一總打發 We Will Settle Up Together
小妖道：「長官不要忙，待我向南嶺頭會了我這一班的人，一總打發罷。」行者道：「既如此，我和你同去。」那小妖真個前走，大聖隨後相跟。小妖道：「长官不要忙，待我向南岭头会了我这一班的人，一总打发罢。」行者道：「既如此，我和你同去。」那小妖真个前走，大圣随后相跟。
逐句解 Line by line
The little demon said, "Do not be in a hurry, officer. Wait until I have gathered this shift of mine at the head of the southern ridge, and we will settle up all together."
南嶺頭 is the head of the southern ridge — the same southern ridge the old man put five thousand demons on. 一總打發 is to settle the whole lot in one go, and 打發 is still the ordinary word for paying somebody off.
Pilgrim said, "In that case, I will go along with you."
Eleven characters, and they are the object of the entire performance. Not the tally, not the rank, not the money — an invitation to walk into the middle of the establishment.
The little demon really did walk ahead, and the Great Sage followed close behind him.
真個 is the storyteller vouching once more — he really did. 隨後相跟 is to follow along behind, with 相 as xiāng. Thirteen characters of two figures walking, and the second one is being taken exactly where he wanted to go.
The demon's answer hands Pilgrim everything. He cannot pay now, so he proposes to assemble his whole shift — forty demons, at a known place, at a known time.
Pilgrim's reply is eleven characters long and does not gloat. In that case, I will come with you. The extortion was never about the silver; it was a reason to be brought along.
And the passage ends on the two of them walking, the smaller one leading. Everything the chapter's first half failed to get — what mountain, what cave, how many demons, which road — is about to be delivered by a man who thinks he is escorting his new superior to a pay parade.