Only then was the old man's mind at ease, and he said with a smile, 'Venerable Elder, take no offence.'

長老 is zhǎng lǎo, the respectful address for a senior monk — 長 here is the zhǎng of seniority, against the cháng of physical length in 山長水更長 in the autumn poem. Using 云 instead of 曰 for "said" is a small literary flourish in otherwise plain prose.

'This old fellow's eyes clouded for a moment, and I failed to recognise your honoured face.'

眼花, literally "flowery eyes," is the ordinary idiom for sight blurring with age. 尊顏, "your honoured face," is politeness laid on thick. The whole apology is a courteous fiction: he took Pilgrim for a monster because Pilgrim looks like one.

Pilgrim said, 'You are too kind.'

不敢, literally "I would not dare," is the standard way of brushing off a compliment or an apology. The exchange is pure formula, and its shortness is the joke.

The old man asked again, 'And which road is your master on?'

令師, "your honoured teacher" — 令 is lìng, the polite prefix you attach to another person's relatives. It is the same character that Sha Monk used a moment ago for the seasonal ordinances, in the same reading. 那條 asks which, nǎ.

Pilgrim said, 'Is that not he, standing there on the main road at the southern end?'

And now 那 points rather than asks — nà, against the nǎ of the question it is answering. 立的不是 is a colloquial tag question, roughly "that's him standing there, isn't it?"

The old man bade him, 'Ask him to come, ask him to come.'

教 is jiào in its "have someone do something" sense. Saying 請來 twice is ordinary spoken emphasis.

Pilgrim was delighted. He gave one wave of his hand, and Tripitaka came forward at once with Eight Rules and Sha Monk, leading the white horse and shouldering the baggage; and all of them made their bows to the old man.

把手一招, one beckon of the hand. 挑 is tiāo, to carry a load slung on a shoulder pole — which is Eight Rules' permanent job in this company.