XAJH Feats: Compilation

[HuangYushi]

Hey HYS! Good to see you. I noticed you did LOTS of work in the last few years. Well done!

Thanks, Lanny! There is still a lot that I am doing and want to do, but I've been swamped with work for months. A few colleagues who can't carry their own load have made things worse!

BTW: I am modifying your translation of the chapter names for DGSD. If you want, we can debate about it. But remember, I am well trained by the Peach Valley's Six Fairies....

Go ahead and modify if you want to, and drop me a personal message or email (still the same address) after that. I am curious as to what you have come up with, but I'm no Peach Valley Fairy. I'd rather discuss than argue without matching the ox's head to the horse's mouth!

Plus: I don't want to derail this thread.

And for those who care:
P.S. Daughter is 3.5 now, and I am no longer afraid of fatherhood.
P.P.S. Pretty much passed my PhD qualifying exam.
P.P.P.S. Also a boy coming to the family end of the year!

Re:
(P.S) Great ... and even greater!
(P.P.S) Well done!
(P.P.P.S) Congrats! Look forward to seeing pictures!
My brother and his wife had a baby girl a month ago, so our house [三代同堂] is now filled with doting adults!

[ChronoReverse]

That's why I said it was his ability to control his inner energy that was most impressive, not the shear amount of inner energy.

Extreme Control does imply a degree to an excess of power though. For instance, being able to punch a hole in a piece of wood using one's fingers would require less power than using a finger to carve (smoothly) into wood. Not only do you need power to be able to crush the wood, you need additional power to steady and adjust the crushing motion to keep it smooth and from splintering.

[ChanceEncounter]

Extreme Control does imply a degree to an excess of power though. For instance, being able to punch a hole in a piece of wood using one's fingers would require less power than using a finger to carve (smoothly) into wood. Not only do you need power to be able to crush the wood, you need additional power to steady and adjust the crushing motion to keep it smooth and from splintering.

You wouldn't need more power. More control, yes, but not more power.

[ChronoReverse]

Try doing something delicate and you'd be surprised how much energy you have to expend stopping yourself from destroying it instead of creating what you want.

As I just said, you need at least the power to do the damage PLUS the power to hold back from pushing past and crushing. Then you need to continue to expend that energy for longer.

And that's not even accounting for things like momentum that you can take advantage of if you're just trying to punch a hole.

[Lanny]

but the "chi" refered to in the novels would be the relatively modern chi that JY understood in the 50's (or around the period) .

According to this page on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese...of_measurement, the MODERN Chinese Foot ("chi") is roughly 1.094ft. After reading this page again, I noticed that the Hong Kong Foot ("chek") is roughly 1.219ft, which would have meant the iron plate was even heavier.

[ChanceEncounter]

Try doing something delicate and you'd be surprised how much energy you have to expend stopping yourself from destroying it instead of creating what you want.

As I just said, you need at least the power to do the damage PLUS the power to hold back from pushing past and crushing. Then you need to continue to expend that energy for longer.

And that's not even accounting for things like momentum that you can take advantage of if you're just trying to punch a hole.

To be fair, the resistance/holding back isn't really 'force' as much as it is mentally modulating the release of the force. If you take two feats, one obliterating something, and one mildly and even artistically 'damaging' something, the latter takes more control, and may indeed be the more impressive feat, but the former is undeniably 'stronger' and 'more powerful.'

[Lanny]

During the Qin dynasty a chi was roughly equal to only 25 cm. The value of this length unit became greater over time, reaching just longer than 31 cm in the Song era, so it's highly possible that a chi in the Ming era (XAJH's time setting) was comparable to 33.3 cm (~1.094ft). Your discover about Huang Zhong Gong is very interesting but I don't think that incident is too impressive because in Eagle-Shooting Hero the Taoist who is Yang Kang's master and an average martial artist could easily carry a huge iron bell filled up with water while fighting with the combination of Guo Jing's 7 masters.

Let's first do the math (sorry, this is a habit I've recently developed due to endless of research tasks):

这铜缸是庙宇中常见之物，用来焚烧纸锭表章，直径四尺有余，只怕足足有四百来斤，缸中溢出酒香，显是装了美 酒，那么份量自必更加沉重，但他托在手里却不见如何吃力。

Here we know directly from the book that the copper jar weighs about 400 "jin". If we assume 1jin = 500g=0.5kg, then we have 400x0.5=200kg. The total weight = 200kg + weight of wine inside. So how would we calculate the weight of the wine inside the jar?

