If you were an Elite Master...

[CC]

Say you are one of the most famous fighters in wulin. At some 'Heroes Gathering', you get involved in some dispute with some pompous Sect and it comes to a point where it is suggested that a challenge is needed to settle the argument.


Would you be pissed off at someone if they suggested that it is an insult to _you_ if they fought you one-on-one since they are Junior/Inferior to you?

Assume of course that the Challengers are not total scrubs so when banded together, they do have a good chance of beating you. e.g. HYS vs 7 QZ, XF vs 5 Xuan Monks.

If it was a bunch of random scrubs there wouldn't even be time to feel angry since I would be gleefully kicking their collective rear-ends out the front door of Shaolin/Ju Xian Zhuang/Wu Dang/Hua Shan/Tian Long Shi etc etc.

[Ren Wo Xing]

%!@# his granny! Charge in and throw a powerful palm strike/sword blow immediately at the person who talked, then go after the others, who would doubtlessly not only be weakened due to having lost someone immediately, but also terrified at seeing how fast I dealt with one of them.

[CC]

Well, remember that they are not scrubs and are already wary/prepared.

#3 was supposed to be a sneaky strike.

#7 is to charge in openly at their formation.

[Son of Light]

I would chouse to be more civilized, let's all reasons.

[Bangs]

I choose number 4, I will prove my worth using my martial skills. What kind of master am I if I only choose to fight sure win battles?

[Ken Cheng]

I would chouse to be more civilized, let's all reasons.

The old Cheung Mo Gei Approach, eh? That's great, but it can't be expected to work too often because, after all, wulin is composed mostly of people who live for violent conflict. Peace is not necessarily a good thing for them.

[CC]

The old Cheung Mo Gei Approach, eh? That's great, but it can't be expected to work too often because, after all, wulin is composed mostly of people who live for violent conflict. Peace is not necessarily a good thing for them.

ZWJ, reason? When in the story did he once get away with Pure Reasoning and no 9 Yang to back it up?

Anyway, the scenario I am proposing is not one where the superiority is so great that you can sit there and they bounce off you. You could lose!

Which is probably why some posters chose to reason instead of fight. Shifting the ball into Abbot Fang Zheng's court might be the logical course of action here.

[Ken Cheng]

ZWJ, reason? When in the story did he once get away with Pure Reasoning and no 9 Yang to back it up?

Cheung Mo Gei was Theodore Roosevelt before Theodore Roosevelt: speak softly and carry a BIG stick.

But yeah, one has to go into negotiations with some kind of leverage, even if one doesn't really want to resort to violence (this *is* wulin, after all). One can't exactly go into negotiations Gandhi-style.

[Exodus]

kill everybody that dares to challenge me

[Guo Xiang]

Number 4, of course. Gotta keep a good public image.

Although option 7 is very tempting indeed.

[kidd]

#3 is very tempting but I'll choose #2. Don't want to kill unneccessarily. Plus if able to negotiate the duel back to 1 one 1, it also shows that I have brain together with the brawn. Denying my opponents of getting an upper hand through their BSing ("it's an insult to you if we fought you one-on-one since we are Junior/Inferior to me") will be great satisfaction to me too.

[Son of Light]

What kind of master am I if I only choose to fight sure win battles?

A smart one.

[CC]

What kind of master am I if I only choose to fight sure win battles?

Invincible...

[Wellesley]

Choice #3, one sneak attack followed by a 1 versus 6, IF the lone fighter wins, he can still argue and make the victory looks glorious and honorable, so that's my pick.

Not everyone will be convinced, but there is some hope that the hearsay might omit that sneak attack. For example, when Zuo Lengshan attacked Ren Wo Xing immediately after the latter's victory over FangZheng, people were speculating that people in Jiang Hu might be hearing tales of Ren Wo Xing defeated FangZheng, yet Zuo is stronger than him and would be stronger than FangZheng by extension, without mentionning neither Ren or Zuo's sneak attack.

And Musashi is EXTREMELY famous in Japan and abroad, but most people do not know that he came to the duel 2 hours late to piss off Kojiro, which is kinda cheap, today the only people who would argue that Musashi cheated are mostly historians.

[Bangs]

A smart one.

A smart fake.

Invincible...

Fake invincibility.

[CC]

Fake invincibility.

How about _Undefeated_ then?


edit : If you consider that fake, then a General who follows Sun Tzu's Art of War on the concept of fighting to one's advantage and never lost a battle would also be considered a 'Fake' Invincible General then?

[Bangs]

How about _Undefeated_ then?


edit : If you consider that fake, then a General who follows Sun Tzu's Art of War on the concept of fighting to one's advantage and never lost a battle would also be considered a 'Fake' Invincible General then?

Undefeated is fine but not deserved. Taking advantage is part of smart strategy but we are talking about accepting a challenge. If you shy away or reason your way out because you think you might lose, does that make you truly undefeated? Take note we are talking about 50-50 chance of winning, I'm not saying you should fight when you have 0% chance of winning, a master knows his limits.

And fighting a war is different, you have to weigh your probable losses and gains before deciding to fight. Why should a smart general fight a battle that even if he wins there would be little left of his army?

[Wellesley]

For a martial artist, I think being undefeatable in one on one duels is satisfying enough. If you could beat anyone 1v1 in a fair duel, but have to cheat to beat multiple opponents at the same time, then your reputation as the #1 undefeated fighter in the world is still deserved.

[Son of Light]

Why should a smart general fight a battle that even if he wins there would be little left of his army?

Same thing, why would a smart master, or any smart martial artist fights when he knows either he will lose and die or get injured even if he wins?

[Bangs]

Same thing, why would a smart master, or any smart martial artist fights when he knows either he will lose and die or get injured even if he wins?

A martial arts master can get injured and recover, a dead army can't come back from the dead. IMO, a master of martial arts is called a master because he excells in martial arts not in cowardice. Of course like I said before, its ok to back out in a hopeless battle, but to run away from a 50-50 challenge is just .

EDIT: If a martial artist don't want to fight if he knows he might get injured, he might as well go home and be a farmer and live a peaceful life.