原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
講開方好 “Best to Declare It Openly”
行者道：「雖然知之，奈我遠來之僧，未曾與你相會。那時彼此混賴，不成勾當，須講開方好行事。」行者道：「虽然知之，奈我远来之僧，未曾与你相会。那时彼此混赖，不成勾当，须讲开方好行事。」
逐句解 Line by line
行者道：「雖然知之，奈我遠來之僧，未曾與你相會。
行者道：「虽然知之，奈我远来之僧，未曾与你相会。
Pilgrim said, “Though he may know it, still — I am a monk come from afar and have never met with you before.
行者: 行 = xíng. 相會: 相 = xiāng, to meet one another. 奈 "but, however."
那時彼此混賴，不成勾當，須講開方好行事。」
那时彼此混赖，不成勾当，须讲开方好行事。」
At that point we would each be wrangling and denying, and it would come to no good — best to make it clear beforehand, so as to act properly.”
那時: 那 = nà. 混賴 "to muddle it and then deny it," the wrangling that follows a disputed result. 勾當: 當 = dàng. 好行事: 行 = xíng, to proceed properly.
The point is pressed home with faultless logic. We are strangers to each other; if the result is disputed afterwards we shall simply wrangle; therefore let us agree the signals in advance.
Everything about that is reasonable and every word of it is self-serving. "Making it clear" means getting the immortal to hand over the code by which the weather is called -- and he is about to, in front of the entire court, because refusing would look like bad faith.