原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
不分輸贏 Twenty Rounds And No Winner
那老魔與大聖鬥經二十餘合，不分輸贏。那老魔与大圣斗经二十余合，不分输赢。
逐句解 Line by line
那老魔與大聖鬥經二十餘合，不分輸贏。
那老魔与大圣斗经二十余合，不分输赢。
The old fiend and the Great Sage fought through twenty rounds and more, with neither winning nor losing.
合 is the round or bout, the unit these single combats are counted in — and the old fiend came out of his cave promising himself only three of them. He has managed twenty-odd.
Sixteen characters, and they undo the entire preceding page. Two enormous recitations, a sabre poem, a staff poem, a battle rhapsody — and the result is a draw. The book spends its most elaborate verse on a fight that settles nothing.
The number is the quiet joke. He bargained with himself for three rounds, after which he would shut the doors and let the pilgrims pass. He is seven times past that and still swinging, which is what happens to a man who came out to protect a reputation.