鼻似蛟龍 A Nose Like A Dragon
又應聲道：「二大王有何本事？」小鑽風道：「二大王身高三丈，臥蠶眉，丹鳳眼，美人聲，匾擔牙，鼻似蛟龍。若與人爭鬥，只消一鼻子捲去，就是鐵背銅身，也就魂亡魄喪。」又应声道：「二大王有何本事？」小钻风道：「二大王身高三丈，卧蚕眉，丹凤眼，美人声，匾担牙，鼻似蛟龙。若与人争斗，只消一鼻子卷去，就是铁背铜身，也就魂亡魄丧。」
逐句解 Line by line
He spoke up again. "And what can the second king do?"
又應聲道 — 應 as yìng for the second time in this passage and the fifth in the chapter. Pilgrim has got his answer and is working straight down the list.
The Little Borer of the Wind said, "The second king stands three zhàng high, with silkworm brows and phoenix eyes, a beautiful woman's voice, teeth like carrying poles and a nose like a dragon.
A portrait in matched three-character phrases, and every item but one is a compliment. 臥蠶眉 and 丹鳳眼 are stock beauties of the physiognomy books — brows like a resting silkworm, eyes like a red phoenix — and then 匾擔牙, teeth like the flat pole a porter carries loads on. 擔 is dàn in that, the pole itself rather than the carrying. Three zhàng is around nine metres.
If he fights with anyone, one sweep of that nose carries them off, and though a man had an iron back and a body of bronze his soul would still be lost and his spirit undone."
鐵背銅身 is iron back and bronze body — invulnerability as a stock four-character phrase — and 魂亡魄喪 is the two souls both gone, the Chinese way of saying utterly finished. The point is that armour is irrelevant because the nose does not strike; it picks up.
The second king is described as beautiful for four items and then given teeth like porter's poles, which is the novel enjoying itself. The physiognomy is borrowed straight from the manuals used to read faces for character.
The nose is the real information. Not a weapon but a grip — one sweep and you are carried off, and armour is beside the point because nothing is being struck.
That matters more than the swallowing did. An enemy who eats an army can be avoided; an enemy who picks individuals up cannot be fought by anybody who relies on being hard to hurt.