According the book, the total amount of wine inside the jar is:

total wine = 14口 (mouthful) + 54碗 (bowl) + 小半缸 (about 1/3 jar)

We can basically ignore the 14 mouthful. The book also tells us that

小半缸(1/3 jar) = 2x半桶 (half bucket) = 1桶 (bucket) = 数十大碗 (dozens of bowls)

If we assume the jar was 2/3 full and a bucket of wine is 50lb = 22.68kg (use water to estimate because wine in ancient times are very diluted), which are very reasonable assumptions, then we have:

total weight of wine = 2x22.68kg = 45.36kg

That also means

小半缸(1/3 jar) = 1桶 (bucket) = 54碗 (bowl) = 数十大碗 (dozens of bowls)
wine inside the jar = 2桶 (bucket) = 108碗 (bowl) = 45.36kg
1碗酒 (1 bowl of wine) = 45.36kg/108 = 0.42kg = 420g

Looks like all our numbers are reasonable here. So following this model, the weight of the jar and the wine inside is:

total weight = weight of jar + weight of wine inside = 200kg + 45.36kg = 245.36kg

Since Qiu Chuji only used one hand, lets double the weight:

2x245.36kg = 490.72kg

Comparing 490.72kg to 2177.24kg I had calculated with Mr. Huang Zhong, I still say Mr. Huang Zhong is very impressive. The book didn't say how many hands Mr. Huang Zhong used, so I assume he used two hands. If he only used one hand, then I am out of words!

[PJ]

Even if kyss of the sword were to bust out his best figure-estimating post, or if the maestro of wuxia math CC personally came by, they would nevertheless be extremely pleased, if not overwhelmed, by the sheer grandeur of wuyuejin and Lanny's calculations on wuxia math.

[wuyuejin]

# To Lanny:

I think you're calculation of the total weight of the cauldron and the wine is highly reasonable. The reason why I said Huang Zhong Gong's deed is not so impressive is that the Taoist in Eagle-Shooting Hero is just an average martial artist while Huang Zhong Gong is among the several top-notch fighters in XAJH (even more powerful than the pre-KHBD Yue Buqun). As a side note: East Heretic Huang Yaoshi, who had yet to surpass the middle point of his maximum level in martial arts at the time of Eagle-Shooting Hero, alone could take on the combined force of all 7 Masters of Quan Zhen cult. If an ordinary character in She Diao Ying Xiong Zhuan could carry nearly 500 kg while walking around, I'm sure to the elites in SDYXZ such as the Five Great Masters of Wulin, Zhou Botong,... lifting several tons is just a piece of cake, needless to mention the elite fighters at the end of Shen Diao Xia Lu.

[tape]

I believe that the ability to carry weight tapers off eventually, as the human body just can't endure the weight no matter how much inner strength they can carry. We see very low level fighters carry around a couple hundred points while walking swiftly, so they can most likely carry at least a thousand pounds if that were just the goal. A Great level fighter could probably take on hundreds of them, and his inner strength should be something like 50x more powerful, yet I really doubt they can move/carry anything much over a a few tons.

[Lanny]

# To Lanny:

I think you're calculation of the total weight of the cauldron and the wine is highly reasonable. The reason why I said Huang Zhong Gong's deed is not so impressive is that the Taoist in Eagle-Shooting Hero is just an average martial artist while Huang Zhong Gong is among the several top-notch fighters in XAJH (even more powerful than the pre-KHBD Yue Buqun). As a side note: East Heretic Huang Yaoshi, who had yet to surpass the middle point of his maximum level in martial arts at the time of Eagle-Shooting Hero, alone could take on the combined force of all 7 Masters of Quan Zhen cult. If an ordinary character in She Diao Ying Xiong Zhuan could carry nearly 500 kg while walking around, I'm sure to the elites in SDYXZ such as the Five Great Masters of Wulin, Zhou Botong,... lifting several tons is just a piece of cake, needless to mention the elite fighters at the end of Shen Diao Xia Lu.

East Wicked is one of the very top fighters in LOCH. The very top fighter DFBB took on LHC, RWX, XWT and RYY at the same time and had the upper hand. As impressive as Mr. Huang Zhong, he was still FAR from the top fighter in SPW. ...And there's always the Kung Fu deterioration theory.

