The monster, in a single whirlwind, rushed up the bank and made straight for the Tang Monk.

一個旋風 ('a whirlwind') is the fiend's mode of onslaught; 徑搶唐僧 ('made straight to seize the Tang Monk') shows it going, demon-fashion, for the master's flesh rather than his guards.

In alarm the Pilgrim caught the master up in his arms, hurried him to high ground, and turning, got him clear.

慌得 ('so alarmed that'; 得 de). The monkey's first instinct is guardianship, not battle — 抱住…急登高岸 ('seized him … rushed to the high bank') — leaving the fighting to Bajie.

That Bajie set down the luggage, whipped out his muckrake, and struck at the monster with a downward thrust.

釘鈀 is the nine-toothed muckrake, Bajie's weapon; 築 ('to tamp, to ram down') is its characteristic downward blow, as of pounding earth. He drops the 擔子 ('carrying-pole load') to fight.

The monster brought up his precious staff to parry, and the two of them, on the bank of the Flowing Sands, each displayed his prowess. It was a fine fight:

架住 ('to fend off, to parry'). 各逞英雄 ('each showing his heroism') and the tag 這一場好鬥 ('this was a fine bout') introduce the battle-rhapsody that follows.

The nine-toothed rake, the demon-quelling staff — the two closed as foes upon the river's bank.

降妖杖 ('demon-subduing staff'; 降 xiáng, 'to subdue,' not jiàng 'descend'). 相敵 ('matched as adversaries'; 相 xiāng, mutually). The rhapsody opens by naming the two weapons head to head.

This one, the grand Marshal Tianpeng who once held all command; that one, the Curtain-Raising General, cast down from grace.

總督大天蓬 names Bajie's former office, 天蓬元帥 ('Marshal Tianpeng'), commander of the Heavenly River; 謫下捲簾將 ('the banished Curtain-Raising General'; 將 jiàng, a rank) names the monster's — 捲簾大將, who lifted the curtain before Heaven's throne. Two fallen officers, matched.

In years gone by they had met in the Hall of Divine Mists; today they grappled, staking all their fierce brute force.

靈霄 (the Hall of Divine Mists, 靈霄寶殿) is the throne-hall of the Jade Emperor: the two once stood together at court, and now, both disgraced, contend as enemies — an irony the rhapsody savours.

This one's rake struck out like a dragon baring its claws; that one's staff parried like a tusk-grinding elephant.

探爪龍 ('a claw-reaching dragon') and 磨牙象 ('a tusk-grinding elephant') are the paired martial similes fixing each weapon's motion — attack and guard rendered as bestial power.

Now spread wide in the Great Four-Square guard; now boring in against the very thrust of the wind.

大四平 ('the Great Four-Level [stance]') and 迎風戧 ('warding into the wind') are named postures from the martial repertoire, lending the exchange the texture of a real bout.

This one clawed with never a thought for head or face; that one loosed his blows with never a wasted swing.

沒頭沒臉 ('heedless of head or face,' i.e. wildly, all-out) against 無亂無空放 ('with never a stray or empty blow'): Bajie's furious abandon set against the monster's disciplined economy.

The one, a man-devouring fiend long lord of the Flowing Sands; the other, a general keeping the faith and holding to his vows.

久占流沙界吃人精 ('a man-eating spirit long occupying the Flowing-Sands realm'; 占 zhàn, to occupy) names the monster's present nature; 秉教迦持修行將 ('a general upholding the teaching and keeping the discipline'; 將 jiàng) names Bajie's, 迦持 transliterating a term for religious observance. The closing antithesis frames the fight as fiend against convert.

The two of them went back and forth, and having fought some twenty rounds, neither could gain the upper hand.

二十回合 ('twenty bouts') and 不分勝負 ('victory undecided'; 分 fēn, to divide/decide) close the first exchange in stalemate — the signal for the Great Sage, watching, to intervene.