築碎二門 The Second Gate Broken
行者與八戒跳上山坡，又至石屏之後。獃子口裡亂罵「手似撈鉤」，一頓釘鈀，把那洞門外壘疊的石塊爬開。闖至一層門，又一釘鈀，將二門築得粉碎。慌得那門裡小妖飛報：「奶奶，那兩個醜男人又把二層門也打破了。」那怪正教解放唐僧，討素茶飯與他吃哩。聽見打破二門，即便跳出花亭子，掄叉來刺八戒；八戒使釘鈀迎架；行者在傍，又使鐵棒來打。那怪趕至身邊，要下毒手；行者與八戒識得方法，回頭就走。行者与八戒跳上山坡，又至石屏之后。呆子口里乱骂「手似捞钩」，一顿钉钯，把那洞门外垒叠的石块爬开。闯至一层门，又一钉钯，将二门筑得粉碎。慌得那门里小妖飞报：「奶奶，那两个丑男人又把二层门也打破了。」那怪正教解放唐僧，讨素茶饭与他吃哩。听见打破二门，即便跳出花亭子，抡叉来刺八戒；八戒使钉钯迎架；行者在傍，又使铁棒来打。那怪赶至身边，要下毒手；行者与八戒识得方法，回头就走。
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim and Bajie sprang up the slope and came once more behind the stone screen.
The stone screen is named in nine separate lines of this chapter, and the novel uses it every time as the marker of the threshold — round it is her ground, in front of it is theirs.
The idiot, cursing wildly as he went — “hands like grappling hooks!” — gave one round with his muckrake and clawed away the stones that had been piled up outside the cave door.
手似撈鉤 is fenced off by quotation marks in the source, so it is Bajie's abuse and not the narrator's description. He is describing her pincers without having the faintest idea that they are pincers. 似 is fixed corpus-wide as sì.
He burst through to the first gate, and with one more blow of the rake beat the second gate to powder.
築得粉碎 is the "smashed to" construction and takes 得 as the toneless de, not the attainment dé. 將 is the handling word jiāng.
It so alarmed the little fiends within the door that they flew to report: “Madam! Those two ugly men have broken down the second gate as well.”
慌得 is again the "so alarmed that" construction with de — the sixth such site in the chapter, and all six agree.
The fiend was at that moment having the Tang Monk untied, and calling for vegetarian tea and rice to give him.
教 is jiào in its causative use; 解放 takes 解 as jiě. What she is doing at the moment the gate comes down is worth the commentary.
Hearing that the second gate was broken she sprang out of the flower pavilion at once and swung her trident to thrust at Bajie; Bajie brought up his rake to parry; and Pilgrim, at her side, struck in as well with his iron rod.
傍 is always páng, beside. The three members separated by the two semicolons are a matched set and stay in one line.
The fiend pressed close in upon them, meaning to bring her poison to bear;
下毒手 — to lay on a poison hand — is the fixed phrase for a treacherous or venomous blow, and English says much the same with "a low blow". The clause is a complete statement and is not joined across its semicolon.
but Pilgrim and Bajie knew the way of it now, and turned about and ran.
識得 takes the attainment dé. 方法 here is the manner of the thing — the way she does it — rather than a method of their own.
One clause in this passage does more than all the fighting around it. When the second gate comes down, the fiend is 正教解放唐僧，討素茶飯與他吃 — having the Tang Monk untied and calling for vegetarian tea and rice to give him. She had him trussed like a beast the night before and dragged out under the gallery; now, with morning come, she is loosing his bonds and ordering food he is permitted to eat. The novel offers no comment. It simply lets the reader see that her household was returning to its ordinary courtesies at the moment it was broken into.
Bajie's abuse is worth noticing for what it accidentally gets right. He curses her as 手似撈鉤, hands like grappling hooks — a coarse insult, and also a precise anatomical description, since the Bodhisattva has just explained that her trident is a pair of pincer-claws grown on her. He has no idea he is being accurate.
The engagement itself is over in three clauses, and it ends with 識得方法 — they knew the way of it now — and a retreat. This is the third time the brothers have faced her and the first time neither is hurt, and the difference is purely negative: they have learned when to run. Knowledge without power is all the chapter has allowed them, and it is enough only because the answer is standing on the slope behind them.