XAJH Feats: Compilation

[Ren Wo Xing]

Since Lanny, probably one of our finest XAJH resident experts, has arrived at Spcnet, and knowing the opinions of several other XAJH fans, I thought I'd compiled a list of all the 'special' feats which were performed by people in XAJH, in an effort to create an aggregate comparative list showing the XAJH skill level vis a vis other works.

1) Sealing accupoints through the air:

A fourth tier fighter, one of the Peach Blossom freaks was able to seal the accupoint of Lu Dayou through the air, without physical contact. From Lanny's translation, chapter 10, "He didn’t even bother turning around and simply pointed backward with his finger. In a whistling sound, he had sealed Lu Dayou’s Mute Point with a beam of energy."

2) Striking with lethal force with LDA.

It was stated in TLBB that only the greatest masters were able to strike from far distances: from CC's translation, "What was known amongst martial artists as 'Striking Oxen over Mountains' referred to various Masters who could use invisible palms and fists to strike over thin air, but even the greatest of fighters could not transmit their inner force much more then 20 feet away."

Yet, in Chapter 18, yet another 4th tier fighter, Yue Hou, was able to strike LHC from 'an extreme distance'. From Lanny's translation, "At the time Yue Hou was at a good distance from him. When Yue struck out with his two palms remotely, he had no way of warding the attack off using his long sword [.....] Succeeded with his remote palm strikes, You Hou figured that his opponent would at least drop down with severe injuries if not drop dead."

The actual hanzi used were "相距甚远", at an extreme distance, so if anything, Lanny played down on this. At least, we can assume 10 or so feet.

3) Really strong legs:

A third tier fighter, Xiang Wentian was able to, without effort, boot a heavy horse weighing 500 pounds into a ravine. If even his kicks manage to have that much force in them, how much more would his palms? From Lanny's translation, Chapter 18, "Linghu Chong gasped with astonishment. The horse, a large beast, weighed at least five hundred pounds. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes when he watched Xiang Wentian booting it into the ravine with such a casual kick."

4) Even stronger legs:

Later on, the infamous scene at the Plum Manor, where Xiang Wentian, a third tier fighter, without moving, was able to press a DEEP imprint of his feet down on the stone simply by shifting his internal energy towards it, showing perfect control of inner force as he didn't damage or crumble any of the bricks surrounding it. This has been argued to death, and I'm not going to go into it in more depth, but the fact remains that a 3rd tier fighter did something similar, at least, to what we have only seen first tier fighters do.

5) Strong fingers too!

Fang Zhen and Chong Xu of Shaolin and Wudang were able to easily write on wood with their fingers at great fight at Shaolin, in Chapter 27. This was something that Qiu Chuji said that would even probably give Yideng, using Yi Yangzhi, a hard time. It's been suggested that he wasn't in an accurate position to judge how easily or how difficult it actually would've been for Yideng, but the fact remains, it's clear that doing something like that was far beyond his own level, and by saying it would be "hard for Yideng with the best finger skill in the world", he directly implies that it probably would've been impossible for his own master to do as well. Again, this isn't necessarily definitive proof, but it's definitely something to ponder.

6) Even stronger fingers as well!

Ren Woxing was able to write words on STEEL; in the cage under the Western Lake, he managed to carve out the instructions for practicing his Xixing Dafa onto the steel plate he slept on. "There were words marked on his skin everywhere he felt. Each character was about the size of a copper coin. The strokes were very deep, but the handwriting was hasty and careless."

It's been argued that Ren Woxing probably wrote the words with his own chains after he sharpened them, but I find that improbable. For one, the strokes were 'very deep'; the only possible way he could've written deep with blunt chains would've been to sharpen them to an extreme degree. These weren't huge, fat words; each word was about the size of a copper coin. If Ren Woxing was able to sharpen his chains that much (and they were made out of a special material), one would imagine he'd be able to snap them as well, for one.

