Chapter Summaries

Tang Xuanzang fell ill and stayed at the temple with his disciples, then worried about a female benefactor and tried to write to Tang Xuanzong to find a replacement for the pilgrimage. Sun Wukong reassured him that he would recover soon, but after going to fetch him water, Sun Wukong found the temple monks weeping and demanded to know why.

• Zhu Bajie guessed Tang Xuanzang had upset his stomach, but Tang Xuanzang blamed his headache on going outside without a hat in the wind.
• Sun Wukong and the other disciples cared for Tang Xuanzang for three days until he sat up and asked about the female benefactor.
• Tang Xuanzang asked Sun Wukong for writing supplies so he could tell Tang Xuanzong to find someone else to seek the scriptures.
• Sun Wukong laughed off Tang Xuanzang's fears and told Zhu Bajie that Tang Xuanzang would recover after one more day.
• Tang Xuanzang asked for water, and Sun Wukong found the temple monks weeping in the kitchen and demanded an explanation.

Sun Wukong learned that a monster had been killing monks at the monastery and resolved to catch it. After Tang Xuanzang recovered enough to eat, he insisted on continuing the journey, but agreed to let Sun Wukong confront the monster once he learned it had eaten six young monks.

• A young monk told Sun Wukong that a monster had eaten two monks, and Sun Wukong volunteered to get rid of it.
• Sun Wukong boasted of his past victories to reassure the frightened monks, then brought water to Tang Xuanzang, who drank it and quickly felt better.
• Tang Xuanzang ate a little food and urged the group to leave, but Sun Wukong told him to recover first and proposed catching the monster that night.
• Tang Xuanzang tried to dissuade Sun Wukong from fighting until Sun Wukong explained that the monster had eaten six young monks.
• Tang Xuanzang allowed Sun Wukong to go after the monster and urged him to be careful.

Sun Wukong disguised himself as a young monk to confront the demoness, but she outwitted him and abducted Tang Xuanzang. After striking Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing in anger, Sun Wukong agreed to search for his master, and the monks pleaded with him not to leave.

• Sun Wukong disguised himself as a young monk and waited in the Buddhist hall for the demoness.
• The demoness lured Sun Wukong toward the back courtyard, where he revealed himself and fought her.
• The demoness turned her shoes into decoys and escaped after seizing Tang Xuanzang.
• Sun Wukong struck Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing in anger, then agreed to search for Tang Xuanzang with them.
• At daybreak, Sun Wukong told the monks that Tang Xuanzang had vanished, and they begged the group not to leave.

Sun Wukong learned from the mountain god and land god that a demon had taken Tang Xuanzang to the Bottomless Cave, so he and his companions traveled south to rescue him. After Zhu Bajie went to search for the cave entrance, two female demons beat him for calling them demons, and he returned to Sun Wukong with a bruised head.

• Zhu Bajie ate with the monks before Sun Wukong revealed that the woman who had captured Tang Xuanzang was a demon.
• Sun Wukong searched the forest and questioned the mountain god and land god, who told him the demon had taken Tang Xuanzang south to the Bottomless Cave.
• Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and the White Dragon Horse traveled south and reached the mountain where the cave was located.
• Sun Wukong sent Zhu Bajie down the mountain to find a cave entrance while he and Sha Wujing waited.
• Zhu Bajie found two female demons at a well, called them demons, and fled back to Sun Wukong after they struck him with a pillar.

Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing learned that a demon had captured Tang Xuanzang and planned to marry him. They found the Bottomless Cave and identified a hole in a nearby rock as its likely entrance.

• Sun Wukong told Zhu Bajie to approach the demons politely and ask what they knew.
• Zhu Bajie disguised himself as a monk and learned that the demons' old madam had captured Tang Xuanzang and planned to marry him that night.
• Zhu Bajie panicked and proposed dividing the luggage, but Sun Wukong stopped him and made a plan to follow the demons toward the cave.
• After the demons disappeared, Sun Wukong used his Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils to find a sign for the Bottomless Cave on a cliff.
• Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing searched nearby and spotted a large hole in a rock that Zhu Bajie identified as the cave entrance.

Sun Wukong entered the monster’s cave and found Tang Xuanzang, then proposed killing the monster from inside her belly while Tang Xuanzang tried to resist the monster’s advances. The monster led Tang Xuanzang to a flower pavilion, while Sun Wukong watched from hiding.

