敗陣就走 He Broke And Ran
即舉狼牙棒,上前來鬥。孫行者迎著面,把拳頭一放,雙手掄棒。那妖精著了禁,不思退步,果然不弄搭包,只顧使棒來趕。行者虛幌一下,敗陣就走。那妖精直趕到西山坡下。即举狼牙棒,上前来斗。孙行者迎着面,把拳头一放,双手抡棒。那妖精着了禁,不思退步,果然不弄搭包,只顾使棒来赶。行者虚幌一下,败阵就走。那妖精直赶到西山坡下。
逐句解 Line by line
He raised the wolf-tooth club at once and came forward to fight.
鬥 here is the character for combat, kept distinct throughout this edition from the 斗 of the somersault cloud.
Sun the Pilgrim met him face to face, opened his fist, and swung the rod with both hands.
著 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.
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.
著 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. 禁 returns to jìn, the spell.
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.
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.
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.