At that moment the faces of the Central Plains' Three Great Evildoers changed; shock rippled through them—clearly they had not expected the Tianchan Eccentric's skill to be so unfathomable. Hebei's fiend Wang Yu called out:"Tianchan Eccentric—fine skills indeed! In that case, we three have no need to follow the rules of the jianghu!"There was a cruel edge in his voice; the three had plainly decided to cast aside honor and strike together with full force.
Hedong's old freak Mo Jian gave a cold laugh and added,"So you came looking for trouble. Don't think the three of us are easy marks!"A vicious gleam flickered in his eyes—the intent to kill.
Hen Buping, the Tianchan Eccentric, remained impassive, a faint curl at his lip."I already said I'd take on all three. Let's begin."As the words fell, he moved—cane tip kissed the ground—and then stood eerily still, as if a ghost awaiting the storm to break.
The Three Great Evildoers exchanged a glance, then sprang up together, flipping through the air and swooping in from three angles. Their lightness skill was superb, their movements swift as wind; the onlookers gasped at the seamless coordination and the ferocity of their charge.
Henan's bully Huo Bing lunged head-on, palms like a sudden gale and pounding rain, the wind of his blows screaming straight for Hen Buping's chest. From the left, Hebei's Wang Yu slashed in, palm-edges like knives, ruthless and precise at the ribs. From the right, Mo Jian dove like a hawk stooping, twin palms hammering down at Hen Buping's crown.
Three strikes from three directions—thunderbolts hurled in the same heartbeat, swift as lightning, like meteors on converging arcs. In the blink of an eye they had traded seven or eight moves with Hen Buping; every one was lethal, palm wind howling, qi bursting in waves; dust boiled up, and the air tightened to the point of snapping.
Yet Hen Buping did not hurry. He slipped through their combined assault like a phantom. His left wrist lifted; the cane writhed like a spirit-serpent—now parrying, now riposting—motions smooth as flowing cloud, free of the slightest hitch. His Heaven-Crippled Divine Skill (Tianchan Gong) was uncanny and unpredictable; each move hid a trap that was almost impossible to guard against.
Suddenly Hen Buping laughed aloud. His body turned; the cane flashed like lightning through midair. The trio's strikes had barely left their hands before—whoosh—the figure before them blurred, and their attacks found only emptiness. In the same breath his right-hand cane stabbed three times toward three points—each thrust like a dagger aimed at the heart. The killing intent was razor-sharp.
The Three Great Evildoers were shocked and scrambled to change forms, but could not meet that edge head-on."Back!" Mo Jian barked.All three flung themselves away, flipping through the air and retreating a full ten zhang in an instant, barely escaping the deadly flurry. The crowd fell silent, breath held—awed by the height of the Tianchan Eccentric's art. Though driven back, the three had not yielded; murder burned hotter in their eyes. A glance passed between them—they would unveil their hidden trump cards and bring the Eccentric down.
Hen Buping settled, cane tip ticking against the ground."What's this? Frightened already? I'm not even warmed up," he said coolly, the taunt plain.
"Arrogant!" the three roared together, surging forward with even greater ferocity.
But even as the words still rang, they suddenly vaulted—ghost-swift—and vanished without a trace. The onlookers stared, dumbfounded: the Central Plains' Three Great Evildoers had taken the chance to run. Shouts erupted:"Empty reputation!" "Cowards!" "All name, no skill!"Others called out praise:"The Tianchan Eccentric's fame is well-earned!" "Formidable skill!" "A true master!" "Egg against stone!" "Moth to the flame!"
Egg against stone or moth to the flame—say what you will—in the rivers and lakes, so long as the green hills endure, one need not fear for firewood. It is an eternal rule.
Ke Wen, eldest of the Northern Shaanxi Four Freaks, called out:"So that's all the Central Plains' Three Great Evildoers amount to! They've lorded it over us long enough—today we've finally swallowed that insult down!"The second, Qian Da, added,"And we've only our brother Hen, the Tianchan Eccentric, to thank."The Four Freaks stepped forward to pay their respects.
Hen Buping had been born to wealth, and in youth roamed far seeking masters; yet because of his disability, reclusion after reclusion barred their doors. One day he met a crippled elder who recognized in him rare bone and spirit and a keen, luminous mind. The old man took him as a disciple and taught a strange and singular art. Hen Buping practiced day and night, probing every subtlety until he grasped its depths. This art was the Heaven-Crippled Divine Skill (Tianchan Gong). From the day he mastered it, he wandered the jianghu, righteous and hot-blooded, forever righting wrongs and meddling in matters far and wide. Competitive by nature and odd in temper, he was forever challenging others—and thus the world called him the Tianchan Eccentric.
The core dictum of Tianchan Gong ran thus:"Where man is maimed, Heaven supplies; to train this art, one must be born incomplete. The moon waxes and wanes; the flower blooms and falls—by lack is wholeness made…"Therefore only the congenitally disabled could learn it; the whole-bodied, or those maimed later in life, could not.
All at once the wind snapped with the hiss of robes cutting air. Two figures appeared."Boy," they said, "hand over the Tianchan Gong manual!"Both bore disabilities: one was blind—called Tianchan, name Deng Guang; the other was deaf—called Dique, name Zhou Yi. In the martial world they were known together as Tianchan and Dique; their skills were formidable, and they had hunted the Tianchan Gong manual for years, openly and in secret.
Hen Buping said,"So you are Tianchan and Dique? Your Nineteen Forms are said to shake the jianghu. Why, then, covet the Tianchan Gong manual?"
Dique replied,"The Tianchan Gong is a peerless art. Every denizen of the rivers and lakes desires that manual. But not everyone can practice it—only the congenitally disabled. Boy, since you too are maimed, hand over the manual and we will not harm you."
At these words, Hen Buping's face darkened; a shard of cold light flashed in his eyes as he stared them down like a drawn blade. He snorted."Do you take me for easy prey? If you're not overproud of your own skill, then you are simply looking down on me. Since the Three Great Evildoers have fled and you two have come knocking, don't blame me for what follows."His voice was icy, his killing aura palpable—the sort that made the heart quail.
The blind Tianchan curled his lip."Don't overestimate yourself, Hen Buping. We are not like those Three Evildoers. Be sensible—hand over the manual. Out of regard for a fellow cripple, we'll spare your life."
Anger sparked in Hen Buping's chest."I need no pity from either of you. If you've the ability—defeat me first."
With that, he strode straight toward Tianchan and Dique, secretly drawing breath and settling his qi lest they strike by surprise.
These days the martial world is a whirlpool of shifting currents—factions vying in shadow, the scent of blood on the wind. Good and evil blur; villains rule the road; decent folk live in fear and move with caution. Wu Tong was secretly alarmed. Looking out over today's jianghu, if Hen Buping's Tianchan Gong was already this profound, then Tianchan and Dique must truly possess some skill—else how would they dare challenge him?