• Sun Wukong sent Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing to guard the cave entrance, then descended inside to investigate.
• Sun Wukong turned into a fly and overheard the monster say she planned to eat with Tang Xuanzang and marry him.
• Sun Wukong found Tang Xuanzang in a hidden room and learned that he had forgotten the way out of the cave.
• Sun Wukong proposed turning into a bug and killing the monster from inside her belly, and Tang Xuanzang eventually agreed to follow his plan.
• The monster called for Tang Xuanzang, helped him out of the room, and led him to a flower pavilion as Sun Wukong watched in hiding.

Sun Wukong tried to find a way to rescue Tang Xuanzang from the demon who insisted on marrying him. The chapter ended with Sun Wukong telling Tang Xuanzang to lure the demon into the garden so he could transform into a peach and enter her stomach.

• Tang Xuanzang reluctantly drank the wine the demon offered as wedding wine, while Sun Wukong secretly watched in disguise.
• The demon mistook Sun Wukong for an insect and flicked him away, so he transformed into an eagle and scattered the food before flying out.
• The demon decided to prepare another feast and have heaven and earth witness her marriage to Tang Xuanzang.
• Sun Wukong met Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing outside the cave, told them Tang Xuanzang was eating but still needed rescuing, and returned inside in fly form.
• Sun Wukong reassured Tang Xuanzang and told him to lead the demon to a peach tree, where Sun Wukong would disguise himself as a peach for her to eat.

Sun Wukong disguised himself as a red peach and entered the demoness's belly, where he attacked her from within. The demoness sent Tang Xuanzang out on her back under Sun Wukong's threat.

• Sun Wukong told Tang Xuanzang to offer the demoness a red peach, then stayed close as Tang Xuanzang asked her to walk with him in the garden.
• Sun Wukong transformed into a red peach, and Tang Xuanzang exchanged peaches with the demoness so she swallowed Sun Wukong.
• Sun Wukong revealed himself inside the demoness and beat her until she collapsed, then rested when he thought she was dead.
• The demoness revived and told her lesser demons that Sun Wukong was in her belly and ordered them to send Tang Xuanzang away.
• Sun Wukong threatened the lesser demons from inside the demoness, so she carried Tang Xuanzang on her back.

Sun Wukong escaped from the monster’s belly and, with Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing’s help, killed her, but she returned in another body and abducted Tang Xuanzang again. Sun Wukong found a tablet bearing Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li’s name and decided to summon him, leaving Zhu Bajie unsure whether he needed reinforcements.

• The monster released Tang Xuanzang, and Sun Wukong escaped from her belly using the Ruyi Jingu Bang as a nail to keep her from biting him.
• Sun Wukong fought the monster until Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing joined in, and together they helped him strike her dead.
• The Land God warned Sun Wukong that the monster had several lives, while the monster possessed a little demon and vowed to capture Tang Xuanzang again.
• The monster returned in a dust-like rush and snatched Tang Xuanzang, prompting Sun Wukong to chase her to her cave.
• Sun Wukong found a tablet naming Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li and told Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing that he would call Li to take his daughter back.

Sun Wukong went to Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li for help with the monster who had captured his master, but Li angrily attacked him before Nezha explained that the monster was Li’s forgotten daughter, Lady Earth Flow. Sun Wukong demanded that Li accompany him to the Jade Emperor, then agreed to let the matter go at Taibai Jinxing’s request.

• Sun Wukong asked Taibai Jinxing to take him to Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li so Li could help subdue the monster.
• Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li became angry at Sun Wukong, and Taibai Jinxing told him that Sun Wukong had reported his daughter’s crimes to the Jade Emperor.
• Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li tore up the imperial edict and attacked Sun Wukong, but Nezha arrived and stopped him.
• Nezha reminded Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li that the monster was his daughter, Lady Earth Flow, formerly known as Rat Spirit and Half Guanyin.
• Sun Wukong demanded that Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li go with him to see the Jade Emperor, but after Taibai Jinxing pleaded for him, Sun Wukong agreed to drop the matter.

Sun Wukong and Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li captured the rat demon and rescued Tang Xuanzang before the pilgrims continued west. Bodhisattva Guanyin warned them about the Dharma-Exterminating Kingdom, leaving them to decide how to face its threat to monks.

