Actually there is something special about that.
As pannonian mentioned, Yang Guo gave Qiu Qianren a lot of trouble with the surprising positioning of the Heavy Iron Sword. Ah ha, fans of Surprising Position rejoice (or maybe it's just me and CC ), it doth exist in ROCH too!
Here is the quote:
慈恩右掌斜劈,欲以掌力震开他剑锋。可是杨过这路剑法实是独孤求败的绝技,虽然年代相隔久远,不能亲得这位 前辈的传授,但洪水练剑,蛇胆增力,仗着神雕之助,杨过所习剑法已仿怫于当年天下无敌的剑魔。慈恩这一掌击 出,杨过剑锋只稍偏数寸,剑尖仍是指向他左臂。慈恩大骇,向右急闪,才避过了这一剑,
True, and HIS itself has more than just a blunt stab. Judging by the deftness and precision of Yang Guo's sword positioning, there is no doubt that HIS embodies great learnings.As some other posters have mentioned, the 'zen-like' nature of elite martial arts in Jinyong, much as with Zen Buddhism itself, thrives in contradiction; to be indescribably complex, but also be incredibly simple.
To view it another way, at the peak of softness, there is hardness, and when hardness reaches its peak, there is softness. Soft itself is of a truly high level only when it is birthed from hardness, and vice versa.
But at the end of the day, HIS has no stance, while Dugu 9 Swords does.
True, true.No stance by itself is not a 'high level'. As is commented in DG9J, when a random person untrained in martial arts strikes out, no one can predict where he will attack, but he will still be easily defeated, because he knows no martial arts. DG9J is at the opposite end of the spectrum; where a person has reached such an incredible in martial arts that from complexity is born simplicity.
But HIS is still one cut above, because it would be very easy to emulate Dugu 9 Swords with the HIS, but it would be more difficult to emulate HIS with Dugu 9 Swords, since the internal energy requirement is very high. And once you've reached the stage of L->H (wielding a Light weapon as if Heavy), you've basically reached the Wooden Sword stage.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more similarity I see in HIS and Dugu 9 Swords! This is the essence of heating up a discussion with strong one-sided arguments, so that the opposite side will feel more inclined to pitch in, and then I can take the best of both worlds
Yes, but remember: Jin Yong's Pre-SPW philosophy was always massive internal energy conquers all. Or to put it a little more elegantly: with a strong internal foundation comes strong power to conquer all fancy techniques.HIS might have no stance aside from the basic attack patterns inherent in all swordplay, but that doesn't necessarily make it particularly profound. Training in it is the equivalent of giving that random person massive internal energy and decent speed, and a very basic idea of swordplay.
But HIS is already way more powerful than Dugu 9 Swords. Even when Dugu 9 Swords has reached its zenith, which Linghu Chong still has a long way to go, it would be at best an even match for Heavy Iron Sword theories.I think this is a very weak analogy. LHC's lack of internal strength had nothing to do with DG9J, whereas Yang Guo's internal strength had everything to do with HIS. There's room for further growth with DG9J. I see no room for growth in HIS.