If you are someone venturing out in the Wuxia World and learning martial arts (say from 16 years old) for the first time, who are some of the best Shifus to train under? And who would be some of the worst?
Consider:
1. Martial arts skillset/level (potential highest level you can attain training under him. Can he protect you from danger?)
2. How good a teacher he/she is (He might not be willing, patient or sane enough to teach you, such as ZBT)
3. His/her character (Chance of surviving under his tutelage/potentially getting killed)
4. His schedule (How busy is he? Is he occupied with other stuff?)
5. His network (How respectable is he in the pugilist world?)
That's all I can think of right now, but feel free to add any other factors you might consider.
If you can pick anyone to understudy or join his/her sect, who would be the best and worst choices?
Here are some of my candidates.
Worst Candidates
1. Yue Bu Qun - Mediocore martial arts and potentially getting used as sacrifical scapegoat
2. Ding Chun Qiu - Might be randomly grabbed during one of his fight and turned into poison fodder.
3. Huang Yao Shi - Need to survive his mood swings/risks of becoming handicapped.
Best Candidates
1. Zhang Sanfeng / Yideng - Benevolent, respectable, powerful, loads of free time to teach you.
2. Golden Wheel Monk - Controversial, but to me he seems like a good teacher. His students were all actually pretty strong for their age.