Is Liu Mai Shen Jian the greatest art?

[goodrick]

Is it a settled debate that Liu Mai Shen Jian is the greatest martial art in the Jin Yong universe or is the jury still out on that? Currently watching DGSD 2013 and was curious to know if there was consensus on this being the greatest art.

[Western Eccentric]

Yoooooshh I would say yes if we talk about martial art as a "stance"/move I mean 6MSJ is the most powerful external art in Jin Yong canon..

[Polar-kun]

Generally yes as the most offensive technique as it can be used both as an LDA and as a qi blade. Also it is relatively easier to learn compared to other super martial arts.
OTG martial art and DGQB's swordless stage should be superior, they are more of the pinnacle of martial arts achieved from mixing martial arts and theories rather than a simple martial art.
Though I would personally choose BMSG since it is just a pure easy hack to achieve great internal.

[WuxiaMaster]

I think it's the strongest offensive technique in Jinyong Universe, and one of the few beyond great lv (A+) techniques. By that I mean an external technique that is CLEARLY a tier above other Great LV arts.

There are several A+ internal arts, but very few A+ technique imo. Possible candidate I can think of is Dugu 9 Jian (it doesn't require imba internal to be usable).

Techniques
A: XL18Z, Ha Ma Gong, Yiyang Finger, Sad Palms, Taiji Sword/Fist, etc...
A+: LMSJ

Internal Art
A: Shaolin, Quanzhen, etc...
A+: YJJ, 9Yang, 9Yin, Kuihua Baodian, 小无相功?, 八荒六合为我独尊功?...

[Polar-kun]

Actually Arhat's Demon Subduing Diving Fist (Luohan Fu Mo Shen Gong) is the best internal art out there ignoring unknown factors (like Damo's YJJ, original KHBD) except it is also the hardest one to practice. Your above mentioned ones take decades of "orthodox" practice to reach around Great level and above whereas LFMSG took mere a few months to achieve such level.

[Stance]

Any evidence that YJJ was actually that great? I thought with the revisions, the first appearance of YJJ wasn't until in SOD, so we can't see how it compares to the DGSD arts?

[Polar-kun]

If I remember correctly, YJJ was stated to be the most treasured art of Shaolin in DSGD. Also it has special benefits like immunity against inner-energy absorbing/destroying attacks (like XXDF etc.) and merging conflicting streams of energy into one. It is at least not inferior than the likes of 9-yin/9-yang but the problem with it (and other Buddhist arts) is that you need a certain degree of enlightenment (plus possibly years of training) to achieve full potential whereas almost anybody can practice Taoist arts without much difficulty (provided that they follow a proper route).