Wu-Tang leader Pai Mei (Chow Kin-Ping) and his head disciple Gao Jinzhong (Lu Feng) launch an attack on the Shaolin Temple, killing its disciples San-De and Fang Shiyu while a wounded Hong Xiguan (Jason Pai Piao) narrowly escapes.
They murder a man named Huang (Wong Lik) and the abbot of Qing Yun Temple, Master Zhishan (Tai Kwan-tak), but not before the latter tasks Han Qi (Chiang Sheng), a young boatsman, into locating Hong.
Yang and Han create a distraction, allowing the group to escape and hide out at Zhu's martial art school.
They track Hong's group down to the cloth dyeing building nearby where Gao decides to wait until morning to attack and have his men alert the Qing troops so as not to risk one of the fugitives escaping in the dark.
Chen and Yang bravely opt to stay behind and fend off the encroaching Qing soldiers to buy Han and Hong enough time to escape, achieving their dream of dying for a noble cause.
Sylvia Rorem of Funimation praised the actors' athleticism and highlighted Ku Kuan Chung's comedic performance as "impressive and memorable".