原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
滅人威風 Do Not Deflate My Spirit
行者道：「你好滅人威風。老孫到處降妖，你見我弱與誰的？只是不動手，動手就要贏。」行者道：「你好灭人威风。老孙到处降妖，你见我弱与谁的？只是不动手，动手就要赢。」
逐句解 Line by line
行者道：「你好滅人威風。
行者道：「你好灭人威风。
Pilgrim said, "You are very good at snuffing out a man's spirit.
滅人威風, to extinguish someone's awe-inspiring air, is still current Chinese for taking the wind out of somebody.
老孫到處降妖，你見我弱與誰的？
老孙到处降妖，你见我弱与谁的？
Old Sun subdues fiends wherever he goes. When have you seen me the weaker against anyone?
降 is xiáng, to subdue and make submit — not the jiàng of descending. The reading flips entirely with the sense, and this is the third of four in the chapter.
只是不動手，動手就要贏。」
只是不动手，动手就要赢。」
It is only that I do not start it; and once I start it, I mean to win."
Ten characters, and the boasting drops away completely. This is the flattest and most convincing thing he says in the chapter.
The last line is the best sentence Pilgrim gets. After a chapter of elixir-stealing, hell-threatening bombast, he states his actual position in ten characters: I do not pick fights, and I do not lose them.
The contrast with the earlier boast is deliberate. That was a performance for frightened monks. This is an argument with someone he cannot impress and does not need to.
His complaint about having his spirit snuffed out is the sulk of someone who has been talked down to. It is also, for once, fair — his master has spent the chapter overruling judgements that turned out to be right.