Chapter Summaries

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.

After the Jade Emperor ordered the Heavenly Court and Western Sect to stop escalating their conflict, Xu Xiao and Guanyin accepted the decree and withdrew. Xu Xiao resumed the journey west with Sun Wukong and Xuanzang, warned that the road ahead would be more dangerous.

• Taibai Jinxing announced the Jade Emperor’s decree, and Xu Xiao and Guanyin agreed to set aside their fight until the tribulation ended.
• Guanyin returned to Spirit Mountain with the unconscious Arhat Nadietuo, while Great Emperor Zhenwu warned Xu Xiao about the Western Sect and gave him a Black Tortoise Divine Talisman.
• Taibai Jinxing and Great Emperor Zhenwu departed, and Sun Wukong praised Xu Xiao for wounding Guanyin.
• Xu Xiao told Sun Wukong that their victory had depended on surprise and promised Xuanzang he would explain what had happened later.
• Xu Xiao, Sun Wukong, and Xuanzang said goodbye to the old cowherd and his family and set out west.

Xu Xiao challenged Xuanzang’s belief that seeking the Western scriptures would deliver all living beings, arguing that the quest might be a scam. He reassured Xuanzang that his original world and disciples would continue without him, then questioned whether the disciples would willingly accept their destined outcomes.

• Wukong complained about walking to Spirit Mountain, and Xu Xiao insisted they follow the Jade Emperor’s orders.
• Xuanzang sighed over his original disciples, so Xu Xiao concealed the group and began answering his questions.
• Xu Xiao asked whether Xuanzang sought scriptures for the world or for Buddhism, and argued that the scriptures might not truly deliver anyone.
• Xuanzang defended his vow, citing the Buddha’s promise and his wish to lessen the world’s suffering.
• Xu Xiao told Xuanzang that someone else would take his place and that his disciples would still attain their destined ranks.
• Xuanzang objected that the quest was good for his disciples, but Xu Xiao pointed out that they might not be willing to make amends.

Xu Xiao showed Xuanzang the truth of Sun Wukong’s past and the pilgrimage’s predetermined course, then revealed how the scriptures enriched Buddhist institutions without improving the world. The chapter ended with Xu Xiao asking whether Xuanzang would continue down the path.

• Xu Xiao brought Xuanzang’s primordial spirit into a dark world and showed him Sun Wukong’s birth and early life.
• Xuanzang watched Sun Wukong’s rise, rebellion against the Heavenly Court, and eventual imprisonment beneath Five Elements Mountain.
• Xu Xiao showed Xuanzang how the pilgrimage and its trials had been planned by the Western Sect and Heavenly Court, and how Xuanzang had used the Golden Headband to control Sun Wukong.
• Xu Xiao revealed that the scriptures’ return led Buddhism to flourish while temples exploited believers and the world remained unchanged.
• Xuanzang rejected the vision as an illusion and slander, but Xu Xiao challenged him to judge the truth for himself and asked whether he would continue down the path.

Xu Xiao shattered Xuanzang’s faith in the Western Sect’s motives and urged him to become a Buddha so he could impose his own teachings and save all living beings. Xuanzang returned to his body with a new obsession suppressed in his Buddha heart and continued the journey, while Xu Xiao prepared to expose the Buddhist Sect’s schemes.

• Xu Xiao told Xuanzang that immortals and Buddhas pursued their own desires and that the journey west served the Western Sect’s plans.
• Xu Xiao urged Xuanzang to become a Buddha and use his own teachings to change the Three Realms.
• Xuanzang questioned Buddhist doctrine and wondered whether he could truly deliver all living beings.
• Xu Xiao used the Great Dao of Variables to alter Xuanzang’s distant future slightly, and Xuanzang’s obsession took root in his Buddha heart.
• Xuanzang returned to his body, exchanged a glance with Xu Xiao, and urged the monkey to continue moving.
• Xu Xiao watched Xuanzang depart and planned to expose the Buddhist Sect’s evil step by step.

Xuanzang sought lodging at Guanyin Monastery while Xu Xiao and Wukong secretly followed him. A guest monk spotted the precious Brocade Kasaya in Xuanzang’s luggage and left with greed in his heart.

• Xu Xiao suggested that Xuanzang stay at the monastery, and Wukong recognized its name and cursed Guanyin.
• Xuanzang entered Guanyin Monastery alone while Xu Xiao and Wukong concealed themselves and followed him.
• The guest monk welcomed Xuanzang after learning he came from the Great Tang and was traveling west to seek scriptures.
• The guest monk exposed the Brocade Kasaya while handling Xuanzang’s luggage and stared at it greedily.
• Xuanzang covered the kasaya and kept his composure as the guest monk hurried away to prepare food and hot water.