送來還我 Bring Them Back When We Leave
待我除了邪,治了國,勸正君王,臨行時,送來還我。」眾神聽令,即便各使神通,按下雲頭。待我除了邪,治了国,劝正君王,临行时,送来还我。」众神听令,即便各使神通,按下云头。
逐句解 Line by line
"Wait till I have got rid of the fiend, set the country right and brought the king back to the true way; then when we are setting out, bring them back and return them to me."
The order of operations again, and it is the same one Wukong gave Tripitaka: the demon, then the country, then the king, and the children come home last because they can only come home safely. 還 is hái in 還我, to give back.
The host of gods heard the order and at once used each his divine power, pressing down their cloud-heads.
按下雲頭 — to push the head of one's cloud downward, the standard way anyone in this novel descends. Four words of assent and they are already on the way.
Wukong's last clause is the one that separates this operation from a kidnapping. The children are to be returned to him, in person, when the party leaves — not released, not left in the woods, returned. He is taking responsibility for eleven hundred and eleven children he has never met.
And the gods simply do it. No bargaining, no conditions, no request for authority. The Great Sage's rank is worth something, and for once in the novel it is being spent on something other than his own convenience.