Tripitaka said: "If we may not go in, still I am truly hungry."

The master does not dispute a word of the argument. He simply restates the appetite, which is unanswerable. 著實 is a fixed word here, with 著 as zhuó: truly, in earnest.

Pilgrim said: "If you are really hungry, Master, then please dismount and sit here on this level ground, and let me beg some food elsewhere and bring it back for you."

Wukong concedes at once — no second attempt at persuasion. 化齋 is to beg a meal, the standing business of a travelling monk; 平處 is the flat ground, which is about to take the ring.

Tripitaka did as he said and dismounted; Bajie took a firm hold of the reins.

採定 is to take a grip and hold it fast. The disciples are shown obeying in order, one after another, which makes the disobedience later land harder.

Sha Monk set down the baggage, undid the bundle at once, took out the alms bowl and handed it to Pilgrim.

缽盂 is the alms bowl a monk begs with. 解 is jiě, to untie. Sha Monk's competence is quiet and constant, and the novel almost never remarks on it.

Pilgrim took the bowl in his hand and instructed Sha Monk: "Worthy brother, you must not go forward. Guard the Master well and keep him sitting steady here; wait till I am back with the food, and then we go west again."

手中 has 中 as zhōng, within. The instruction goes to Sha Monk, the reliable one — and it is Bajie, who is not given it, who will undo it.

Sha Monk assented.

領諾, to receive an order and agree to it. Four characters, no argument. Hold this beside the speeches Bajie makes later.

Pilgrim spoke to Tripitaka again: "Master, this place holds little luck and much peril. On no account stir and go off elsewhere. Old Monkey is away to beg food."

去處 takes 處 as chù, a place. 少吉多凶, luck slight and peril great, is a fortune-teller's phrase — Wukong is reading the ground the way a diviner reads a chart. This is the third warning, and the last plain one.

The Tang Monk said: "No need for more words. Only go quickly and come back quickly. I shall wait for you here."

The master answers a warning about danger with impatience about the errand. He agrees to wait without ever once agreeing that there is anything to wait out.

Pilgrim turned to go, then came back and said: "Master, I know you have no great gift for sitting still. Let me give you a little method for keeping safe."

沒甚坐性 — no staying power, no gift for sitting still; 甚 is shén. 法兒 takes the little er ending that makes a thing sound small and handy: not a Method but a knack. Wukong knows his master exactly, which is why what happens next surprises nobody but Tripitaka.

He took out the gold-hooped rod, gave it a shake, and drew a ring right round on the level ground, asking the Tang Monk to sit in the middle; he set Bajie and Sha Monk to stand in attendance left and right, and put the horse and the baggage close by.

將 is the jiāng that takes hold of the object and does something to it. 著 here is zhuó, to set someone to a task. 中間 has zhōng, within. 週圍 is a variant spelling of 周圍, round about. Note what the ring is drawn with: the same rod that fights demons. That is why it holds.

He put his palms together before the Tang Monk and said: "This ring Old Monkey has drawn is stronger than any wall of bronze or rampart of iron. Let there be tigers, leopards, wolves or vermin, fiends, demons, ghosts or freaks — not one will dare come near.

強 is qiáng, stronger than. 銅牆鐵壁 — a wall of bronze, a rampart of iron — is still the phrase Chinese reaches for when something cannot be got through, and you will hear it today about a defence in football or a border nobody crosses. The claim is true, and the chapter never takes it back. The ring is not breached. It is walked out of.

Only you must not walk outside the ring. Sit steady in the middle and I answer for your safety; but once you step out of the ring, you will surely meet a cruel hand.

無虞 is "with nothing to worry about". 圈兒 takes the little er ending; 中間 has zhōng, within. The condition is put as plainly as a condition can be put, which is what turns the coming lapse into a moral event rather than an accident.

By all means, by all means; I beg you, I beg you."

Two doubled formulas to finish on: 千萬千萬, by all means, and 至祝, an earnest entreaty, said twice. The repetition is a measure of how little Wukong trusts the promise he has just been given.

Tripitaka did as he said, and master and disciples all sat down upright.

端然 is upright and composed, a word about posture. The passage closes with everybody obedient and seated. It is the last such moment in the chapter.