難得贏他，且尋宿處 Hard to Beat Him: Find a Lodging
八戒道：「師兄，那妖精的武藝如何？」行者道：「也看得過，叉法兒倒也齊整，與老孫也戰個手平。卻只是風惡了，難得贏他。」八戒道：「似這般怎生救得師父？」行者道：「救師父且等再處。不知這裡可有眼科先生，且教他把我眼醫治醫治。」八戒道：「你眼怎的來？」行者道：「我被那怪一口風噴將來，吹得我眼珠酸痛，這會子冷淚常流。」八戒道：「哥啊，這半山中，天色又晚，且莫說要甚麼眼科，連宿處也沒有了。」行者道：「要宿處不難，我料著那妖精還不敢傷我師父，我們且找上大路，尋個人家住下，過此一宵，明日天光，再來降妖罷。」八戒道：「正是，正是。」八戒道：「师兄，那妖精的武艺如何？」行者道：「也看得过，叉法儿倒也齐整，与老孙也战个手平。却只是风恶了，难得赢他。」八戒道：「似这般怎生救得师父？」行者道：「救师父且等再处。不知这里可有眼科先生，且教他把我眼医治医治。」八戒道：「你眼怎的来？」行者道：「我被那怪一口风喷将来，吹得我眼珠酸痛，这会子冷泪常流。」八戒道：「哥啊，这半山中，天色又晚，且莫说要甚么眼科，连宿处也没有了。」行者道：「要宿处不难，我料着那妖精还不敢伤我师父，我们且找上大路，寻个人家住下，过此一宵，明日天光，再来降妖罢。」八戒道：「正是，正是。」
逐句解 Line by line
Said Bajie, "Brother, what of the fiend's skill at arms?"
武藝 is "skill at arms." Bajie asks the practical, professional question, and — unusually between these two — gets a straight answer.
"He will pass," said the Pilgrim. "His trident-play is orderly enough, and he fought old Monkey to a standstill. It is only that his wind is so ill; that makes him hard to beat."
看得過 and 難得贏他 both use 得 in the "able to" sense, dé. 戰個手平 is "fought to an even hand," a draw. In 倒也齊整, 倒 is the grudging dào: "for that matter, it was orderly enough."
"If it is like that," said Bajie, "how are we to rescue our master?"
似這般 takes 似 as sì, and 救得 is the "able to" dé. Bajie asks about the rescue. The Pilgrim answers about his eyes.
"Rescuing our master can wait to be dealt with," said the Pilgrim. "What I want to know is whether there is an eye-doctor hereabouts, to set my eyes to rights for me."
再處 — here 處 is the verb chǔ, "to deal with, to settle" (compare 區處 in chapters 18 and 20), against the two chù of "place" further down this passage. 且教他 takes jiào, the causative "get him to."
"What is the matter with your eyes?" said Bajie. Said the Pilgrim, "That fiend blew a mouthful of wind at me, and it left the balls of my eyes aching sourly; and now the cold tears run down."
噴將來 uses 將 as jiāng, marking direction. 酸痛, "aching sourly," and 冷淚, "cold tears," are worth holding on to: they are the two symptoms the old farmer will presently diagnose by name. 這會子 ends in a toneless suffix.
"Brother," said Bajie, "we are halfway up a mountain, the day is late, and it is idle to speak of eye-doctors when we have not so much as a lodging."
半山中 — 中 is the locative zhōng. 連宿處也沒有 is the 連…也… frame, "not even so much as a lodging." For once Bajie has the better grip on the situation.
"A lodging is not hard to come by," said the Pilgrim. "I reckon that fiend will not dare to harm our master yet.
我料著: 著 is zhe. 還 is hái, "as yet." His reasoning turns out to be exactly right, and the chapter's closing revelation will explain why — the fiend leaves Sanzang uneaten because of what eating him would cost.
Let us go up to the highroad, find some house to stop at, pass the night, and come back at daybreak tomorrow to subdue the demon." "Just so," said Bajie, "just so."
降妖 takes 降 as xiáng, "to subdue," not the jiàng of coming down. 明日天光 is vernacular for first light. The doubled 正是 in Bajie's mouth is plain agreement here, not the phrase that announces a poem.
The second half of the divided paragraph. The Pilgrim's answer to Bajie's opening question is one of the fairest assessments he ever gives an enemy: the trident-work is competent, the fight was even, and only the wind settled it. He does not boast and he does not lie, which between these two is worth noticing on its own.
Then the subject changes, and it changes to his eyes. 救師父且等再處 — "rescuing the master can wait to be dealt with" — is a startling thing to hear from the pilgrimage's chief protector, and the chapter will spend the whole of the next three passages on an eye-ointment before it comes back to Sanzang at all. The Pilgrim has never before had an injury he could not simply shrug off. The novel treats the blindness as the real event here, and the demon as merely its occasion.