How great was the difference in martial arts level among the Four Great Evils?

[Ken Cheng]

How much of a martial arts level discrepancy was there among the Four Great Evils of DGSD?

I sense that Deun Yin Hing was head and shoulders superior to his three cohorts...that he could take on all three of them simultaneously without much trouble. Among Yip 2 Leung, Divine Crocodile, and Wan Chung Hok, however, how great was the difference?

[flamer]

I agree with the #1 VS #2,3,4 bit.

I think the difference with the others are not that big but I sense that their actual level is reflected by their numbering.

[Extremer88]

Think they were ranked by their level of evilness and age, not entirely on martial arts level.

But my guess would be Duan Yanqing is the strongest, while the #2, #3 and #4 are all around the same level in terms of martial arts.

#4 probably had better lightness skill that #2 and #3, but #2 had more experience than #3 and #4. Each had their strengths, but eventually all even out. #2 could be still be stronger than #3, and so on, but the difference shouldn't be much.

[ChanceEncounter]

2 and 3 were roughly the same level, and 3 and 4 were roughly the same level. It was mentioned that 3 and 4 were not very strong, as there were dozens of fighters that could beat them rather handily. On the other hand, Duan Yanqing was formidable, and he very likely could have taken on the other three at the same time.

[PJ]

Even if the 3 lower evils doubled in size, Duan Yanqing would still kick their 6 lilly yellow a$$es in a fight. Recall that Duan Yanqing =~ Murong Fu + his 4 assistants, and each assistant =~ a lower evil (implied in the book). Surely Murong Fu + 4 assistants > 2 x (3 lower evils).

[the.raven]

i find it hard to believe DYQ is mroe powerful than murongfu. maybe if he wasnt crippled he would be.

[ChanceEncounter]

i find it hard to believe DYQ is mroe powerful than murongfu. maybe if he wasnt crippled he would be.

Murong Fu kinda sucked.

[flamer]

i find it hard to believe DYQ is mroe powerful than murongfu. maybe if he wasnt crippled he would be.

In DGSD, I have always been under the impression that DYQ, MRF, DCQ are roughly on the same level.

[PJ]

i find it hard to believe DYQ is mroe powerful than murongfu. maybe if he wasnt crippled he would be.

Duan Yanqing =~ Murong Fu + his 4 assistants. It's in the novel, chapter 48.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Duan Yanqing =~ Murong Fu + his 4 assistants. It's in the novel, chapter 48.

From what I recall, he was handling them effortlessly. He should be >, not just =~, I think.

[Ren Wo Xing]

How much of a martial arts level discrepancy was there among the Four Great Evils of DGSD?

I sense that Deun Yin Hing was head and shoulders superior to his three cohorts...that he could take on all three of them simultaneously without much trouble. Among Yip 2 Leung, Divine Crocodile, and Wan Chung Hok, however, how great was the difference?

You are correct in that Duan Yanqing could wtfpwn all three of them without breaking sweat. When he exchanged blows with the Divine Croc, the Croc thought he could hold on for maybe a hundred or two hundred stances; instead, he was thrashed within three punches and two kicks.

Amongst the other three, Ye Erniang was better than the Divine Croc, but not so much better that he would be willing to admit inferiority. Yun Zhonghe was, in turn, self-admittedly inferior to the Divine Croc, but his ghostlike qinggong made it so that the Divine Croc wouldn't be able to catch him in a straight fight.

[PJ]

From what I recall, he was handling them effortlessly. He should be >, not just =~, I think.

It was a short fight, so hard to tell. But I don't think Duan should be better than his 5 opponents. He took too long to subdue Duan Zhengchun, even though I believe it was intentional, but it didn't make him look too good. Plus, Jiumozhi handled 6 monks at Duan Yanqing's level.

