksitigarbha urged him not to go astray.
• Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva ended the discussion and left, believing Xu Xiao could cause only a limited setback to the Western Sect’s plans.
• Xu Xiao apologized to the Great Emperor of Fengdu, who warned that the Western Sect would retaliate because Xuanzang’s Buddhist heart had shattered so early in the journey west.
• Xu Xiao said he had acted first to draw out those seeking his death and blamed Xuanzang’s collapse on the weakness of the Buddhist Sect’s teachings.
• Xu Xiao bade farewell to the Great Emperor of Fengdu and said he was prepared to fight his way up Spirit Mountain if necessary.

Xu Xiao shattered Xuanzang’s Buddha heart and used the Journey to the West calamity to reach into the Heavenly Mandate Ruins of Return. He found and began carving out a unique fate from the countless versions of Xuanzang, leaving his plan in motion.

• Sun Wukong summoned the local gods to clean the old shepherd boy’s courtyard and protect his family.
• Xu Xiao returned with Xuanzang, whose Buddha heart had been shattered by their debate.
• Sun Wukong worried that Xuanzang’s condition would cause serious trouble, but Xu Xiao said the monk’s faith had already been flawed.
• Xu Xiao used the Power of Variables to probe the Heavenly Mandate Ruins of Return and trace Xuanzang’s fates across different times and spaces.
• Xu Xiao found the tangled origin of Xuanzang’s fate and began carving a unique fate out of it.

Xu Xiao used the Tribulation Cause Sword to alter Xuanzang’s fate and restore his Buddha heart before returning to his body. After insisting that the changed monk was still Tang Xuanzang, Xu Xiao faced an enraged voice accusing him of attacking the scripture pilgrim.

• Xu Xiao struck the Six-Winged Golden Cicada and the essence of Xuanzang’s fate with the Tribulation Cause Sword, concealing them under the power of variables.
• Xu Xiao pulled a white-robed monk’s karma from the essence of fate, made the thread central, and took the monk’s apparition as a golden Buddha seed.
• Xu Xiao returned to his body after only seven breaths, while Wukong stood guard.
• Xu Xiao sent the Buddha seed into Xuanzang, restoring his Buddha heart and bringing him back to awareness, though the monk seemed changed.
• Xu Xiao denied that he had possessed Xuanzang, but an enraged voice tore through the concealment and accused him of attacking the scripture pilgrim.

Xu Xiao used the Cause and Effect Tribulation Sword to annihilate three Buddhist Sect dharma protectors and defend his attack on the scripture pilgrim as an act of Heavenly Court justice. The arhat was left wary when Xuanzang awoke with a new Buddhist heart, unaware that Xu Xiao had secretly replaced it.

• Buddhist Sect dharma protectors confronted Xu Xiao over his attack on the scripture pilgrim, while Heavenly Court immortals watched uneasily.
• Xu Xiao used the Cause and Effect Tribulation Sword to annihilate three dharma protectors and cripple several others, sparing their arhat leader.
• Xu Xiao declared that he had punished demons for insulting a Heavenly Court official and accused the Buddhist Sect of trying to frame him.
• The arhat threatened Xu Xiao but recoiled when Xu Xiao raised his hand, and Xu Xiao chose not to attack him.
• Xu Xiao pointed out that the scripture pilgrim was unharmed as Xuanzang awoke with a restored Buddhist heart, unaware it had been replaced.

Xuanzang awoke with memories and affection for Sun Wukong that confused the monkey and the assembled immortals, though Arhat Nadietuo confirmed that Xuanzang was unharmed and had not been possessed. When Nadietuo tried to leave after apologizing for accusing Xu Xiao, Xu Xiao attacked him with the Cause and Effect Tribulation Sword, stripping away more than two thousand years of his cultivation.