For another, the handwriting was described as being 'hasty and careless'. If he had sharpened his chains for many months or years, would he have written that hastily and carelessly? It's strongly implied by the way JY describes the carvings that RWX wrote it down on a sudden whim, which doesn't jive well with all the time spent sharpening/wearing down the chain (if that was even possible) he would've had to spend.

7) Sword Qi

Mr. Paint, at best a third tier (probably fourth) fighter, was able to use sword qi against LHC in Chapter 19. "Before he even recomposed to a firm stance, he had drew three circles in front of him with his long sword, which magically changed into three circles of light. The three circles of light looked as though they’d actually materialized. After freezing in the air for a moment, they began moving toward Linghu Chong gradually. At the first look, these sword energy turned circles of light did not appear as swift or fierce as the “Straight Line Lightning Sword,” but the energy released easily filled the entire room and everyone felt the chilling force coming from them."

That's sword qi, straight from Jinyong's own writing, in a 3rd or 4th tier fighter. Where's the only other place we've actually SEEN sword qi?

That's right, TLBB's Liumai Shenjian.

8) Music and Internal Energy

Huang Zhong, a third tier fighter, in Chapter 20, was able to infuse the music of his zither with his own internal energy, to control that of his opponent's. "He had actually infused superior inner strength into the zither sounds in order to disrupt his opponent’s concentration. Once the opponent’s internal strength resonated with the zither sounds, then he would be controlled by the zither sounds involuntarily. When the zither music slowed down, the opponent’s movement would also slow down; when the zither music hurried, the opponent’s movement would also hurry."

Sound familiar? It should. The other time you've probably encountered something similar was with Huang Yaoshi, in dealing with Li Mochou (and much earlier, with Zhou Botong).

I'm sure there's many more examples that can be given by the likes of Lanny and bliss, who's knowledge of XAJH probably far exceeds mine. Feel free to add and discuss them here

[PJ]

Xiao Ao Jiang Hu is going to take over SPCNET!

I always thought #1 is kind of questionable. He did it "with a beam of energy" does not really imply he didn't make physical contact, or if thd distance was only a few inches. As far as I'm concerned, using a beam of energy could be a generic description of sealing acupoints with or without contact. He pointed back with his finger, again no mention if there was physical contact or not. In Ode to Gallantry for example, the distance is specifically mentioned to be several feet. Here we just don't know for sure.

Actually, a lot of these examples are without specific, quantatative information.

[Ren Wo Xing]

He 'pointed', not pressed for one, and 'beam of energy' strongly implies that it was through the air. If it wasn't xuankong dianxue, JY could've easily just said "pressed backwards without looking and sealed the accupoint." Why 'point'? Why 'beam of energy'? I might be wrong on this, but I don't recall ever seeing normal accupoint sealing describing 'beams of energy', just pressing and -using- internal energy. No beams.

[Laviathan]

1) Sealing accupoints through the air:

A fourth tier fighter, one of the Peach Blossom freaks was able to seal the accupoint of Lu Dayou through the air, without physical contact. From Lanny's translation, chapter 10, "He didn’t even bother turning around and simply pointed backward with his finger. In a whistling sound, he had sealed Lu Dayou’s Mute Point with a beam of energy."

He 'pointed', not pressed for one, and 'beam of energy' strongly implies that it was through the air. If it wasn't xuankong dianxue, JY could've easily just said "pressed backwards without looking and sealed the accupoint." Why 'point'? Why 'beam of energy'? I might be wrong on this, but I don't recall ever seeing normal accupoint sealing describing 'beams of energy', just pressing and -using- internal energy. No beams.

(In Chinese)
竟不转身，反手一指，嗤得一声响，已点了陆大有的哑穴。

He didn’t even bother turning around and simply pointed backward with his finger. In a whistling sound, he had sealed Lu Dayou’s Mute Point.

In the original Chinese text, there is no mention of "a beam of energy". I guess Lanny added those words to make it easier for readers (who are not familiar with sealing acupoints) to understand.

