Bai fa mo nu zhuan
A narrative voice explains that in the Shun Chi years of the Ching Dynasty, the Emperor of China had fallen gravely ill. In pursuit of a legendary rose, which blossomed once every twenty years and which supposedly has the power to restore life to the nearly dead, an envoy was sent to Mount Shin Fung, where the flower was to be found. This envoy, and his three companions, arrive at the mountain, where a man can be found standing watch over a flower that is nearly blossoming in the snow. The envoy bows and addresses this man as Master Cho of Wu Tang, but he doesn't respond. They explain their mission, which prompts him to ask about the time -- or rather, to ask what year it is. The envoy answers that it is the tenth year since the establishment of the Ching Dynasty. Master Cho expresses surprise that it is truly that long, and tells them that they can leave. The envoy attempts to bribe him with a reward, and is angrily rebuked. His three companions arise and leap to attack Master Cho, who leaps up and defeats them easily. The envoy himself attacks, and lasts somewhat longer before he is knocked back. Bleeding heavily, the envoy asks who could be so important that Master Cho would save the flower for them instead of for the Emperor, and then exsanguinates messily. Master Cho resumes his vigil, and the narrative voice (which is his voice) explains that he is saving the flower for a woman, for whom he has been waiting here for a decade. He wonders if she knows what he's doing ...Over scenes of a blacksmith's workshop, Master Cho (or, to use the name of his youth, Cho Yi Hang) explains that he was the student of Master Tzu Yang of Wu Tang, the Joint Chief of the Eight Big Clans of China, which are the only ones whom the Master considers to be worthy of the name. The Master advises him to always remember that good and evil were like oil and water; this is a familiar lesson to Yi Hang, who is more interested in playing with the grasshopper he's found in his hand. The Master then asks whether Yi Hang has mastered the martial arts technique that he taught him, and Yi Hang claims to have perfected it. Master Tzu Yang turns to look at him, sees him playing with the grasshopper, and frowns. He picks up a freshly forged sword and throws it at Yi Hang, who is startled enough to swallow the grasshopper, but manages to catch the sword. He begins to demonstrate the technique in question, which is so effective a defense that it can even deflect falling cherry petals from striking him -- though quite a few end up stuck to the end of the sword. Master Tzu Yang flings a stick at him, and Yi Hang leaps into the air and slices through it, right down the middle of the stick. Yi Hang then, rather cheekily, asks for a few days off since he's doing so well. The Master replies that if Yi Hang hopes to become the Joint Chief some day, he must always practice. In fact, Yi Hang doesn't really have any ambitions of that sort, and is content to do a few good deeds now and then.One such good deed gets him into trouble. At night, carrying a lamb that he rescued from some bad men, he finds himself lost. The narrator explains that there were two things that scared Yi Hang -- thunder and lightning, and wolves -- and he can hear wolves howling not far away, and turns to see them. He sets the lamb down, telling it that he saved the lamb's life, and now it is time for the lamb to return the favor, and so runs off ... but after looking back, he decides that he can't just leave the lamb to the slaughter, and runs back to pick it up as he flees from the wolves. He calls out for help from anyone, before he reaches a dead end. Clutching the sheep to himself, he cries that he doesn't want to die ... and then hears a flute being played, which causes the wolves to run away from him. Yi Hang looks up to see a girl standing on a hill nearby, playing the flute and being surrounded by the wolves, who don't seem inclined to harm her. The narrator describes wanting to fly up to thank the girl, and also to get a better look at her ... but since Yi Hang is very tired, he faints instead.A soldier on horseback finds him soon after, and they have a drink in a hut made out of reeds. The narrator says that this ordinary officer, Wu San Kuei, will one day become a famous General who changes the course of history. Right now, he admonishes Yi Hang that he was very lucky to have been rescued, and that he should be more careful. But he also shares his drink with the young martial artist, and also shares his philosophy of life -- that it's better to be at peace with yourself than to try and earn the approval of other people. Yi Hang is astonished by the kind heart of this ferocious man, but comes to suspect that San Kuei is kind to him only because he is an orphan.In any event, Yi Hang is put on trial for his actions in "rescuing" the lamb -- which is viewed as stealing it before it can be butchered, and attacking the butchers. Master Tzu Yang is the judge, while the "prosecutor" is Yi Hang's "uncle" Pai Yung, who views Yi Hang's acts as a disgrance to Wu Han. Yi Hang defends his actions as being based on chivalry