Five hundred years ago he made havoc in the palace of heaven. The twenty-eight lunar mansions above, the nine luminary star officers, the twelve earthly branches, the five ministers and four counsellors, the stars and dippers of east and west, the two gods of north and south, the five peaks and four watercourses, the divine generals of all heaven — not one of them could get the better of him. How do you dare want to eat the Tang Monk?"

Eight ranks of heaven listed in one breath, and the whole of it is one sentence fifty-eight characters long — the longest in the chapter. 相 is xiàng, a minister, and 將 is jiàng, a general: both are ranks here, nouns rather than the verbs the same characters carry elsewhere. In 惹得他過 the 得 is de, the weak link that makes a phrase about whether a thing can be managed — could not get past him.

The old fiend said, "How do you come to know him in such detail?"

The right question, at last, and far too late to help. 知得 puts 得 at dé, the full reading after a verb of knowing.