This was something that Qiu Chuji said that would even probably give Yideng, using Yi Yangzhi, a hard time. It's been suggested that he wasn't in an accurate position to judge how easily or how difficult it actually would've been for Yideng, but the fact remains, it's clear that doing something like that was far beyond his own level, and by saying it would be "hard for Yideng with the best finger skill in the world", he directly implies that it probably would've been impossible for his own master to do as well. Again, this isn't necessarily definitive proof, but it's definitely something to ponder.

Considering that Qiu Chuji has never met Yideng/Duan Zhixing in his entire life, I really doubt the validity of his assessment.

OK, that was my 2 cents...

Bye,

Lav

[PJ]

Hi Lav

I sent you a PM before the forum went down. Did you receive it?

PJ

[bliss]

Just one observation about the comparison of sword qi. Liumai Shenjian was described as 'invisible' sword qi while the display put on by Mr. Paint were bright circles of light, which had slight holes/gaps where his sword started to make the circle motion. It was because of this flaw that Linghu Chong was able to slice and slash in between those holes to break his sword qi technique. Liumai Shenjian would prove to be a much nastier fight since the sword qi is invisible. So I'm not too sure what differentiation Jin Yong was implying when one's sword qi is visible as opposed to invisible, and how difficult it would be for the practitioner to make his sword qi invisible.

[Panadol]

Wow people analyze things more than Jin yong probably intended. I seriously think that Liu Mai Shen Jian is supposed to be his way of describing the Ultimate Sword art therefore saying that TLBB characters are much more powerful than XAJH.

[bliss]

I seriously think that Liu Mai Shen Jian is supposed to be his way of describing the Ultimate Sword art therefore saying that TLBB characters are much more powerful than XAJH.

Eh ... the whole point of analysis is to avoid over-beaing and over-generalizing comments. My purpose in analyzing Liumai Shenjian VS Mr Paint's Sword Circles Sword Qi was to show the difference between the two. If I didn't, then one could just assume that XAJH's 3rd tier characters were just as good as TLBB's elite. Isn't proof through analysis MUCH more convincing than just individual opinions?

But anyway, Jin Yong proclaims LMSJ as the Ultimate Sword Art in TLBB but also proclaims DG9J as the Ultimate Sword Art in XAJH, so your conclusion doesn't hold based on your given arguments.

[TaiHan]

That's sword qi, straight from Jinyong's own writing, in a 3rd or 4th tier fighter. Where's the only other place we've actually SEEN sword qi?

That's right, TLBB's Liumai Shenjian.

I think I remember you once said that Luimai Shenjian isn't real Sword Qi, but rather it is just a finger force manipulated like that of Sword Qi.

[Black Night Sea]

2) Just to clarify that a bit more: You Hou had the notion of 2 of his palm strikes being enough to seriously wound LHC and make him fall on the spot. But it didn’t. Why? Because LHC had a decent amount of zhen qi protecting him. Based on his comment, we can see that his LDA is effective and fatal against average fighters but not so much on elites judging on internal strength.

6) RWX had (I think) 12 years of valuable time available for him in the cell to carve out these words. He told LHC that it was out of boredom inside with nothing else to do. And usually when carving words on materials is concerned in JY’s canon, people tend to spend no more than seconds or at most minutes to carry it out.

Another thing to point out is that besides there being chains at his disposal, handcuffs and shackles could also be tools for helping him complete this vigorous task. You never know, it just might well be possible that these metal cuffs were probably designed with studs that was coincidentally suitable for engraving those words. Don’t forget that LHC himself managed to scrape off over 10 words from this iron plate using these metal cuffs in a short space of time. Even during that period, he hadn’t yet fully spread the 8 streams of energies across to his arteries and veins following instructions off XXDF, therefore his physical strength would be no better than a mediocre fighter let alone RWX.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Lava, thanks for clarifying. I still believe that the character 'pointed', though, is very indicative and suggestive to me that it was through the air, as well as the whistling sound.

