[Athena]

My dear people,

It has been awhile since I actively participated in this forum. After listing the Duke of Mount Deer changes of edition 3, I am hardly around anymore.
I know I have "threatened" to retire in the past, but somehow I always managed to hang around. I am weak!
Or maybe, somewhere in me likes this forum quite a lot. Not surprising since I was one of the first members on the spcnet wuxia forum and with a lot of arrogance I was also partly responsible of creating a certain intellectual level in the wuxia section.

I have done my share and my work is more or less done. I'm leading a busy life now and my personal life is also rolling. Some forum in cyberspace should be one of the last things on my mind, however;

There are certain issues I would like to address before I "fade" away again.

Although, I agree with PJ and CC that some obscure wuxia characters should get some attention too. But there is a certain limit and it can also be blown out of proportion.
I fear that this Zhuo Bufan thing is really a bit too much. If certain individuals like this character so much they should write his wuxia bio on wuxiapedia.com and/or start a fan page/website dedicated to him. And refer to him in one's signature, but is it really necessary to have a reference on this man almost every thread.

Also, the Sword God's feats were impressive but not as "divine" as certain individuals would like to believe.

- One of the feats was that Zhuo Bufan had a resonant, clear voice transmitted from three, four "li." And he was supposedly capable of killing a martial artist from several li and tossed his head over from three, four li.
The novel never stated clearly how he killed lord Ou. What we do know that is that he was three, four "li" away at the beginning of the Myriad Immortal Gathering.
Lord Ou fled to the nearby mountain pass.
Reverend Xuansheng of Shaolin was capable of travelling back and forth from the main hall of Shaolin and to the library in a very, very short time. The main hall and the library were three "li" apart.
In my humble opinion, Zhuo Bufan and Cui Luhua moved closer when the "Myriad Immortals" formed an open alliance with Taoist priest Buping and Murong Fu and Co, there was no need to "spill the beans" if they refused to work the three of them.

- Zhuo Bufan's peak of perfection was in the eyes of one or both Zhuya Twin Goblins. Not the words of the author as for instance like Yideng's Yiyang Finger profiency. In the eyes of Yang Tiexin and Guo Xiaotian, Qiu Chuji and Qu San (Qu Lingfeng) were god-like, but were they god-like? Hardly.

- Xuzhu received Wuza Zi's 70 years of Xiaoyao internal energy, but without mastering and learning the top Xiaoyao School's most top palm stances, he could not even tap into 10% of the Xiaoyao energy in his body. (source: edition 3)
Wuya Zi commented before he died, that with this power transfer (although 10% usable) Xuzhu was not inferior to Ding Chunqiu anymore.
When Xuzhu rescued Tonglao for the first time, Tonglao said that Xuzhu saw with his own eyes what Su Xinghe and Ding Chunqiu were capable of and they were just disciples and were miles and miles behind their teacher. She then proceeded to teach Xuzhu some very "simple" Xiaoyao beginner's art, techniques (or maybe intermediate) and then using those new and unfamiliar techniques he knocked down Taoist Buping in one stance (an expert who was just slightly inferior, one level or so, to Zhuo Bufan).
At that time, Xuzhu could probably just tap into 15 to 20% of Wuya Zi's internal energy.

- Creating a nimbus of light with his sword, I mentioned this many weeks ago. I even found an excerpt in the Smiling Proud Wanderer that a pre-castration Yue Buqun created some "light" with his sword when he was fighting those masked men in the Medicine King temple. Conveniently, that was never picked up and similarly conveniently forgotten.

- Author's intention, for the past year I have read this [author's intention] point a lot of times to defend Xiao Feng, Dugu Qiubai, etc. I agree with this point of thinking, it was Jin Yong's intention to create an omnipotent character when he wrote Xiao Feng, Dugu Qiubai.
But whenever I mention Wang Chongyang, I get the necessary critique or even get the village idiot treatment. So, I rested my case and closed my book on Central Divinity.
However, now the point of author's intent is used on Zhuo Bufan?!? Come on, do you really think that Jin Yong wanted Zhuo Bufan to be an equal of the Sword Demon? Don't give me that crap!

So much for my rant on Zhuo Bufan. I don't want to prohibit people from talking about him, I liked him. But all this unnecessary hype made me change my opinion about the man. Enough, already [適可而止].

The other last point of business I have is on Murong Bo and his Canhe Finger. He may or may not have fired a finger blast from seven, eight "zhang." The seven, eight zhang was how far Murong Fu was chucked away by Xiao Feng and the father Murong appears yada yada yada.....
Murong Bo talks and fires.......
To say that use that particular part to enforce that Murong Bo can shoot qi from seven, eight "zhang" seems a bit of bold statement.
Some people like to stand still when they lecture people, some like to walk a bit.
(the Murong Bo in TVB's 1997 adaptation was walking a bit when he was lecturing Murong Fu). Personally, I walk a bit too when lecturing, scolding people.
Yes, I can talk, walk and chew chewing gum at the same time. That makes me the female equivalent of a rocket scientist.

This was my rant..... Moderators, feel free to lock this thread if you feel necessary. Maybe I had a tough week and need to vent some of it, or maybe I had a coffee too many when I wrote this.

Goodbye, people.



Edit: To Kiss of the Sword:

Xuzhu knocked Taoist priest Buping down withone stance after he rescued Tonglao from those island and cave leaders. That was when he still didn't know that this young female child was actually Tonglao. Furthermore, you're basing your case on an adaptation. In the novel, Tonglao taught Xuzhu the "Tianshan Liuyang" Palms at the end of her rejuvenation process. And "Tianshan Zhemei" Hands during their trip to Xixia kingdom.
The five techniques she taught him to repel Taoist priest Buping and "Wu Laoda" were stances to "knock them out" and not to kill. So, in my opinion those five techniques cannot be compared to "Tianshan Zhemei" hands, "Tianshan Liuyang" Palms, etc. Skills that Xuzhu later acquired.