妖精家供養 This Is What She Worships
行者放在地下道：「你們看。」沙僧近前看時，上寫著「尊父李天王之位」、「尊兄哪吒三太子位」。沙僧道：「此意何也？」行者道：「這是那妖精家供養的。行者放在地下道：「你们看。」沙僧近前看时，上写着「尊父李天王之位」、「尊兄哪咤三太子位」。沙僧道：「此意何也？」行者道：「这是那妖精家供养的。
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim set them down on the ground. "Look at these."
He does not argue. He puts the tablets in the road and lets his brothers read them, which is exactly what he will do in front of the Jade Emperor.
Sha Monk came close and looked, and there written above were HONOURED FATHER, HIS PLACE, LI THE HEAVENLY KING and HONOURED ELDER BROTHER, NEZHA, THIRD PRINCE, HIS PLACE.
The novel repeats both inscriptions in full rather than saying he read them out. That is deliberate: the wording is about to become the text of a legal document, so the reader needs to have it by heart. 著 is zhe, written and still standing written, and 太子 takes 子 at zǐ, the full third tone of a title.
Sha Monk said, "What does this mean?"
Sha Monk asks the question the reader is asking. He is the one the novel most often uses for this, because he can ask without seeming stupid.
Pilgrim said, "This is what that fiend's household worships.
供養 keeps 供 at gòng, the reading for setting out offerings, as against the gōng that means providing for someone alive. The whole case turns on that distinction: these are not portraits of relatives, they are an altar.
Pilgrim's method here is worth noticing because it is not his usual one. He does not explain, he exhibits — sets the objects down, invites his brothers to read, and lets the lettering make the argument.
He is rehearsing. Everything he does in this passage he will do again in front of the throne, and it will work the second time for the same reason it works here.