慌張失智 Flustered Out Of His Wits
行者道：「這個獃根，我問信偏不驚恐，你去問就這等慌張失智。」長老道：「端的何如？」八戒道：「這老兒說：此山叫做八百里獅駝山。行者道：「这个呆根，我问信偏不惊恐，你去问就这等慌张失智。」长老道：「端的何如？」八戒道：「这老儿说：此山叫做八百里狮驼山。
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said, "You idiot root. I went and asked and was not frightened in the least; you go and ask and come back in this state, flustered out of your wits."
獃根 is an insult of a very Chinese kind — idiot to the root, stupid at source, not merely behaving foolishly. 慌張失智 is flustered and losing your wits, and Pilgrim is not wrong; he simply omits that he came back with nothing.
The elder said, "What is the truth of it?"
端的 for the third and last time in this chapter, with 的 as dì — the real state of the case. Tripitaka asked for this at the start, has not had it yet, and is still asking.
Bajie said, "The old man says this mountain is called the Lion Camel Mountain, and it runs eight hundred lǐ.
獅駝山 — the old man said ridge and Bajie reports mountain. The novel lets the slip stand, which is what happens to a name on its way through a frightened witness.
Pilgrim's contempt is magnificent and entirely unearned. He was not frightened, which is true; he also came back without an answer, which he does not mention.
Tripitaka cuts through both of them with the same three characters he has been using all chapter. Not who is braver, not whose fault it is — what is the truth of it. He has asked four times now.
And the answer, when it starts, is already slightly wrong. Ridge has become mountain in the space of one passage. It is a small thing and the novel does not flag it, but it is the first crack in a report about to be delivered by somebody who was too frightened to listen properly.