Chapter Summaries

Sun Wukong tricked the captive Zhu Bajie into revealing the silver hidden in his ear, then freed him from the ropes. Zhu Bajie wanted to escape through the back, but Sun Wukong insisted they leave openly through the front.

• Sun Wukong disguised his voice as a soul-reaping envoy and told Zhu Bajie that Fifth King Yama had sent him to collect him.
• Zhu Bajie begged to live one more day and offered Sun Wukong the silver hidden in his left ear.
• Sun Wukong revealed himself, kept Zhu Bajie's silver, and promised to rescue him.
• Sun Wukong used the Ruyi Jingu Bang to lift Zhu Bajie out of the water and free him from the ropes.
• Zhu Bajie urged Sun Wukong to escape through the back door, but Sun Wukong insisted they walk out the front; Zhu Bajie said his legs had gone numb.

Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie fought their way out of the demon cave and captured the elephant demon, who agreed to carry Tang Xuanzang over the mountain in exchange for his life. Back at the cave, Kunpeng began outlining a plan to lure Tang Xuanzang and his companions away, leaving the details unresolved.

• Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie fought through the cave, recovered Zhu Bajie's Nine-Toothed Rake, and confronted the elephant demon.
• Sun Wukong evaded the demon's trunk, jabbed the Ruyi Jingu Bang into his nose, and captured him with Zhu Bajie's help.
• Tang Xuanzang agreed to spare the elephant demon if he carried him over the mountain, and the demon promised to bring a sedan chair.
• The elephant demon returned to the cave and told the Azure-Haired Lion and Kunpeng what had happened.
• Kunpeng said that carrying Tang Xuanzang across could be part of a plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain, then proposed selecting demons from the cave.

Kunpeng’s scheme lured Tang Xuanzang into the demon-filled city while the three fiends fought Sun Wukong and his companions. The demons captured Tang Xuanzang, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and Sun Wukong, but the rope used to bind Sun Wukong could not hold him.

• Kunpeng explained his plan to escort Tang Xuanzang toward a city he controlled, where his demons would capture the monk.
• Sun Wukong accepted the demons’ offered sedan chair, and Tang Xuanzang traveled with them toward the city, unaware of their scheme.
• At the city, Kongtou attacked Sun Wukong while the Azure Lion and the elephant demon fought Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing; the little demons carried Tang Xuanzang into the palace.
• As night fell, the Azure Lion captured Zhu Bajie, and the elephant demon captured Sha Wujing.
• Sun Wukong tried to flee on a Somersault Cloud, but Kunpeng caught him and brought him to the great hall.
• Kunpeng ordered a little demon to tie up Sun Wukong, but the rope failed to restrain him.

Sun Wukong used a hair clone and summoned the Dragon King of the North Sea to protect Tang Xuanzang and the others from being steamed. After the three fiends went to sleep, Sun Wukong descended from the clouds but heard no sound from inside the cage.

• The green-haired lion ordered Tang Xuanzang, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing to be put into an iron cage to steam.
• Sun Wukong reassured Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, then made a bound hair clone to fool the monsters as his true body escaped into the air.
• Sun Wukong summoned the Dragon King of the North Sea, who cooled the cage and protected Tang Xuanzang, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing from the fire.
• The green-haired lion told his underlings to watch the cage while he and the other two fiends went to sleep.
• Sun Wukong descended from the clouds after the fiends fell asleep, but heard nothing from inside the cage.

Sun Wukong rescued Tang Xuanzang, Sha Wujing, and Zhu Bajie from the steaming cage by putting the demons to sleep, then retrieved their horse and luggage. The group found both gates sealed and had to consider how to escape with Tang Xuanzang, who could not travel on clouds.

• Sun Wukong heard Zhu Bajie and the others in the cage, then used sleep bugs to put the demons tending them to sleep.
• Sun Wukong opened the cage and rescued Tang Xuanzang, Sha Wujing, and, after hesitating, Zhu Bajie.
• Sun Wukong led the horse from the hall and retrieved the group's luggage after Tang Xuanzang told him where it was.
• The group found the front gate locked and sealed, then discovered the back gate was sealed as well.
• Sun Wukong noted that Tang Xuanzang could not ride the clouds because he was mortal.

