半空霞彩 Not Immortals but the Ugly Disciples
老王道：「我才見半空霞彩，就於宮院內同你母親等眾焚香啟拜，更不知是那裡神仙降聚也。」小王子道：「不是那裡神仙，就是那取經僧三個醜徒弟。老王道：「我才见半空霞彩，就于宫院内同你母亲等众焚香启拜，更不知是那里神仙降聚也。」小王子道：「不是那里神仙，就是那取经僧三个丑徒弟。
逐句解 Line by line
The old prince said, "I saw the rosy light in mid-air just now, and I burned incense and made obeisance in the courtyard with your mother and the rest. I had no idea what immortals had come down and gathered there."
降 is jiàng here, to descend — the one place in the chapter where the character is not xiáng, subduing, out of eleven. Immortals come down; demons get subdued. 那 is nǎ, which or where, in an indefinite sense: he does not know which immortals they were. The picture of the whole household out in the courtyard with incense while three monks larked about overhead is quietly funny.
The young princes said, "They were no immortals from anywhere. They were the scripture-seeking monk's three ugly disciples."
The correction lands with a bump, and the word 醜, ugly, is still doing its work — the boys have completely changed their opinion of these three and have not stopped calling them hideous. 那 is nǎ again, indefinite: not immortals from anywhere at all.
The father has spent the afternoon burning incense to what he took for visiting immortals. His sons have to tell him he has been worshipping the household guests.
It is the third time in the chapter that somebody looks at these three and names them wrongly, and the first time the mistake is flattering rather than insulting.
The sons keep the word ugly. Their opinion has been entirely reversed and their description has not changed a syllable, which is a sharper piece of writing than having them suddenly find the disciples handsome.