Synopsis
Grandmaster Chen, the last surviving practitioner of the Wing Chun style of martial arts, arrives in Tianjin with the desire to open a martial-arts school. Upon defeating all of Grandmaster Zheng's disciples, Chen receives an offer from Zheng to establish a school jointly, which Chen declines. Zheng then threatens to expel Chen from the city. He gives Chen another offer: if Chen can train a disciple to defeat the eight schools of Tianjin, then Chen will be allowed to open his school. Zheng reveals that he plans to defeat the disciple after the eight schools are defeated, thus enhancing his own reputation. Meanwhile, Chen decides that he should marry a local woman, and proposes to a waitress named Zhao. One day, Chen and Zhao are beset by thugs, whom Chen easily defeats. This catches the attention of Geng a local rickshaw-puller, who visits Chen's residence. Chen approves of Geng's courageous personality and decides to take Geng as his disciple.
Geng turns out to be a prodigy in Wing Chun and helps Chen to attain some of the needed victories well ahead of schedule. However, this draws the ire of an organized crime leader named Madame Zou, who attacks Chen, forcing the latter to distance himself from Geng. Later, Zhao realizes that Chen intends to betray Geng, leading Chen to expel her from the house. Zheng is visited by a former student, Lin, who is now an officer in the military. Lin requests that Zheng fight with him on camera, so he can send the film to the Viceroy. Zheng thoroughly defeats Lin in sparring, but Lin proceeds to ambush Zheng and seriously injure him, revealing himself to have been secretly in Madame Zou's employ. Zheng decides to leave Tianjin and settle in Brazil. Chen, realizing that he and Geng are in danger owing to Madame Zou, offers to take Geng and leave Tianjin, but Madame Zou prohibits them, because she does not want to be perceived by the public as a bully. Instead, she allows Chen to open a school for a year, after which he must leave Tianjin, and sends thugs to assassinate Geng. When that fails, she sends Lin to attack Geng. Geng is stabbed and dumped in the countryside of Tianjin, but instead of seeking medical aid, he chooses to walk back into Tianjin, whereupon he dies of blood loss.
On the day when Chen is to open his school, he visits a tea-girl who tells him about what happened to Geng, and shows him one of Geng's books which has Geng's bloodstains inside the pages. Chen is visibly moved, and during the opening ceremony, attacks Lin, who fights back with the assistance of Madame Zou's thugs. Chen manages to kill Lin before the thugs subdue him. He then offers to share his secrets and to train students for Madame Zou in return for not being executed. While getting ready for a demonstration, Chen flees from captivity, and the entire martial arts community of Tianjin, all nineteen schools, chase after him. Upon being trapped in a narrow alleyway, Chen defeats each of the nineteen masters in a duel, but decides to spare Madame Zou's life. Chen then boards a train for Guangdong, thinking that Zhao is already on her way there. However, Zhao had not yet left Tianjin, and is captured by Madame Zou. The latter spares Zhao and sends spies to follow her, with the aim of delivering a message to Chen warning him to keep silent about what happened.