RE Taihan: I still believe that, but for the sake of argument, these days, let's just call it 'sword qi' :P

RE Hanky Panky: I agree with your assessment on 2, but for a 4th tier fighter to be able to project his palm power that far potentially lethally against a fighter on/near his level is amazing nonetheless.

On number 6, I'm not convinced about how easy it would've been for RWX to hastily carve, in small font (just the size of a copper!), -deep- words with chains or handcuffs. For it to be fast, deep, AND small...I dunno, but handcuffs and chains don't really do it for me. And of course, scraping requires much less finesse than writing.

[Black Night Sea]

I still believe that the character 'pointed', though, is very indicative and suggestive to me that it was through the air, as well as the whistling sound.

The character '嗤' is used here as well:

突然間嗤的一聲響，一劍刺到了令狐沖胸口。
With a sudden noise of “chi”, the sword thrust through Linghu Chong’s chest.

Back to Peach Valley Immortal’s example:
I think what can be descried from this “chi” sound, was that there’s no whistling sound when Peach Valley Freak’s finger travelled. It’s most likely just a slight noise created when there was bodily contact. If there had been any remote acupoint sealing carried out, then the personal response by LHC just after (in the book) would’ve been a whole lot different.

I think these would be more sound examples relating to sheer acupoint-sealing through air: -

DGSD CH16
喬峰萬萬料不到這位德高望重的老僧竟會使這狡獪會倆，一聲怒吼，左掌拍出，凌空拍中了他穴道，
Qiao Feng never for once believed that this old monk who enjoyed high prestige and commanded universal respect would use such a crafty method. With a loud roar, his left palm struck out and sealed his acupoint through the air

DGSD CH39 (near the end)
虛竹左手如彈琵琶，一陣輪指虛點，頃刻間封了玄渡傷口上下左右的十一處穴道，
Xuzhu controlled his own left hand like he was playing a lute (guitar-like instrument) as he took turns with his fingers tapping in the air. In an instant, he’s sealed Xuandu’s 11 acupoints through various areas surrounding his wound

Regarding RWX’s writings: -

Description: ‘潦草’ = hasty and careless OR indecipherable.

Due to the limited comfort from having to write in the dark and the relative difficulty in performing this feat, I’m going for the latter.

At any rate, even if RWX did engrave those words quickly and deeply through pure strength, I’d be thinking that old Jin should’ve made that a bit clear. Any brief word of praise about his achievement would do for me. Hope there’s adjustments to this in the 3rd Edition.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Maybe. I don't think it's that difficult, though, comparatively speaking; to my knowledge, accupoint sealing through air is difficult primarily because of the accuracy needed, and the ability to project energy through air (which we see many fighters do, from Yue Hou to others). In that light, LHC didn't necessarily need to be that surprised. After all, back in Chapter 5,

"Suddenly, Lin Pingzhi felt heat coming from his back and a stream of smooth energy fed into his body; the push atop his head suddenly felt like nothing. He pushed at the ground and then easily stood up. [....] Smiling, a man with the look of a scholar strolled out from behind the corner of the wall. Waving a folding fan leisurely in his right hand, he looked very graceful."

From a good distance away, while the man himself was behind a wall, Yue Buqun, LHC's master, was able to project enough energy to Lin Pingzhi that Pingzhi could use, and which let him push away a strong fourth tier fighter like Mu Gaofeng, on par with Qingcheng sect's Yu Canghai. So we know that Yue Buqun is able to project his energy very far in that way.

Considering that multiple people have been able to project their palm energy to others, and Yue Hou, at least, to kill, sealing accupoints should just being very accurate and precise. As of XAJH, at least, it wouldn't necessarily have been a 'HOLY CRAP!' deal, more of a 'nice kungfu!' deal. It wasn't the ability to project energy that was amazing, it would've just been the accuracy with which one projected energy to strike an accupoint that was, and it was accuracy that LHC praised.

