樓臺殿閣 No Tower To Be Seen
一行文武官引導，那國王並行者相攙，穿過皇宮，到了御花園後，更不見樓臺殿閣。行者道：「避妖樓何在？」說不了，只見兩個太監拿兩根紅漆扛子，往那空地上掬起一塊四方石板。一行文武官引导，那国王并行者相搀，穿过皇宫，到了御花园后，更不见楼台殿阁。行者道：「避妖楼何在？」说不了，只见两个太监拿两根红漆扛子，往那空地上掬起一块四方石板。
逐句解 Line by line
The whole company of civil and military officers led the way. The king and Pilgrim went arm in arm through the palace and out behind the imperial garden — and there was no tower, terrace, hall or pavilion to be seen.
The whole sentence is built so that its last four characters land as a surprise: not a tower, not a terrace, not a hall or a pavilion. 一行 is yì xíng, a travelling party — 行 at xíng, not the háng of a row, which 引導 settles, since a row of officials does not lead the way. 更 is gèng.
Pilgrim said, "Where is the Demon-Avoiding Tower?"
The reader's question, asked at exactly the moment it becomes unavoidable.
Before the words were out, two eunuchs took a pair of red-lacquered poles and prised up a square slab of stone from the bare ground.
And the Demon-Avoiding Tower turns out to be a hole in the ground. 說不了 takes liǎo, to finish — before the words were out. 扛 is gāng, the carrying-pole: 康熙 glosses it 橫關對舉也, lifting a crossbar with both hands. 空地 takes kòng, vacant ground, against the kōng of open sky that the same character takes elsewhere in this chapter.
The whole company processes through the palace, the king and Pilgrim arm in arm, out past the imperial garden — and then the sentence ends: not a tower, not a terrace, not a hall or a pavilion to be seen. The build of it saves the surprise for the last four characters.
Pilgrim asks the reader's question and the answer arrives before he has finished asking it. Two eunuchs with red-lacquered poles prise up a square slab of stone from the bare ground. The Demon-Avoiding Tower is a hole.