The Poison Dragon Awl (simplified: 毒龙锥, traditional: 毒龍錐, pinyin: Dúlóng Zhuī, jyutping: duk6 lung4 zeoi1) was the hereditary hidden weapon of the Tianlong School. The jianghu called it the Chasing-Fate Poison Dragon Awl (追命毒龙锥, Zhuīmìng Dúlóng Zhuī, zeoi1 meng6 duk6 lung4 zeoi1), because anyone it struck died within three shichen. The poison that gave it its name also killed Hu Yidao in Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain.
Description
The poisoned awl was a skill handed down in the Tianlong School from generation to generation. It flew fast and true, and its poison was so violent that a man struck by it died within three shichen (ch. 1). A thrower could hold three awls hidden in one hand and loose them together (ch. 1).
A wound from the awl bled black. Baoshu could only ease the pain with a pill of his own and said he could not save the victim, since the awl was a weapon unique to the Tianlong School. The school carried its own antidote: Ruan Shizhong gave Zheng Sanniang ten small black pills from one bottle to swallow and had another bottle applied to the wound (ch. 1).
The poison was the Tianlong School’s own secret preparation, unlike any other, and the awl took its name from it (ch. 7).
History
The fight in the snow
When the Tianlong School party caught up with Tao Baisui and Tao Zian digging up the iron box, Ruan Shizhong, Yin Ji and Cao Yunqi each crept forward with three awls hidden in the hand. Cao Yunqi threw his three at Tao Zian, but Tian Qingwen knocked his shoulder and all three went wide into the snow (ch. 1). Later in the fight Zheng Sanniang, who had been wounded and lay on the ground, leapt up to strike at Tao Zian from behind, and Tian Qingwen hit her right shoulder with an awl. Ruan Shizhong gave the antidote only after Baoshu asked him to show mercy (ch. 1).
On Jade Brush Peak, when Hu Fei’s left page boy had Ruan Shizhong penned in a corner, Yin Ji, Cao Yunqi and Zhou Yunyang threw more than ten awls at the boy. He caught every one in a small net fitted to the base of his dagger’s hilt (ch. 2).
The poisoned weapons at Cangzhou
According to Tao Baisui, Tian Guinong gave him a box of ointment during the duel between Hu Yidao and Miao Renfeng at Cangzhou, telling him to smear it on the two men’s weapons. Tao Baisui passed the task to the bonesetter Yan Ji, the future Baoshu. The ointment was the Tianlong School’s poison, the same that gave the awl its name, and Tao Baisui later heard that it had been mixed with drugs of the King of Venoms, so that it killed as soon as it touched blood. A light cut from the poisoned dao killed Hu Yidao within moments (ch. 5, 7).
Tian Qingwen’s threat
When Tian Qingwen told her father that Zhou Yunyang had stolen the Tianlong School’s treasured dao, she asked him to call Zhou in while she hid behind the door, so that if Zhou admitted the theft she could put an awl in his back (ch. 7).
In Side Story of the Flying Fox
In Side Story of the Flying Fox, the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old Tian Qingwen threw an iron awl (铁锥) that cut Cheng Lingsu’s candle in two as Cheng was about to light it. After Tian Guinong’s defeat, Cheng Lingsu threw the awl back coated with red scorpion powder; Tian Qingwen caught it behind her back and was in pain for days (SIDE ch. 11). The novel calls the weapon only an iron awl.
See also
- Tianlong School, whose hidden weapon it was
- Tian Qingwen, who struck Zheng Sanniang with it
- Hu Yidao, killed by the poison that gave the awl its name
- Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain items