The Journey to the West: Volume I

Taizong enters the Underworld where he learns that the Dragon King has indeed opened a case against him. Taizong is at fault because he’d promised to save the Dragon King, but the Dragon King was executed. However, because Taizong is marked to live for another two decades, he’s sent back to continue his life. Taizong promises to send fruit to the kings of the Underworld in his gratitude, and then he is reborn. 

Along his path to rebirth, Taizong meets the souls of those who are stalled from being reborn because their lives were unjustly claimed; he promises to hold a spiritual service in their honor so they may be reborn. When Taizong returns to life, the first thing he does is send food to the Underworld, as promised. A man named Liu Quan volunteers to die to take the food, because he hopes to bring back his deceased wife’s spirit. The kings of the Underworld agree and send her spirit into the body of Taizong’s sister because both are destined to be immortals. 

As promised, Taizong holds the service for those souls who are trapped in the Underworld, unable to be reincarnated. He requests that monks come from all over the region to attend and participate in the service, and they start to arrive over the course of the next month.