Fa Mun Lau vs. Soo Siu Ying examined more closely

[Ken Cheng]

In THE GOLDEN ROC KINGDOM volume of the LUK SIU FUNG series, Fa Mun Lau dueled (with chopsticks!) the Ngor Mei Sect acolyte Soo Siu Ying. The duel was inconclusive: neither Fa nor Soo decisively won the duel.

Shortly afterwards, Sai Mun Chui Sheut slew Soo within four strokes.

How do you interpret the outcome of the Fa vs. Soo duel? Were they evenly matched, or did Fa go easy on Soo?

[hyoyatika]

I always felt that Fa Mun Lau's skills were a lot better than advertised. However, he was always unwilling to actually kill/attack and sought to resolve things without fighting. I don't have any evidence to back it up, but I feel that Fa Mun Lau had strong defending skills and likely can hold his own at least for an extended period of time even against the very best fighters like Sai Mun Chui Sheut and Lok Siu Fung. His ability to attack and win/kill might be a little lower due to his unwillingness to resort to martial arts to resolve issues.

Fa Mun Lau was someone who would consider the dignity of others. Considering it is Ngor Mei Sect, there was a good chance he was going easy to save the dignity of Ngor Mei. As long as he did not lose, his mission was accomplished, so why humiliate Ngor Mei? Soo Siu Ying would know who was the better fighter.

Just my thoughts.