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Thread: Sai Mun Chui Sheut's sword manual....wait...SWORD MANUAL?!

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Default Sai Mun Chui Sheut's sword manual....wait...SWORD MANUAL?!

    In the final LUK SIU FUNG story, LAUGHTER OF THE SWORD GOD, the main villains, at one point near the end of the story, took Sai Mun Chui Sheut prisoner (or so they believed; my view is that SMCS allowed himself to be "caught" so that he could find the missing and believed-dead Luk Siu Fung more quickly). The villains believed they had an opportunity to kill SMCS easily while he was their captive, but they demurred on acting upon this belief too quickly because first, they wanted to get their hands on his sword manual, in which supposedly SMCS had recorded his peerless sword technique.

    I believe LAUGHTER OF THE SWORD GOD was started by Gu Long, but due to severe illness (which would ultimately claim his life), he asked another writer friend to finish the story. There are several problems with a SMCS sword manual that did not fit how Gu Long portrayed the character of SMCS.

    1. First, SMCS did not have a sword technique per se, with set stances and routines. In fact, his "technique," such as it was, was the complete opposite of that: it was a read-and-react style that required allowing the opponent to make the first move so that SMCS could spot and attack the flaws and the vulnerabilities in the opponent's technique. Unless SMCS was in the habit of keeping meticulous notes on the flaws and weaknesses of each enemy technique he encountered, I can't imagine there was much to fill this so-called "sword manual" with.

    2. As a corollary of the first point, SMCS's approach to the sword was something he intuitively understood, but was probably ineffable to others. Words probably would not be adequate to express how he approached using the sword...he just intuitively KNEW. Again, this is not germane to writing a sword manual.

    3. It's out of character for SMCS. Can you envision him spending hours writing out a martial arts manual? That's not how the character operates.

    4. Who would the manual be for? The son he abandoned? It's not like SMCS was eager to tell the whole world how his sword technique worked, even if he could. SMCS likely reckoned that when he dies, his sword dies with him.

    So I submit that Gu Long himself would never have personally conceived of this bit with SMCS's sword manual, and that his friend introduced this idea without fully understanding the character.

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    Senior Member Mandred Skavenslayer's Avatar
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    I am not familiar with the novel, but could this have been an example of LSF and SMCS creating a bluff, ie. they circulated the story that SMCS had such a manual so that in case they are ever in a bind they can use it as a bargaining chip.

    Very few people have an in depth knowledge of Martial Arts or SMCS's style so would be unlikely to see through the bluff.

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mandred Skavenslayer View Post
    I am not familiar with the novel, but could this have been an example of LSF and SMCS creating a bluff, ie. they circulated the story that SMCS had such a manual so that in case they are ever in a bind they can use it as a bargaining chip.
    True. They were known to do this (and had previously played a similar gambit against Old Sabre Tyrant and the Haunted Valley in THE HAUNTED MANOR adventure of Book Five), and now I'm of a mind that SMCS was in on it all along and allowed the enemy to capture him to position himself better to support LSF when they had the villains cornered.

    Very few people have an in depth knowledge of Martial Arts or SMCS's style so would be unlikely to see through the bluff.
    True again, and LSF and SMCS were probably counting on the villains' greed being their undoing.

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    Senior Member CC's Avatar
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    Frankly, not just SMCX's sword art but just about any art with external forms, the idea of a 'manual' being able to impart the full knowledge of the form is a bit unbelievable.
    Its BIxie Jianfa Gawdammit you guys!!!!

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    Moderator Ren Wo Xing's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    3. It's out of character for SMCS. Can you envision him spending hours writing out a martial arts manual? That's not how the character operates.
    Then again, can you envision SMCS operating a bakery? And yet...
    Read the latest chapters of Coiling Dragon at Wuxia World!

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    Hi Ken, just a side question. I rewatched the last episode of Luk siu fung 1976 TVB drama the duel before and after and I have a question. When Yip Goo Sing's plot was discovered and wanted to leave but got held by SMCX who insisted to complete the duel. We all knew the duel was just part of Yip's plan which acted as a smokescreen, a distraction but did he ever had the intention to duel with SMCX to prove his invincibility?

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by david85 View Post
    Hi Ken, just a side question. I rewatched the last episode of Luk siu fung 1976 TVB drama the duel before and after and I have a question. When Yip Goo Sing's plot was discovered and wanted to leave but got held by SMCX who insisted to complete the duel. We all knew the duel was just part of Yip's plan which acted as a smokescreen, a distraction but did he ever had the intention to duel with SMCX to prove his invincibility?
    I don't think so. In the series, Yip Goo Sing's desire to become the Emperor of China overrode any interest he had in dueling Sai Mun Chui Sheut. I'm pretty certain YGS did feel some interest in dueling SMCS and proving his superiority, but the goal of becoming emperor took priority.

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