Pilgrim bowed again in thanks: "I am much obliged for your instruction, venerable sir. How should there be any question of my not going to look for them?"

稱謝 is chēng, to express thanks. 指教 has 教 as jiào. The answer comes as a rhetorical question, which is how Wukong declines advice without ever refusing it.

He tipped the food out for him, and put the empty alms bowl away himself.

倒與他 has 倒 as dào, to tip out, not dǎo, to topple; 將 is the jiāng that takes hold of the object. He hands over the meal he stole, and beat an old man to get, without a word about either.

The old man set down his staff, took the bowl and passed it to the lad — and the pair of them showed their true forms, knelt down together and knocked their heads on the ground, calling: "Great Sage, we little gods dared not conceal it from you."

本相 takes 相 as xiàng, appearance. 現出本相, showing the true form, is the standard formula for a disguise coming off. The timing is the joke: they reveal themselves only after he has decided to go, never before.

We two are the mountain god and the local god of this mountain, and we have been waiting here to receive the Great Sage.

山神 and 土地 are the tutelary spirits of a particular place — the bottom rung of the celestial civil service, the local officials of the supernatural world, and the ones Wukong summons wherever he goes.

This food and the bowl with it we little gods will take in charge, so that the Great Sage may go light and use his powers freely.

身輕好施法力 — the practical reason, offered first and without being asked. They have thought about the fight.

When you have delivered the Tang Monk out of his peril, we will hand this food back to him, and so the Great Sage's reverence and filial care will be plain to see."

出難 takes 難 as the noun nàn, a calamity — set against 難保 in the passage before, where the same character reads nán, hard to do. 還奉 has 還 as huán, to give back; 顯得 takes 得 as the light de. They are proposing to keep the meal warm for the master, which is a small and exact kindness from two gods who are frightened of the person they are being kind to.

Pilgrim shouted at them: "You hairy demons deserve a beating. Since you knew I had come, why did you not meet me at once, instead of hiding your heads and showing your tails like this? What is the sense of it?"

藏頭露尾 takes 藏 as cáng, to hide — hiding the head and showing the tail, that is, being furtive about something. It is still the ordinary Chinese for shiftiness, and it is a good deal ruder than the English makes it sound. 甚道理 is shén. He is angry about the disguise and not at all about the news.

The local god said: "The Great Sage is quick-tempered, and we little gods dared not be forward, for fear of offending your dignity. That is why we made our report in a borrowed shape."

造次 is to act rashly or out of turn. 犯威顏 is to offend against somebody's dignity. Their excuse is that he is frightening, and he does not dispute it.

Pilgrim swallowed his anger: "I will hold the beating on account. Take good care of the bowl for me, and wait while I go and take that fiend."

記打 is to enter a beating in the ledger and collect it later — a joke Wukong makes often enough for it to count as a habit. 收著 uses zhe for a continuing state. The scene ends with him going off alone and the food in safe keeping.

The local god and the mountain god received their orders.

遵領 is to receive an order respectfully. Six characters, and the passage closes.