乖巧機謀 Shifting And Transforming
這魔頭果是神通廣大，勢要崢嶸。只看你那移變化，乖巧機謀，可便過去；如若怠慢些兒，其實難去。」这魔头果是神通广大，势要峥嵘。只看你那移变化，乖巧机谋，可便过去；如若怠慢些儿，其实难去。」
逐句解 Line by line
This demon chief really does have vast powers and a formidable force.
勢要崢嶸 is a striking phrase: 崢嶸 describes mountains standing up sheer and jagged, and it is being used of the demon's standing. The Planet is confirming, from heaven, what the old man on the slope claimed.
It all depends on your shifting and transforming, your quickness and your stratagems — with those you may get through;
那移 is to shift or manoeuvre, and 那 is nuó here — a fourth reading of this character in the chapter, after the demonstrative and the interrogative. It is the same word the frame carries elsewhere as a pair with the character for vaulting. 乖巧機謀 is quick-wittedness and scheming, and the Planet is prescribing cunning rather than force.
but if you are the least bit slack, it will be very hard going indeed."
怠慢些兒 is to be a little bit slack, and 其實難去 is the warning proper — in truth, hard to get through. The advice is not that the demons can be beaten. It is that they can be got past.
Heaven's advice is not what Pilgrim has been telling everybody. The Planet does not say the numbers are exaggerated or the locals are nervous; he confirms the danger and recommends cleverness.
The prescription is precise, and it is not a fighting one. Shifting, transforming, quickness, stratagem — every item is about not meeting the enemy head-on, which is the opposite of a hundred and twenty metres of iron rolled across a ridge.
And the sting is in the condition. Be slack for a moment and it will be very hard. That is addressed to somebody who has spent the entire chapter telling his master there is nothing to worry about.