The king said: "This monk has ghosts and spirits to second him.

有鬼神輔佐 — he has ghosts and spirits to second him. The king reaches for the same explanation as before, and it is closer to the truth than he knows, though the spirit in question is standing in the courtyard.

How is it that a Daoist goes into the chest and turns into a monk?

道士入櫃，就變做和尚 — a Daoist goes into the chest and comes out a monk. Stated flatly like that, it does sound like sorcery.

Even had a barber followed him in, he could only have shaved the head, and that's all; how should the clothes, too, fit the body, and the mouth, besides, know how to chant the Buddha's name?"

His objection is beautifully specific, and it is the objection of a man who has thought about logistics. A 待詔 is a barber — the word once meant an official awaiting summons, and drifted down the social scale until it meant the man who cuts hair. Even smuggle one in, says the king, and he could only do the head; how would the clothes fit, and how would the mouth know the chants? 趁體: 趁 = chèn, to suit or fit. 剃得頭便了: 得 = de, 了 = le. 念佛: 佛 = fó.

National Preceptor — let him go."

讓他去罷: 罷 = ba. The king has now tried three times to end this, and will try twice more.

The Tiger-Power Immortal said: "Your Majesty, in any case it is 'the chess-player that meets his match, the general that meets his worthy foe.'

棋逢對手，將遇良材 — the chess-player meets his match, the general meets a worthy opponent. It is a set proverb, still in use, for two adversaries who are properly matched. The reading to catch is 將: here it is jiàng, a general, standing on its own — the only time in the chapter this character is not the jiāng that hands a verb its object.

This humble Daoist will match him outright with the martial arts I learned in my youth on Mount Zhongnan."

鍾南山 is Mount Zhongnan, south of the old capital, the most famous retreat in the country for Daoist recluses — the address itself is a claim to pedigree. 索性 is "outright, and have done with it." 將 = jiāng.

The king said: "What martial arts have you?"

有甚麼武藝: 甚 = shén. The king is still asking questions he ought to have asked twenty years ago.

Tiger-Power said: "We three brothers all have certain powers: we can strike off a head and set it on again;

神通 is spiritual power in the Buddhist sense — the supernormal faculties an adept acquires — and the three of them claim it as a family trade. 都 = dōu, all three. First on the list: strike off a head and put it back on.

split the belly and gouge the heart, and grow whole again;

Second: 剖腹剜心，還再長完 — split the belly, gouge the heart, and grow whole again. 還 = hái, again; 長 = zhǎng, to grow.

and in a cauldron of boiling oil, we can even take a bath."

And third, offered as an afterthought: 滾油鍋裡，又能洗澡, and in a cauldron of boiling oil we can even take a bath. The casualness is the boast.

The king, greatly alarmed, said: "These three things are all roads to death."

此三事都是尋死之路 — these three things are all roads to death. 都 = dōu. It is the soundest thing the king says all chapter, and he says it about the wrong people.

Tiger-Power said: "We have this power, and only so dare speak so boldly — we must wager him to a finish."

朗言 is bold, ringing speech, the kind you cannot take back. 賭個才休 — wager it out to a finish.

That king called out: "Monk of the Eastern Land — my National Preceptor will not let you go, but would still wager you at cutting off the head, splitting the belly, and bathing down in a cauldron of boiling oil."

東土的和尚, monk of the Eastern Land, is how everyone west of China addresses Tripitaka's party for the rest of the journey. 那 = nà; 還 = hái; 哩 = li, which puts a slightly apologetic wobble in the king's voice.