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"); 猴兒 ("monkey"), affectionate-dismissive, with 兒 the suffix er. 不識人, "not to know [the worth of] people."

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?

A hierarchy of immortals: 地仙之祖 ("patriarch of earth-immortals") for Zhenyuan, 神仙之宗 for the Stars, and for Wukong the lesser 天仙. 太乙散數 ("a scattered number of Taiyi") marks him an unattached, junior immortal, 散 read sǎn (as in 散仙); 未入真流, "not yet in the true current." The two 得 differ: 得了 ("has attained," dé) and 脫得 ("manage to escape," 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.

走獸飛禽 ("beasts that run, birds that fly"); 蜾蟲鱗長 pairs the creeping insects with the scaled tribe and its chief (鱗蟲之長, the dragon), 長 read zhǎng. 黍米之丹 ("a millet-grain of elixir") is the Stars’ life-restoring pill — potent, but only for living creatures.

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") sets the ginseng tree apart from mere animal life: it is of another order, beyond the Stars’ elixir. 參 again shēn.

There is no remedy — no remedy at all.”

The doubled 沒方 ("no prescription") is a flat refusal; the Stars, gods of life though they are, have nothing for 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 doubly locked") and 額蹙千痕 ("a thousand wrinkles pressed on the brow") are set phrases for deep dismay — Wukong’s bravado at last giving way.

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… there"), 處 read chù; 生煩惱, "to breed vexation." The Star gently talks Wukong out of his despair.

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, heaven’s brink"), the ends of the earth; 三十六天, the thirty-six Daoist heavens. 小可, "a trifle." Distance does not daunt Wukong — only the clock.

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.”

唐長老 ("Elder Tang," 長 = zhǎng); 法嚴量窄 ("severe in discipline, small in tolerance"). 緊箍兒咒 is the Tight-Fillet Spell, 兒 the suffix er; the deadline, not the distance, is Wukong’s true bind.

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.”

法兒 ("device, trick," 兒 = er) refers to the spell; 鑽天 ("to drill into the heavens") recalls Wukong’s old career of cosmic mischief. The Stars find the golden band a fit curb for so unruly a spirit.

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

放心 ("to set the heart at rest"); the eldest Star now offers the practical help the others could not.

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

稱上輩 ("reckoned a senior generation," 稱 = chēng); 有識, "to be acquainted." The Stars’ standing with Zhenyuan is the lever they can pull on Wukong’s behalf.

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.”

一則…二來 ("firstly… secondly"), enumerating motives; 道達此情 ("to convey this circumstance"); 求得方來 ("seek out and obtain the remedy," 得 = dé). The eldest Star turns his social standing into a stay of Wukong’s deadline.

The pilgrim said, “I’m much obliged, much obliged!

感激 ("grateful, obliged"), doubled in Wukong’s customary emphatic style — a rare note of unfeigned thanks.

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

行行 ("go along, off you go"), both 行 read xíng; the reduplication has a hurrying, colloquial ring. Wukong and the Stars part on their separate errands.

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

不題 ("no more of this"), the storyteller’s formula for closing one thread before taking up another — here, the Stars’ journey to the abbey.