洞中之寶 The Treasure in the Cave
那大聖正感嘆間，又見那山凹裡霞光焰焰而來。行者道：「山神、土地，你既在這洞中當值，那放光的是甚物件？」土地道：「那是妖魔的寶貝放光，想是有妖精拿寶貝來降你。」行者道：「這個卻好耍子兒啊。我且問你，他這洞中有甚人與他相往？」土地道：「他愛的是燒丹煉藥，喜的是全真道人。」那大圣正感叹间，又见那山凹里霞光焰焰而来。行者道：「山神、土地，你既在这洞中当值，那放光的是甚物件？」土地道：「那是妖魔的宝贝放光，想是有妖精拿宝贝来降你。」行者道：「这个却好耍子儿啊。我且问你，他这洞中有甚人与他相往？」土地道：「他爱的是烧丹炼药，喜的是全真道人。」
逐句解 Line by line
Just as the Great Sage was sighing, he saw a rosy radiance come flaming out of the mountain hollow.
感嘆間 (gǎn tàn jiān), "in the middle of lamenting." 霞光焰焰 (xiá guāng yàn yàn), "rosy light blazing" -- in this novel a treasure announces itself by glowing, which saves everyone a great deal of trouble.
Pilgrim said: "Mountain-god, earth-god — since you stand duty in that cave, what is that glowing thing?"
洞中 (dòng zhōng), "inside the cave." 甚物件 (shén wù jiàn), "what object," the question-word shén; and 那放光的 takes 那 as the pointing nà, "that glowing thing over there." Note how fast he moves from grief to intelligence-gathering.
The earth-god said: "That's the glow of the fiends' treasures — likely an imp is bringing a treasure to subdue you."
寶貝放光 (bǎo bèi fàng guāng), "the treasures give off light." 來降你 (lái xiáng nǐ), "coming to subdue you," 降 again xiáng. The earth god has just told the target that the weapon is on its way.
Pilgrim said: "Now that's good sport! Let me ask you — what sort of people frequent that cave of his?"
好耍子兒 (hǎo shuǎ zi er), "what good fun," with the toneless 兒 -- and it is the most characteristic line Pilgrim speaks in the chapter. He has been under three mountains for the length of a lament, and the news that something is coming to dissolve him strikes him as a treat. 甚人 (shén rén), "what sort of people"; 相往 (xiāng wǎng), "to keep company with," 相 read xiāng.
The earth-god said: "What he loves is refining cinnabar and compounding elixirs; what he delights in are Complete-Perfection Daoists."
燒丹煉藥 (shāo dān liàn yào), "firing cinnabar and refining drugs," is outer alchemy -- the branch of Daoist practice that tried to cook an elixir of immortality in an actual furnace, and poisoned a fair number of emperors doing it. 全真道人 (quán zhēn dào rén) are Daoists of the Complete Perfection school, a real order founded in the twelfth century and still the main monastic tradition in Chinese Daoism. In two clauses the earth god has handed Pilgrim his costume.
Grief converts straight into opportunity. At the sight of the treasure-glow -- the very vessels dispatched to dissolve him -- Pilgrim's response is not caution but delight: now that's good sport. The turn is quintessential Monkey, danger reclassified as entertainment the moment he has room to move. Where the demons trust their equipment, he trusts his wits, and he starts by gathering the intelligence he needs.
His questions are short and exactly aimed: who visits the cave, and what does the fiend like? The answer -- alchemy, and Complete Perfection Daoists -- hands him his costume and confirms what the reader worked out long ago, that the injured priest wore Daoist robes for a reason. The whole method that wins the coming contest is laid out here in four plain exchanges.