• Taibai Jinxing reminded Sun Wukong that time passed differently in heaven, and Sun Wukong hurried Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li down to the mortal world.
• Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li and Third Prince Nezha confronted the rat demon in her cave, and Sun Wukong helped take her into custody.
• Third Prince Nezha apologized to Tang Xuanzang, while the White Dragon Horse recoiled at the sight of his red braided cord; the heavenly party then returned to the Heavenly Court with the rat demon.
• On the road, an old man and child warned Tang Xuanzang that the Dharma-Exterminating Kingdom’s king had nearly completed his vow to kill ten thousand monks.
• Sun Wukong recognized the old man as Bodhisattva Guanyin, who departed after warning them, and Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing asked how they could safely proceed.

Sun Wukong scouted the Dharma-Exterminating Kingdom and devised a plan to disguise Tang Xuanzang and his companions as ordinary travelers so they could pass through. He left them preparing to enter the city under false names as horse traders, with Sun Wukong offering to conjure silver for their lodging.

• Sun Wukong entered an inn to gather information and stole clothes and headscarves after turning into a mouse.
• Sun Wukong returned to Tang Xuanzang and said they could pass through the kingdom only if they stopped appearing as monks.
• Sun Wukong proposed that the group wear ordinary clothes and enter the city as horse traders, claiming others would follow later to book rooms.
• Sun Wukong assigned them the names Tang Yi, Zhu Er, Sha San, and Sun Si, and told them to let him speak first.
• Tang Xuanzang worried about paying for lodging, and Sun Wukong said he would turn pebbles into silver.

Sun Wukong brought Tang Xuanzang and the others to Widow Zhao’s Inn, where he posed as a horse trader and chose the most expensive lodging. When the innkeeper ordered a feast with meat, Tang Xuanzang worried because the travelers could not eat it, and Sun Wukong called her upstairs to intervene.

• Sun Wukong avoided the commotion at another inn and led Tang Xuanzang and the others to Widow Zhao’s Inn.
• Sun Wukong invented names and claimed that their companions were bringing hundreds of horses to sell.
• Widow Zhao described her three prices, and Sun Wukong chose the highest-priced lodging despite Zhu Bajie wanting the cheap option.
• Widow Zhao ordered the servants to slaughter animals and prepare a feast, alarming Tang Xuanzang.
• Sun Wukong promised to handle the problem and called Proprietor Zhao upstairs.

Sun Wukong and his companions ate a vegetarian meal at the old woman's lodging and searched for a dark, windless place to sleep so their shaved heads would not be seen. They climbed into a large wardrobe, where Sun Wukong suddenly roared.

• Sun Wukong asked the old woman to serve vegetarian food instead of killing animals, and he and the others ate and drank.
• Sun Wukong told the old woman to call off the women she had invited, saying they could return the next day after their brothers arrived.
• Tang Xuanzang warned Sun Wukong that sleeping upstairs might reveal their shaved heads, so Sun Wukong asked the old woman for a darker place to sleep.
• The old woman's daughter suggested they sleep inside a large wardrobe, and the old woman offered it to Sun Wukong.
• Zhu Bajie climbed into the wardrobe first, Sha Wujing helped Tang Xuanzang inside, and Sun Wukong suddenly roared.

Sun Wukong and the others were carried away inside a wardrobe by robbers, then captured by soldiers and taken to the palace. Sun Wukong escaped during the night and shaved the heads of the king, queen, and palace officials, leaving the court panicked before dawn.

• Sun Wukong had the old woman lock him, Tang Xuanzang, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing inside a wardrobe beside the White Dragon Horse.
• Inn servants allied with robbers, who stole the wardrobe and horse, but soldiers chased them and brought both to the palace.
• Sun Wukong reassured Tang Xuanzang, escaped through a hole in the wardrobe, and shaved the heads of the king, queen, and palace officials with a monkey hair turned into a razor.
• The king and queen woke to find themselves bald, and the king realized the change might be punishment for his plan to kill monks.
• The officials arrived before dawn, all bald, eager to tell the king what had happened.