That, and I still think JY could've used better language than 'point' to denote merely a blind backwards accupoint...and the 'chi' sound still sounds suspicious to me, truth be told :P. Just doesn't seem like sealing an accupoint is something that makes sounds like that, or if sounds are made, that it would be noteworthy.

I hope there's clarifications too!

[PJ]

As of XAJH, at least, it wouldn't necessarily have been a 'HOLY CRAP!' deal

But in Ode to Gallantry, when Li Si performed Lingkong Dianxue, there were many respectable martial artists in the room, including Shi Potian's parents, disciples of Bai Zizai, and leaders of the Eternal Happiness clan. They'd only heard of such divine martial art in rumors, never seen it performed before. They were astounded by it. Now, Bai Zizai can personally shatter walls from a distance, but apparently from the description, even he is incapable of performing Lingkong Dianxue. I therefore conclude it is an extremely advanced technique, and if the ferries can do it, they would be better than the BEST central plains martial artist in the other Ming dynasty novel. Yikes!

It wasn't the ability to project energy that was amazing, it would've just been the accuracy with which one projected energy to strike an accupoint

I can agree with that, I guess. It does seem to go one step above regular long distance attack.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Truth be told, I really have no idea what to make of Xia Ke Xing's fighters. The difference between Zhang San/Li Si and the rest of the mainland's best was pretty huge, the difference between the two Island Lords and Zhang San/Li Si was huge, and then the difference between THEM and Shi Potian is evident as well. That's why I try to avoid that book.

If we accept that Shi Potian is 'just' on the level of the Greats (and I don't think we can do that), then, relatively speaking, Xie Yanke/Bai Zizai probably wouldn't even be on the level of the Jiangnan Qiguai (after all, JN7G were able to 'beat' QCJ)! But if we even so much as put Xie Yanke/Bai Zizai on the levels of, say, the Quanzhen Qizi, that propels Shi Potian sooo far above the likes of Xiao Feng et. all to be simply unbelievably monstrous.

So Xia Ke Xing really is a book I try to look at somewhat 'outside' of the Jinyong continuum, so to speak. Esp. seeing as how (to my knowledge at least) there really weren't much 'connection' to the other novels. The Condor 'trilogy' were obviously connected to each other; TLBB is clearly the predecessor to it, and XAJH shows a resurgence in martial arts from those time periods (DGQB's martial arts, XXDF), and even Lu Dingji makes mention of LHC et. all. To the -best- of my knowledge (and it's been a long time since I've even watched an adaptation of XKX), XKX doesn't really have such linkages.

[Panadol]

Why doesn't someone just email Jin Yong and ask him what his intention was. This would end all arguments. Even if it was based on his favoritism and had no logical sense, he'd be right lol. If he said that the condor was the most powerful character in all the story, then he will be more powerful than the sweeper monk lol....

[KJ]

Why doesn't someone just email Jin Yong and ask him what his intention was. This would end all arguments. Even if it was based on his favoritism and had no logical sense, he'd be right lol. If he said that the condor was the most powerful character in all the story, then he will be more powerful than the sweeper monk lol....

Well, forums were meant for debates. If we know the absolute truth, then why would we need this forum?

[Ren Wo Xing]

Jinyong HAS to be aware of, for example, the huge GJ/YG debates. If he wanted, he could address them in any of his revisions by giving the two of the a match up, or a direct comparative matchup, or whatever. That he chooses not to evidently indicates he doesn't want to.

But it's getting a bit off topic.

[Panadol]

Jinyong HAS to be aware of, for example, the huge GJ/YG debates. If he wanted, he could address them in any of his revisions by giving the two of the a match up, or a direct comparative matchup, or whatever. That he chooses not to evidently indicates he doesn't want to.

But it's getting a bit off topic.

Yeah he's smart, he wants to make more money from ppl buying his books to continue the debates.

[superboy]

Yeah he's smart, he wants to make more money from ppl buying his books to continue the debates.

That could be it if we think of it in a cynical way. Or it could just be that he figured out that this way readers would probably retain more passion for the novels if things were left for them to speculate by themselves.