Earthen Heart Shifu

Introduction

Gameplay

Gallery

“True strength flows from the heart! ”
—The Shifu, to Sun Tzu Wang

Earthen Heart Shifu
(心山拳老師, Shin Zan Ken Rōshi?, lit. Old Master of Heart-Mountain-Fist)) aka. Heart of the Mountain Shifu or The Xin Shan Quan Master
Character information
Chapter	Imperial China: The Successor
Affiliation	Earthen Heart Kung Fu
Occupation	Kung Fu Master
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Hair color	White
Gameplay details
Abilities	None
Weapon	Martial Art Weapons
Ultimate Weapon	Dragon Gauntlet
Other information
Designer	Yoshihide Fujiwara
Japanese Voice Actor	Hiroya Ishimaru
English Voice Actor	Qiang Wu

The Earthen Heart Shifu (also called The Xin Shan Quan Master in the fan translation) is the protagonist of The Successor chapter. He is the master of the Earthen Heart kung fu and due to his very old age is getting weaker and must find an inheritor for his Earthen Heart kung fu technique before his death.

Profile

Appearance

He is an old man with a partially bald head with gray hair. He wears an all black kung fu outfit and is fairly short in height. He always has his eyes squinted closed.

Personality

He is very honorable and calm, rarely ever getting upset. He believes that strength does not always amount to physical might or attacking people and believes that the kung fu arts should never be used to kill people unless absolutely needed. The only time he was seen even angry was after the death of two of his disciples at the hands of Ou Di Wan Lee.

Background

During The Successor

While out practicing his kung fu atop the mountain, he strikes a nearby boulder in an effort to gauge his power. When the boulder doesn't even crack, he comes to the realization that he is on his last legs. With this revelation, he concludes that he needs to locate some disciples to pass on his skills to.

He leaves his dojo to go on his search, running into a female bandit in the bamboo forest who attempts to rob him. After besting her, he admires her skills and offers to train her if she abandons banditry. The bandit begrudgingly accepts and introduces herself as Lei Kugo.

In Wong Village, he gets pickpocketed by a boy named Yun Jou. He follows the boy who he notices has deep regrets over doing what he did as a bandit named Sun Tzu Wang threatens him when the boy decides he doesn't want to steal anymore. After the Shifu deals with the bandits, Yun asks to be trained as well.

The Shifu also finds a portly dine and dasher named Hong Hakka in Yunfa Market who he catches. He assures the restaurant owner that he will handle the young man. From there, the Shifu learns why Hong resorts to stealing and offers to train and feed him so that he wouldn't have to steal anymore.

With three students found, the Shifu begins training them his skills, strengthening them for three days before Sun Tzu Wang attacks Yunfa Market. Shifu tells his students to continue training while he goes to deal with the ruffians. After beating Sun Tzu Wang again, the Shifu returns to the dojo only to find out it had been ransacked with two of his disciples killed.

With this, the Shifu teaches his remaining disciple the Heavenly Peaks Descent, and then he heads toward the temple of the Indomitable Fist to avenge the students who had been killed. However, his remaining student refuses to let him do it alone and the two of them head inside to face the Indomitable Fist leader, Ou Di Wan Lee. The sadistic leader then forces the Shifu and his student to fight his best warriors before summoning a pair of assassins to finish them off. Upon being surrounded, the Shifu sends his disciple to fight Ou Di Wan Lee themself while he handles the assassins.

The student successfully beats Ou Di Wan Lee and avenges their fallen companions. However, the Shifu starts succumbing to his injuries. In his last moments, he lets his disciple know how proud he is of them. Said disciple then inherits his title of Earthen Heart Master.

Bad Endings

If Oersted is chosen for the final chapter, all of the Shifu's efforts are for naught as Odio's changes of history have the Indomitable Fist come out victorious and Earthen Heart forgotten.

Trivia

• The Shifu is the only one of the seven main characters to actually die unless one is to count Oersted, who is technically the eighth main character.
• The Shifu is the oldest main character of the seven; the second is Sundown.
• The Shifu is the only main character who will not appear in the final chapter due to being replaced by Earthen Heart Master (one of the three successors).
• He is the only human character who cannot level up whatsoever and is forever locked at level 10.