失於拴鎖 The Keeper Who Fell Asleep
天尊聞言，即令仙將到獅子房喚出獅奴來問。那獅奴熟睡，被眾將推搖方醒，揪至中廳來見。天尊問道：「獅獸何在？」那奴兒垂淚叩頭，只教：「饒命，饒命。」天尊道：「孫大聖在此，且不打你。你快說為何不謹，走了九頭獅子。」獅奴道：「爺爺，我前日在大千甘露殿中見一瓶酒，不知偷去吃了，不覺沉醉睡著，失於拴鎖，是以走了。」天尊闻言，即令仙将到狮子房唤出狮奴来问。那狮奴熟睡，被众将推摇方醒，揪至中厅来见。天尊问道：「狮兽何在？」那奴儿垂泪叩头，只教：「饶命，饶命。」天尊道：「孙大圣在此，且不打你。你快说为何不谨，走了九头狮子。」狮奴道：「爷爷，我前日在大千甘露殿中见一瓶酒，不知偷去吃了，不觉沉醉睡着，失于拴锁，是以走了。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Heavenly Worthy heard him out and at once had his immortal officers go to the lion house and call out the lion-keeper for questioning.
將 is jiàng inside 仙將, the rank-noun again. And there is a 獅子房 - a lion house, an actual stable on the premises with a keeper attached. The chapter's monster has a stall and a groom.
That lion-keeper was fast asleep, and only woke when the officers shook him about; they hauled him by the scruff to the middle hall to be seen.
將 is jiàng again in 眾將, picking the same officers back up. 揪 is to grab by the hair or the collar and drag, which is not how immortal officers usually move about. The whole passage is a household discovering its staff has failed.
The Heavenly Worthy asked him: "Where is the lion beast?"
Five characters, and no anger in them. He asks the way a man asks where his horse has got to.
That lad let the tears fall and knocked his head on the ground, saying only: "Spare my life, spare my life."
He does not answer the question. He goes straight to begging, which tells the god and the reader everything before a word of explanation. 饒命 doubled is the standard cry of somebody who knows exactly how much trouble he is in.
The Heavenly Worthy said: "The Great Sage Sun is here, so I shall not beat you for the moment.
The mercy is conditional and temporary and openly so - not yet, because there is a guest. It is the most domestic sentence in the chapter.
"Tell me quickly why you were not careful, and let the nine-headed lion get away."
為何 keeps 為 on wèi here, the reading meaning for or because of - why, on what account - as against the wéi of being and acting as that this chapter has used eight times. Same character, opposite job.
The lion-keeper said: "Grandfather, the day before yesterday I saw a bottle of wine in the Hall of Great Thousand Sweet Dew, and without knowing what it was I stole it and drank it, and fell so deeply drunk that I went to sleep, and failed at the tying and locking - and that is how he got away."
The whole catastrophe of the chapter, explained. 著 is zháo inside 睡著, the reading for something that takes hold - sleep catching him rather than sleep he chose. 失於拴鎖 - a failure at the tying and locking - is the language of a groom who left a stable door open.
Everything in this chapter - the stolen weapons, the seven lions, the beating, the six people in a mouth, the kingdom with no heirs - comes down to a stable lad who drank something he found and went to sleep without checking the fastenings.
The novel does not present this as a revelation or a twist. It presents it as a domestic staffing matter. There is a lion house on the premises. There is a keeper. The keeper is asleep and has to be shaken awake and dragged in by the collar. His employer asks where the animal has got to, in five characters, without raising his voice.
And the keeper's answer is the one every servant in the world gives. He does not deny it, explain it away or blame anyone. He weeps, begs, and admits he failed at the tying and the locking. The most powerful creature in the chapter got loose because somebody did not check a catch.