It's been said that during LOCH, Iron Palm Union Chief Kau Cheen Yan's martial arts were just a hair below the Greats'. He could reasonably be invited to the Second Mt. Hua Sword Tournament and, although his chances of winning against the four Greats or Chow Bak Tung were slim, he would nevertheless be competitive...maybe even edging one of them out on his best day. In other words, he was quite nearly a Great himself...at least 90% of their level according to some observers.
But whenever Kau Cheen Yan fought Gwok Jing in the second half of LOCH, it was never as easy for the Iron Palm Union Chief as it was for the Greats. Even late in LOCH, the Greats could defeat Gwok Jing without too much trouble, but Kau Cheen Yan always seemed to need to put a great deal of effort into it.
Why was this? Did Gwok Jing present some special problems for Kau Cheen Yan in martial arts matchups?
Kau Cheen Yan had similar problems with Ying Goo, but that one's easily explainable: he was afraid of her and he was somewhat hampered by his guilty conscience for killing her son. Kau Cheen Yan should not have had similar hangups fighting Gwok Jing, however.