原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
我輩不能 “We Cannot”
那道士怎麼有那樣本事？就叫，那龍王見大聖在此，也不敢出頭。道士云：「我輩不能，你是叫來。」那道士怎么有那样本事？就叫，那龙王见大圣在此，也不敢出头。道士云：「我辈不能，你是叫来。」
逐句解 Line by line
那道士怎麼有那樣本事？
那道士怎么有那样本事？
How could those Daoists have any such power?
Deictic 那道士 / 那樣: 那 = nà (×2). 本事 “ability, skill.”
就叫，那龍王見大聖在此，也不敢出頭。
就叫，那龙王见大圣在此，也不敢出头。
Even if they called, those Dragon Kings, seeing the Great Sage here, would not dare put out their heads.
Deictic 那龍王: 那 = nà. 不敢出頭: 不 = bù before 敢 (3rd tone).
道士云：「我輩不能，你是叫來。」
道士云：「我辈不能，你是叫来。」
The Daoist said, “We cannot do it — you call them.”
我輩不能: 不 = bù before 能 (2nd tone). 你是叫來 “you are the one to call them.”
The immortals concede the point they cannot fake: the dragons will not appear for them, all the more so with the Great Sage standing by. Their flat “we cannot — you call them” hands Wukong the stage for the chapter's culminating marvel. The next batch brings the dragons into visible form in the chapter's final rhapsody, and closes the episode on its regulated couplet.