Sun Wu Kong, punished by Buddha centuries before, has spent five hundred years buried under Five-Finger Mountain when he encounters San Zang, a priest headed west in search of Buddhist scriptures. On the Goddess of Mercy's instructions, Wu Kong frees himself and assists the priest on a journey to the West that will be fraught with peril. But San Zang soon learns that trouble won't come only in the form of dragons or bandits; it will come from the violent and impetuous monkey who is now his companion. The two come to a treacherous mountain pass. While crossing a mountain lake they are set upon by a water dragon that eats their horse before Sun Wu Kong narrowly saves his master and flies them to safety. The Goddess of Mercy appears to inform the duo that the dragon is a sea prince who was sentenced to death for causing trouble in heaven but spared by the Goddess, much like Sun Wu Kong. The Goddess tells them that their journey will require more than an ordinary horse and she transforms the dragon into a horse to accompany them. San Zang, Sun Wu Kong and the dragon horse continue west, and after three days they come upon a Buddhist monastery.