原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
且聽下回 To Be Continued
畢竟不知怎麼除邪，且聽下回分解。毕竟不知怎么除邪，且听下回分解。
逐句解 Line by line
畢竟不知怎麼除邪，且聽下回分解。
毕竟不知怎么除邪，且听下回分解。
In the end, not knowing how the evil was to be swept away — pray hear the next chapter told.
畢竟不知: the level tone of 知 keeps 不 at bù. 除邪 "to be rid of the evil." 且聽下回分解 "now hear it explained in the next chapter" -- the formula that ends every chapter of this novel, inherited straight from the storyteller's trade, where it meant that the hat was about to come round.
The chapter breaks off on the standard cliffhanger, and for once it is not merely a formality. Nothing has been settled. The rain fell, the dragons appeared, the whole court saw it -- and the three immortals are still Preceptors of State, still standing beside the throne.
A public humiliation has not cost them their position, which is a shrewder piece of storytelling than a clean victory would have been. The contest resumes in the next chapter on far uglier terms.