潑猴劈打 The Monkey Strikes Out
行者聞言，他心中有物的人，忙答道：「不曾，不曾，我們是打上路來的。」那大仙指定笑道：「我把你這個潑猴！你瞞誰哩？你倒在我觀裡，把我人參果樹打倒，你連夜走在此間，還不招認，遮飾甚麼？不要走，趁早去還我樹來。」那行者聞言，心中惱怒，掣鐵棒，不容分說，望大仙劈頭就打。大仙側身躲過，踏祥光，徑到空中。行者也騰雲，急趕上去。行者闻言，他心中有物的人，忙答道：「不曾，不曾，我们是打上路来的。」那大仙指定笑道：「我把你这个泼猴！你瞒谁哩？你倒在我观里，把我人参果树打倒，你连夜走在此间，还不招认，遮饰甚么？不要走，趁早去还我树来。」那行者闻言，心中恼怒，掣铁棒，不容分说，望大仙劈头就打。大仙侧身躲过，踏祥光，径到空中。行者也腾云，急赶上去。
逐句解 Line by line
The Pilgrim, hearing this—being one with a guilty something on his mind—answered hastily: "No, no—we came up by the road."
And there it is. 心中有物的人, xīn zhōng yǒu wù de rén, is "a man with something on his mind" — a guilty conscience described as a lump of something you are carrying about. That is why the denial comes out too fast and one word too many.
That Great Immortal pointed at him and laughed: "I have you now, you brazen monkey!
The disguise drops. 指定笑道, pointing straight at him and laughing. 潑猴, pō hóu, "brazen monkey," is the epithet half the novel throws at Wukong; 潑 carries the sense of shameless, rowdy, past correcting.
"Whom do you think to fool?
你瞞誰哩, "who exactly do you think you are fooling?" — said by a man in disguise, to a specialist in disguises.
"You, to top it off, went into my abbey and knocked down my ginseng-fruit tree, then fled by night to this spot; and still you will not own it—what are you covering up?
The charge sheet, in order: went into my abbey, knocked down my tree, fled by night, and is now standing here denying it. 你倒在我觀裡 takes 倒 as dào, "to top it all," and 觀 as guàn; 把我人參果樹打倒 takes 倒 as dǎo, "toppled," and 參 as shēn — the same character twice in one sentence, two readings, two meanings. 遮飾, zhē shì, is covering something up.
"Do not run off—make haste and give me back my tree."
The demand is impossible on its face, and that is the point: 還我樹來, give me back my tree. 還 here is huán, "to return," not the adverb hái. 趁早, chèn zǎo, "and be quick about it." The next chapter is the story of that demand being met.
That Pilgrim, hearing it, was seized with fury; he drew out the iron cudgel and, allowing no words of explanation, struck straight at the Great Immortal's head.
Wukong's answer to being found out is to swing first. 不容分說, bù róng fēn shuō, "allowing no explanations," is still the phrase for acting before anyone can get a word in. 劈頭就打, pī tóu jiù dǎ, straight at the head; 掣, chè, is to whip a weapon out.
The Great Immortal dodged aside, trod the auspicious light, and made straight up into the empty air.
And the answer to that is a sidestep. 側身躲過, cè shēn duǒ guò, turning the body aside and letting it pass — no counterblow, no weapon. 踏祥光, treading the auspicious light up into the sky.
The Pilgrim too mounted the clouds and hurried up after him.
Wukong follows, which is precisely what he is meant to do.
Wukong convicts himself the moment he opens his mouth. 不曾，不曾 — no, no, we came up by the road — is one denial too many and far too quick, and the narrator has already explained why: he is 心中有物的人, a man with something on his mind. The disguised immortal only had to ask an innocent question and watch.
What follows is entirely in character. Caught out, Wukong does not argue, apologise or run; he draws the cudgel and aims at the man's head, 不容分說, allowing no discussion. It is the same reflex that felled the tree, and it is about to work just as badly.
The reply is a sidestep and a climb. No weapon drawn, no blow returned — the Great Immortal simply moves aside and goes up, and Wukong chases him into the air like a dog after a car. The fight has been arranged, and not by the monkey.