架鍋煎油 The Cauldron of Oil
那大仙又教把大鍋擡出來。行者笑道：「八戒，造化，擡出鍋來，想是煮飯我們吃哩。」八戒道：「也罷了，讓我們吃些飯兒，做個飽死的鬼也好看。」眾仙果擡出一口大鍋支在階下。大仙叫架起乾柴，發起烈火，教：「把清油拗上一鍋，燒得滾了，將孫行者下油鑊炸他一煠，與我人參樹報仇。」那大仙又教把大锅抬出来。行者笑道：「八戒，造化，抬出锅来，想是煮饭我们吃哩。」八戒道：「也罢了，让我们吃些饭儿，做个饱死的鬼也好看。」众仙果抬出一口大锅支在阶下。大仙叫架起干柴，发起烈火，教：「把清油拗上一锅，烧得滚了，将孙行者下油镬炸他一煠，与我人参树报仇。」
逐句解 Line by line
That Great Immortal then ordered a great cauldron carried out.
大鍋, a great cooking pot — carried out, at this stage, without any explanation.
The Pilgrim laughed: "Bajie, our luck's in—they've carried out a pot; it's likely they mean to cook us some rice to eat."
And Wukong immediately mis-reads it on purpose. 造化, zào hua, means good fortune, luck; the same two characters also mean creation itself, the making of the world, which gives the ironic use a little extra weight. 想是煮飯我們吃哩, they must be cooking us some rice.
Bajie said, "That's all right then—let us eat a bit of rice, and make well-fed ghosts, that at least will look good."
Bajie takes the joke and runs the wrong way with it. 飽死的鬼也好看, "even a ghost that died full looks better" — the logic of a character whose fear of dying is genuinely outweighed by his objection to dying hungry. 飯兒 takes the diminutive suffix 兒, ér.
The immortals did carry out a great cauldron and set it up at the foot of the steps.
果擡出, they did indeed carry one out, 支在階下, propped up at the foot of the steps — where Sanzang is tied to his tree, watching.
The Great Immortal called for dry firewood to be stacked and a fierce fire kindled, and ordered: "Pour in a cauldron of clear oil, heat it to the boil, and put Sun the Pilgrim down into the oil-cauldron to fry him a while, to avenge my ginseng tree."
And now the purpose. Dry wood stacked, a fierce fire lit, and a cauldron of 清油, clear oil, brought to the boil. 拗上一鍋, ǎo shàng yì guō, pour in a potful. 鑊, huò, is a cauldron; 煠, zhá, is to deep-fry, an ordinary kitchen verb doing horrible work. 乾柴 takes 乾 as gān, "dry," not the qián of the heaven-trigram. 與我人參樹報仇, to avenge my ginseng tree, with 參 as shēn.
The sentence escalates from whipping to boiling in oil, and the vocabulary comes straight out of a kitchen: dry firewood, clear oil, a great pot, and 煠, the everyday verb for deep-frying something. That is what makes it land. Nobody has invented an instrument of torture; they are going to cook him.
Wukong greets the cauldron as dinner. Bajie, taking him at his word, would like to be fed first on the grounds that a well-fed ghost looks better. Two prisoners sealed in lacquer, discussing the menu. It is the chapter's method in miniature.
And the cauldron is set up 階下, at the foot of the steps, where Sanzang is tied to his pagoda tree. He has been made to watch, and by the end of the chapter he will be told it is his turn.