認得主公 He Knows His Master
這行者跳下峰頭，又高聲罵道：「腯潑孽畜！趁早出來受死！」那小妖又去報知。老魔道：「這賊猴又不知請誰來也。」急綽槍帶寶，迎出門來。行者罵道：「你這潑魔，今番坐定是死了！不要走，吃吾一掌。」急縱身跳個滿懷，劈臉打了一個耳括子，回頭就跑。那魔掄槍就趕。只聽得高峰上叫道：「那牛兒還不歸家，更待何日？」那魔擡頭，看見是太上老君，就諕得心驚膽戰道：「這賊猴真個是個地裡鬼，卻怎麼就訪得我的主公來也？」这行者跳下峰头，又高声骂道：「腯泼孽畜！趁早出来受死！」那小妖又去报知。老魔道：「这贼猴又不知请谁来也。」急绰枪带宝，迎出门来。行者骂道：「你这泼魔，今番坐定是死了！不要走，吃吾一掌。」急纵身跳个满怀，劈脸打了一个耳括子，回头就跑。那魔抡枪就赶。只听得高峰上叫道：「那牛儿还不归家，更待何日？」那魔抬头，看见是太上老君，就諕得心惊胆战道：「这贼猴真个是个地里鬼，却怎么就访得我的主公来也？」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim sprang down from the peak and railed again at the top of his voice: "Bloated accursed beast! Come out quickly and take your death!"
孽畜: 畜 is chù. The same two insults he used at the last challenge — the narrator is holding the formula perfectly steady, so that what breaks it will register.
The little imps went off again to carry the news.
那小妖 points, so 那 is nà. The third and last of these errands, and the shortest sentence any of them has been given.
The old fiend said: "That thieving ape has fetched somebody again, and there is no knowing who."
Word for word the demon's line before the previous engagement. This time the answer to 不知請誰, "there is no knowing who," is the one being in the universe he cannot fight.
In haste he gripped his spear, took the treasure with him and came out at the gate to meet him.
綽槍: 綽 is chāo, to snatch up; the automatic tool gives chuò. 帶寶 — he has never once come out without the ring on him, and that unbroken habit is exactly what makes the next passage possible.
Pilgrim railed: "You foul fiend, this time you are as good as dead! Don't run — take a slap from me."
Note what he offers. 死了: 了 is le; 一掌: 一 is yì before a third tone. 坐定 is "settled, certain." He threatens him with a slap rather than the cudgel, for the excellent reason that he has no cudgel.
He sprang in close, chest to chest, dealt him a box on the ear full in the face, turned his head and ran.
打了: 了 is le; 耳括子 takes the bare ending zi; 一個: 一 is yí. The Great Sage's entire contribution to the final capture is one box on the ear and a sprint.
The fiend whirled his spear and gave chase.
那魔 points, so 那 is nà.
And then from the high peak a voice was heard calling: "Ox! Are you not going home yet — what are you waiting for?"
And here is the weapon the chapter has been looking for since Chapter 50. 只聽得: 得 is dé; 那牛兒 points, so 那 is nà, and 兒 is er; 還不: 還 is hái; 更待何日: 更 is gèng. The line is exactly what a farmer bawls across a field at a beast that has wandered off.
The fiend raised his head, saw that it was Laozi the Most High, and was so terrified that his heart shook and his gall trembled: "That thieving ape is a very ghost of the local soil! How ever did he manage to find out my master and fetch him here?"
那魔 points, so 那 is nà; 看見: 看 is kàn; 諕得: 諕 is xià (the automatic tool gives háo), and 得 is de; 訪得: 得 is dé, marking success — two readings of the one character a clause apart. 地裡鬼 is "a ghost of the local ground", somebody who knows every secret of a place; the modern equivalent would be saying someone has eyes everywhere. 主公, master or owner, is the word the chapter's title turns on.
The reversal takes one sentence, and the sentence is neither a spell nor a threat. 那牛兒還不歸家，更待何日 — ox, are you not going home yet, what are you waiting for? It is what a farmer shouts across a field at a beast that has strayed, and the whole elaborate machinery of the chapter collapses the moment it is heard. Everything that failed — the cudgel, six celestial weapons, the fire-armoury, the Water Earl's flood, eighteen grains of the Buddha's golden sand — failed because it was aimed at the ring. This is aimed at the animal.
The demon's own words complete it. He is terrified, and what he says is not that he is outmatched but that Pilgrim has found 我的主公 — my master, my owner. The chapter's title has been pointing here from the start: 如來暗示主人公, the Tathāgata hints at who the owner is. A monster who could not be burned, drowned, buried or beaten is undone by being recognised as somebody's property, and he is the one who supplies the word for it.