現魂逼帝 The Ghost Made Flesh
慌得那兩班文武上前來奏道：「萬歲，那和尚不曾死，又在油鍋裡鑽出來了。」監斬官恐怕虛誑朝廷，卻又奏道：「死是死了，只是日期犯兇，小和尚來顯魂哩。」行者聞言大怒，跳出鍋來，揩了油膩，穿上衣服，掣出棒，撾過監斬官，著頭一下，打做了肉團，道：「我顯甚麼魂哩？」諕得多官連忙解了八戒，跪地哀告：「恕罪，恕罪。」國王走下龍座，行者上殿扯住道：「陛下不要走，且教你三國師也下下油鍋去。」那皇帝戰戰兢兢道：「三國師，你救朕之命，快下鍋去，莫教和尚打我。」慌得那两班文武上前来奏道：「万岁，那和尚不曾死，又在油锅里钻出来了。」监斩官恐怕虚诳朝廷，却又奏道：「死是死了，只是日期犯凶，小和尚来显魂哩。」行者闻言大怒，跳出锅来，揩了油腻，穿上衣服，掣出棒，挝过监斩官，着头一下，打做了肉团，道：「我显甚么魂哩？」諕得多官连忙解了八戒，跪地哀告：「恕罪，恕罪。」国王走下龙座，行者上殿扯住道：「陛下不要走，且教你三国师也下下油锅去。」那皇帝战战兢兢道：「三国师，你救朕之命，快下锅去，莫教和尚打我。」
逐句解 Line by line
In a fluster the two files of civil and military came forward to report: "Your Majesty, that monk did not die — he's crawled back out of the oil-cauldron again."
那和尚不曾死 — that monk did not die; he has climbed back out. The court's two files report it together, which tells you how many people watched it happen. 得 = de; both 那 = nà.
The supervising officer, fearing to deceive the court, reported instead: "Dead he is, indeed; only the day falls unlucky, and the little monk's ghost has come to show itself."
The supervising officer has already told the throne the man was dead, so he cannot now say otherwise: 虛誑朝廷, deceiving the court (朝 = cháo), is a capital matter in itself. His way out is the calendar. 日期犯兇 — the date falls foul of an unlucky influence, the sort of thing an almanac warns about — and on such a day a ghost may walk. 哩 = li.
The Pilgrim, hearing this, flew into a great rage, leapt out of the cauldron, wiped off the grease, put on his clothes, whipped out his cudgel, seized the supervising officer, and with one blow to the head beat him to a lump of meat, saying: "What ghost am I showing?"
And this is where the comedy stops. 著頭一下: 著 = zháo again in that old vernacular sense of landing a thing on its target, so one blow comes down onto the head, and the man is 打做了肉團, beaten into a lump of meat. 撾過 is to seize and drag over. 我顯甚麼魂哩 — what ghost am I showing? 甚 = shén; 哩 = li.
So frightened were the officials that they hastily untied Eight Rules and knelt on the ground pleading: "Mercy, mercy."
諕得多官: 諕 = xià, 得 = de. They untie Bajie without being asked and go down on their knees. 恕罪，恕罪 — mercy, mercy. 解 = jiě, untied.
The king came down from his dragon-throne; the Pilgrim went up into the hall and caught him fast, saying: "Don't flee, Your Majesty — let your Third National Preceptor go down into the oil-cauldron too."
陛下不要走 — don't run off, Your Majesty. The king is trying to leave his own throne room, and gets caught by the sleeve. 且教你三國師也下下油鍋去: 教 = jiào. The doubled 下下 is "go on down," and the demand is the same one he made after the beheading.
That emperor, trembling and quaking, said: "Third National Preceptor, you have saved Our life — go down the cauldron quick, and don't let the monk strike Us."
戰戰兢兢 — trembling and quaking, still the ordinary idiom for it. And then the sentence that finishes him as a ruler: 你救朕之命，快下鍋去，莫教和尚打我 — save Us, get in the pot, don't let the monk hit me. The imperial "We" collapses into a plain "me" in the space of one line. 那 = nà; 教 = jiào.
The rising from the oil turns violent within two lines. The supervising officer has already told the throne the monk was dead and cannot now unsay it, since 虛誑朝廷, deceiving the court, is itself a capital matter; so he reaches for the almanac instead and explains that the date is inauspicious and a ghost may walk. Wukong climbs out, wipes off the grease, dresses, draws his cudgel, and beats him to a lump of meat with one blow, snarling 我顯甚麼魂哩 — what ghost am I showing? The trickster's patience runs out all at once, and the whole court goes from complacency to terror in a sentence.
The reversal of power is complete and pointed. A king who has spent the entire chapter taking orders from his charlatan preceptors now tries to slip off his own throne and is caught by the man he condemned. His appeal to the last surviving immortal is the lowest point of his reign: save Us, get into the cauldron, and don't let him hit me. Watch the pronouns collapse from the imperial "We" into a plain frightened "me" inside one line. The immortal who came to 匡扶社稷, prop up the altars of state, is being sent to his death as a human shield.