妖精再變 The Demon Transforms Once More
卻說那妖精在山坡裡連叫了三四聲，更無人到。他心中思量道：「我等唐僧在此，望見他離不上三里，卻怎麼這半晌還不到？想是抄下路去了。」他抖一抖身軀，脫了繩索，又縱紅光，上空再看。不覺孫大聖仰面回觀，識得是妖怪，又把唐僧撮著腳推下馬來道：「兄弟們，仔細，仔細，那妖精又來也。」慌得那八戒、沙僧各持鈀、棍，將唐僧又圍護在中間。却说那妖精在山坡里连叫了三四声，更无人到。他心中思量道：「我等唐僧在此，望见他离不上三里，却怎么这半晌还不到？想是抄下路去了。」他抖一抖身躯，脱了绳索，又纵红光，上空再看。不觉孙大圣仰面回观，识得是妖怪，又把唐僧撮着脚推下马来道：「兄弟们，仔细，仔细，那妖精又来也。」慌得那八戒、沙僧各持钯、棍，将唐僧又围护在中间。
逐句解 Line by line
Now that demon, having called out three or four times in a row from the mountain slope, found that no one came at all.
Calling into an empty mountain, and nobody comes. 那妖精 takes the pointing nà; 連叫了三四聲 the completed 了, le; 更無人到 has 更 as gèng, "not a soul at all."
He pondered in his heart: "I've been waiting for the Tang Monk right here — I watched him come within less than three li — so how is it that after all this while he still hasn't arrived?
The demon does arithmetic and gets a wrong answer for good reasons. 心中思量 takes zhōng, and 量 in 思量 is liáng, to turn something over in the mind. 離不上三里 keeps 不 as plain bù before the dipping tone of 上; 還 is hái; and the second 不 lifts to bú before the falling tone of 到.
He must have taken a shortcut down some other road."
His conclusion — a shortcut — is wrong in its particulars and right in its substance. 了 is the completed le; 抄下路 is to cut down some side path.
He gave his body a shake, slipped free of the ropes, loosed the red glow once more, and rose into the air to look again.
One shake and the ropes are off, which retrospectively tells the reader how little they ever meant. 一 shifts to yì before the dipping tone of 抖; 脫了繩索 takes the completed 了, le.
Unawares, the Great Sage, turning his face up to look back, recognized him for a monster, and again seized the Tang Priest by the leg and pushed him down off the horse, saying: "Brothers, careful, careful — that demon has come again!"
The whole defensive scene from earlier replays almost word for word. 不覺 has 覺 as jué, to perceive; 回觀 has 觀 as guān; 識得 takes the full-weight 得, dé, to recognise; 撮著腳 uses the ongoing 著, zhe; both 仔細 take zǐ; and 那妖精 the pointing nà.
In a fluster Eight Rules and Sha Monk, each gripping rake and staff, hemmed the Tang Priest round in their midst again.
Rake and staff go up again, exactly as before. 慌得 uses the light hinge 得, de; 那八戒 the pointing nà; 將唐僧 the object-marking 將, jiāng; 中間 takes zhōng.
The story crosses back to the demon, and the crossing is itself the joke: he has been calling into an empty mountain, baffled that a quarry he watched approach within three 里 has simply failed to arrive. His reasoning — the Tang Monk must have taken a shortcut — is wrong about the cause and right about the result. The moment lets the reader enjoy Wukong's success from the losing side, which the previous passage had conveyed only by implication.
His answer is to escalate by repetition: shed the ropes, take to the air, find the party, hang himself up again. And on the pilgrims' side the scene replays almost verbatim — Wukong spotting him overhead, seizing the Master's leg, shoving him off the horse, the brothers closing ranks with rake and staff. The near-repetition is deliberate craft. Each turn of the cycle winds tighter, the demon undeterred, Wukong's tricks buying less and less time, and the reader can feel the pattern accelerating toward the point where the Master's patience must finally break.