原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
捨死忘生 Fighting To The Death
三個魔頭與三個和尚，一個敵一個，在那山頭捨死忘生苦戰。三个魔头与三个和尚，一个敌一个，在那山头舍死忘生苦战。
逐句解 Line by line
三個魔頭與三個和尚，一個敵一個，在那山頭捨死忘生苦戰。
三个魔头与三个和尚，一个敌一个，在那山头舍死忘生苦战。
Three demon lords and three monks, one against one, fought it out on that mountain top, careless of dying and forgetful of living.
和 reads hé in 和尚, a monk. 捨死忘生 — to throw away death and forget life, the formula for fighting with no thought of the outcome.
One against one, and the arithmetic is the trap. Three demons hold three monks, which leaves the entire escort — sixteen bearers, thirty cooks, and a walled city full of wolves — with nothing in its way. The pilgrims are winning three separate fights and losing the only thing that matters.
The phrase for how they fight means to throw away death and forget life, and it is used of men who have stopped calculating. It is the highest praise the novel gives a fighter, and it is being handed out here to three people who have been comprehensively outmanoeuvred and do not yet know it.