In Defense of Linghu Chong Blinding 15 Swordsmen Simultaneously

[remixedasian]

First off, I agree that Linghu Chong should not have been able to even stand given his condition. His accuracy and speed also seem too ridiculous to be true.

However, it's not entirely impossible if you give Jin Yong some benefit of the doubt.
Here's why (translations thanks to Lanny):
Before LHC fought the 15 masked men, 5 had already been wounded by the Yue couple, so LHC wasn't up against 15 completely fresh fighters.
Madam Yue had given one guy a heavy chop in the leg; Yue Buqun had cut off one guy's arm and thrust his sword into another's leg.

Next, Yue Buqun alone held against 8 men, while 7 pointed lanterns at his eyes to distract him.
"fifteen masked men surrounded Yue Buqun in a circle. Eight of them took on eight different directions to attack Yue Buqun simultaneously..."
Now, were you able to suspend your disbelief of YBQ fighting 8 people simultaneously? Who is he, Nezha?

"...another enemy got stabbed in the shoulder and had to drop his iron staff....
Yue Buqun had plenty of inner strength...the longer the fight lasted, the more energetic he appeared to be." YBQ also uses a palm to break another's ribs and knock his cane out of his hands.

When fighting LHC, the 15 masked men "threw their torches on the ground...their body portion above their waists remained vague in the dark...
the fifteen masked men approached forward half a step at a time, no one dared to launch the first attack..."

So now, 15 men, with 5 wounded, advanced half a step at a time. Not only that, but they probably couldn't see LHC very clearly and each was apprehensive of him.

LHC has the initiative, and the 15 of them are practically standing still for him. Now, Lanny translated "一瞬之间" to "within a split of a second," but it could just mean an indefinitely short time, not necessarily a fraction of a second.

Let's say he targets the 10 unscathed ones first:
Assuming LHC has astounding speed and accuracy (this is Wuxia after all)
You could imagine him blinding 2-3 before the rest even register what's happening. 5-6 would be blinded before they had proper time to defend or jump back, and the rest would be too shocked to put up much of a resistance. It's dark, they're frozen in shock from the unexpected attack, and 1/3 of them are wounded.

Even with this defense, I admit that I thought it was unbelievable when I read it. However, think about Duan Yu and his lasers, people scaling vertical cliffs or fighting armies and escaping from hundreds of archers unscathed, shooting blasts out of their palms...

[tape]

It's just that within the context of the wuxia universe, all those other feats are normal and possible. Linghu Chong, having no access to inner strength, being half dead, and probably having overall lower martial arts than any of the masked men in the first place, (and having trouble standing up) is somehow able to thrust out 30 times in half a second before anybody could react is pretty unbelievable. No other character has done something similar in a similar situation.

[remixedasian]

Does it seem normal and possible that Yue Buqun can defend simultaneously against attacks from 8 different directions by 8 different people?
If so, then it's not that big of a stretch for Linghu Chong to preemptively attack 10+ people before they even start striking.
If not, then it's a moot point regardless.
Also, LHC is almost always without inner strength, half dead, and having overall lower martial arts than his opponents (He was introduced to us like that: think about all his Tian Boguang encounters)

[PJ]

"Does it seem normal and possible that Yue Buqun can defend simultaneously against attacks from 8 different directions by 8 different people? "

Don't underestimate YBQ. He is the only bloke in JY universe who has shown the capability to Transmit Internal Energy To Another Person Through The Air Without Physical Contact!

[Banh Mi]

Wasn't it mentioned that LHC can channel internal energy, only that he'll collapse afterwards? And that he channeled his internal energy when he blinded those 15 guys, then he collapsed.
If he used his internal energy, then it would be more believable.

[ChronoReverse]

He could basically force it to go for a moment before it all goes haywire and collapses him in great agony. In that moment though, the actual force is stronger than the healthy LHC because it was boosted by the energies (not combined synergistically but still stronger than base LHC) running rampant inside of him.

While there's no concrete statement saying so, what I believe is that LHC did in fact utilize at least some of that with the attack giving him the required speed and also causing the resultant inability to move.

[PJ]

Now How about a "In defense of Yang Guo being hit by Qiu Qianren completely unprepared but didn't even scratch him" thread.

[ChronoReverse]

Interestingly enough, I've always thought that one was fairly reasonable because I didn't think that YG was actually completely unprepared.

Instead, he dissipated the maximum impact force by allowing himself to be moved. Since smashing through a wooden wall is way below his capabilities at that point, it was really just another bit of cushioning to reduce the force even more.

Note that Yideng only thought that YG would be mulched because he didn't know YG's internal energy level. After seeing YG survive, he only thought "ah, this young man's internal energy is very strong" as opposed to "wow, this young man survived something impossible".

[remixedasian]

Now How about a "In defense of Yang Guo being hit by Qiu Qianren completely unprepared but didn't even scratch him" thread.

My dislike for Yang Guo might only be matched by Ken's. Inevitably, Yang Guo will hijack any and all threads, ranging from LHC to WCY to DGQB to Guo Jing etc etc.

[PJ]

Interestingly enough, I've always thought that one was fairly reasonable because I didn't think that YG was actually completely unprepared.

The book said that YG was caught totally offguard, and that he did NOT have time to prepare a defense, and yet he could throw himself backwards.

Instead, he dissipated the maximum impact force by allowing himself to be moved. Since smashing through a wooden wall is way below his capabilities at that point, it was really just another bit of cushioning to reduce the force even more.

It raises the question: if it's doable and so beneficial, why don't more ppl--or ANYONE else in this case--do it (move backwards to avoid injury)?

[ChronoReverse]

It's an orthodox and straightforward method but not necessarily simple in execution. Remember the exchange between GJ and GWM? GJ took steps back to dissipate the force. Moving with the force is also considered a more advanced technique. Yideng was impressed by young GJ dissipating his lifting force by letting it carry him to his feet in LOCH.

When Yideng raised Guo Jing up, he was not only asking Guo Jing not to have too much ritual, but was also testing Guo Jing’s strength. Yideng was only using 50% of his strength; if he felt that Guo Jing was not able to resist, he would have retracted his force. He did not have any intention to use force against Guo Jing, if Guo Jing stayed motionless he would not add any more strength. However, in this one encounter he found out Guo Jing’s martial art to be deep. He did not expect Guo Jing to be able to ride on his force and stand up, automatically dispersing his energy. This surprised Yideng more than if Guo Jing only resisted by staying motionless on the ground. Yideng secretly thought, “Qi Xiong had really accepted a very fine disciple; no wonder my own disciples candidly admitted their defeat.”

Nonetheless, you need sufficient internal energy for it to work at all. This is why Yideng ended up impressed by YG's internal energy after that exchange.


As for my assertion that YG utilized that technique, I'm fully backed up by the text.

This palm was fast and furious. Yang Guo was busy trying to persuade him with words and didn’t expect Ci’en to suddenly launch an attack. By the time the wind from his palm arrived, it was too dangerous to counterstrike with his own force. And so he went along with that palm strength, his body leaping backward. There came two crashing sounds as he crashed into a wooden wall, and his body was thrown out of the house