[wuyuejin]

# To Lanny:
Sorry, but didn't you said in a certain previous post of yours that Huang Zhong Gong is more powerful than Yue Buqun (before he learned Kui Hua Bao Dian of course)? That'd rank Huang Zhong Gong among the top 10 elites in XAJH because Yue Buqun, even without KHBD, was very profound both swordsmanship wise and internal energy wise already.
Huang Yaoshi in SDYXZ was among the top 4 but he was just around 40. Therefore his kung fu at that time had not reached his peak. In comparison with the Huang Yaoshi at the end of Shen Diao Xia Lu (80 years old), the HYS of Eagle-Shooting Hero may be just 1/2 or 1/3 as powerful (supposing that the function representing his kung fu progress over time is linear).

[wuyuejin]

A Great level fighter could probably take on hundreds of them, and his inner strength should be something like 50x more powerful, yet I really doubt they can move/carry anything much over a a few tons.

You can't compare 100 random guys with the 7 Masters of Quan Zhen cult because the Taoists are skilled in combat formation. The real power of the formation they used to fight with HYS is surely greater than the mathematical summation of the powers of 7 individuals. Say if each Quan Zhen Taoist has the power level of 100 points, when they use the Big Dipper formation, the real power generated by the formation would be greater than 700.

[ChanceEncounter]

You can't compare 100 random guys with the 7 Masters of Quan Zhen cult because the Taoists are skilled in combat formation. The real power of the formation they used to fight with HYS is surely greater than the mathematical summation of the powers of 7 individuals. Say if each Quan Zhen Taoist has the power level of 100 points, when they use the Big Dipper formation, the real power generated by the formation would be greater than 700.

No, it shouldn't.

The formation allows them to meld together their abilities into a seamless unit, and thus not suffer from diminishing returns with having more guys involved in a fight.

However, it does not, at any point, make the power level increase by sevenfold. If one Taoist can stab with the force of 5000 Newtons, for example, it does not mean that, because of the formation, they can stab one sword with 35000 Newtons. It just means that they can efficiently stab 7 swords with 5000 Newtons each, which is entirely different.

[tape]

I'm not quite sure how your argument is arguing against my point, I'm merely stating that a random fighter from HSDS can be seen lifting 300+ pounds easily and effortlessly, so their upper limit must be at least 500 pounds. These fighters have 1/50 or even 1/100 of the martial arts ability/inner strength of a Great, but the Greats certainly cannot lift 30,000 pounds. Just pointing out that I think the ability to physically move an object tapers off quickly.

[yittz]

Let's first do the math (sorry, this is a habit I've recently developed due to endless of research tasks):

Here we know directly from the book that the copper jar weighs about 400 "jin". If we assume 1jin = 500g=0.5kg, then we have 400x0.5=200kg. The total weight = 200kg + weight of wine inside. So how would we calculate the weight of the wine inside the jar?

According the book, the total amount of wine inside the jar is:

total wine = 14口 (mouthful) + 54碗 (bowl) + 小半缸 (about 1/3 jar)

We can basically ignore the 14 mouthful. The book also tells us that

小半缸(1/3 jar) = 2x半桶 (half bucket) = 1桶 (bucket) = 数十大碗 (dozens of bowls)

If we assume the jar was 2/3 full and a bucket of wine is 50lb = 22.68kg (use water to estimate because wine in ancient times are very diluted), which are very reasonable assumptions, then we have:

total weight of wine = 2x22.68kg = 45.36kg

That also means

小半缸(1/3 jar) = 1桶 (bucket) = 54碗 (bowl) = 数十大碗 (dozens of bowls)
wine inside the jar = 2桶 (bucket) = 108碗 (bowl) = 45.36kg
1碗酒 (1 bowl of wine) = 45.36kg/108 = 0.42kg = 420g

Looks like all our numbers are reasonable here. So following this model, the weight of the jar and the wine inside is:

total weight = weight of jar + weight of wine inside = 200kg + 45.36kg = 245.36kg

Since Qiu Chuji only used one hand, lets double the weight:

2x245.36kg = 490.72kg

Comparing 490.72kg to 2177.24kg I had calculated with Mr. Huang Zhong, I still say Mr. Huang Zhong is very impressive. The book didn't say how many hands Mr. Huang Zhong used, so I assume he used two hands. If he only used one hand, then I am out of words!

