須要關文 We Shall Need The Passport
行者道：「也且莫忙。我們西去還有國王，須要關文，方才去得；不然，將甚執照？等我還去尋行李來。」行者道：「也且莫忙。我们西去还有国王，须要关文，方才去得；不然，将甚执照？等我还去寻行李来。」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said, "Not so fast, either.
The second time he has said it in as many pages, and the reader is beginning to share Bajie's feelings about it.
There are kingdoms yet on our road west, and we shall need the passport before we can get through;
關文 is the travel document Tang Taizong issued Tripitaka, stamped at every border he crosses, and the pilgrims genuinely cannot proceed without it. 得 in 去得 is de, marking possibility: able to go.
otherwise, what warrant shall we show?
甚 is shén, what, not shèn, extremely. 執照 is a licence or permit, and it is still the word on a Chinese driving licence.
Let me go back and look for the luggage."
Eight characters, and it is the second errand. He has already been back for the horse.
This is the most bureaucratic escape attempt in world literature and it is entirely serious. Four people are running from a palace of cannibals and the delay is caused by paperwork.
The thing is, Wukong is right. The passport really is required, every kingdom on the road really does stamp it, and arriving at the next border without it would mean detention. He is weighing a certain administrative disaster against a probable escape, and choosing correctly on the arithmetic.
It is worth naming what the novel is doing here, because it does it often. The journey to fetch scripture is imagined as a posting, complete with documents, and the demons run a palace with a duty roster. Heaven, hell and the road all have paperwork, and only Wukong ever seems to notice how absurd that is — and he still fills the forms in.