Typically for a Wu Xia ("swordplay novel") adaptation, events take place in the mythical Martial World of strange sects and mystical beings. A Hectic battle introduces half a dozen eccentric characters that vanish and reappear throughout the story. Yang Guo (Leslie Cheung), a bedraggled orphan, scavenges amidst the battlefield and is found by Huang Rong (Liu Hsueh-hua) and Guo Jing (Chop-Socky Ace, Chen Kuan-tai), his long-lost aunt and uncle. it transpires, poor Yang's father was no good and the family remains suspicious of his dark lineage. He is sent away to the Taoist Quanzhen Sect where Uncle Guo hopes he will grow up to become a righteous man. Big mistake. Yang is beaten and bullied by self-righteous students. Worse, he winds up the fall guy in Prince He Du's (Goo Goon Chung) scheme to do-in Uncle Guo and takes over the Martial Worlds.