Yue Buqun vs Zuo Lengchan was their accurate Skill Level
The fight between ZLC and YBQ was more indicative of their actual skill levels than the other fights we see in SPW.
Despite the Jinyong Character rankings putting YBQ at 42, and ZLC at 65, the fight we got at the 5 mountainsalliance leadership duel was probably the fairest representation of their skills, ESPECIALLY YBQ.
In the entire fight, ZLC was only slightly edging over YBQ, who we saw wasn't using the cave wall counters, or his new BXJF power up. It was literally described as a match between Huashan and Songshan sword arts, and frozen qi vs Zixia Shenggong. While the sword arts were pretty much on par, it was with the internal exchanges that reveal what ZLC thought about YBQ's skill, as he said that zixia shenggong was definitely a powerful skill as YBQ could still speak without being shaken by the palm energy. We also have to take into account that YBQ was being very controlled the entire time, in accordance with his Gentleman Sword moniker. It was a lot more even than you'd expect from a 20+ point difference in the rankings!
I considered asking that rankings thread to place YBQ higher, or put ZLC down a little, but instead I'd like to engage all the wuxia fans here on to share their own views on my defence of YBQ. Admittedly, he IS my favourite character in SPW, and I know he gets plenty of hate because of the LHC fans, but in reality, he's one of the most misunderstood characters in the JY series, partially because it's easy to project all sorts of stereotypes on him; Kinda like Frollo, from the Hunchback of Notre Dame novel, not the Disney movie.