The king, seeing how hideous they were, was already frightened at heart; and when he heard the blockhead speak out, he trembled the more, could not keep his seat, and tumbled down from the dragon-couch. Happily the attendant officers were at hand to raise him up.

And down he goes. 心驚 is startled at heart; 及聽得 (得 = de) is "and when he heard"; 膽顫 is "gall trembling," the Chinese seat of courage giving way. 跌下龍床 — fell off the dragon-couch — is the literal collapse of the man who asked, three scenes ago, whether he was to be afraid of two monks.

So flustered was Tripitaka that he knelt before the hall and, kowtowing without cease, said, 'Your Majesty, this humble monk deserves ten thousand deaths, ten thousand deaths! I said that my disciples were ugly and dared not have audience, for fear of harming the dragon-person — and indeed I have startled Your Majesty.'

慌得 (得 = de) is "so flustered that"; 不住的叩頭 is kowtowing without pause; 該萬死, "deserving ten thousand deaths," is the strongest formula of self-reproach available and is here applied to a social mishap. 朝見 (朝 = cháo) is to have audience. Tripitaka is doing the apologising his disciples will never think to do.

Trembling, the king came forward and, helping him up, said, 'Elder, it is thanks to you that you spoke of it beforehand; had you not, I should surely have been frightened to death at the sudden sight of them.'

戰兢兢 is trembling all over; 還虧 (還 = hái) is "it is lucky that." 諕殺 — 諕 is xià, a borrowed character standing in for the usual 嚇, "to frighten" — is "frightened to death." His gratitude for the advance warning turns the terror into something closer to embarrassment, which is the kindest thing the scene could do to him.

When the king had settled his nerves a good while, he asked, 'Elder Zhu, Elder Sha — which of you is skilled at subduing demons?'

定性多時 is "having steadied his nerves for a good while." 那一位 takes 那 as the interrogative nǎ, "which of you"; 善於降妖 (降 = xiáng) is "skilled at subduing demons." He calls them both 長老 (長 = zhǎng), Elder — courteous to the last, from the floor.

The blockhead, with no sense of the fitness of things, answered, 'Old Zhu can subdue them.' Said the king, 'And how do you subdue them?'

不知好歹 — literally "not knowing good from bad," and still the everyday Chinese for someone with no sense of what the situation calls for — is the narrator's verdict before Eight Rules has even spoken. 老豬, "Old Zhu," is what he calls himself, with the affectionate self-importance of a man referring to himself in the third person. 會降 (降 = xiáng) is "can subdue"; the 家 in 怎麼家降 is a vernacular intensifier, giving the king's question the flavour of "and how exactly do you do that?"

Said Eight Rules, 'I am none other than Marshal Tianpeng. Only because I broke the laws of Heaven was I cast down into the world below; and happily I have now returned to the right and become a monk. Since we came here from the Eastern Land, the number-one subduer of demons has been myself.'

The credentials are real, which is what makes the boast so annoying. 天蓬元帥, Marshal Tianpeng, was his rank as commander of the celestial river-host before he was thrown out of heaven; 罪犯天條 is "offended against the statutes of Heaven," and 皈正為僧 (為 = wéi) is coming back to orthodoxy as a monk. Then the claim: 第一會降妖的是我, I am the number-one demon-queller — where 一 reads yí as the tone shifts before the falling tone that follows. Every reader knows whose title he has just helped himself to.

Said the king, 'Since you are a heavenly general come down among mortals, you must surely be adept at transformations.' Said Eight Rules, 'I dare not claim it — but I do manage to know a few transformations.'

天將 (將 = jiàng, general) 臨凡 is a celestial officer come down among mortals. 將就 (將 = jiāng) 曉得 (得 = de) is "manage, just about, to know," and 變化兒 (兒 = er) are transformations. The false modesty is transparent and entirely deliberate — he is angling to be asked.

Said the king, 'Try changing into something, that I may see.' Said Eight Rules, 'Set me a subject, and I'll change to match the model.' Said the king, 'Change into something big, then.'

And he is asked. 請出題目, "set me a topic," is the language of an examination or a party trick; 照依樣子 (子 = zi) is "according to the pattern." The king, who a moment ago was on the floor, now wants a demonstration — and asks for something big, which is the last thing anyone in this hall should have asked for.