鬼影也沒個 Not Even The Ghost Of A Shadow
前番我師父在那兩滴水的門樓裡，今番靜悄悄，鬼影也沒個，不知又搬在何處去也。」天王道：「任他設盡千般計，難脫天羅地網中。到洞門前再作道理。」大家就行。前番我师父在那两滴水的门楼里，今番静悄悄，鬼影也没个，不知又搬在何处去也。」天王道：「任他设尽千般计，难脱天罗地网中。到洞门前再作道理。」大家就行。
逐句解 Line by line
Last time my master was in that gatehouse with the double eaves. This time it is silent as the grave, without even the ghost of a shadow, and I have no idea where she has moved to."
兩滴水 is a roof with two runs of eaves, so the rain falls twice — the ordinary builder's phrase for a two-tiered roof, used here as a landmark. 鬼影也沒個 is not so much as a ghost's shadow, and it survives in modern Chinese in exactly this shape. 處 is chù, a place.
The Heavenly King said, "Let him lay every scheme he has: he will not get out of the net of heaven and earth.
天羅地網 is the net spread over heaven and laid across the earth, the standing image for an escape-proof cordon — and still the ordinary idiom for a dragnet. It is exactly the wrong thing to say about a cave with no bottom, and he says it with complete confidence. 中 is zhōng, in.
We will think what to do when we get to the cave mouth."
再作道理 is to work out the reasoning later — deal with it when we are there. It is what a commander says when he has no plan and does not wish to say so.
So they all set off.
Five characters. Nobody has a plan and the whole company moves anyway.
The Heavenly King answers a real difficulty with an idiom about nets, which is the sort of thing generals say. Pilgrim, who has been inside, says nothing at all.
The novel is being quietly funny about the whole expedition. Heaven has sent an army to a place where an army is useless, and what will actually find the master is one small demon losing his nerve.