The Yangs versus the Guos

[patricia n]

In that case then we need to adjust the 20 year age difference between Guo Jing and Yang Guo. If so, I would presume that Yang Guo at the age of 56 is greater than GJ at that same age.

what makes you so sure? do you think yg will bother since he is now with his gugu? imo, without her, he's something. with her, he's a useless man.

[PJ]

In that case then we need to adjust the 20 year age difference between Guo Jing and Yang Guo.

Nope. I said If we take everybody in their peak condition overall that we know of

That is to say, the peak condition within the scope of the novels.

Guo Xiang's peak condition is within HSDS' scope. Yang Guo's peak condition is at the end of ROCH. We never hear about his martial arts progress again. On the other hand we know that Guo Xiang became one of the most respected masters of her era, plus a host of other accomplishments, and that is all mentioned in HSDS.

[Tony Lam]

what makes you so sure? do you think yg will bother since he is now with his gugu? imo, without her, he's something. with her, he's a useless man.

If all the Greats including GJ were able to improve overtime, why couldn't Yang Guo?

[patricia n]

If all the Greats including GJ were able to improve overtime, why couldn't Yang Guo?

because they bothered. yg's only goal in life, or so it seems, is to be with his gugu. now that he found her, do you think he cares about being a great? for what use would being better be to him? gj had an excuse to improve as he had real and higher goals. again, what makes you so sure? i admit i can be wrong, but given his personality, i just don't see your opinion being right.

[Ken Cheng]

If all the Greats including GJ were able to improve overtime, why couldn't Yang Guo?

He'll improve, but his rate of improvement is uncertain. Judging from where he started and where he ended up during that 16-year duration, however, I think Yeung Gor's rate of ascension in martial arts was a huge vertical leap during that first month after he got his arm severed by Gwok Fu and began training in the Heavy Iron Sword Technique, but from that point, his progress was more gradual...about the same as all the other Greats.

[ghostdarTeal'c]

what makes you so sure? do you think yg will bother since he is now with his gugu? imo, without her, he's something. with her, he's a useless man.

you took it right off my mouth pat, saved the readers of reading the same thing twice.........yg wouldnt bother w martial arts since theres his long-lost gugu by his side and no extra evil villain around...and even if there is, unless the villain threatens his gugu he wouldnt have bothered.......

[Tony Lam]

because they bothered. yg's only goal in life, or so it seems, is to be with his gugu. now that he found her, do you think he cares about being a great? for what use would being better be to him? gj had an excuse to improve as he had real and higher goals. again, what makes you so sure? i admit i can be wrong, but given his personality, i just don't see your opinion being right.

So you are saying that YG wouldn't improve over 20 years, not even a little? YG was already on par with GJ at the end of ROCH. If YG could just improve a *little* over the aforementioned 20 year adjustment, he would be able to rip if not Guo Jing, at least his pants.

[patricia n]

So you are saying that YG wouldn't improve over 20 years, not even a little? YG was already on par with GJ at the end of ROCH. If YG could just improve a *little* over the aforementioned 20 year adjustment, he would be able to rip if not Guo Jing, at least his pants.

well, in that case, let's get back to the set conditions of this thread, with the key words being, "at their known peak."

i don't know if yg will improve vastly or not at all. we can both speculate all we want. for all i know, he can have a stroke within those 20 years, causing him left sided paralysis, in which case, his sad palm would be useless. we don't know what kind of man yg is 20 years after roch...it's unfair and ridiculous to even think it.

and if you insist that yg will improve in those 20 years, what makes you think gj's skills would have plateau'd by the end of roch? gj has been more consistent with his improvement, so who's to say yg will be better than gj at the end of those 20 years? if anything, gj will beat yg but this is a moot point.

[Whsie]

So you are saying that YG wouldn't improve over 20 years, not even a little? YG was already on par with GJ at the end of ROCH. If YG could just improve a *little* over the aforementioned 20 year adjustment, he would be able to rip if not Guo Jing, at least his pants.