[Ren Wo Xing]

It was a short fight, so hard to tell. But I don't think Duan should be better than his 5 opponents. He took too long to subdue Duan Zhengchun, even though I believe it was intentional, but it didn't make him look too good. Plus, Jiumozhi handled 6 monks at Duan Yanqing's level.

Those six monks were using a partial 6MSJ (which they weren't really fluent with) and weren't actually fighting with him. If they actually were, my feeling is that Jiumozhi would have a hell of a lot more trouble.

The Duan Zhengchun thing was, as you put it, intentional; he was just demonstrating his YYZ superiority, and not trying to beat/kill him ASAP.

[PJ]

The Duan Zhengchun thing was, as you put it, intentional; he was just demonstrating his YYZ superiority, and not trying to beat/kill him ASAP.

But if he were really that much better than him, the superiority shouldn't take long to prove.

[Ren Wo Xing]

But if he were really that much better than him, the superiority shouldn't take long to prove.

Didn't seem it took that long to prove. He was just driving it into DZC's head; IIRC, his one Yiyangzhi fueled cane was crushing Duan Zhengchun's two YYZ in the sword.

[PJ]

It last about 100 stances, which is quite long.

in 3rd ed, Xiao Feng implied he could take on 4 Duan Yanqing (he said 5 - 6 would be too much, so the logic would be 4 is maximum he cold take).

[Ren Wo Xing]

It last about 100 stances, which is quite long.

in 3rd ed, Xiao Feng implied he could take on 4 Duan Yanqing (he said 5 - 6 would be too much, so the logic would be 4 is maximum he cold take).

That puts Duan Yanqing roughly on par with the Xuan-generation monks, which is about right in my book, as they are pretty much the 'peak' of martial arts, short of Greats-level in that book. And it is still way above Duan Zhengchun; again, they were competing in YYZ mastery, and even Emperor Baoding (who is way better than Duan Zhengchun) admitted that DYQ's mastery of YYZ was above his own.

[PJ]

The reason I think that short fight between Duan Yanqing and Murong Fu's party of 5 cannot be conclusive, is that people have been known to overperform in the short term, which doesn't accurately reflect their actual level. For example, Su Xinghe once took on Jiumozhi and Ding Chunqiu simultaneously for one moment, but how long could he last? Maybe 5 stances total. If we just looked at that instance, we would think that Su Xinghe = Jiumozhi + Ding Chunqiu, which is far from the reality.

[Ren Wo Xing]

That's true, but there's a major difference between 'winning easily against all five of them', and 'taking on a single attack from two stronger people' as well.

[PJ]

By the way, Duan Yanqing might be a bona-fide genius. His martial arts progress was described like this:

1. 他在混乱中逃出大理，终于学成了武功回来

2. 养好伤后，苦练家传武功。最近五年习练以杖代足，再将“一阳指”功夫化在钢仗之上；又练五年后，前赴两湖， 将所有仇敌一家家杀得鸡犬不留

It seems he was most likely self-taught. He might have had some basic instructions before the coup d'tat, but it was said (quoted above) that he learned kung fu AFTER he escaped. To teach himself Yiyang Finger for the most part, is really incredible.

Here is what I said before:

Another person who was really tough is Duan Yanqing.

He learned kung fu AFTER the coup d'etat. This implies that he had little or NO kung fu skill before then. At this point, his might was already the equivalent of 50,000 men.

I imagine that he had NO teacher. He didn't seem to have any ties with the family after coup d'etat.

And indeed, after conceiving a baby with Duan Yu's mom, he continued to refine his family kung fu. BUT from whom? Probably no one. Just by reading manuals.

Xiao Feng was taught by Shaolin reverend Xuanku at age 7, by Former Beggar's Union Chief Wang Jiantong at age 16, and by Beggar's Union Elder Xi.

Duan Yu learned from manuals, but look at his martial arts ability --> it's laughable.

Duan Yanqing (along with SWORD GOD, who learned from a piece of manual) seemed to have been self-taught.

Is that not supreme talent?