and protecting the weak, and that the butchers were lucky that he didn't make them eat dog turds. This makes some of the onlookers giggle, including Pai Yun's daughter Lu Hua. The narrator reflects that Pai Yung wasn't a bad man, just ambitious, who wanted his daughter to become the success to the title of Joint Chief instead of the Joint Chief's favored successor, Yi Hang.Pai Yung was also the calligraphy instructor for the students, including Yi Hang, Lu Hua and their fellow student Lu Hsien Chang. During one recalled lesson, Yi Hang is drawing a caricature of Pai Yung when Lu Hua comes in late. Yi Hang is given an arbitrary punishment, which he shrugs off, showing his caricature to Hsien Chang. Lu Hua seems very fond of Yi Hang, and tries to slip him some food -- unfortunately, she passes it down the line of students to him, and everyone else takes a bite. By the time it reaches Yi Hang, Pai Yung can detect the odor, and throws a brush at Yi Hang, getting ink on his head. He accuses Yi Hang of being lazy and foolish, and says he should try to be more like Lu Hua -- who finds this whole thing very amusing. For his part, Yi Hang agrees with Pai Yung's assessment of his fellow students, which makes them all throw up.Back at the trial, Pai Yung continues to criticize Yi Hang's behavior. He accuses him of leaving the monastery without permission and committing murder -- but the plot has moved forward a few years, and Yi Hang is a young man rather than a boy. Yi Hang defends his actions by revealing that the man he killed was cruel to his own family, who show up to defend Yi Hang! Pai Yung then accuses Yi Hang of being a bully to the other students, but they show up and claim that they were injured in other ways. Yi Hang turns around and admits that he is responsible for the injuries, but describes the reasons for doing so. Master Tzu Yang finally rules that Pai Yung has to sit in meditation before the statue of the Buddha for three days without food or water, considering his faults.Yi Hang does do so, but he also feels free to offer up a criticism of the stern looking Buddha. Lu Hua brings him in some food, and so does Hsien Chang ... and then so do the other students! After a while, Lu Hua tells them all to get out of there, or else they'll get Yi Hang in trouble, and they all leave while she remains. Lu Hua gives him a jade heirloom from her father, making him promise not to break it, before she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and darts away -- but he pulls her back, and asks her to stay. Startled, she asks him what he wants from her ... and he tells her that he wants to go take a leak, so could she sit in his place so no one realizes he's gone? She's irritated, but does it.Elsewhere, a soldier orders his men to go out and kill some "rascals". These rascals are stealing military food supplies to feed hungry peasants, among whom are a man and his pregnant wife. Soldiers ride up to their camp and begin attacking without mercy. The pregnant woman begins to give birth, and she and her husband stumble out of their tent and feign death until they can escape into the woods. The soldiers continue their rampage until they are attacked by a masked woman wielding a whip with such power as to be able to cut people to bits. A man sees her face, and she blinds him.In the forest, Yi Hang is sleeping in front of a camp fire. The pregnant woman and her husband come upon his fire, and beg for his assistance. However, Yi Hang has no idea what to do. Then the masked woman arrives, and silently gives her assistance while Yi Hang stares at her with fascination. The pregnant woman dies in childbirth, but the child survives thanks to the masked woman. Yi Hang guiltily presses the jade heirloom that Lu Hua gave him on the man, in hopes that it'll be enough to help him start up a business. The masked woman departs, and Yi Hang follows.In a pool in a ruined city, the Wolf Girl bathes while Yi Hang watches. Suddenly, she realizes his presence and leaps to grab him and pull him into the water. Startled by this, he spits water into her face. She swings her wet hair so that it slaps him, hard, grabs him by his own hair, and asks him who he is and why he's following her. He points out that she's the one who's brought them together (most likely a pun that doesn't translate well) which embarrasses her, so she lets go and leaps away, allowing him to do the same. She says that any man who sees her face must be blinded, and Yi Hang wryly notes that having seen much more than that, he's in for a horrible death. She grabs her whip and tries to use it on him, but he dodges out of the way. She uses it again, grabbing what seems to be a note from someone telling her to come back to the palace. She leaves, abandoning Yi Hang, who laments the fact that he didn't even get to introduce himself.At the palace, a gathering of the evil cult is taking place, with the Wolf Girl seated centrally. Two little children bring her some tea, before the cult's leader, Chi Wu Shuang, arrives to begin to address them. (The Wolf Girl doesn't look impressed.) He describes recent actions undertaken by the