I have always been debating how good was DFBB? Could he/she be better than ROCH Greats? Better than Xiao Feng? The feats that DFBB accomplished in SPW were insane. However, I think DFBB cannot defeat the Greats, as JY's intention.
I need someone to pull out the exact excerpt, but in SPW, we had LHC and RWX taking on each other in sword skills. LHC's DG9J was winning, but RWX's roar based on internal energy knocked him out. In other words, even in SPW the novel itself, JY wanted to make it clear that internal energy is the most important thing. I always thought SPW was a novel in which JY finally deviated from his "internal energy > all", but apparently this wasn't the case.
In TLBB, XZ and YTZ both went from nobodies to elite fighters after receiving internal boost. There was no mention about MRF's internal, and he was always at the losing end against top tier fighters. You had to have insane amount of internal before you could learn the top skill-6MSJ. The other top skill was an internal energy skill.
In LOCH, the coveted skill was...well, 9Yin, an internal energy skill. OYK wasn't taught the Toad Stance because OYF deemed that OYK lacked sufficient internal energy. We saw how not one, but two Greats, could be "held" by a new rising hero if internal energy are not used. The number 1 declared and continually stayed revered by everyone in the novel, WCY, was known for his XTG, an internal energy skill. GJ saw improvement in his skills by leaps and bound after he understood how to unlock his internal energy.
In ROCH, we have the ice bed, we saw YG focused so much on internal energy. We saw GWM doubled his internal energy.
In HSDS, ZWJ owed his life to an internal energy skill. Also, insufficient internal energy=no QKDNY, the uber hax skill in HSDS (till 9yin). Like LOCH, this novel was centered around an internal energy-9 Yang.
And in all the novels-TLBB, LOCH, ROCH and HSDS, having a lot of internal energy was always a sure way to impress people. For instance, in TLBB, XF was impressed by DY being able to force wine out from his fingertips even without fighting (and XF is not some country bumpkin who gets easily impressed). In HSDS, when ZM brought her army to Wudang, YTZ was overwhelmed by the lackey's internal energy.
So in conclusion, I think JY is pretty clear-internal energy=most important thing.
There might be one small flaw to point out however. FZ was versed in YJJ and RWX could hold his own against FZ. One way to reconcile this was that the YJJ in SPW was not the same as that in TLBB (this is something I think we all agreed, else FZ would easily be number 1, but he wasn't).
The best fighter in SPW, was actually someone with great internal energy-Lin Yuan Tu. Now, we know he was from Shaolin origin and tasked with the job to bring back KHBD. I really don't see Shaolin sending out a weak fighter for such a task, so LYT was definitely a strong fighter, to say the least. I would reckon that he had a good/above base of internal energy, even if it wasn't named (remember, we have no idea what XF has either). So with that and KHBD/BXJF, LYT was able to become the best fighter, created an armed escort agency that was feared.
Now this makes sense too. DFBB himself/herself had a decent internal energy as well. DFBB was number 3 in Sun Moon Cult during RWX's reign. I think it is fair to say DFBB was at least just marginally weaker than XWT (on the basis that RWX taught XWT more). However, DFBB was very ambitious and likely could had been on par with XWT by training even harder.
Point-DFBB was the best in SPW not only because he/she had KHBD-he/she also had a good internal energy base. Any fighter worth his/her salt needs strong internal energy.
Now we compare SPW against the Condor trilogy and/or TLBB. There is zero indication that the internal energy cultivation level was anywhere near that of the trilogy or TLBB.
Conclusion: DFBB won't beat Trilogy Greats.
I need someone to pull out the exact excerpt, but in SPW, we had LHC and RWX taking on each other in sword skills. LHC's DG9J was winning, but RWX's roar based on internal energy knocked him out. In other words, even in SPW the novel itself, JY wanted to make it clear that internal energy is the most important thing. I always thought SPW was a novel in which JY finally deviated from his "internal energy > all", but apparently this wasn't the case.
In TLBB, XZ and YTZ both went from nobodies to elite fighters after receiving internal boost. There was no mention about MRF's internal, and he was always at the losing end against top tier fighters. You had to have insane amount of internal before you could learn the top skill-6MSJ. The other top skill was an internal energy skill.
In LOCH, the coveted skill was...well, 9Yin, an internal energy skill. OYK wasn't taught the Toad Stance because OYF deemed that OYK lacked sufficient internal energy. We saw how not one, but two Greats, could be "held" by a new rising hero if internal energy are not used. The number 1 declared and continually stayed revered by everyone in the novel, WCY, was known for his XTG, an internal energy skill. GJ saw improvement in his skills by leaps and bound after he understood how to unlock his internal energy.
In ROCH, we have the ice bed, we saw YG focused so much on internal energy. We saw GWM doubled his internal energy.
In HSDS, ZWJ owed his life to an internal energy skill. Also, insufficient internal energy=no QKDNY, the uber hax skill in HSDS (till 9yin). Like LOCH, this novel was centered around an internal energy-9 Yang.
And in all the novels-TLBB, LOCH, ROCH and HSDS, having a lot of internal energy was always a sure way to impress people. For instance, in TLBB, XF was impressed by DY being able to force wine out from his fingertips even without fighting (and XF is not some country bumpkin who gets easily impressed). In HSDS, when ZM brought her army to Wudang, YTZ was overwhelmed by the lackey's internal energy.
So in conclusion, I think JY is pretty clear-internal energy=most important thing.
There might be one small flaw to point out however. FZ was versed in YJJ and RWX could hold his own against FZ. One way to reconcile this was that the YJJ in SPW was not the same as that in TLBB (this is something I think we all agreed, else FZ would easily be number 1, but he wasn't).
The best fighter in SPW, was actually someone with great internal energy-Lin Yuan Tu. Now, we know he was from Shaolin origin and tasked with the job to bring back KHBD. I really don't see Shaolin sending out a weak fighter for such a task, so LYT was definitely a strong fighter, to say the least. I would reckon that he had a good/above base of internal energy, even if it wasn't named (remember, we have no idea what XF has either). So with that and KHBD/BXJF, LYT was able to become the best fighter, created an armed escort agency that was feared.
Now this makes sense too. DFBB himself/herself had a decent internal energy as well. DFBB was number 3 in Sun Moon Cult during RWX's reign. I think it is fair to say DFBB was at least just marginally weaker than XWT (on the basis that RWX taught XWT more). However, DFBB was very ambitious and likely could had been on par with XWT by training even harder.
Point-DFBB was the best in SPW not only because he/she had KHBD-he/she also had a good internal energy base. Any fighter worth his/her salt needs strong internal energy.
Now we compare SPW against the Condor trilogy and/or TLBB. There is zero indication that the internal energy cultivation level was anywhere near that of the trilogy or TLBB.
Conclusion: DFBB won't beat Trilogy Greats.