延壽長生 The Flesh That Lengthens Life
我被他一頓釘鈀，把我築得敗下陣來。好惱啊！我這一向，常聞得人說，唐僧乃十世修行的羅漢，有人吃他一塊肉，可以延壽長生。我被他一顿钉钯，把我筑得败下阵来。好恼啊！我这一向，常闻得人说，唐僧乃十世修行的罗汉，有人吃他一块肉，可以延寿长生。
逐句解 Line by line
One round of his muckrake and he pounded me right off the field.
得 is de, hanging the result on the verb — pounded me so that I lost. 築 is the tamping verb again, the third time in this chapter, and the fiend uses it of himself.
How galling!
Three characters standing on their own. It is a bare exclamation with its own mark, but it sits in the middle of a speech rather than in front of a tag, so it keeps its place in the sequence instead of folding into what follows.
For a good while now I have often heard it said that the Tang Monk is an arhat of ten lifetimes' cultivation, and that anyone who eats a piece of his flesh can lengthen his years and live long.
長 is cháng in 長生, long life — the level reading, not the zhǎng of growing older. 十世修行 is ten lifetimes of practice, and it is the reason every demon on this road wants the same meal. 羅漢 renders the Sanskrit arhat, one who has reached the goal.
The legend arrives, as it does in every kidnapping chapter of this book. Eat the monk, live forever. It is hearsay and the fiend says so — he has often heard it said.
What makes it work is that it is true. Tripitaka really is an arhat ten lifetimes over, and the whole journey west is built on that fact being worth something.