The Monkey King at once drew his gold-banded cudgel, straightened his golden armor, stepped into his cloud-walking shoes, set his purple-gold coronet firm, and sprang out the camp gate;

He arms himself in the regalia of Chapter 4 — the 黃金甲 golden cuirass, the 步雲履 cloud-treading shoes, the 紫金冠 purple-gold coronet. This is the wardrobe of a self-declared sovereign, and he puts every piece of it on before stepping outside.

and opening his eyes wide to look, he saw that the True Lord's features were indeed striking, his array elegant withal. Truly it was so:

清奇 is striking, of rare distinction; 秀氣 is refined, elegant. The narrator stops the action to look at Erlang's face, and 真個是, truly it was thus, is the cue for the descriptive verse that follows. Notice whose eyes we are borrowing: the monkey's.

His bearing pure and comely, his face nobly broad;

堂堂 is imposing, dignified, and it opens a head-to-foot portrait. Erlang is the handsomest of the gods, and the verse starts where a Chinese portrait starts — with the face.

his two ears hung to his shoulders, and his eyes shone with light.

兩耳垂肩, ears drooping to the shoulders, is a classic mark of nobility and sanctity in Chinese physiognomy, borrowed from Buddhist iconography — which is why the Buddha is always shown with long earlobes.

On his head a three-peaked flying-phoenix cap,

The 三山飛鳳帽, the three-peaked flying-phoenix cap, is Erlang's signature headgear in temple images and on the opera stage. Costume as identification: an audience knows who has walked on before he opens his mouth.

on his body a robe of pale goose-yellow.

淡鵝黃, pale goose-yellow — a soft hue, chosen to mark elegance rather than power. 一領 is one robe, 領 being the measure word for garments, counted by their collars.

Gold-threaded boots over coiling-dragon hose,

縷金靴, gold-filigreed boots, over 盤龍襪, coiling-dragon hose. The catalogue works steadily downward, as this kind of portrait always does.

a jade belt of medallion-flowers, adorned with the Eight Treasures.

The 八寶, the Eight Treasures, are a standard auspicious set of decorative emblems; 團花 is a roundel, a woven medallion pattern. 粧 here is a variant of 妝, adornment.

At his waist a pellet-bow curved like the new moon,

彈弓 (dàn gōng) is a pellet-bow, Erlang's signature ranged weapon — and worth remembering, because it is what finally brings the monkey down. 新月樣, shaped like the crescent moon. The couplet after next recalls what he once shot with it.

in his hand the three-pointed, double-edged spear.

The 三尖兩刃槍, the three-pointed double-edged lance, is Erlang's iconic weapon — the 神鋒, divine blade, that will cross the monkey's cudgel throughout the duel. If you have seen a Chinese temple image of Erlang, this is the thing in his hand.

With his axe he once cleft Peach Mountain to save his mother,

The verse now turns from what he looks like to what he did. This line invokes the legend that Erlang split 桃山, Peach Mountain, with an axe to free his mother, a goddess imprisoned beneath it for having married a mortal. Remember it: the monkey is about to throw the same story in his face, told rather differently.

with his pellets he downed the paired phoenixes of Chanluo.

彈打…雙鳳凰, shot down the twin phoenixes, is another of Erlang's famous exploits — done with the pellet-bow at his waist. 鋋羅 is a place name; the character 鋋 (read chán) is this edition's reading, where other editions print variants.

By main strength he slew the Eight Monsters, his fame spreading far,

力誅八怪, slew eight fiends by main force. The Jade Emperor's edict a few pages back said six. The figure simply varies across the legend, and neither the novel nor its readers seem to have minded.

and in sworn brotherhood bound the company of the Seven Sages of Mei Mountain.

The 梅山七聖, the Seven Sages of Mei Mountain, are Erlang and his six sworn brothers. 行 here is read háng and means a company or band — the same character that elsewhere means to walk, doing quite different work.

High-hearted, he would not own his kinship to the heavenly house,

心高不認天家眷, so high-hearted he disclaims his heavenly relations. This is the line that defines him. He is the Jade Emperor's nephew and will not trade on it; the next line says where he lives instead.

proud by nature, he took godhood and dwelt by the Guan River.

性傲, proud by nature. Choosing to live among mortals at 灌江, the Guan River, is of a piece with everything else about him — the god who answers a command but not a summons.

The Resplendent-Kindness Sage of Chicheng, numinous and efficacious,

赤城 (Chicheng) and 昭惠, Resplendent Kindness, belong to Erlang's cult-titles, the formal styles under which he was worshipped. 英靈聖 — heroic, numinous, holy — piles the honorifics of a working god three deep.

boundless in his manifestations — he is styled Erlang.

顯化無邊, manifesting without limit: he works miracles everywhere, which for a popular deity is the whole job description. The portrait closes on the name all China knew him by — 二郎, simply the Second Son.