喝退土地 He Dismissed the Earth Gods
這半夜剃削成功。念動咒語，喝退土地神祗。將身一抖，兩臂上毫毛歸伏。这半夜剃削成功。念动咒语，喝退土地神祗。将身一抖，两臂上毫毛归伏。
逐句解 Line by line
That half-night's shaving was brought off.
剃削 pairs two words for cutting hair. Seven characters to report the largest single operation in the chapter.
He spoke the spell and dismissed the local gods of earth and soil.
Two readings here that the base gets wrong. 喝 is hè, to shout at somebody, not the hē that means to drink. And the second character of the earth-gods' name is written in the 1592 edition with a form that ordinarily means reverently; the dictionary records the two as interchangeable, and the word is the earth spirit, qí. The reading follows the word.
He gave his body a shake, and the hairs on both arms went back where they belonged.
歸伏 is to return and lie down again — the hairs go back to being hair. The little Pilgrims are dismissed as casually as they were made.
The clean-up is as careful as the operation. Gods dismissed, hairs recalled, staff restored — Pilgrim leaves no evidence that anything supernatural happened.
That is what makes the morning work. If the palace found a monkey or a spell it would have something to fight. What it will find is that everybody has been shaved, and no explanation at all.