Tang Sanzang dreams of becoming a giant and retrieving
Sutra, where his master rewards him a halo in
India. He awakens from his dream in an alley in a village of circus performers with his three disciples:
Sun Wukong;
Zhu Bajie; and
Sha Wujing. Tang encourages Wukong to perform for the villagers, who refuses. An angered Tang calls Wukong a "bad monkey", which causes him to ransack the village. The terrified villagers present the group with money and food for their travels, but Wukong continues wreaking havoc. That night, Tang whips Wukong for his disobedience. The next morning, Tang goes to find water for their breakfast
congee and comes across a house. Its host, a maiden in a splendid outfit, welcomes them all in for breakfast with her companions. Wukong, however, sees through their disguises as
spider demons; he purposely provokes them until she and the others show their true form. During the subsequent battle, the demons come together to form one huge spider, poisoning Wujing who bloats into a fish-like creature. Wukong defeats the spider and Tang attempts to exorcise her, but Wukong kills the spider against Tang's wishes. Later that night, the enraged Wukong discusses with the other disciples his plans to kill Tang, but the others fear his Buddha Palm powers. Tang overhears this conversation and prays to Buddha to help him, confessing that he actually does not know, or have His powers. Bajie overhears this and tells Wukong, who challenges Tang to a fight. Just as Wukong is about to strike, a blinding ray of light shines from the heavens and he retreats. The next day, the group pass into the capital city of the
Biqiu Kingdom and its minister Jiu Gong comes out to greet them and bring them to see the king; an immature and childlike man who likes to play games. The king orders a talentless Tang to perform for him, so Wukong pastes an "obedience sticker" on Tang to make copy his actions and perform stunts for the king. Wukong, however, goes too far and makes Tang slap the king continuously, who throws them all out. Tang orders Wukong to return and apologize, Wukong reveals that he slapped the king to make him reveal his true appearance as the
Red Boy. Tang turns the Red Boy into a toy after a brief fight and gives it to Jiu Gong, releasing the true king of Biqiu from his cage under the throne. As a reward for helping him, the king presents them with a beautiful maiden, Felicity, to accompany them on their travels. As Felicity dances for them, Tang is reminded of his deceased lover, Duan. As they set off, Wukong realizes that Felicity is actually a demon. Felicity takes out Wujing's nose plugs, allowing him to sneeze out the poison and turn him back into his human form. Tang, however, does not believe him, so they visit Felicity's home village. Enraged with Tang's lack of trust in him, Wukong destroys the whole village, killing everyone. Tang stops him from killing Felicity, angering Wukong, who confesses that she is actually the
White Bone Spirit while the whole village was an illusion she conjured. Wukong enlarges himself and swallows Tang. At that moment, Jiu Gong and Red Boy arrive and witness Wukong falling for their trick. Jiu Gong and Red Boy had deliberately sent Felicity to cause strife between Tang and Wukong, to make Wukong kill his master. Wukong spits Tang out, but since they were aware of the truth; they only played along so that Jiu Gong would reveal her true form. Jiu Gong creates an elemental illusion of Buddhas surrounding Wukong, which he utilizes to fight her. The real Buddha uses his giant palm to destroy the false Buddhas and reveals Jiu Gong's real identity as the Immortal Golden Vulture. Afterwards, Tang heads back to find a dying Felicity, who was mortally wounded during the battle. He has no choice but to free her soul as she is considered too much of a demon. Before dying, Felicity asks Tang if he loves her. Tang replies that he has only one person in his heart and he blesses Felicity's spirit; returning her to heaven. Tang and Wukong make amends, and together with Wujing and Bajie, they continue their journey to the West through the
Taklamakan Desert. ==Cast==