• Xuanzang awoke and eagerly greeted Sun Wukong as his old disciple, but Wukong rejected the claim and questioned why the monk seemed so different.
• Arhat Nadietuo examined Xuanzang and found his Buddha nature and destined fate intact, while Xuanzang said he had merely awakened from a great dream.
• Sun Wukong privately asked Xu Xiao whether Xuanzang had been replaced, and Xu Xiao assured him that Xuanzang was genuine but had different experiences.
• Xu Xiao demanded an explanation from Nadietuo for accusing him of harming Xuanzang and letting his guardian deities insult him.
• Nadietuo apologized and attempted to leave, but Xu Xiao struck him with the Cause and Effect Tribulation Sword.
• Xu Xiao's attack overwhelmed Nadietuo's protective Buddha light, reversed the faith supporting it, and stripped him of more than two thousand years of cultivation.

Xu Xiao confronted Bodhisattva Guanyin after she arrived to save Nadietuo, and the two clashed over Xu Xiao’s treatment of Xuanzang and the Buddhist Sect’s dharma protectors. Guanyin threatened to take Xu Xiao to Spirit Mountain, but Wukong attacked her before Xu Xiao could answer.

• Xu Xiao continued eroding Nadietuo’s cultivation until Guanyin appeared and shielded the arhat with her Magic Power.
• Xu Xiao redirected his Cause and Effect Tribulation Sword at Guanyin and argued that he had only punished Nadietuo for slandering him.
• Guanyin examined Xuanzang, found his Buddhist nature and true spirit apparently unchanged, and suspected Xu Xiao had altered him.
• Guanyin accused Xu Xiao of interfering with Xuanzang, killing Buddhist dharma protectors, and disrupting the Journey to the West, then threatened to take him to Spirit Mountain.
• Wukong refused to let Guanyin touch Xu Xiao and swung his Divine Staff of Battle at her despite Xuanzang trying to stop him.

Xu Xiao and Wukong fought Bodhisattva Guanyin, using the Power of Variables to weaken her merit lotus and then confronting her thousand-armed dharma form. Xu Xiao launched a dangerous sword attack that could threaten Guanyin’s Dao fruit, and the chapter ended as he met her purifying Buddhist light with a second strike.

• Wukong attacked Guanyin’s Five-Colored Merit Lotus Throne, but its defenses initially withstood his blows.
• Xu Xiao infused Wukong’s Divine Staff of Battle with the Power of Variables, causing the lotus throne’s merit and vow power to dissipate.
• Xu Xiao declared his opposition to the Western Sect’s attempt to seize Taoism’s providence through the Great Tribulation of the Westward Journey.
• Guanyin manifested her thousand-armed, thousand-eyed dharma form and attacked Xu Xiao and Wukong.
• Xu Xiao used the Tribulation Cause Sword to launch Fate-Defying Tribulation Slaying, Myriad Changes Reversal, forcing Guanyin to defend her Dao fruit.
• Xu Xiao stepped into Guanyin’s purifying Buddhist light and answered with Tribulation Cause-Shattering Delusion.

Xu Xiao wounded Guanyin with a sword, prompting her to unleash the Three Lights Divine Water and try to kill him. Great Emperor Zhenwu intervened, stopped her attack, and defended Xu Xiao; Guanyin withdrew rather than fight Zhenwu or risk derailing the Western Sect’s scripture-seeking plan.

• Xu Xiao’s gray sword force broke through Guanyin’s golden Buddhist light and wounded her manifestation and Dao Fruit.
• Guanyin raised her Jade Purification Vase and poured out the Three Lights Divine Water to kill Xu Xiao, ignoring Taibai Jinxing’s warning that the Jade Emperor had issued a decree.
• Great Emperor Zhenwu arrived and used the Demon-Subduing Bell to halt the torrent before it reached Xu Xiao.
• Zhenwu accused Guanyin of endangering the mortal world and argued that Xu Xiao had acted in defense after the Western Sect provoked him.
• Guanyin demanded justice for Xu Xiao’s interference with the Western Sect’s plan, but Zhenwu challenged her to settle the dispute in a private match.
• Guanyin withdrew the Three Lights Divine Water and held back, unwilling to fight Zhenwu or further damage the scripture-seeking undertaking.