白骨夫人 The White-Bone Lady
唐僧大驚道：「悟空，這個人才死了，怎麼就化作一堆骷髏？」行者道：「他是個潛靈作怪的僵尸，在此迷人敗本，被我打殺，他就現了本相。他那脊梁上有一行字，叫做『白骨夫人』。」唐僧聞說，倒也信了。怎禁那八戒傍邊唆嘴道：「師父，他的手重棍兇，把人打死，只怕你念那話兒，故意變化這個模樣，掩你的眼目哩。」唐僧果然耳軟，又信了他，隨復念起。唐僧大惊道：「悟空，这个人才死了，怎么就化作一堆骷髅？」行者道：「他是个潜灵作怪的僵尸，在此迷人败本，被我打杀，他就现了本相。他那脊梁上有一行字，叫做『白骨夫人』。」唐僧闻说，倒也信了。怎禁那八戒傍边唆嘴道：「师父，他的手重棍凶，把人打死，只怕你念那话儿，故意变化这个模样，掩你的眼目哩。」唐僧果然耳软，又信了他，随复念起。
逐句解 Line by line
The Tang Monk exclaimed in alarm: "Wukong, this person has only just died — how has she turned into a pile of bones?"
這個人才死了 (zhè ge rén cái sǐ le) "this person has only just died." 化作一堆骷髏 (huà zuò yī duī kū lóu) "turned into a heap of bones." The elder's bewilderment — how could a fresh corpse be old bones? — is the opening Wukong needs to explain the demon's nature.
Said Pilgrim, "She is a corpse-fiend with a lurking spirit, a walking dead thing that bewitches folk and ruins their root; struck dead by me, she has reverted to her true form.
潛靈作怪的僵尸 (qián líng zuò guài de jiāng shī) "a walking corpse with a hidden spirit that works mischief." 迷人敗本 (mí rén bài běn) "bewitches people and destroys their vital root." 現了本相 (xiàn le běn xiàng) "revealed [her] true form," 相 (xiàng) "form, appearance" (not 相 (xiāng) "mutually"). Wukong names her a 僵尸, an animate corpse — which is why, truly slain, she is only bones.
"On her spine there is a line of writing, reading 'Lady White-Bone.'"
脊梁上有一行字 (jǐ liáng shàng yǒu yì háng zì) "on the spine is a line of characters" — here 行 (háng) means "a row, a line" (of writing), the one place in the chapter the graph takes this reading rather than 行 (xíng) "to go." 白骨夫人 (Bái gǔ fū rén) "Lady White-Bone" — the demon's name, inscribed on her very bones, is at last disclosed. This is the 屍魔 of the chapter title.
Hearing this, the Tang Monk was, in fact, inclined to believe him.
倒也信了 (dào yě xìn le) "was actually inclined to believe [it]," 倒 (dào) the adverb "actually, after all." The bones and the inscribed name nearly persuade the elder — the truth is within his grasp, held out plainly on the demon's own remains.
But there was no stopping Eight Rules, who slandered from the sidelines: "Master, his hand is heavy and his cudgel cruel — he's beaten a person to death, and only fears you'll recite the spell, so he's deliberately worked this change of shape to pull the wool over your eyes."
那八戒 (nà Bā jiè) "that Eight Rules," and 念那話兒 (niàn nà huà er) "recite that spell," 那 (nà) (both); 手重 (shǒu zhòng) "heavy-handed," 重 (zhòng); 話兒 (huà er) the suffix 兒 (er). 掩你的眼目 (yǎn nǐ de yǎn mù) "screen your eyes." Bajie's final calumny reverses the evidence exactly: the true form, he says, is Wukong's illusion — the same inversion that undid the maggots-and-toads before.
The Tang Monk, sure enough, was soft of ear, and believed him again, and forthwith began reciting anew.
耳軟 (ěr ruǎn) "soft-eared, easily swayed." 隨復念起 (suí fù niàn qǐ) "straightway began reciting again." The narrator's flat verdict — 耳軟, the fatal pliability of the elder's judgement — names the true weakness the demon and Bajie between them exploit.
This passage delivers the demon's true name and the chapter's title-figure: on the skeleton's spine, 白骨夫人, "Lady White-Bone." The revelation is complete — a 僵尸, an animate corpse, reverted by true death to bare bones inscribed with her own name. The one graph 行 here takes its rarer reading, háng, "a line" of writing, marking the very inscription that unmasks her.
For a moment the truth nearly prevails: the elder, faced with bones and a name, 倒也信了, "was inclined to believe." But the passage turns on the chapter's diagnosis of why he cannot hold to the truth — 耳軟, "soft of ear." Bajie has only to reverse the evidence one last time (the true form is Wukong's trick) and the pliable elder believes him again, resuming the spell. The demon is dead, but her ally within the party fights on.
The narrator's plain naming of the flaw — the elder's fatal suggestibility — is crucial to the chapter's moral clarity. Tripitaka is not stupid or cruel; he is credulous, governed by whoever spoke last and by his horror of bloodshed. It is a gentle man's weakness, and it is enough, with Bajie's help, to turn the exposure of a demon into fresh grounds for punishing the one who exposed her.