Mujin is relative to Prime Gap
In this post I will be going over why the narrative gives us enough reason to treat Mujin as relative to Prime Gapryong, rather than assuming the statement only applies to some weaker, earlier version of Gapryong.
In Cheongliang, the farmers are said to have rumors that Mujin Jin is on par with Gapryong Kim.
The important part is the reputation behind this statement and how it persists over time.
Think of Gapryong's progression as:
Point A → Point B → Point C
At Point A, Mujin and Gapryong have never fought, yet their reputations are already strong enough that rumors establish them as being on par:
In Cheongliang, the farmers are said to have rumors that Mujin Jin is on par with Gapryong Kim.
The important part is the reputation behind this statement and how it persists over time.
Think of Gapryong's progression as:
>
At Point A, Mujin and Gapryong have never fought, yet their reputations are already strong enough that rumors establish them as being on par:
>
Then Gapryong continues to grow.
And this isn't just some minor increase that we can ignore. His reputation grows alongside him.
Almost everyone in the verse knows about Gapryong's rise. He grows stronger, drives off the Yamazaki Syndicate, awakens his Path, develops his Masteries, and continues building his reputation as one of the strongest fighters of his generation.
ventually, he reaches the level where he can defeat Shingen.
So you essentially have:
>
And this is where I think the argument becomes important.
Why would the rumor continue to exist?
If someone wants to argue that the farmers' statement only refers to Point A Gapryong, then they need to explain why that comparison remains relevant after Gapryong's subsequent growth.
Everyone knows Gapryong became stronger.
Everyone knows about his rise.
Everyone knows about his accomplishments.
His reputation wasn't stagnant. It was continuously increasing alongside his strength.
So if the original comparison was simply:
>
then Gapryong eventually moves far beyond Point A.
At that point, the original comparison should become outdated.
Yet the story still preserves Mujin's reputation as being on par with Gapryong.
That's the important part.
You can't just freeze Mujin at Point A while allowing Gapryong's reputation to progress all the way to Point C and then continue using the same statement as if nothing happened.
The reputation itself has to account for Gapryong's progression.
And remember: Mujin and Gapryong never fought.
There is no fight at Point A that establishes their equality.
There is no fight at Point C that establishes their equality.
The entire comparison is based on their reputations.
So:
>
Gapryong's reputation then rises:
>
But when we reach Point C:
>
That means Mujin's reputation must have progressed alongside Gapryong's reputation for the comparison to remain meaningful.
Otherwise, you're essentially arguing that the story is saying:
>
while secretly meaning:
>
And there's no explicit indication that this is what the statement means.
unless someone can establish that the farmers' rumor specifically freezes the comparison to a pre-Path/pre-Mastery Gapryong, I don't see a reason to arbitrarily cap Mujin there.
So
The whole point is that the reputation survived Gapryong's progression.
And if the reputation survived the progression, then Mujin's portrayal has to be evaluated at the endpoint of that progression—not arbitrarily at the beginning.