Dugu Qiu Bai

Dugu Qiu Bai aka Kim Mo tuk Ku Kau Pai (The lonely sword devil in search of defeat) was a character

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in Jin Yong's novel

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His skills are legendary as he is one of Jin Yong's most mysterious characters. His legacy is seen in Return of the Condor Heroes and Smiling Proud Wanderer, as well as the Deer and the Cauldron. He supposedly acheived the philosphical level of "Sword without a sword."

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His Dugu Nine Swords was seen in Smiling Proud Wanderer, used by Ling Hu Chong, which contains nine forms to "break" the form of any type of attack. It based on the principle of no technique equals best technique because one cannot break a form if there is no form. Therefore, in theory this style of fighting has no style and cannot be defeated.

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Dugu Nine Swords only uses attack techniques. The idea is that when one forces one?s enemy to have no other choice but to defend himself, there is no need to defend one?s self.

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Although each move was just one stance, it had endless variations. The more one learns, the more powerful it becomes when one comprehended the connections between each stance. The last three stances are said to be the most difficult ones.

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The 9 Stances

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1. General Index Stance

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2. Sword-breaking Stance

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3. Knife-breaking Stance

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4. Spear-breaking Stance

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5. Mace-breaking Stance

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6. Whip-breaking Stance

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7. Palm-breaking Stance

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8. Missile-breaking Stance

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9. Energy-breaking Stance

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The first move of the Dugu Nine Swords, General Index Stance, has many variations to implement the General Index Script.

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The second move, Sword-breaking Stance, can be used to overcome sword styles from every school.

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The third move, Knife-breaking Stance, can be used to overcome knife moves of Single Knife, Double Knives, Willow-Leaf Cutlass, Ghost-Beheaded Saber, Large Cleaver, and Horse-Cutting Blade, etc.

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The fourth move, Spear-breaking Stance included techniques to overcome long weapons such as long-handled spear, long-handled halberd, snake-shaped spear, staff, fanged cudgel, white wax stick, Buddhist monk?s staff, and Buddhist monk?s spade.

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The fifth move, Mace-breaking Stance was used to overcome short weapons such as steel club, iron mace, point-sealing peg, crutches, Emei sting, dagger, war axe, iron plate, octagonal hammer, and iron awl.

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The sixth move, Whip-breaking stance was able to overcome flexible weapons such as long cord, whip, three-sectioned staff, chain spear, iron chain, fishing net, and meteor hammer.

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The seventh move, Palm-breaking Stance overcomes martial arts which uses one?s fists, legs, fingers, and palms. If the opponent were brave enough to fight against a sword with bare hands, he had to have really good martial arts and that the use of weapons no longer made any difference to him any more. The Palm-breaking Stance included techniques to overcome boxing and grappling, joint manipulation and point sealing, demon claw and tiger claw hands, iron sand divine palm, and the type of barehanded martial arts skills.

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The eighth move, Missile-breaking Stance included the many different kinds of missiles and projectiles. To be able to learn this stance, the practitioner must first learn the skill of distinguishing the type of the missile by ear. He not only should be capable of blocking the many kinds of missiles coming from the enemy with his long sword, but also redirecting the force in the missiles to send them back and injure the enemy with his own missiles.

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The ninth move, Energy-breaking Stance, is used to overcome opponents who have great inner energy. From what can be gathered it is actually pin-point attacks on certain parts of the body to prevent the opponent from exerting his qi.

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To be able to master these sword techniques, the key lies on understanding and not simply rigid memorizing. Once the essence of the sword techniques is understoond, it can be used in endless ways, hence the idea of no stance as a stance. Thus during combat, the more these stances are forgotten, the less restricted the practicioner becomes by the original stances.

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The Heavy Sword Technique was used by Yang Guo because this required the use of internal energy and technique.

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It is supposedly a more advanced form of sword stance that allows ultimate breaking of stance with one strike from a heavy sword, even if its edge was blunt.

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Dugu Qiubai wrote about himself (this is what Yang Guo read at the Dugu's grave):

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"Having roamed the martial arts world for more than thirty years, I have killed all my villainous foes and defeated all heroic champions, under Heaven there's no one who can be my equal. Without any other choice, I could only retreat and live in seclusion in this deep valley, with a condor as my companion. Alas, throughout my life I searched for a good adversary but in vain, I am truly lonely and saddened. DEMONIC SWORDSMAN DUGU QIUBAI"

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In his Sword Tomb, it is stated:

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"The Demonic Swordsman Dugu Qiubai has become the invincible and unchallenged warrior under Heaven, he therefore buried his swords here. Alas, the heroes of the realm bowed down before me, now my long sword is of no use anymore... the agony!"

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"Fierce and aggressive, able to penetrate every obstacle. With it, I competed with the heroes of the Northern Plains during my teenage years."

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"The Violet Flexible Sword, used it prior to the age of thirty. I accidentally wounded a righteous man with it, it turned out to be a Weapon of Doom. I felt great remorse and abandoned the sword in a deep valley."

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"The Heavy, Blunt Sword, complexity is useless. Before I reached the age of forty, I used it to roam the entire Empire under Heaven."

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"After the age of forty, I no longer relied on weaponry. Trees, bamboo and rock can all be my swords. From then on, the essence of my cultivation slowly reached the level of overcoming the sword without a sword."

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