Tripitaka begins his journey west with two attendants. At the Temple of the Law Gate, monks warn him about towering mountains, wild beasts, dangerous roads, and monsters awaiting beyond the civilized world.

Tripitaka answers that the true struggle lies in the mind. He has already vowed before Buddha that he will not turn back until he reaches the Western Heaven and obtains the scriptures.

After travelling through Gongzhou, the party eventually reaches Hezhou, the western frontier of the Tang Empire.

Impatient to continue, Tripitaka leaves before dawn with his attendants. In the darkness and autumn frost, they lose the road among the mountains.

Suddenly the men, horse, and luggage tumble into a deep pit.

Dozens of ogres seize them and drag them before a ferocious monster known as General Yin. Two other spirits—the Bear Mountain Lord and the Steer Hermit—soon arrive.

Before Tripitaka’s horrified eyes, the monsters kill and devour his two attendants.

For the first time since leaving Chang’an, Tripitaka finds himself completely alone in a wilderness ruled by supernatural creatures.

At dawn, Tripitaka remains bound in the monsters’ lair, terrified and barely conscious.

An old man carrying a staff suddenly appears. With a wave of his hand, the ropes binding Tripitaka break, and the monk revives.

The old man explains that General Yin is actually a tiger spirit, the Bear Mountain Lord a bear spirit, and the Steer Hermit a wild bull spirit. Tripitaka survived because the purity of his nature prevented the monsters from eating him.

The stranger leads him safely back to the road, where Tripitaka discovers that his horse and luggage remain untouched.

Then the old man rises into the air upon a white crane.

Tripitaka realizes that his rescuer is actually the Gold Star of Venus, the same celestial messenger who once brought Wukong to Heaven.

The Gold Star warns him that many hardships still lie ahead but assures him that divine disciples will eventually come to his aid.

Tripitaka bows toward the heavens in gratitude and resumes his lonely journey westward.

Alone in the wilderness, Tripitaka soon encounters more danger. Tigers, snakes, and other beasts surround him, while his exhausted horse collapses beneath him.

At the moment when he believes death is certain, the animals suddenly scatter.

A powerful hunter carrying a steel trident appears. He introduces himself as Liu Boqin, also called the Senior Guardian of the Mountain.

Boqin is still a subject of the Tang Empire and offers Tripitaka protection.

On their way to his home, a great tiger attacks. Boqin battles the animal for nearly an hour before killing it with his trident.

At Boqin’s mountain dwelling, Tripitaka meets the hunter’s mother and wife. The family normally lives on meat, but Tripitaka refuses to break his lifelong vegetarian discipline.

Boqin’s mother therefore cleans a cooking vessel and prepares simple vegetarian food especially for him.

Tripitaka remains with the family because the following day is the anniversary of Boqin’s father’s death, and they ask the holy monk to perform Buddhist rites for the deceased.

Tripitaka performs a full Buddhist service for Liu Boqin’s deceased father.

He purifies himself, burns incense, recites formulas for cleansing the mouth, mind, and body, and chants several sacred texts, including the Sūtra for the Salvation of the Dead, the Diamond Sūtra, the Guanyin Sūtra, and other scriptures.

That night, Boqin, his wife, and his mother all experience the same dream.

The spirit of Boqin’s father appears and tells them that he had long suffered in the Region of Darkness. Tripitaka’s recitations have now expiated his sins, and King Yama has permitted him to leave suffering behind and be reborn into a noble family.

The entire household wakes filled with gratitude.

Boqin attempts to give Tripitaka silver, but the monk refuses payment. Instead, he asks only that Boqin escort him farther along the road.

The hunter agrees.

Eventually they reach the Mountain of Two Frontiers, where Boqin explains that the eastern side remains Tang territory, while the land beyond belongs to foreign domains.

He can escort Tripitaka no farther.

At that very moment, a thunderous voice erupts from beneath the mountain: “My master has come!”

