探看洞門 The Approach to the Cave
須臾洗畢，復駕雲西進，只見那金塔放光。八戒指道：「那不是黃袍怪家？沙僧還在他家裡。」行者道：「你在空中，等我下去看看那門前如何，好與妖精見陣。」八戒道：「不要去，妖精不在家。」行者道：「我曉得。」好猴王，按落祥光，徑至洞門外觀看。须臾洗毕，复驾云西进，只见那金塔放光。八戒指道：「那不是黄袍怪家？沙僧还在他家里。」行者道：「你在空中，等我下去看看那门前如何，好与妖精见阵。」八戒道：「不要去，妖精不在家。」行者道：「我晓得。」好猴王，按落祥光，径至洞门外观看。
逐句解 Line by line
In a moment the washing was done, and mounting the clouds again they pressed on westward, until they saw that pagoda of gold ablaze with light.
須臾 (xūyú), in a moment, presently. 金塔 (jīn tǎ), the golden pagoda that crowns the demon’s lair; 那 read nà.
Bajie pointed and said, “Is that not the Yellow-Robe fiend’s dwelling?
那不是 (nà bù shì), “is that not…,” deictic; 那 read nà.
Sha Seng is still within his house.”
還在 (hái zài), still there; 還 read hái.
Pilgrim said, “Stay you aloft, and let me go down to see how it stands before his gate, the better to give the fiend battle.”
空中 (kōng zhōng), in the air, aloft; 中 read zhōng. 見陣 (jiàn zhèn), to join battle, to meet in the field; 那 read nà.
Bajie said, “Do not go down — the fiend is not at home.”
不在家 (bù zài jiā), not at home; the demon is away at the Baoxiang court.
Pilgrim said, “I know it.”
曉得 (xiǎo de), to know, to be aware; 得 read de.
Brave Monkey King — he pressed down the auspicious light and came straight to look about outside the cave door.
好猴王 (hǎo hóuwáng), “brave Monkey King,” a storyteller’s formula of admiration. 按落祥光 (àn luò xiángguāng), to bring down the auspicious cloud-glow, i.e. to alight.
The approach is managed with the novel’s brisk narrative practicality: the golden pagoda reappears as landmark, Bajie identifies the lair, and Wukong lays his plan to reconnoitre before giving battle. Bajie’s caution that the fiend is from home is both true and prudent, and Wukong’s curt “I know it” shows a leader already master of the situation.
The storyteller’s formulaic “brave Monkey King,” interposed as Wukong descends, is a residue of the oral tradition from which the novel grew — a beat of admiring punctuation that hands the reader from deliberation to action and sets the stage for the seizure of the demon’s children that follows.