請旨調來 We Came By Decree
沙僧認得是二星，隨同拜謝。因問：「二位如何到此相救？」二星道：「吾等是孫大聖奏玉帝請旨調來收怪救你也。」唐僧又滴淚道：「我悟空徒弟怎麼不見進來？」二星道：「那三個老怪是三隻犀牛，他見吾等，各各顧命，向東北艮方逃遁，孫大聖帥井木犴、角木蛟追趕去了。我二星掃蕩群牛到此，特來解放聖僧。」唐僧復又頓首拜謝，朝天又拜。沙僧认得是二星，随同拜谢。因问：「二位如何到此相救？」二星道：「吾等是孙大圣奏玉帝请旨调来收怪救你也。」唐僧又滴泪道：「我悟空徒弟怎么不见进来？」二星道：「那三个老怪是三只犀牛，他见吾等，各各顾命，向东北艮方逃遁，孙大圣帅井木犴、角木蛟追赶去了。我二星扫荡群牛到此，特来解放圣僧。」唐僧复又顿首拜谢，朝天又拜。
逐句解 Line by line
Sha Monk knew the two stars, and made his bow of thanks along with the rest.
認得 — knew, recognised. Sha Monk spent his own celestial career as Curtain-Raising Grand Marshal before he was thrown out of heaven, so he is the one who knows these officials by sight. It is a quiet piece of characterisation: the least regarded of the three is the one who used to work upstairs.
He asked, "How did the two of you come here to the rescue?"
相救 — come to each other's aid. The character is the mutual xiāng, the same one that meant "locked against each other" in the fighting.
The two stars said, "We are the ones the Great Sage Sun reported to the Jade Emperor and begged a decree to have told off, to take these fiends and save you."
The whole chain of authority in one sentence: reported, decree, told off, came. Nobody in this novel's heaven does anything without a paper trail, and the stars are careful to say so.
The Tang Monk shed tears again and said, "How is it my disciple Wukong has not come in?"
Freed, thanked and unhurt, and his first question is where Wukong is. 又滴淚 — shed tears again. It is the fourth time he has wept in the chapter, and for the second time it is not for himself.
The two stars said, "Those three old fiends are three rhinoceroses. When they saw us, every one of them looked to his own life and bolted away to the northeast, to the quarter of Gen, and the Great Sage Sun has led the Well Wood Hound and the Horn Wood Dragon off in pursuit.
The northeast again, and the trigram again — the fifth time this chapter has given that direction and the third time in the language of the Book of Changes. The demons ran the way they arrived.
We two stars swept up the herd of oxen as far as here, and have come specially to set the holy monk free."
掃蕩 — to sweep clean, the word for mopping up after a battle. It is what the two who tried to avoid the job have spent the whole engagement doing.
The Tang Monk bowed his head to the ground in thanks again, and bowed once more towards the sky.
Two bows: one to the officials in front of him and one to the heaven that sent them. 朝天又拜 is the bow to the empty air, and it is the same gesture that got him into this — he bowed to three false Buddhas on a bridge because they were above him and shining.
The rescue told from the other side of the door. Everything in the last batch was seen from outside; this is what it looked like to three people chained in the dark when the shouting stopped and two star-gods walked in.
The Tang Monk's first act on being freed is to ask where Wukong is, and his second is to weep. He has spent the chapter being frightened, giving away his disciple's secrets, and bowing to whoever has power over him — and he has also prayed for these disciples when he thought nobody could hear, and refused to believe the monkey had deserted him. The novel does not tidy him up.
Note the last gesture. He bows to the sky. This is a man whose entire trouble began with bowing to something bright and high up that turned out to be a rhinoceros in costume, and the chapter lets him do it again without comment. He has not learnt anything, and he was not really wrong either — this time the help really did come from up there.