If YG doesn't go back to his intense training, GJ will surpass him. GJ's 9 Yin orthodox gives him constant increasment in internal, even when sleeping. YG once trained some of 9 Yin, but only a section, not the whole. So based on this fact, if the 2 of them were not to practice any new internals in the future, GJ's internal would increase faster because he has the full 9 Yin.

[ChronoReverse]

One thing to note is that YG has already pretty much reached the limit of his internal energy quantity and fierceness.

For quantity, his large boost came from the snake bladders. YG doesn't really have an excellent internal cultivation method plus his new super-fierce internal energy is simply incompatible with the Ancient Tomb soft internal energy. He's only in his thirties so he should still be able to increase his internal energy slowly (rather, at a normal pace for normal practicioners). This is still a HUGE amount though (matching the 9 Yin boosted 80-year-old Greats).

For fierceness, this came from his training against the waves. His fierceness is already unmatched by anyone; this is even more so when he uses his Big Heavy Sword. At this point he has already stopped training his fierceness and started to refine his energy by using the wooden sword.

For purity, YG is severely lacking. This is where YG will certainly make great improvements should he put his effort into it. It's unfortunate that he doesn't have the 9 Yin internal portion. He will not be able to achieve the same level of purity as the Greats achieved unless he
(a) falls off a cliff and finds a manual
(b) GJ gives him the 9 Yin internal
(c) lives to a hundred and fifty


In any case, even assuming he surpassed GJ in two areas at the end of ROCH, YG simply has no way of maintaining that lead unless he gets his hands on a supreme manual.

[Ken Cheng]

On a related note, let's clarify this point: what are the benefits of inner power "purity," anyway? After all, we're talking about martial arts, not beer or tea blends. Isn't the whole point to have enough force to overwhelm the enemy's force? Of what benefit is having "pure" energy as opposed to only "fierce" energy?

[Phoenix_Aquaris]

If I'm not wrong, which I most probably is.. Impure energy is easier to fire deviate.. The human body can't really suppress the clash between the different energies in the body..

[ChronoReverse]

Purity seems to be how well you can apply, redirect and retract internal energy. The greater the purity, the better your control.

Practically, it means that the quantity of internal energy you have is utilized more efficiently. Furthermore, even if you launch a full force attack, you'd be able to retract it freely without injuring yourself. Finally, you can maintain better control of your body even in adverse situations.

A nice example of someone with extremely pure internal energy would be Z3F when he, despite just being severely wounded, was still able to fully manipulate his internal energy such that he could use a soft touch that utterly crushed his attacker's skull.

[Ken Cheng]

A nice example of someone with extremely pure internal energy would be Z3F when he, despite just being severely wounded, was still able to fully manipulate his internal energy such that he could use a soft touch that utterly crushed his attacker's skull.

Hmmm. So since Yeung Gor's martial arts purity was not yet well developed, he would not be able to replicate Cheung 3 Fung's feat?

[ChronoReverse]

I wonder if he would be able to duplicate that feat even without being injured. I personally imagine YG simply unleashing a palm and crushing the head with a bang

[kwekmh]

Nope. I said If we take everybody in their peak condition overall that we know of

That is to say, the peak condition within the scope of the novels.

Guo Xiang's peak condition is within HSDS' scope. Yang Guo's peak condition is at the end of ROCH. We never hear about his martial arts progress again. On the other hand we know that Guo Xiang became one of the most respected masters of her era, plus a host of other accomplishments, and that is all mentioned in HSDS.

Well I think YG in HSDS could pratically beat the hell outta Guo Xiang. He would sure improve so he would be so bored with nothing to do. I think he might try to reach DGQB's level.

Lol, if YG was still alive, he should go steal the 9Yin manual from ZZR and he will be nearly unbeatable.

[CC]

Well I think YG in HSDS could pratically beat the hell outta Guo Xiang. He would sure improve so he would be so bored with nothing to do. I think he might try to reach DGQB's level.

Lol, if YG was still alive, he should go steal the 9Yin manual from ZZR and he will be nearly unbeatable.

Nothing to do? He'll be releasing all his hard accumulated energy on GuGu.