哪吒出陣 Nezha Takes the Field
巨靈神抵敵他不住,被猴王劈頭一棒,慌忙將斧架隔,扢扠的一聲,把個斧柄打做兩截,急撤身敗陣逃生。猴王笑道:「膿包,膿包。我已饒了你,你快去報信,快去報信。」巨靈神回至營門,徑見托塔天王,忙哈哈跪下道:「弼馬溫果是神通廣大,末將戰他不得,敗陣回來請罪。」李天王發怒道:「這廝剉吾銳氣,推出斬之!」傍邊閃出哪吒太子拜告:「父王息怒,且恕巨靈之罪。待孩兒出師一遭,便知深淺。」天王聽諫,且教回營待罪管事。這哪吒太子甲冑齊整,跳出營盤,撞至水簾洞外。那悟空正來收兵,見哪吒來的勇猛。好太子:巨灵神抵敌他不住,被猴王劈头一棒,慌忙将斧架隔,扢扠的一声,把个斧柄打做两截,急撤身败阵逃生。猴王笑道:「脓包,脓包。我已饶了你,你快去报信,快去报信。」巨灵神回至营门,径见托塔天王,忙哈哈跪下道:「弼马温果是神通广大,末将战他不得,败阵回来请罪。」李天王发怒道:「这厮剉吾锐气,推出斩之!」傍边闪出哪咤太子拜告:「父王息怒,且恕巨灵之罪。待孩儿出师一遭,便知深浅。」天王听谏,且教回营待罪管事。这哪咤太子甲胄齐整,跳出营盘,撞至水帘洞外。那悟空正来收兵,见哪咤来的勇猛。好太子:
逐句解 Line by line
The Mighty-Spirit God could not withstand him: struck by the Monkey King's cudgel full at the head, he hurriedly raised his axe to parry — and with a crack the axe-handle was broken clean in two; he wheeled in haste and fled the field for his life.
The duel ends on a sound effect. 扢扠的一聲 is the text simply writing down the noise — roughly gē chā, a splintering crack — as the axe-handle goes in two. 不住 takes bú, 一棒 yí, 一聲 yì; in 將斧 the 將 is the object-marker jiāng.
The Monkey King laughed, "Milksop! Milksop! I've spared you already — be quick and carry the word, be quick and carry the word."
膿包 is literally a "pus-sac" and idiomatically a milksop — still a serviceable Chinese insult for somebody with no backbone. Wukong lets the beaten general go, and jeers him off the field.
The Mighty-Spirit God returned to the camp gate, went straight to the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, and hastily knelt with a nervous laugh: "Bìmǎwēn's powers are indeed vast and far-reaching; this lowly general could not best him, and has come back beaten to beg for punishment."
末將, "this lowly general," is the self-lowering term an officer uses to a superior; 將 is jiàng. 戰他不得 is "could not beat him" — the potential construction, which is harder to admit than simply losing.
Heavenly King Lǐ flew into a rage: "This wretch has blunted my army's spirit — drag him out and behead him!"
剉吾銳氣, "blunted my army's edge" — 剉 (cuò) is to file something down. The Heavenly King's reflex on hearing the report is to execute the officer who brought it.
From the side stepped Prince Nezha, who bowed and pleaded, "Father, calm your anger and pardon Mighty-Spirit's fault for now. Wait till your child goes out to battle once, and we'll know the measure of him."
哪吒太子, Prince Nezha, steps in to spare Mighty-Spirit and volunteer himself — filial deference and ambition in the same bow. 一遭 takes yì before the level tone of 遭; 傍邊 is a variant writing of 旁邊.
The Heavenly King heeded the remonstrance and ordered Mighty-Spirit back to camp, on probation, to make himself useful.
且教回營待罪管事: Mighty-Spirit is put on probation and told to make himself useful rather than beheaded. 教 is causative jiào.
Prince Nezha, his armor and helm trim and complete, leapt out of the camp and charged up to the Water-Curtain Cave.
甲冑齊整, "armour and helmet trim and complete" — 冑 (zhòu) is a helmet. The boy-general is dressed to the last strap.
Wukong, just then coming to call in his troops, saw Nezha approaching, bold and fierce —
Nezha seen through his enemy's eyes, "bold and fierce." The novel keeps doing this.
a fine prince:
好太子, "a fine prince" — the same cue phrase that opened Wukong's own portrait, now pointed at the other side.
The duel finishes exactly as the poem promised: abruptly. 巨靈's axe-handle snaps with a written-out crack, 扢扠, and Heaven's famous vanguard runs for his life with nothing chasing him but the word "milksop." Wukong's restraint is worth noticing. He spares the general precisely so that word gets back — he is treating the fight as a message, not a slaughter. His quarrel is still about recognition, not blood.
Heaven's own response is harsher than Wukong's. 李天王's first instinct on hearing the report is to behead his beaten officer for having blunted the army's edge — a flash of how brittle the celestial bureaucracy turns under failure, and how fast it punishes its own. Nezha's intervention, sparing 巨靈 and volunteering in his place, is both proper filial conduct and the standard move of the dynastic war-romance, where the young prince steps forward as the veteran falls.
The passage closes by framing Nezha through Wukong's eyes, "bold and fierce," and handing off to a portrait poem. The echo of the Mighty-Spirit episode is deliberate: another challenger, another approach to the cave, another 好… cue phrase. The novel is building a ladder of opponents, each more legitimate than the last, against an antagonist whose only credential is being strong enough to break them. The 心猿 cannot be talked down or outranked. It can only be met — and so far nobody in Heaven's array has met it and stayed standing.