Ranking Arms in Book of Weapons

[9Dragons]

When I first read about Bai Xiaosheng's Book of Weapons, I marveled at the intriguing and novel element introduced by Gu Long. It surely brought endless conflicts between ambitious warriors seeking to be number one. But then, I began to wonder what an insurmountable challenge the task must be.

How would one begin to research, appraise, and compile such a list? What exactly was the Book of Weapons? Was it an actual book containing detailed dossiers?

1. Search - How would you search for candidates? I suppose you could eavesdrop on conversations in teahouses. After all, information was transmitted by word of mouth back in the day. Even then, how would you locate the candidates?

2. Names - Most weapons were unique and attached with awesome names. How would you obtain this information? It's not like you interview the owners or they advertise their weapons.

3. Ranking - What factors do you consider? Attack, defense, speed, and technique come to mind. Can you differentiate between two seemingly equals, such as Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre? I know, wrong author.

4. Assessment - The Book appears to be widely respected, so I expect the author must witness fights to gauge the full capabilities of each weapon. Is this an incorrect assumption? If witnessing is a requirement and the book contains several entries, then I would expect this endeavor to last a lifetime for one person.

I'm probably over-analyzing this stuff, but it's fun to consider the logistics.

[BlackRaven]

I think it was BXS's belief of who would win in a fight. I think BXS personally traveled over China to witness first hand the prowess of each fighter he ranked. I remember him seeing Hu Bugui's swordsmanship, and he noted that it was sometimes amazing, sometimes crap, so he didn't include Hu in his book of weapons. So BXS carefully observed everyone, even those he ended up not ranking.

BXS is biased against females though, as it was said that the lover of Yi Ku, Blue Scorpion was a better fighter than him, but she wasn't ranked at all.

Just my own speculation, but I think within 3 years, BXS can easily make a rough, yet reasonably accurate list by going to all the regions ( on horse of course lol ) whenever there is a gathering, birthday of a famous fighter, wedding or challenge. If BXS can track down an elusive man like Hu Bugui, something that Li XunHuan considers to be extremely difficult, he definitely has the ability to find less reclusive experts like Yi Ku who likes to cause trouble and add to his infamy.

But of course, if years elapse, fighters will improve, making the list a bit outdated. Like how rank 2 SGJH surpassed rank 1 Old Man Sun. I think at the brotherhood ceremony between SGJH and Long XiaoYun, it was said that people haven't seen SGJH fight in over 10 years, so BXS ranked SGJH #2 based on an old observation.

And new ones will pop up, like Ah Fei and Jin Wuming. Still, I think the list is still a very good gauge of the Wulin elites.

[Dirt]

It's also an interesting storytelling device. SGJH was #2 and Xiaoli Feidao was #3. It sets up expectations in the readers minds for the final fight.

[Ian Liew]

BXS was also said to have included personal bias in his judgement. Yi Ku's Green Demon Claw was said to have been not inferior to the Snake Whip and Golden Crutches ranked above him in the list, but BXS did not like Yi Ku's evil and vicious art, and so downgraded his rank a bit.

[ChronoReverse]

Also, if he witnessed the various weapons himself, then XLFD appears faster when it's used on you since he went "I was wrong! XLFD is much faster!"

[9Dragons]

BXS was also said to have included personal bias in his judgement. Yi Ku's Green Demon Claw was said to have been not inferior to the Snake Whip and Golden Crutches ranked above him in the list, but BXS did not like Yi Ku's evil and vicious art, and so downgraded his rank a bit.

I vaguely remember this fact as well but can't be sure whether Yi Ku made this statement himself when confronting his adversary.

Also, if he witnessed the various weapons himself, then XLFD appears faster when it's used on you since he went "I was wrong! XLFD is much faster!"

I think Lee's dagger is still flawed. While it's true that it never misses, the weapon requires "preparation" before launching, especially against stronger foes. As an analogy, think of it as a charge meter in video games. Lee must verbally spar to increase his confidence and his opponent's contempt (by underestimating Lee's lethal attack) before letting it fly. Still a very tricky flaw to exploit and execute. And since Gu Long characters usually talk too much, Lee's meter is always full.

[Ian Liew]

I vaguely remember this fact as well but can't be sure whether Yi Ku made this statement himself when confronting his adversary.

No, it was narrated by the writer when Red Demon Claw Yi Yeku and Solar Apex Iron Sword Guo Ding were squaring up to fight in Eagles Flying in September. It was supposed to make us feel that the fight was going to be closer than expected, since the Solar Apex Iron Sword was ranked 4th compared to the Green Demon Claw's 8th, and Red Demon Claw was supposed to be even vicious than Green. In the end Solar Apex Iron Sword completely thrashed Red Demon Claw anyway, so the narration was pointless, I guess. Ding Linglin does comment that Red Demon Claw was inferior to Green Demon Claw, although how she'd know about Green Demon Claw is beyond me.

The book also mentioned "Green Demon Ri Ku (cries in the day), Red Demon Ye Ku (cries in the night)".. does that mean Green Demon Claw Yi Ku was actually named "Yi Riku"?