Two rival clans have unsuccessfully tried to hire the master of the good clan to teach his clan. Not willing to take no for an answer, they frame the master for a dirty deed that he didn't commit, which forces him to kill a man in battle. The townspeople attempt to kill him and he is forced to flee to the evil clan.

A group of martial artists seek revenge after being crippled by Tu Tin-To, a martial arts master, and his son.

Sun Chung had been recognized as an expert comedy and crime thriller director, but he was to gain even greater acclaim for his soulful, powerful, intelligent, and beautifully-made martial arts epics. This stands alongside The Deadly Breaking Sword and The Kung-fu Instructor as one of his very best. It’s not so much the plot – a master swordsman protects a treasure chest on a dangerous journey – that makes this great, but what Sun does with it, inspiring the cast and crew to some of their finest work.

The Chi Sha Clan is a vast network of deadly criminals proficient in martial arts. Growing in number at an alarming rate, the Imperial Court orders Yang Chen-yu and his followers to eliminate them. However, doing this proves difficult as no one knows the identity of the mastermind behind the Chi Sha, not even its own members. Spies infiltrate the organization in an effort to destroy from within. But then, no one knows who the spies are and after a few ambushes and security breaches, clan deputies begin suspecting one another of being traitors. With the Chi Sha dwindling in numbers, it's only a matter of time before the mastermind must reveal himself.