Jet Li is Ling, a talented martial arts student who, with his fellow students, withdraws from the world of the swordsman to a remote mountain area. Arriving to meet some friends of the Highlander Clan, Ling is surprised to find that the chief of the clan has been imprisoned by a scheming subordinate, Fong (Brigitte Lin). In his quest for power, Fong studies the Sacred Scroll and undergoes a sex change in order to accomplish the most refined forms of martial arts.

Although Ling has vowed to retire from a violent life, he is the only fighter with the swordsmanship to stop Fong, setting the scene for a mystical and deadly duel between the two masters.