Hi Lanny,

Thanks for your XAJH translation - in fact that was the very first wuxia book I read.

With the calculations, I can't disagree with it as it's explicitly written in the novel. But to me a 200kg jar would be huge - and according to the novel it was over 4尺 in diameter. It didn't specify what the height was, but the ones that you commonly see in temples are well over half a meter. In terms of capacity, that should equate to around 500L.

I find it odd that a jar of that size, will only carry 50L of wine, ie 10% of its capacity. My impression was QCJ was carrying a 2/3 full jar. JY said the jar was itself at least 200kg, let alone the addition of wine. If the wine was only 50L, it's almost not worth mentioning when compared to the container 4x its weight.

Whatever the weight it's somewhat moot, in that it will not be near 2 tonnes.

In addition, Huang Zhong Dong only lifted the lid off for a while, whereas QCJ was carrying it for what seems like half an hour. We don't know how much QCJ thrust QCJ can produce.

[wuyuejin]

# To tape:
Maybe lifting capacity isn't directly proportional to internal energy but Huang Yaoshi is just too many times more powerful than that Taoist. No way he can't lift or carry several tons.

[tape]

The rock that Ouyang Feng was trying to lift was several thousand kilograms, but from the wording I don't think can be more than ten thousand kilograms or a different word would be used. He couldn't budge it let alone carry it, meaning it was far out of his reach. I don't think he would be able to lift several tons easily as you suggest.

[bliss]

For PJ's viewing pleasure, and adding on to the XAJH list of feats, it turns out that the CELESTIAL EMPEROR Xiang Wentian was also capable of hair removal using his hands. Although his method required rubbing, if Elder Kurong can be considered the SAINT OF HAIR REMOVAL, then Xiang Wentian would at least have his name nominated for Sainthood.

He scooped some slime from the ground and smeared it onto Linghu Chong’s face. Then he put his hands on his own chins and rubbed. As soon as his inner strength radiated out from his palms, his long beards began falling off completely. Next, he placed his hands on his own head and rubbed, and soon all the gray hair on his head also fell off entirely, turning his head into a shinny, bald head.

And what's more, Xiang Wentian also exhibits the "amusing" ability to manufacture appearance-altering facial prosthetics out of slime!

Within moments, he had changed his appearance completely. Linghu Chong found it amusing yet amazing. Xiang Wentian scooped some more slime and then made his nose bigger, his chins chubbier. Now even if someone looked at Xiang Wentian carefully face to face, he would still have a difficult time recognizing him.

Another wondrous feat from one of the most proficient feat producers in XAJH, He Who Casually Kicks 500-lb Horses Into Ravines, CELESTIAL EMPEROR Xiang Wentian.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Xiang Wentian is definitely an exceptionally extraordinary individual, although he often doesn't get much press aside from his leg power. There's one other thing which he is remarkable for; his 'Minor Art of the Energy Absorbing to the Ground’ which he himself invented. In an internal energy competition, he would be able to use it to redirect the opponent's energy to the ground, so that in this perhaps most dangerous type of martial arts competition, he could virtually never lose. See below:

“Those bastards haven’t left yet. I guess we’ll just have to hold out for a few days at the bottom of the valley,” Xiang Wentian suggested, pointing his finger upward. “Brother, just now, when that cow-nose of the Emei School attacked you with his inner energy, what happened to the cow-nose’s inner energy force when I helped you with my inner strength?” he asked.

“Brother Xiang, I felt as though you redirected that Taoist Priest’s inner energy force into the ground,” Linghu Chong answered.

“Yes, yes!” Xiang Wentian smacked his own thigh in excitement. “Brother, your comprehension is excellent. This Kung Fu of mine was something I created by chance and nobody else in the Martial World knew about it. I gave it a name and called it the ‘Minor Art of the Energy Absorbing to the Ground’.”

Even though it's overshadowed by XXDF and XWT downplays his art because of XXDF, this is nonetheless a phenomenal invention. It's something XWT himself rarely needs since he has one of the most powerful internal energies in XAJH (he actually felt he had a chance at competing with Fang Zheng in internal energy), so he doesn't need to worry about losing most internal energy competitions, but nonetheless...