Just as they were talking, there came from below the mountain slope a clashing of gongs and drums together, and a shouting that shook the ground.

正講處: the 正…處 frame, "just at the point of —"; 處 = chù. 只聽得: 得 = dé. Deictic 那山坡: 那 = nà.

It was the Rhinoceros King, leading out his host of sprites in pursuit of Pilgrim.

兕大王 — 兕 (sì) is the one-horned wild bovine of the classics (虎兕出於柙, Analects 16). The demon's true form, revealed at the chapter's end, is Lord Lao's blue ox; the title keeps the animal in view from the start. 帥眾: 帥 = shuài, used for 率, "to lead."

Pilgrim saw them and cried: "Good, good, good — this falls out just as I would have it. Be seated, my lords, and let Old Monkey go and take him."

見了: 了 = le. 列位 = "you gentlemen," the polite plural address to the assembled gods. 正合吾意 = "falls in exactly with my intention."

The fine Great Sage raised his iron cudgel and came on straight in the monster's face, roaring: "Where do you think you are going, wretched fiend? Mind the cudgel!"

那裡走 is rhetorical, not locative: 那 = nǎ, "where —?" 看棍: 看 = kàn; the formulaic warning cry that precedes the stroke, like 看刀 or 看箭. 劈面 = "full in the face." 喝道: 喝 = hè ("to shout"), never the hē of drinking.

The monster fended him off with his spear and cursed him: "Thieving ape's head! This is downright insolence.

Deictic 那怪: 那 = nà. 著實: 著 = zhuó in this lexicalized adverb, "downright, in very truth." 支住 = "to prop, to parry."

"How dare you plunder my goods in broad daylight?"

白晝 = "broad daylight"; the phrase returns in Pilgrim's retort, where the charge is thrown straight back. 物件 = "articles, gear."

Pilgrim said: "Why, you accursed beast, too dull to know your own death is upon you!

我把你這個… is the vituperative frame of vernacular abuse, left grammatically unfinished — the verb is swallowed by the insult. 孽畜: 畜 = chù (the noun "beast"), not the verb xù.

"It is you who work a snare-ring and seize my things in broad daylight — which of them is yours? Don't run: take a rod from your lord and master!"

你倒弄圈套: 倒 = dào, the adversative ("you, on the contrary—"), not the dǎo of 打倒 above. 那件兒 is interrogative: 那 = nǎ ("which"), with the suffix 兒 = er. 圈套 puns exactly: the ring (圈) is literally a snare (圈套).

The monster swung up his spear and warded off the blow.

Deictic 那怪物: 那 = nà. 隔架 = "to block and parry," the standard verb closing a challenge exchange and opening the set-piece verse.

It was a fine fight:

The verse tag takes its own unflagged segment. 一 before 場 (chǎng, third tone) sandhis to yì on the mechanical rule.

The Great Sage put forth his fierce might; / the fiend would neither yield nor bend.

The set-piece opens in five-syllable lines and shifts to seven at the third couplet. The rhyme is the 尤 class and holds throughout: 柔 休 頭 流 愁 頭 擻 遊 籌 休. 順柔 = "to submit and soften."

The two houses matched their valour together; / which of them would consent to break off?

那個肯干休 is rhetorical: 那 = nǎ ("which one —?"). 干休 = "to let the matter rest"; in the traditional orthography 干 is gān throughout (干戈, 何干, 若干) — the gàn of "to do" is written 幹. 兩家 is the vernacular "the two parties" of a contest, not "two households."

This one's iron rod was like a dragon's tail; / that one's long spear was like a python's head.

The 這一個…那一個 frame is the standard antiphonal device of combat verse, pairing the two fighters clause by clause down the poem. Deictic 那 = nà; 長槍: 長 = cháng ("long"), not zhǎng.

This one's rod came in a play of strokes like the sounding wind; / that one's spear held its fierce guard like running water.

解數 is a term of art from martial practice — a set sequence of moves, a form: 解 = xiè (not jiě), 數 = shù (the noun). The pair 風響 / 水流 sets sound against motion.

One saw only the coloured mists hanging dense, the ridges darkened; / the auspicious clouds massed thick, the woodlands sunk in gloom.

Deictic 那 = nà. 朦朦 and 靉靆 are both binomes of obscured light — the second an old poetic word for banked cloud. The battle darkens the landscape as it goes: a convention of the form.

The birds that filled the sky all stayed their wings; / the wolves and vermin of the four wilds drew in their heads.

盡縮頭: 盡 = jìn ("one and all"), the corpus-wide reading; the concessive jǎn sense is written 儘. 狼蟲 = "wolves and crawling things," a fixed pair for wild beasts.

On that side the little imps raised their war-cry; / on this side Pilgrim shook himself to the work.

Deictic 那陣上: 那 = nà. 這壁廂 ("on this side") answers 那陣上; the poem now sets the two camps against each other, having set the two weapons.

One iron rod, and no man to match it, / has beaten its way ten thousand miles about the West.

一條: 一 sandhis to yì before 條 (tiáo, second tone). The couplet is Pilgrim's credential, and it prepares the long autobiographical poem he will recite later in this same chapter.

That shaft of a long spear is a true opponent, / that has held the Golden Helm forever and is reckoned first among them.

Deictic 那 = nà; 長槍: 長 = cháng. 稱上籌: 稱 = chēng ("to be reckoned"), 上籌 "the top tally." On 金兜 see the note to the passage.

Meeting like this, there can be no fair parting; / till high and low are seen, they swear not to give over.

相遇: 相 = xiāng (mutual). 無好散: 散 = sàn, the verb "to break up, to part." 不見高低 — "until it is seen which is higher" — closes the poem on the terms of the contest, which the next passage will leave unsettled.