cult's forces, denigrating the Eight Big Clans. However, when one of the cultists interupts his spiel with a persistent cough, he kills him with a telekinetic pulse. Wu Shuang then approaches the Wolf Girl and speaks to her, saying that she'll lead the forces of the cult against the orthodox clans. His sister then appears to her, and describes how they've been suppressed for twenty years. The Wolf Girl sees an image of Tzu Yang, but is startled when that image is replaced by one of a determined looking Yi Hang. The leader notices that something is wrong, and tries to seduce the Wolf Girl, who walks away. His sister laughs at him, mocking him for his obvious desire for the Wolf Girl, but he claims that he is willing to wait for her to love him, as coerced love is worthless.A soldier (likely the same soldier who ordered the killing of the rascals, earlier) approaches Master Tzu Yang and describes the increase in the activities of the evil cult. Tzu Yang agrees that it is a problem, and suggests that they should now work towards eliminating the cult. However, most of the leaders of the Eight Big Clans think that is easier said than done. Pai Yung is of the opinion that it was a mistake to let Chi go free years earlier, but Tzu Yang is impatient with such recriminations. The question to be answered is who should lead the effort to deal with the problem today, and the obvious answer is the Wu Tang clan. Tzu Yang asks Hsien Chang where Yi Hang is, and the latter doesn't know ...Outside, Lu Hua is waiting, and when Yi Hang arrives, she first asks him where he's been, and then what he did with the jade that she gave him. He doesn't want to answer, but when she produces it herself, admits that he gave it away because he thought the man needed it more than Yi Hang did. Lu Hua coldly tells him that she killed the man, that she'll be keeping the jade this time, and sends Yi Hang into the palace to meet with Tzu Yang. After he apologizes to Tzu Yang for being late, the Master tells him that the Eight Big Clans are sending their forces to suppress the evil cult. Yi Hang says that he doesn't think he's the right person to lead those forces. Pai Yung agrees and suggests his daughter, a suggestion that Yi Hang endorses (while at the same time criticising Lu Hua for being violent.) However, the clans think that giving command to a woman is contrary to tradition, and Tzu Yang gives Yi Hang a direct order to lead the army.In a more private meeting, Tzu Yang asks Yi Hang why he tried to avoid the responsibility of leading the army. Yi Hang explains that he knows that to be a leader means that he will have to do things that go against his principles. He wants to live a moral life, but Tzu Yang points out that such morality only works when there aren't people out there who want to kill you. Yi Hang has no choice in the matter; he must kill or be killed. Yi Hang disagrees and says that he does have a choice -- he can quit and become a recluse.At a fortress, San Kuei points out that the idea of Yi Hang quitting is an absurd one, as he has no way of making a living other than being a martial artist. On the other hand, he has the opportunity to become the Joint Chief of the Eight Big Clans, something that many other men would kill to have. Even him! He advises Yi Hang to develop some perspective -- if he became the Joint Chief, he could be of real help to San Kuei. Meanwhile, the soldiers have caught some infiltrators, and San Kuei orders their execution; when Yi Hang protests, he's told that it's better to wrongly kill a hundred men than let one real infiltrator escape. They are at war for their survival.At a meeting of the students, one wonders why Yi Hang hasn't arrived yet. Lu Hua suggest that they not wait for him, and instead begin planning their strategy. While the forces arrayed against them are potent, she is certain that they can triumph. Most agree with her, very enthusiastically in the case of Hsien Chang. Abruptly, a drunk-looking Yi Hang throws a sword into the middle of their circle, startling them, and sarcastically begs leave to ask a question -- why is it necessary to exterminate people who've done them no wrong? He asks Hsien Chang whether he's ever heard someone die from violence. Lu Hua angrily criticizes Yi Hang for ruining the morale of the meeting. He replies by noting her ambition, and says that she's much more suited to be the commander than he is, throws her the emblem signifying command -- and falls down unconscious.Meanwhile, the camp is being guarded by reluctant sentinels, one of whom notes something wrong in the forest, but his comrade thinks it's just his imagination. He's wrong, and two warriors appear out of nowhere to kill them both. Back in the camp, Hsien Chang tries to wake up Yi Hang. Then the attack begins, and there's no more time for any of this. The students engage in an elaborate but not very effective battle formation, which dissolves into a general melee. Apparently all this wakes up Yi Hang, who comes to Hsien Chang's assitance when he's injured -- actually just bruised. Yi Hang demonstrates great combat skill in the moments that follow, before he