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On the day of his wedding, Zhao Wuji's (Ti Lung) father, the head of Dafeng
Hall, is decapitated by Shangguang (Ku Feng), who was in employ of the Tang
Clan. to avenge his father's death, Zhao Wuji sets out for the Tang's residence
with only two leads, one that there's a spy in the Tangs' midst working for
Dafeng Hall, & two that Shangguang has stolen a Jade Tiger that contains
some all important information for him.
On his way he is attacked by the blind Killer Watchman & his minions,
assassins for the Tangs who manage to poison him, but he is saved by Ao (Yueh
Hua) & lovely Yu, siblings who tend to avoid the martial arts world at all
costs.
When later Zhao Wuji is attacked by Killer Watchman & company again, he
is saved by Tang Yu (Szu Shih), one of the heads of the Tang Clan, who tries to
gain his trust incognito, only to soon trying to poison him personally. Only in
the last minute, when Zhao Wuji tells him he is going to get a list of all
traitors among the Tangs' ranks, he reconsiders, & prepares to set Zhao
Wuji a trap once he has actually got the list. But Zhao Wuji is already one
step ahead of him, since he has long known the identity of his companion &
sets a trap for him, even kills him.
With Tang Yu's body, Zhao Wuji decides to travel undercover, posing as a
friend of Tang Yu bringing his coffin back to his family's home. Once there
though, Tang Yu's brother Tang Chueh (Lo Lieh) has little trust in Tang Yu's
friend he never even mentioned & does not take his lies for face value,
rather sends out a carrier pidgeon to check his information ... & what do
you know, the message the carrier pidgeon brings to Tang residence proves Zhao
Wuji's false identity - much to his own surprise. Then though, Ao & Yu, who
have earlier saved his life, arrive at the Tangs' - & prove to be members
of the Tang family themselves. Out of love to Yu, Zhao Wuji reconsiders his
plans for revenge, & now decides to go exclusively after Shangguang, the
man who decapitated his dad ... But what do you know, Shangguang proves to be a
spy for Dafeng Hall, & Zhao Wuji made the ultimate sacrifice by letting
Shangguang decapitate him so he could win the Tang's trust. This is proved by
the message found inside the above mentioned Jade Tiger.
But why all this ? Dafeng Hall has learned of the Tangs' aspirations to
build poisonous weapons to destroy the martial arts world once & for all.
Caught between his duty to stop the Tang Clan & his love for Yu, Zhao
Wuji decides to marry the latter, but on his wedding day, his first wife &
his sister Quiangiang arrive at the Tangs' residence, & they are
threatening to blow his cover taking him for a traitor, so Zhao Wuji &
Shangguang make up some elaborate lies to further decieve the Tangs - &
they succeed even though Zhao Wuji's first wife eventually kills herself
falling into his sword out of grief.
However Tang Chueh is not one easily to be decieved - at least not for long
- & soon it's an all-out battle between the Tang Clan & Dafeng Hall, a
battle during which Zhao Wuji is poisoned by the Tangs (once again) but saved
by Yu, his new wife, torn between love for him & loyalty to her family.
Zaho Wuji & Shangguang then succeed in destorying the Tangs'
poison-plant, & defeat & kill Tang Chueh, while out of grief Yu falls
into Zhao Wuji's sword.
In the end, Ao is left as the only Tang alive, & he challenges Zhao Wuji
to a duel, even though both men by now are utterly aware of the futility of
their fight ... the duel is eventually won by Zhao Wuji only with the help of
Shangguang, who has to give his own life though.
Dafeng Hall & Zhao Wuji have won, but it is a bitter victory he cannot
enjoy.
Another of the usually great collaborations of director Chu Yuan &
writer Ku Lung set in the surreal martial arts world. & again this movie
scores on almost all levels: it has great action, a conmplex but interesting
& suspenseful story, fleshed out vivid characters, colourful costumes &
atmospheric if obviously artificial sets., but it offers hindsight for the
almost absurd on-screen goings-on - especially in the characters of Ao & Yu
or the victorious yet unhappy ending.
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