隨即長出 The Heads Grow Back
那牛王腔子裡又鑽出一個頭來，口吐黑氣，眼放金光。被哪吒又砍一劍，頭落處，又鑽出一個頭來。一連砍了十數劍，隨即長出十數個頭。那牛王腔子里又钻出一个头来，口吐黑气，眼放金光。被哪咤又砍一剑，头落处，又钻出一个头来。一连砍了十数剑，随即长出十数个头。
逐句解 Line by line
Out of the Bull King's trunk another head came boring up, spitting black vapour from the mouth and shooting golden light from the eyes.
The decisive stroke undoes itself in twenty-one characters. 腔子 is the body from the neck down, taking the light 子, zi. 鑽 is to bore or drill, so the head does not appear — it works its way out.
Nezha struck again with the sword, and where the head fell another came boring up.
The repetition is exact and deliberate: the same clause that ended the previous line opens this one, and the pattern is about to be stated as a number. 落 holds at luò and 處 at chù, "at the point where".
He struck a dozen strokes running, and a dozen heads grew straight out after them.
十數 twice over, once for the strokes and once for the heads, and the arithmetic makes the point that force will not settle this. 長出 takes 長 at zhǎng, to grow — where the same character eight lines on at 丈二長短 needs carrying to cháng.
The decisive stroke undoes itself in twenty-one characters. A head bores up out of the trunk, spitting black vapour and shooting golden light, and the fight the previous passage ended has not ended.
The novel then does the arithmetic rather than the description. 一連砍了十數劍，隨即長出十數個頭 — a dozen strokes and a dozen heads. What had been a duel becomes a demonstration that cutting is the wrong instrument, and the passage is over as soon as the point is made.