謝遣龍王 Dismissing the Dragon Kings
行者卻才起身，仰面道：「敖氏弟兄何在？」那四海龍王在半空中答應道：「小龍在此伺候。」行者道：「累你遠勞，不曾成得功果，且請回去，改日再謝。」龍王帥水族，泱泱而回，不在話下。行者却才起身，仰面道：「敖氏弟兄何在？」那四海龙王在半空中答应道：「小龙在此伺候。」行者道：「累你远劳，不曾成得功果，且请回去，改日再谢。」龙王帅水族，泱泱而回，不在话下。
逐句解 Line by line
Only then did the Pilgrim rise, and lifting his face he said: ‘Where are the brothers of the House of Ao?’
The first thing he does on his feet is look up and ask after the dragons, who have been hovering over a failed battlefield with nothing to do since the rain stopped.
The Dragon Kings of the Four Seas answered from mid-air: ‘We lesser dragons wait upon you here.’
They answer from mid-air, and they call themselves 小龍, lesser dragons -- humble self-reference from four sovereign kings of the sea. The courtesy has held right through the failure.
The Pilgrim said: ‘I have put you to a long labour, and yet accomplished nothing by it; pray return for now, and another day I shall thank you again.’
Wukong's dismissal is honest, which is the interesting part. He does not spin it. 不曾成得功果 -- nothing was accomplished. I put you to a long journey for nothing, go home, I will thank you properly another day. No excuses offered and none requested.
The Dragon Kings led their water-hosts and swept majestically away — of which no more.
泱泱 describes something vast moving with its own weight -- the oceans withdrawing in good order. 不在話下, of which no more, is the narrator closing a thread. The water plan is formally over.
A short passage that does something quietly admirable. The plan failed completely, and Wukong sends his allies home with an honest account and a promise of thanks. He does not blame the dragons, does not claim a partial success, and does not pretend the errand achieved anything.
It also closes the thread cleanly. The reader has followed this plan through eight passages -- the dive to the ocean, the paperwork, the bell, the muster of the sea-host, the deployment, the rain -- and it is now shut down and taken off the board. Whatever saves Tripitaka will not be water, and the chapter has one thing left to try.