Canonical Classics ← 第六十六回
第六十六回
zhūshénzāoshǒu
yāo

The Gods Fall Victim to a Vicious Hand · Maitreya Binds the Demon Fiend

敗陣就走
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

敗陣就走 He Broke And Ran

lángbàngshàngqiánláidòusūnxíngzhěyíngzhemiànquántóufàngshuāngshǒulūnbàngyāojīngzháolejìn退tuìguǒránnòngbāozhǐ使shǐbàngláigǎnxíngzhěhuǎngxiàbàizhènjiùzǒuyāojīngzhígǎndào西shānxiàlángbàngshàngqiánláidòusūnxíngzhěyíngzhemiànquántóufàngshuāngshǒulūnbàngyāojīngzháolejìn退tuìguǒránnòngbāozhǐ使shǐbàngláigǎnxíngzhěhuǎngxiàbàizhènjiùzǒuyāojīngzhígǎndào西shānxià


逐句解 Line by line

lángbàngshàngqiánláidòu lángbàngshàngqiánláidòu

He raised the wolf-tooth club at once and came forward to fight.

here is the character for combat, kept distinct throughout this edition from the of the somersault cloud.

sūnxíngzhěyíngzhemiànquántóufàngshuāngshǒulūnbàng sūnxíngzhěyíngzhemiànquántóufàngshuāngshǒulūnbàng

Sun the Pilgrim met him face to face, opened his fist, and swung the rod with both hands.

is zhe. 把拳頭一放 is the spell being discharged, and the narrative gives it five characters in the middle of a sentence about swordplay.

yāojīngzháolejìn退tuìguǒránnòngbāozhǐ使shǐbàngláigǎn yāojīngzháolejìn退tuìguǒránnòngbāozhǐ使shǐbàngláigǎn

The fiend was caught by the spell: he had no thought of falling back, did not after all play with his bundle, and only pressed on with his club in pursuit.

is zháo here — caught by, affected by — a third reading of this character after the zhe of the segment before and the zhuó of the one before that. returns to jìn, the spell.

xíngzhěhuǎngxiàbàizhènjiùzǒu xíngzhěhuǎngxiàbàizhènjiùzǒu

Pilgrim made a feint, broke, and ran.

Ten characters carrying out the instruction to lose. The defeat is deliberate and the narrative does not pause over it.

yāojīngzhígǎndào西shānxià yāojīngzhígǎndào西shānxià

The fiend chased him straight to the foot of the western hillside.

西山坡 is where Monkey stood weeping a few scenes ago, and where the melon field has since been planted. The chase ends at the place the chapter's lowest moment happened.


總評 Commentary

The spell works and the narrative spends four characters saying so. Caught by the restraint — and thereafter the fiend does none of the three things that have won him every previous engagement: no falling back, no bundle, only the club.

果然 is the word to notice. It means sure enough, and it registers that the bundle staying shut is the outcome Monkey engineered rather than the one Maitreya promised. The spell compelled pursuit; the boast compelled the fiend to leave his advantage behind.

The chase runs to the western hillside, and the chapter has been careful about that ground. It is where Monkey stood alone and wept, and where a Buddha has since put up a hut and planted melons. The fiend is being drawn to the one place in the world prepared for him.