Sun Wukong and Tang Xuanzang encountered the king of the Dharma-Exterminating Kingdom, whose people had mysteriously lost their hair, and helped him turn the kingdom toward Buddhism. After leaving the renamed Buddha-Revering Kingdom, the pilgrims reached a dangerous mountain, where Tang Xuanzang insisted he remembered the Heart Sutra.

• The king and his officials discovered that everyone in the palace had lost their hair overnight and vowed never to kill monks again.
• The king’s men brought in the cabinet containing Tang Xuanzang and his disciples, and the king questioned the monks after they emerged.
• Tang Xuanzang explained his journey and admitted he had hidden because he feared the king’s anti-monk vow; the king asked to become his disciple and offered treasure.
• Sun Wukong asked the king to arrange their travel permit and rename the Dharma-Exterminating Kingdom the Buddha-Revering Kingdom, and the king saw the pilgrims out of the city.
• The pilgrims laughed about the night’s events before reaching a treacherous mountain, where Sun Wukong teased Tang Xuanzang about the Heart Sutra.

Sun Wukong discovered a monster creating the unnatural wind and fog, then tricked Zhu Bajie into going toward it by claiming there was a hospitable village with food. Zhu Bajie set out disguised as a monk to seek fodder and food, unaware Sun Wukong was testing him.

• Tang Xuanzang feared the sudden wind and fog, so Sun Wukong flew up and spotted a monster drawing power from more than a dozen lesser monsters.
• Sun Wukong decided to send Zhu Bajie to confront the monster, but first pretended that a nearby village offered food and lodging.
• Eager for a meal, Zhu Bajie asked Tang Xuanzang for permission to go fetch fodder and food, and Tang Xuanzang agreed.
• Sun Wukong warned Zhu Bajie that the villagers only welcomed handsome people, so Zhu Bajie transformed into a fat monk carrying a wooden fish.

Zhu Bajie was lured into a monster formation and fought the old monster until Sun Wukong secretly helped him win. After Bajie returned and accused Wukong of tricking him, Wukong denied leaving Tang Xuanzang’s side, and Tang Xuanzang backed him up.

• Zhu Bajie entered the monsters’ formation, learned they intended to eat monks, and drove their lesser monsters back with his Nine-Toothed Rake.
• The old monster confronted Zhu Bajie and fought him while his minions surrounded them.
• Sun Wukong confessed to Sha Wujing that he had sent Zhu Bajie away, left a hair double beside Tang Xuanzang, and went to help.
• Zhu Bajie fought more fiercely after hearing Sun Wukong’s voice, defeated the old monster, and returned to Tang Xuanzang.
• Zhu Bajie accused Sun Wukong of tricking him, but Wukong denied leaving Tang Xuanzang, who confirmed that he had not seen Wukong depart.

Sun Wukong sent Zhu Bajie ahead to face a monster while the monster plotted with his minions to capture Tang Xuanzang. As the disciples fought a series of attackers on the road, another lesser monster ambushed Sha Wujing.

• Zhu Bajie told Tang Xuanzang that Sun Wukong could use a double, and Sun Wukong sent Zhu Bajie ahead as the vanguard.
• The monster returned to his cave and learned from a lesser monster that Tang Xuanzang had three disciples, including the powerful Sun Wukong.
• An ugly lesser monster proposed using relay fighting to capture Tang Xuanzang, and the monster agreed to the plan.
• A monster attacked the travelers, and Zhu Bajie fought him while Sun Wukong confronted a second monster that rushed toward Tang Xuanzang.
• A third lesser monster sprang from the forest and attacked Sha Wujing, who blocked the blow.

A lesser demon lured Sha Wujing away, allowing the old demon to capture Tang Xuanzang and hide him in the cave’s back garden. Sun Wukong returned to find Tang Xuanzang missing, and realized the demons had tricked them.

• The lesser demon drew Sha Wujing into the forest while the old demon swooped down and captured Tang Xuanzang.
• The old demon prepared to eat Tang Xuanzang, but the lesser demon and the vanguard urged him to wait until Sun Wukong had left.
• The demons tied Tang Xuanzang to a tree in the back garden, where he met a farmer who was also being held for the demons to eat.
• Sun Wukong returned, found Tang Xuanzang missing, and searched the mountain with the White Dragon Horse and luggage.
• Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing returned, and Sun Wukong realized the demons had tricked them and captured Tang Xuanzang.