手下小妖 Five Thousand On Each Ridge
他手下小妖，南嶺上有五千，北嶺上有五千；東路口有一萬，西路口有一萬；巡哨的有四五千，把門的也有一萬；他手下小妖，南岭上有五千，北岭上有五千；东路口有一万，西路口有一万；巡哨的有四五千，把门的也有一万；
逐句解 Line by line
"Of the lesser demons under them, there are five thousand on the southern ridge and five thousand on the northern;
手下 is under the hand of — subordinates, staff. The count starts with the two ridges and it starts even, which is what makes the whole passage sound like a ledger rather than a threat.
ten thousand at the eastern road-mouth and ten thousand at the western;
路口 is the mouth of a road, a junction. The pairs keep coming and the numbers keep doubling, and the clauses shorten as they go.
four or five thousand on patrol and a further ten thousand on the gates;
巡哨 is to patrol and scout; 把門 is to hold a door. The old man has moved from geography to job descriptions, which is more frightening than the geography.
This is the passage the whole interview was for, and it is delivered as an inventory. Not a warning, not a boast — a headcount, by posting, in matched pairs.
The construction is doing the work. Four clause-pairs, each internally balanced, the numbers rising as the clauses shorten. It reads like verse and is not; the novel has simply let an accountant loose in the middle of a horror story.
And every item is a job. Ridge guards, road-mouth guards, patrols, gatekeepers. The demons of this mountain are not a swarm; they are an institution with a staffing table.