Hearing this, the three Stars too were troubled at heart, and said, "You monkey, you know nothing of people!

心中也悶, inwardly vexed as well -- the Stars are not angry, they are troubled, which is worse. 猴兒, monkey, is dismissive and fond at once, with 兒 the suffix er. 不識人 is not knowing what people are worth.

That Zhenyuan is the patriarch of the earth-immortals, and we are the founders of the spirit-immortals; but you, though you have won to the rank of a heaven-immortal, are still of the scattered ranks of Taiyi, not yet entered upon the true stream — how could you ever slip out of his hand?

This is the chapter's ranking table, and Wukong comes out badly. Zhenyuan is 地仙之祖, patriarch of the earth-immortals; the Stars are 神仙之宗, founders of the spirit-immortals; Wukong holds the lesser rank of 天仙 and is still, they say, 太乙散數 -- a loose, unattached number among the followers of Taiyi, with 散 read sǎn, as in 散仙, an immortal on no roll. 未入真流 is not yet in the true current. The two instances of 得 pull apart: 得了 is has attained, dé, while 脫得 asks whether escape was possible at all, toneless de.

Had the Great Sage struck dead some running beast or flying bird, some insect or scaly creature, a single grain of our millet-elixir could bring it back to life.

The Stars can raise the dead, but only animals. 走獸飛禽 is beasts that run and birds that fly; 蜾蟲鱗長 pairs the creeping insects with the scaled tribe and its chief, the dragon, from 鱗蟲之長, with 長 read zhǎng. 黍米之丹 is an elixir the size of a millet grain -- a dose small enough to sit on a fingernail, and enough to restore a life.

But that ginseng fruit is the root of an immortal tree — how is it to be healed?

仙木之根, the root of a divine tree, puts the ginseng tree in a different category altogether from anything that breathes. 參 is shēn again.

There is no remedy — no remedy at all."

The doubled 沒方, no prescription, is flat refusal. The gods of long life, of all beings, have nothing to offer a dead divine tree.

When the pilgrim heard there was no remedy, his brows knit into a double lock and a thousand furrows creased his forehead.

眉峰雙鎖, the brow-peaks locked twice over, and 額蹙千痕, a thousand creases pressed into the forehead, are set phrases for real dismay. This is the first moment in the chapter where Wukong's cheerfulness fails him.

Said the Star of Fortune, "Great Sage, if there's no remedy here, perhaps there is one elsewhere — why fall at once into gloom?"

此處 ... 他處, here and elsewhere, with 處 read chù. 生煩惱 is to breed vexation. The Star of Fortune, whose job is cheerfulness, talks him out of it.

The pilgrim said, "To seek a remedy elsewhere is easy enough — to roam to the sea's corners and the sky's edge, or wind clean through the thirty-six heavens, would be no great matter.

海角天涯, the sea's horn and heaven's brink, is the Chinese for the ends of the earth. 三十六天 are the thirty-six Daoist heavens; 小可 is a trifle. Distance means nothing to a creature who can cross the world in one somersault. The clock is another matter.

The trouble is that Elder Tang of mine, strict in the Law and narrow in patience, has granted me but a three-day term; if I'm not back within the three days, he'll start reciting that Tight-Fillet Spell."

And here is the real problem. 法嚴量窄, severe in discipline and narrow in tolerance, is a startlingly frank description of one's own master. 唐長老 is Elder Tang, 長 = zhǎng. 緊箍兒咒 is the Tight-Fillet Spell, with 兒 the suffix er.

The three Stars laughed. "Good, good, good — were it not for this little trick to keep you in check, you'd be boring holes in the sky again."

鑽天 is to drill up into the heavens, and it is a pointed choice of words -- it is roughly what Wukong actually did during his rebellion. 法兒, device or trick, with 兒 = er, is the Stars' irreverent name for the golden band. They think it suits him.

Said the Star of Longevity, "Set your mind at ease, Great Sage — there's no need to fret.

放心 is to set the heart at rest. The eldest of the three now produces the practical help the other two could not.

That Great Immortal, though he ranks a generation above us, is nonetheless an acquaintance of ours.

稱上輩 is reckoned a generation senior, 稱 = chēng; 有識 is to be acquainted. What the Stars cannot do by power they may be able to do by knowing the right person.

For one thing, we've long been parted and never paid our respects; for another, it is a kindness to the Great Sage. So we three will go together to look in on him, put your case to him, and bid the Tang monk hold off the Tight-Fillet Spell — never mind three days or five, but wait until you've found your remedy before we take our leave."

The solution is pure social engineering. 一則 ... 二來, firstly and secondly, sets out the two motives in the order a polite person would give them: an overdue courtesy call first, the favour second. 道達此情 is to convey the circumstances; 求得方來 is to seek out and obtain the remedy, 得 = dé.

The pilgrim said, "I'm much obliged, much obliged!

感激, grateful, doubled in Wukong's usual emphatic manner. Unfeigned thanks are rare enough from him to be worth marking.

Then I beg you three old brothers to be on your way — and off I go."

行行 is go along, off you go, both instances read xíng. The doubling gives it a hurrying, colloquial ring -- he is already halfway out of the door.

The Great Sage took leave of the three Stars, and of this we say no more.

不題, no more of this, is the storyteller closing one thread so he can pick up another. Film would call it a cut.