Speaking of inner power, what are your thoughts on Guo Jing's inner power compared to say, Qiu Chuji, during LOCH? At what point do you think he overtook him? Is it possible that by the end of LOCH, Qiu Chuji/Ma Yu still had greater or comparable inner power to Guo Jing? It's something I've always wondered, as they've been cultivating Quanzhen inner power for 20+ years while Guo Jing had a mere 2-3 years during the span of LOCH.
Guo Jing had much better fighting skills, much better technique, and the much more advanced martial theory, so he utilized his inner power to the fullest while perhaps they only unlocked a small fraction of their own. Perhaps this is why Ma Yu/Qiu Chuji are touted as having really high inner power/martial arts during ROCH, though I'm not quite sure what the point of those statements are if they aren't using it half as well as someone else and inferior in every aspect -- it'd be misleading.
Just a theory that I've had. We see Wuji unable to unlock his 9 Yang to it's full extent without a powerful enabler, perhaps the Quanzhen people (and all the old people that are described to have deep inner power and losing to young people) are just not using their inner power effectively.