The voice belongs to the monkey imprisoned beneath what was once called the Mountain of Five Phases.

Tripitaka and Boqin approach and find Sun Wukong trapped beneath the mountain, his head and hands exposed after more than five hundred years of imprisonment.

Wukong explains that he was once the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, and that Tathāgata imprisoned him for rebellion.

He also tells Tripitaka that Guanyin visited him earlier and promised that if he repented, he could earn redemption by protecting the scripture pilgrim on the journey west.

Wukong asks Tripitaka to remove the sacred seal from the mountain.

Tripitaka climbs to the summit and finds Tathāgata’s golden seal. He prays that the seal should come away only if Wukong is truly destined to become his disciple.

The seal lifts easily and returns to Heaven.

Tripitaka and Boqin retreat to safety.

With a tremendous crash, Wukong breaks free from the mountain and immediately kneels before Tripitaka.

The Great Sage who once challenged Heaven now formally accepts the scripture pilgrim as his master.

Tripitaka asks his new disciple for his name.

Wukong explains that Patriarch Subodhi already gave him the religious name Sun Wukong. Tripitaka is delighted because the name fits the Buddhist naming pattern of the disciples chosen by Guanyin.

Seeing Wukong’s appearance, Tripitaka gives him another name: Pilgrim Sun.

Boqin then takes his leave, confident that Tripitaka now has a supernatural protector.

Soon afterward, a tiger approaches.

Tripitaka becomes frightened, but Wukong laughs and says that the animal has come to provide him with clothing.

He removes the Golden-Hooped Rod from his ear, enlarges it, and kills the tiger with a single blow.

Wukong skins the animal and wraps part of the hide around his waist.

That evening they stay with an elderly man living near the Mountain of Two Frontiers. The old man remembers stories about the divine monkey trapped beneath the mountain.

After bathing for the first time in five hundred years, Wukong receives a shirt from Tripitaka and sews the tiger skin properly around his waist.

For the first time, he begins to look like the pilgrim who will accompany Tripitaka westward.

As master and disciple continue westward, six armed robbers block the road.

Their names correspond to the six senses: Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Mind, and Body, each linked to worldly desire and attachment.

The robbers attack Wukong repeatedly with their weapons, but they cannot injure him.

Wukong then draws the Golden-Hooped Rod and kills all six.

Tripitaka is horrified.

He argues that even criminals should not be slaughtered without judgment and reminds Wukong that Buddhist monks should preserve life rather than destroy it.

Wukong insists that the robbers would have killed them.

Tripitaka continues reprimanding him, pointing out that this uncontrolled violence was exactly what led to Wukong’s five-hundred-year punishment beneath the mountain.

Wukong cannot tolerate the criticism.

In anger, he abandons Tripitaka and flies eastward on his cloud-somersault.

Tripitaka is left alone once again, wondering whether he was ever destined to have a disciple.

Despite his fear, he prepares to continue the journey west by himself.

While Tripitaka travels alone, an old woman appears and gives him a silk shirt and a flower-patterned cap.

She secretly teaches him the True Words for Controlling the Mind, also called the Tight-Fillet Spell, explaining that it will allow him to control his unruly disciple.

The woman then reveals herself as Guanyin.

Meanwhile, Wukong visits the Dragon King of the Eastern Ocean. The Dragon King reminds him that abandoning Tripitaka would destroy his chance of attaining the Fruits of Truth.

Wukong changes his mind and returns.

Tripitaka gives him the silk shirt and cap. Hidden inside the cap is the magical fillet.

The moment Wukong puts it on, Tripitaka recites the spell.

The fillet tightens painfully around Wukong’s head and cannot be removed.

Wukong realizes that Guanyin arranged everything. Though furious at first, he finally understands that the fillet is meant to restrain his violent and rebellious nature.

He kneels before Tripitaka and promises not to abandon him again.

Master and disciple gather their belongings and resume the road west together.

For the first time, their bond has been firmly established.