原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
有三個徒弟 He Has Three Disciples
小妖道：「若是中吃，也到不得這裡，別處妖精也都吃了。他手下有三個徒弟哩。」小妖道：「若是中吃，也到不得这里，别处妖精也都吃了。他手下有三个徒弟哩。」
逐句解 Line by line
小妖道：「若是中吃，也到不得這裡，別處妖精也都吃了。
小妖道：「若是中吃，也到不得这里，别处妖精也都吃了。
The imp said, "If he were fit to eat, he would never have got this far. The fiends in other places would have eaten him already.
The argument is unanswerable and it is pure logistics: a valuable thing that has travelled a long way past hungry people is not, in practice, available. 中 is zhòng a third time — and note that this one has no 不 in front of it, so nothing else moves with it. In 不得 the 得 is de: the shape is a verb followed by 不得, which cannot, and not 不得 in front of one, which is may not.
他手下有三個徒弟哩。」
他手下有三个徒弟哩。」
He has three disciples under him."
Nine characters, and they are the whole argument. Everything before this was staging.
The reasoning is genuinely good. If the prize were takeable it would have been taken, therefore something protects it, therefore find out what.
This imp is the most intelligent creature in the chapter so far, and the novel has given him no name.