阿七搦戰 Ah-Seven Gives Challenge
那怪物擺開陣勢，只見當頭的是阿七大王。他生的玉面長髯，鋼眉刀耳；頭戴金煉盔，身穿鎖子甲，手執方天戟。高聲罵道：「我把你個大膽的潑猴！怎敢這等欺人？偷了寶貝，傷了眷族，殺了妖兵，又敢久占洞府。趕早兒一個個引頸受死，雪我姐家之仇。」行者罵道：「你這夥作死的毛團，不識你孫外公的手段。不要走，領吾一棒。」那怪物摆开阵势，只见当头的是阿七大王。他生的玉面长髯，钢眉刀耳；头戴金炼盔，身穿锁子甲，手执方天戟。高声骂道：「我把你个大胆的泼猴！怎敢这等欺人？偷了宝贝，伤了眷族，杀了妖兵，又敢久占洞府。赶早儿一个个引颈受死，雪我姐家之仇。」行者骂道：「你这伙作死的毛团，不识你孙外公的手段。不要走，领吾一棒。」
逐句解 Line by line
The monsters had drawn up in battle-array, and there at their head was Ah-Seven, the Great King.
當頭的 (dāng tóu de) is "the one in the van," 當 read dāng. The uncle leads from the front.
He was made with a jade face and a long beard, steel brows and blade-like ears;
長髯 is "a long beard," 長 read cháng, long, rather than zhǎng, senior. A jade face and steel brows give the fox-uncle a properly fierce martial look — which is the setup for what is found under his clothes later.
on his head a helmet of wrought gold, on his body a coat of chain-mail, in his hand a square-heaven halberd.
鎖子甲 is chain-mail, 子 the noun suffix (zi); 方天戟 is the square-heaven halberd, a famously heavy two-branched weapon associated with the great warriors of the war-tale tradition. He has dressed for the part.
He railed aloud: "You great insolent, vile monkey!
大膽的潑猴 — "you brazen, vile ape." The pre-combat insults begin.
How dare you bully folk so?
怎敢這等欺人 — "how dare you bully people so?"
You stole the treasures, hurt the kinsfolk, killed the demon-soldiers, and now dare hold the cave-dwelling so long besides.
久占洞府 is "long occupy the cave-manor," 占 read zhàn. The grievances are itemised again, now in the mouth of the avenging uncle — and note the last one, which is essentially a complaint about trespass.
Get on with it, the lot of you — stretch out your necks and take your deaths, that the wrong to my sister's house be wiped clean!"
趕早兒 is "get on with it," 兒 the suffix (er); 引頸受死 is "stretch out the neck and take your death," the posture of a formal execution.
Pilgrim railed back: "You pack of death-courting fur-balls — you don't know Grandpa Sun's measures!
Wukong answers in kind and in kinship. 毛團, "fur-ball," is a jeer at what these creatures actually are under the armour; 孫外公, "Grandpa Sun," promotes him two generations above his opponent in a single breath — the same escalating game as his usual "Old Sun," played for the occasion.
Don't run — take a taste of my cudgel!"
領吾一棒 — "take one blow of mine." The formalities are over.
The set exchange of challenge and counter-challenge opens the second battle. Ah-Seven — jade-faced and long-bearded, helmeted, mailed, a square-heaven halberd in hand — gets the full portrait of a formidable champion, and his railing recites the wrongs done to his sister's house: treasures stolen, kin hurt, soldiers slain, the cave occupied.
Wukong answers by dismissing the avengers as death-courting fur-balls who do not know Grandpa Sun's measures. The jeer at their animal nature is precisely aimed, since Ah-Seven is a fox-spirit and will be exposed as one within a few lines; and the mock-kinship of "Grandpa Sun" caps the ritual insults just before halberd and cudgel meet.