For years, wuxia fans have been debating the placement of SPW era in the martial arts ranking hierarchy. Are people like Ren Woxing on par with the Greats, or are they below? Not very often do we think of Ren Woxing, Chongxu, Linghu Chong, Fangzheng etc as Sweeper Monk level, but now there are indeed some evidence that Ren Woxing is actually REALLY near Dugu Qiubai's level or even better. I present to you 3 such evidences.
1) In SPW during Zuo Lengchan's fight with Ren Woxing, it is mentioned that the Sealing of Acupoints (SOA) is considered a low level skill, and that ANY good martial artist ( 高手 ) would not resort to this kind of cheap act. In DGSD, the Elite Jiumozhi used SOA in combat against Murong Fu, and another time he confirmed that the essence of the Flower-Massaging Finger, considered by many to be a Great-level supreme art of Shaolin, is to perform SOA. So, we have ample evidence that DGSD Elites use SOA, and yet according to SPW, the DGSD Elites like Xiao Feng and Jiumozhi are only considered LOW LEVEL martial artists. This means that Zuo Lengchan > Xiao Feng by a long shot. Since Ren Woxing > Zuo Lengchan, The gap between Ren Woxing and the Sweeper Monk/Dugu Qiubai is thus finely reduced, if there is such a gap any more.
2) In SPW, Beggar Union Chief Jie Feng could carve words on wood with his finger, whereas a LOCH Great would not. This means that Jie Feng > The Greats. Since Ren Woxing > Jie Feng (presumably), the gap between Ren Woxing and the Sweeper Monk/Dugu Qiubai is thus finely reduced, if there is such a gap any more.
3) In DGSD, no one could leap 5 zhang forward. In SPW, 2 ordinary fighters (by Linghu Chong standards) could effortlessly leap several zhang backward. Now, one can argue that leaping backwards is somehow easier than leaping forward, but they would both seem to require the same amount of effort due to the comparability of the feats. This means that the best leaper in DGSD might only be as good as some 4th level fighter in SPW. Since Ren Woxing > 4th rate fighters, the gap between Ren Woxing and the Sweeper Monk/Dugu Qiubai is again finely reduced, if there is such a gap any more.