幫幫功 Sha Monk Dispatched
獃子去了，沙僧將酒亦一飲而乾，道：「師父，那黃袍怪拿住你時，我兩個與他交戰，只戰個手平。今二哥獨去，恐戰不過他。」三藏道：「正是，徒弟啊，你可去與他幫幫功。」沙僧聞言，也縱雲跳將起去。那國王慌了，扯住唐僧道：「長老，你且陪寡人坐坐，也莫騰雲去了。」唐僧道：「可憐，可憐，我半步兒也去不得。」此時二人在殿上敘話不題。呆子去了，沙僧将酒亦一饮而干，道：「师父，那黄袍怪拿住你时，我两个与他交战，只战个手平。今二哥独去，恐战不过他。」三藏道：「正是，徒弟啊，你可去与他帮帮功。」沙僧闻言，也纵云跳将起去。那国王慌了，扯住唐僧道：「长老，你且陪寡人坐坐，也莫腾云去了。」唐僧道：「可怜，可怜，我半步儿也去不得。」此时二人在殿上叙话不题。
逐句解 Line by line
When the blockhead had gone, Sha Monk likewise drained his cup at a draught and said, 'Master, when the Yellow-Robe Ogre held you captive, the two of us did battle with him and came off only even. Now that Second Brother goes alone, I fear he will not be able to overcome him.'
將 (jiāng, coverb) 酒 = "[took] the wine"; 一飲而乾 (乾 = gān) = "drained [it] at a draught." 只戰個手平 = "fought only to a draw"; 戰不過他 = "cannot get the better of him." Sha Monk's sober assessment sets up his own dispatch to reinforce Eight Rules.
Said Tripitaka, 'Just so. Disciple, you may go and lend him your aid.'
正是 = "just so, quite right"; 幫幫功 = "to lend a hand, to help [in the work]." Tripitaka, persuaded, sends his second disciple after the first.
Hearing this, Sha Monk too loosed a cloud and leaped up into the air.
縱雲 = "to loose/vault upon a cloud"; 跳將 (將 = jiāng, a directional particle) 起去 = "leaped up and away." Sha Monk follows Eight Rules aloft.
The king took fright and, seizing hold of Tripitaka, said, 'Elder, do sit a while and keep me company — do not you ride off on the clouds as well!'
慌了 = "took fright"; 扯住 = "to seize and hold fast." 你且陪寡人坐坐 = "do sit with me a while"; 莫騰雲去 = "do not ride the clouds away." The king, alarmed at being left with his monstrous guests gone, clings to Tripitaka.
Said Tripitaka, 'Alas, alas — I could not go half a step even if I would.' And so the two of them fell to talking there upon the hall, of which no more need be told.
可憐 = "pitiable, alas"; 半步兒 (兒 = er) 也去不得 (得 = dé, potential) = "cannot go even half a step." 敘話不題 = "talked on, [of which] no more is told" — the storyteller's formula for setting a thread aside. Tripitaka, powerless to fly, stays to reassure the king.
The passage marks the sober counter-weight to Eight Rules' bravado. Where he had boasted himself the pilgrimage's foremost demon-queller, Sha Monk supplies the plain truth of their earlier encounter: the two of them together fought the Yellow-Robe Ogre only "to a draw," and one of them alone can hardly expect to prevail. It is a characteristically level-headed judgment — Sha Monk is the steady, unglamorous member of the band — and it moves Tripitaka to send him after his brother, so that the reinforcement is in place before the battle that the chapter has been building toward.
The scene ends on a last comic beat. With both his fearsome disciples gone aloft, the king is seized with a fresh alarm and clutches at Tripitaka — do not you, too, fly away! — and the master can only answer, ruefully, that he "could not go half a step" if he wished. The exchange is a small joke at the expense of both: the king who cannot bear to be left alone with the trouble he has stirred up, and the wholly earthbound holy man who is the one companion he need not fear losing to the clouds.