怕煙敗走 Undone by the Smoke
大聖道：「等我捻著訣，鑽入火中。」掄鐵棒，尋妖要打。那妖見他來到，將一口煙劈臉噴來。行者急回頭，煼得眼花雀亂，忍不住淚落如雨。原來這大聖不怕火，只怕煙。當年因大鬧天宮時，被老君放在八卦爐中鍛過一番，他幸在那巽位安身，不曾燒壞。只是風攪得煙來，把他煼做火眼金睛，故至今只是怕煙。那妖又噴一口，行者當不得，縱雲頭走了。那妖王卻又收了火具，回歸洞府。大圣道：「等我捻着诀，钻入火中。」抡铁棒，寻妖要打。那妖见他来到，将一口烟劈脸喷来。行者急回头，煼得眼花雀乱，忍不住泪落如雨。原来这大圣不怕火，只怕烟。当年因大闹天宫时，被老君放在八卦炉中锻过一番，他幸在那巽位安身，不曾烧坏。只是风搅得烟来，把他煼做火眼金睛，故至今只是怕烟。那妖又喷一口，行者当不得，纵云头走了。那妖王却又收了火具，回归洞府。
逐句解 Line by line
The Great Sage said: ‘Let me pinch the spell-sign and bore into the fire.’
捻著訣 ‘pinch the spell-sign’: 著 zhe (durative). 鑽入火中 中 zhōng. Wukong resolves on a direct assault despite the failed rain.
He swung his iron cudgel and went seeking the demon to strike.
掄鐵棒，尋妖要打 ‘swung the cudgel and sought the demon to strike’. A brief bridging clause. No NT graphs.
The demon, seeing him come, took a mouthful of smoke and blew it straight in his face.
那妖 nà (deictic). 將一口煙劈臉噴來 ‘took a mouthful of smoke and blew it at his face’: 將 jiāng (disposal); 一 before 口 t3 → yì. The demon's smoke, not the fire, undoes Wukong.
The Pilgrim hastily turned his head, so smoked that his eyes swam and dazzled, and could not help his tears falling like rain.
行者 xíng. 煼得眼花雀亂 ‘smoked till his eyes swam and dazzled’: 煼 chǎo (‘to smoke/scorch’); 得 de (complement). 淚落如雨 ‘tears fell like rain’: 落 luò (‘fall’; dump-verified). 忍不住 (不 before 住 t4 → bú).
For the truth was, this Great Sage did not fear fire — only smoke.
原來這大聖不怕火，只怕煙 ‘the truth is, this Great Sage feared not fire but smoke’ (不 before 怕 t4 → bú). The narrator pauses to explain the surprising vulnerability.
In the year he made his great havoc in Heaven, he had been placed by Lord Lao in the Eight-Trigram Furnace and refined a while; but he had luckily taken shelter in the Xun position, and so was not burnt.
當年 dāng (temporal). 八卦爐中 中 zhōng (‘in the Eight-Trigram Furnace’). 他幸在那巽位安身 ‘luckily sheltered in the Xun position’: 那 nà (deictic); 巽 xùn (the ☴ trigram, wind/southeast — the one quarter of the furnace without fire). 一番 (一 before 番 t1 → yì); 不曾 (不 before 曾 t2 → bù). The origin-story of Wukong's peculiar weakness.
It was only that the wind stirred the smoke to him, and smoked him into eyes of fire and golden pupils — and so to this day he fears only smoke.
風攪得煙來 ‘the wind stirred the smoke over’: 攪 jiǎo (‘stir’); 得 de (complement). 把他煼做火眼金睛 ‘smoked him into fiery eyes and golden pupils (火眼金睛)’: 煼 chǎo. The famous etiology of Wukong's fire-eyes — and of his one weakness.
The demon blew another mouthful; the Pilgrim could not bear it, and rose on his cloud and fled.
那妖 nà (deictic). 又噴一口 (一 before 口 t3 → yì). 行者當不得 ‘the Pilgrim could not bear it’: 當 dāng (‘withstand’); 得 de (potential, 當不得); 不 before base 得 t2 → bù. 縱雲頭走了 ‘rose on his cloud and fled’: 了 le. Wukong's second defeat.
The demon king then put away his fire-gear once more and returned to his cave-mansion.
那妖王 nà (deictic). 卻又收了火具 ‘put away his fire-gear again’: 了 le. 回歸洞府 ‘returned to his cave’. The demon's second, seemingly complete victory.
Wukong's direct assault on the fire fails for a reason the narrator stops to explain — one of the novel's best-loved bits of lore. The Great Sage does not fear fire; he fears smoke. When he was refined in Lord Lao's Eight-Trigram Furnace (Chapter 7), he sheltered in the Xun (☴) position — the trigram of wind, the one quarter with no flame — and so survived unburnt, but the wind-driven smoke scorched his eyes into the famous 火眼金睛 (‘fiery eyes and golden pupils’) and left him, ever after, vulnerable to smoke alone.
The demon, whether by luck or instinct, has found the one chink in the Great Sage's armour. His smoke drives Wukong from the field a second time, and he withdraws in seeming triumph. With water proven useless and Wukong himself driven off, the chapter has run its course to the defeat its title names; the next will bring the only power that can subdue this fire — Guanyin.