This Pilgrim led the Tang Monk to stand before the white-jade steps, holding himself erect and unmoving.

白玉階前, before the white-jade steps. 挺身不動, standing stiff and still — in a hall where every other body is already on the floor, doing nothing is the loudest thing available.

The officers below the steps, one and all in dread, said: "This monk is utterly dull and coarse — how is it that, seeing our king, he does not bow down?

Pointing 那階下: 那 = nà. 十分愚濁: 分 = fēn. 悚懼 is awe shading into fear — the officials are frightened on the monk's behalf before they are offended.

Nor opens his mouth to invoke a blessing?

亦不開言呼祝, neither speaks nor pronounces a blessing. A subject entering the presence was expected to wish the ruler long life aloud; silence is a second refusal stacked on the first.

Nor chants a single greeting?

喏 nuò is a called-out salute — the spoken half of a bow. Three courtesies now, all withheld.

What great insolence and discourtesy!"

好大膽無禮, such boldness, such rudeness.

Before they had finished, he heard that demon-king open his mouth and ask: "That monk — from what quarter has he come?"

說不了: 了 = liǎo, "before they had finished." 只聽得: 得 = de. Both 那魔王 and 那和尚 point (那 = nà) — but 那方來的, "from which quarter," is a question, so there 那 = nǎ. Three of the same character in one line, two readings.

Pilgrim answered proudly: "I am from the Tang state in the Eastern Land, in the Southern Jambū Continent, bearing an imperial commission to go west to the Great Thunderclap Monastery in the country of India, to worship the living Buddha and seek the true scriptures.

欽差: 差 = chāi. 南贍部洲 is Jambudvīpa, the southern continent of Buddhist geography, where our world lies. 活佛: 佛 = fó. Wukong answers a question about provenance with a recital of cosmic addresses, which is itself a way of not bowing.

Now, arrived in this land, I dare not pass through for nothing, and have come expressly to exchange my through-rescript."

空度: 度 = dù, to pass through. 倒換通關文牒: 倒 = dào.

That demon-king, hearing this, grew angry at heart: "You of the Eastern Land — what of it?

Pointing 那魔王: 那 = nà. 心中作怒: 中 = zhōng.

I pay no tribute at your court, hold no dealings with your state — how is it you flout ceremony before me and won't perform the homage?"

相通: 相 = xiāng, to have dealings with one another. 不行參拜: 行 = xíng, 參 = cān, to do homage. The fiend's argument is sound diplomacy: we owe each other nothing, so why the insult?

Pilgrim laughed: "My Eastern Land founded a heavenly court of old, long styled a suzerain realm; you and yours are but a border state of the lower land.

天朝: 朝 = cháo. 久稱上國: 稱 = chēng, styled or called. Wukong's reply is to change the subject from diplomacy to rank.

As the old saying goes: 'The emperor of a suzerain realm is father and is lord;

為父為君: both 為 = wéi, "is." The edition puts this saying inside its own quotation marks, which settles its status: it is a citation, and it stays prose however neatly it scans.

the emperor of a vassal realm is subject and is son.'

為臣為子: 為 = wéi. Here 子 is zǐ, the full word "son" — a vassal — not the light rounding-off zi the chapter uses on words like "monkey" and "cudgel."

You've not so much as received me — and yet you dare dispute my not bowing?"

你倒未曾接我: 倒 = dào, "on the contrary." 爭我不拜, to dispute my not bowing. The counter-charge is neat: you failed to come out and receive an envoy, so you are the one who breached protocol.

That demon-king, in a great rage, told the civil and military officers: "Seize this wild monk and take him away!"

Pointing 那魔王: 那 = nà. 教文武官: 教 = jiào. The argument has been lost and the guards are called, which is what Wukong was working toward.

At the shout of "Seize!" — look — that host of officers surged forward all at once.

Pointing 那多官: 那 = nà. 一齊踴躍, leapt forward all together.

This Pilgrim gave a shout, pointed with his hand, and cried: "Stay back!"

喝了一聲, gave a shout. 用手一指, pointed with one finger. 教 = jiào, cried or bade.

At that one pointing, he worked a body-fixing spell, and the whole host of officers could not stir.

Pointing 那一指: 那 = nà. The 定身法 is a body-fixing spell — freeze, in the sense a child's game means it. 莫能行動: 行 = xíng.

Truly: the corps-captains before the steps like wooden puppets, the generals upon the hall like men of clay.

The line closes the passage with a balanced pair of seven-character images, the sort of flourish the storyteller drops into narration without stopping for it. The edition runs the cue 真個是 straight into the couplet rather than setting it off with a colon, as it does with this chapter's four displayed poems, so the couplet stays in prose here. 將軍: 將 = jiāng, "general." 似泥人: 似 = sì. Wooden puppets and clay men: four hundred officials turned to statuary in mid-lunge.