Also referred to as The Touch of Death is a martial art technique famed to be of most lethal force without the use of much effort. It is used by targeting certain acupressure points on the body to theoretically immobilize a victim.

In Chinese its called Dim Mak (traditional Chinese 點脈 / 點穴 - simplified Chinese 点脉 / 点穴) and means ‘blow at arteries’ and is also known as Dian Xue Shu and is a profound teaching closely connected to Chinese traditional medicine. Apart from it being a secret body of knowledge it is a very difficult skill to master as suggested in kung fu movies such as Kill bill vol. 2 and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, etc.

In Kill Billvol. 2 it is understood that once someone is hit with this move, he can take only five steps before his heart explodes in his chest and falls dead. Beatrix kiddo executes the five point palm-exploding heart technique in a combination of five strikes and prods. The interesting thing is that Pai Mei taught Beatrix this move, but nobody really knows why as she was everything that he detested and despised (i.e. Female, Caucasian, and American.)

In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, we see that there is also a series of similar pokes to counter the initial attack thereby releasing the attackee from the paralysis.

Perhaps this short string of dialogue below has a few hints as to why she was taught the technique and not the others ( he could have been in want of company and that made him a bit of a softy as Bill suggests. But I believe he, like Esteban and Hanzo, had been eager to see her kill Bill, and felt that she had advanced enough to have it in her repertoire):

Pai Mei: {punches through a block of wood from three inches away} Since your arm now belongs to me, I want it strong. Can you do that?
The Bride: I can, but not that close.
Pai Mei: Then you can't do it. What if your enemy is three inches in front of you, what do you do then? Curl into a ball? Or do you put your fist through him?

Whether this technique is true or not, like using Chi to fly atop buildings and trees for example, we’ll never really know – the martial arts is a very secretive art after all.

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