Tang Xuanzang was captured again after his escape attempt, and Kunpeng persuaded Azure Lion to hide him and spread a false rumor that he had been eaten. Sun Wukong searched for his master, believed the rumor, and flew into the sky weeping.

• Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie tried to help Tang Xuanzang climb over the wall, but Azure Lion caught Tang Xuanzang while the demons captured Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing; Sun Wukong escaped.
• Kunpeng convinced Azure Lion to lock Tang Xuanzang in a cabinet and tell the city that he had been eaten.
• Sun Wukong destroyed the demons at Lion Camel Cave, then entered the city disguised as a little demon to seek news.
• Sun Wukong found Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing tied to pillars, and Zhu Bajie told him that the demons claimed Tang Xuanzang had been eaten.
• Sun Wukong searched for Tang Xuanzang without finding him, then flew into the sky and wept, blaming Buddha Tathagata for their perilous journey.

Sun Wukong went to Thunderclap Monastery seeking help after the monsters of Lion Camel Cave captured Tang Xuanzang, and Tathagata revealed the monsters’ origins. Tathagata set out with Sun Wukong to subdue them and met Bodhisattva Wenshu and Bodhisattva Puxian.

• Sun Wukong arrived at Thunderclap Monastery and argued with the Four Great Vajras before Tathagata’s disciples escorted him inside.
• Sun Wukong told Tathagata that the monsters at Lion Camel Cave had captured Tang Xuanzang and asked to return to Flower-Fruit Mountain.
• Tathagata explained that the blue-haired lion and elephant demon were the mounts of Bodhisattva Wenshu and Bodhisattva Puxian, while Kunpeng was related to him through Peacock and Great Peng.
• Tathagata agreed to go with Sun Wukong to subdue the monsters and summoned Bodhisattva Wenshu and Bodhisattva Puxian.
• Bodhisattva Wenshu estimated that his mount had been away for about seven days.

Sun Wukong brought Buddha Tathagata to Lion Camel Kingdom, where Tathagata subdued the three demon kings and learned Tang Xuanzang was still alive. The reunited pilgrims left Lion Camel City and, months later, reached another city.

• Sun Wukong lured the three demon kings into an ambush by Buddha Tathagata and the assembled Buddhist forces.
• Wenshu and Puxian subdued the Azure Lion and the white elephant, while Tathagata trapped Kunpeng and made him submit.
• Kunpeng revealed that Tang Xuanzang was locked in an iron cabinet, and Sun Wukong rescued him with Sha Wujing and Zhu Bajie.
• The four master and disciples ate, gathered their belongings, and left Lion Camel City to continue west.
• After several months of travel through winter weather, the pilgrims reached another city, and Tang Xuanzang asked Sun Wukong what place it was.

Tang Xuanzang and his disciples entered the prosperous Children's City, formerly known as the Bhikkhu Kingdom, and discovered children confined in goose cages outside the houses. After arranging to meet the ruler the next morning, Tang Xuanzang asked a local official about the cages, but the official's reaction left him astonished.

• Sun Wukong woke an old soldier at the city gate, who identified the place as the Bhikkhu Kingdom, now called Children's City.
• Tang Xuanzang and his disciples entered the bustling city and noticed a goose cage outside every house.
• Sun Wukong transformed into a bee and found young boys imprisoned in the cages.
• Tang Xuanzang showed his travel rescript to an official at the posthouse and arranged to visit the ruler the next morning.
• Tang Xuanzang asked the official about the children in the cages, and the official reacted in a way that astonished him.

Tang Xuanzang learned that the king of the Bhikkhu Kingdom planned to consume children’s hearts and livers as medicine, and he urged Sun Wukong to save them. Sun Wukong summoned immortals to move the children into the forest overnight, but the rescue had not yet been completed.

• An official told Tang Xuanzang that a Daoist had prescribed a medicine made from children’s hearts and livers to treat the king’s illness and prolong his life.
• Tang Xuanzang wept over the children’s fate, while Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing tried to comfort him and suggested confronting the king and the Daoist.
• Sun Wukong promised to investigate the Daoist and proposed moving the children so the king could not obtain them.
• Tang Xuanzang approved the plan, and Sun Wukong left the city to summon immortals for help.
• Sun Wukong asked the immortals to take the children into the forest overnight and keep them safe and fed.

Sun Wukong rescued the children taken by the immortals and accompanied Tang Xuanzang to the royal court in disguise. After the king endorsed Tang Xuanzang’s travel permit, Sun Wukong identified the royal preceptor as a monster and learned that the king was gravely ill and relied on the preceptor’s medicine.

• Sun Wukong had the immortals hide the children, then told Tang Xuanzang they had all been rescued.
• Tang Xuanzang went to the royal court to have his travel permit endorsed while Sun Wukong disguised himself as an insect and hid on his hat.
• The king endorsed Tang Xuanzang’s travel permit, and the royal preceptor argued that Daoism reigned supreme and urged Tang Xuanzang to stay.
• Sun Wukong told Tang Xuanzang that the royal preceptor was a monster and that the king had been affected by Yao Qi.
• Sun Wukong entered the palace and heard an official report that the children had disappeared in the cold wind; the king said he was gravely ill and depended on the royal preceptor’s medicine.

The imperial preceptor persuaded the foolish king to capture Tang Xuanzang and use his heart as medicine, so Sun Wukong switched appearances with his master and let himself be taken. At court, Sun Wukong offered to give the king his black heart and cut open his chest, terrifying the officials.

• The imperial preceptor convinced the foolish king that Tang Xuanzang's heart could cure his illness, and the king ordered the city gates closed and the inn surrounded.
• Sun Wukong warned Tang Xuanzang, Sha Wujing, and Zhu Bajie about the plot, then used a mud mask to make Tang Xuanzang look like himself while disguising himself as Tang Xuanzang.
• When the imperial guards entered the inn, Sun Wukong claimed to be Tang Xuanzang and went with them to the palace.
• The foolish king asked Sun Wukong to serve as the final ingredient in his medicine, and the imperial preceptor demanded his black heart.
• Sun Wukong cut open his chest to show his beating heart, leaving the court officials pale with fright.

Sun Wukong exposed the imperial preceptor as a fiend and rescued Tang Xuanzang from suspicion, while the fiend escaped with the queen. The king told Sun Wukong that the fiend had come from Huaqing Village, but his account of how he accepted the fiend’s daughter as his queen left Sun Wukong scolding him.

• Sun Wukong revealed his true identity, fought the imperial preceptor, and watched the fiend escape with the queen.
• Sun Wukong and the officials searched the palace and found the king hiding, then the king learned that the imperial preceptor had been a fiend.
• The king summoned Tang Xuanzang and his disciples from the relay station, and Sun Wukong cleaned the mud from Tang Xuanzang’s face at court.
• Sun Wukong asked where the fiend lived, and the king named Huaqing Village and explained how he had taken the fiend’s daughter as his queen.
• The king began describing how he later fell ill, while Sun Wukong rebuked him for chasing women.

Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie tracked the demon from the Bhikkhu Kingdom to Huaqing Cave and defeated him. The Immortal Elder of the South Pole captured the fleeing demon and revealed that it was his missing mount.

• Sun Wukong explained that he had hidden the children, then took Zhu Bajie to hunt the demon after Zhu Bajie ate his fill.
• The Land God of Willow Grove Slope told Sun Wukong how to open Huaqing Cave, where Sun Wukong found the old monster and fought him.
• Zhu Bajie struck the poplar tree with his rake, then joined Sun Wukong in driving the old monster from the cave and chasing him east.
• The Immortal Elder of the South Pole appeared, captured the demon, and asked Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie to spare him.
• The Immortal Elder of the South Pole revealed that the demon was his missing mount.

Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie exposed the old demon as the Immortal Elder of the South Pole’s white deer and destroyed the demons’ lair at Huaqing Cave, though the white fox spirit escaped. They brought the fox and the deer to the palace, where the king learned the truth, and the Immortal Elder explained how his mount had fled to the mortal world.

• At Sun Wukong’s request, the old demon revealed himself as a white deer, and the Immortal Elder of the South Pole reclaimed his mount and walking stick.
• A white fox fled, and Zhu Bajie returned with her severed tail, but Sun Wukong warned that she might still harm people; the two argued over who should pursue her.
• Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie drove the demons from Huaqing Cave and burned their dwelling, while the white fox watched and escaped.
• Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie caught the fox and brought her, the white deer, and the Immortal Elder of the South Pole to the palace, where Sun Wukong revealed the truth to the king.
• The king thanked Tang Xuanzang and his disciples and hosted a meal, where the Immortal Elder explained that his white deer had escaped while he played chess with Emperor Donghua.

