Best Fighter in Each Novel

[devilz91]

As it stands, we know JY claims that DG9J > Sunflower. I suspect the actual level of DFBB and FQY is probably fairly close.

Especially since DFBB did not have the full set of Sunflower (though FQY did not master DG9J either); pre-DG9J FQY should be > pre-Sunflower DFBB, and FQY has been practicing DG9J for longer.

[Banh Mi]

I only think FQY wasn't tremendously talented because LHC memorized the general index in a couple nights, while FQY took something like three months? I don't remember exactly, but it was around that neighborhood. I think LHC is a pretty good talent, but not one of the supreme talents like Xiao Feng or even Yang Guo. To lag that far behind LHC I would classify FQY as somewhat good-average.

FQY also stated that he met very few powerful people in his life, like one or two. For a sword art that kind of scales and improves towards your opponent, it is exceptionally important to meet strong adversaries. It seemed like LHC experienced all of wulin within a short time span, and along with his inherently greater talent, likely learned at a rate exponentially faster than FAQ. Guo Jing reached 70% of Greats in a similar span, so reaching 80% or more is not totally out of the question.

Of course FQY's overall understanding is still much deeper than LHC's, but given the fluidity of DG9J and the points mentioned above, it might not be all THAT important. DFBB just seemed more impressive, just personal opinion.

LHC was able to learn it in a couple of days because he had an extremely good memory and he was cramming. Not all talented fighters needed to have a near eidetic memory. And there's no reason to learn something rushed in a few days if you can spend a few months to understand it better.

FQY's generation is different to LHC's generation of fighters. He lived during the bloodiest time of that era compared to LHC. We all know the term powerful is very relative, furthermore, DGQB himself didn't meet many powerful people in his time.
FQY's generation was during the Hua Shan purging. It was closer to when the Sun Moon Cult elders defeated the 5 mountain styles, and when the more deeper arts of the styles were lost. LHC's generation is mostly watered down compared to the generations before. During his time was also when LPZ's granddad was invincible.

The standard of fighters during FQY's time might be better or it might not be better than LHC's time, I don't think we can make an assessment on how many powerful figures he fought and how that might affect his abilities. There's also the person he learned DG9J from, that person could have elevated his skills greatly.
I think DG9J is all about understanding, just as it is all about defeating the external structure of a technique. Fighting stronger opponents is only there so that you have new problems to comprehend and solve and thus understand better. My personal opinions as well.