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.