After the king’s celebration, Sun Wukong reunited the Bhikkhu Kingdom’s stolen children with their families, and Tang Xuanzang and his disciples continued their journey west. They reached a beautiful mountain forest, where Tang Xuanzang grew uneasy as they approached another great forest.

• At the banquet, the Immortal Elder of the South Pole gave the king three red dates to ease his ailments and promised Zhu Bajie some on another visit.
• Tang Xuanzang refused the king’s travel money, and Sun Wukong advised the king to restrain his lust and act in ways that benefited him.
• The immortals returned the stolen children, and Sun Wukong helped the city’s households reclaim them.
• The residents celebrated Tang Xuanzang and his disciples, hosted them for a month, and watched them depart the Bhikkhu Kingdom.
• On the road west, Tang Xuanzang worried about demons in the mountains, while Sun Wukong led the group along a path through the scenic cliffs.
• As the pilgrims reached another great forest, Tang Xuanzang grew frightened and turned to Sun Wukong.

Tang Xuanzang encountered a woman bound to a tree and believed her tale that bandits had captured her, while Sun Wukong spotted black Qi revealing a demon's presence. The chapter ended with Sun Wukong stopping Zhu Bajie from freeing the woman.

• Tang Xuanzang asked Sun Wukong to find food after the group rested in the forest, and Sun Wukong noticed auspicious clouds above his master.
• Sun Wukong spotted black Qi rising through the trees and suspected a demon was nearby.
• Tang Xuanzang found a woman tied to a tree, listened to her story about being captured by bandits, and called Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing to help her.
• Zhu Bajie moved to untie the woman, but Sun Wukong saw the black Qi cover the auspicious light and rushed back to his master.
• Sun Wukong grabbed Zhu Bajie by the ear and threw him to the ground before he could free the woman.

Sun Wukong warned Tang Xuanzang that the woman tied in the woods was a monster, but Tang Xuanzang eventually insisted on rescuing her. After they freed her, Sun Wukong questioned how she had survived without food or water and warned that she could not keep pace with them.

• Sun Wukong told Tang Xuanzang and Zhu Bajie that the woman was a monster, and Tang Xuanzang agreed to leave her tied up.
• The monster used magic to make Tang Xuanzang hear her calling, so he ordered Sun Wukong to rescue her.
• When Sun Wukong refused, Tang Xuanzang went back with Zhu Bajie, who dug the woman out and untied her.
• Sun Wukong mocked Tang Xuanzang for rescuing a pretty woman and pointed out that she showed no signs of having gone without food or water.
• Tang Xuanzang insisted the woman would travel with them, while Sun Wukong warned that she could not keep pace and might be attacked by wild beasts.

Tang Xuanzang and his disciples escorted a demon-disguised woman to a monastery and sought shelter for the night. Tang Xuanzang met the monastery’s monks and explained that he was traveling from the Great Tang to the Western Heaven to obtain scriptures.

• Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Tang Xuanzang argued over who should help the woman, then Tang Xuanzang decided they would walk with her to find her home.
• The group followed the woman to a monastery as evening fell, and Tang Xuanzang went ahead to ask for lodging.
• Tang Xuanzang entered the ruined courtyard and fell when a monk struck the bronze bell, then learned the monk had only been trying to calm his fear of intruders.
• The incense-tending monk explained that bandits used the ruined buildings while the monks lived in a separate, well-kept courtyard.
• A fat monk greeted Tang Xuanzang familiarly, and Tang Xuanzang told the monks he was traveling from the Great Tang to the Western Heaven to obtain scriptures.

Tang Xuanzang and his disciples stayed overnight at a monastery with the woman they had rescued. The next morning, Tang Xuanzang was too ill to rise, leaving Sun Wukong worried about what had happened to him.

• Tang Xuanzang reunited with Sun Wukong, Sha Wujing, and Zhu Bajie at the monastery, where the monks were startled by their appearances.
• The monks served everyone food and arranged a straw bed behind the main hall for the rescued woman.
• Tang Xuanzang told his disciples to rest, and Sun Wukong stayed awake to protect him.
• At daybreak, Sun Wukong tried to wake Tang Xuanzang so they could leave, but Tang Xuanzang said his head was spinning and aching and his whole body hurt.