收妖上界 The Fiend Recalled
那二十七宿星員領了旨意，出了天門，各念咒語，驚動奎星。你道他在那裡躲避？他原來是孫大聖大鬧天宮時打怕了的神將，閃在那山澗裡潛災，被水氣隱住妖雲，所以不曾看見他。他聽得本部星員念咒，方敢出頭，隨眾上界。被大聖攔住天門要打，幸虧眾星勸住，押見玉帝。那怪腰間取出金牌，在殿下叩頭納罪。那二十七宿星员领了旨意，出了天门，各念咒语，惊动奎星。你道他在那里躲避？他原来是孙大圣大闹天宫时打怕了的神将，闪在那山涧里潜灾，被水气隐住妖云，所以不曾看见他。他听得本部星员念咒，方敢出头，随众上界。被大圣拦住天门要打，幸亏众星劝住，押见玉帝。那怪腰间取出金牌，在殿下叩头纳罪。
逐句解 Line by line
The star-officers of the twenty-seven lodges, having received the command, went out at the gate of Heaven, and each reciting his spell, roused up the Kui star.
二十七宿, èr shí qī xiù, the twenty-seven lodges still on duty; 咒語, zhòu yǔ, an incantation. They summon their absent colleague by all reciting at once, which is a very orderly way to arrest somebody.
Where, do you suppose, had he been hiding?
那裡, nǎ lǐ, where — the storyteller turning to the audience with a question before he answers it himself.
He was, as it turned out, one of the divine generals whom the Great Sage had cowed at the time of the uproar in Heaven; he had slipped into a mountain ravine to lie low, and his fiend-cloud was hidden by the water-vapour — which was why he had not been seen.
And the answer knits this chapter into the whole novel. 打怕了, dǎ pà le, beaten into fear — he is one of the divine generals Wukong terrified during the uproar in Heaven, and he has been hiding from him ever since. 潛災, qián zāi, to lie low out of harm's way. The water-vapour of the ravine masked his demon-cloud, which is why the fiery eyes could not find him: not magic, but weather.
Hearing the star-officers of his own bureau reciting the spell, he only then dared show himself, and rose with the rest to Heaven.
方敢出頭, fāng gǎn chū tóu, only then dared put his head out. He will answer his own department and nobody else.
At the gate of Heaven the Great Sage barred his way, meaning to strike him, and it was only by the good offices of the assembled stars, who restrained him, that the culprit was brought under escort before the Jade Emperor.
攔住, lán zhù, to bar the way; 押見, yā jiàn, to be brought under escort before somebody. Wukong tries to get one last blow in at the gate of Heaven and has to be talked down by the assembled stars.
The fiend drew from his waist a golden tablet, and at the foot of the hall bowed his head and confessed his guilt.
金牌, jīn pái, the golden tablet, is his badge of office — the thing that proves he is a member of staff. 叩頭納罪, kòu tóu nà zuì, to bow the head to the ground and admit the offence. The terror of Baoxiang is now a civil servant handing in his pass.
The recall discloses the demon's buried history: he is one of the divine generals Wukong cowed in the old uproar, and his very hiding — lying low in a water-veiled ravine — is a lingering effect of that ancient fright, which is also why the all-seeing Great Sage could not spot him. The detail knits a local episode into the novel's master-narrative, making the demon a small aftershock of the cosmic rebellion of the opening chapters.
That the star answers only his own bureau, dares show himself only when colleagues call, and submits with his badge of office and a kowtow completes the transformation of a fearsome fiend into a delinquent official awaiting judgement. Wukong's wish to hit him even at Heaven's gate keeps the comic friction alive, but the matter has passed out of combat and into celestial justice, which the next passage delivers.