tries to order a stop to the fighting, much to Lu Hua's irritation. At that moment, the Wolf Girl arrives, and (apparently not recognizing him) attacks Yi Hang. They take their fight to the branches of the trees, arriving at a clearing. After a moment of stand-off, Yi Hang tries to remind her of their earlier meeting, only to be told that she has to kill him. Saddened, he throws down his sword and tells her to do it, leaving himself wide open. After a moment of confusion, she pulls back her whip -- but then a dart from Lu Hua hits her. Yi Hang catches the Wolf Girl, grabs up his sword, and flees into the trees, much to Lu Hua's shock. He takes the Wolf Girl to the ancient city, and begins treating the her injuries by sucking the dart (and its poison, apparently) out of the wound with his mouth.Back at the castle, Tzu Yang speculates that the Wolf Girl, a witch, has cast a spell on Yi Hang. Lu Hua disagrees, pointing out that the Wolf Girl not only spared Yi Hang's life, but also left with him. (A bit of an exaggeration on her part.) Hsien Chang wonders if they're intimate, before Tzu Yang tells him to shut up. Pai Yung claims that this is all just more proof that Yi Hang is not fit to be the next Joint Chief. Tzu Yang finally tells them all to just find Yi Hang so that he can explain his actions to Tzu Yang.Back at the cult's castle, Chi Wu Shuang is in bed with his sister and cutting himself, which apparently causes her pain as well. She tells him that she'll find him some other girl to replace the Wolf Girl, but he only wants her. He also wants the Wolf Girl to understand how much her desertion has hurt him, but his sister claims that it doesn't hurt any worse than when they were driven out of China by Tzu Yang, twenty years earlier. Wu Shuang flashes back to that dark day -- most of the chiefs wanted to kill them, but Tzu Yang, holding to the orthodoxy, insisted that they be given a chance to change their ways. Back in the present, his sister reminds him that they only took in the Wolf Girl to turn her into a killing machine, and that she is the only one he can rely on. He says that he doesn't want her around, but she tells him that he doesn't have a choice ... and reminds him that they're conjoined twins, connected at their back.In the ruined city, Yi Hang wakes up and finds himself alone. He gets up and finds the Wolf Girl playing the flute some distance away. He realizes, then, that she's the girl who saved his life all those years ago. They stare at each other across the distance for a moment ... and then are passionately kissing and caressing each other beneath the waterfall. Later, he notices a tattoo on her back, the word "lien". She explains that word is, as far as she knows, her only name. He offers to give her a name, and suggests Lien Kung Fu, since all she knows is Kung Fu. Later still, he reminds her of their first meeting, and calls her Lien Ni Chang (apparently having something to do with her sparkling appearance in the moonlight.) She likes this name. Then Yi Hang suggests that they just run away together. Ni Chang asks him if he really wants to walk away from Wu Tang like that, and he says that he doesn't care about any of it. She then asks if he'll still feel this way when she's old and her hair has turned white, and he replies that there's this flower he's heard about that blooms only every twenty years, and will make someone immortal. Later still, she asks him to promise her that he will never distrust her. He goes one better, swearing a mighty oath that if he ever lets her down, may he be struck by lightning. (All through this is interspersed shots of them making love in the water fall.)Later, Yi Hang wakes up and finds himself alone again, with a message that tells him to wait for her. Ni Chang returns to the cult's stronghold and speaks with Wu Shuang. (His sister makes wisecracks.) She wants to leave the cult, and is willing to do whatever it takes to do so.As Yi Hang practices his sword forms (accidentally breaking his sword in the process) Ni Chang undergoes a ceremonial wedding to Wu Shuang, who then tries to consummate it, kissing her fully clothed body, much to her disgust. His sister feels his arousal, but realizes (somehow) that Ni Chang is in love with someone else and feels nothing. She tells Wu Shuang this, and he literally throws Ni Chang out of bed. She tells him that she is now Lien Ni Chang, not the Wolf Girl. Angrily, Wu Shuang uses his telekinesis to assault her, but decides to let her leave the cult.Meanwhile, San Kuei has become the general he'd always wanted to be -- but for the Manchurians, not the Chinese.Back at the cult stronghold, Ni Chang is torn out of her red wedding dress and left in a white dress as she walks a gauntlet, barefoot over rocks, to get out of the cult. At first, she's able to drive away those who'd attack her with a glare, but then she's attacked from behind and the cultists begin beating her fiercely. Wu Shuang warns her not to use any kung fu to get out of this situation. Rocks are thrown at her, and she is knocked down twice before she gets out of the gauntlet. But she stands up and walks away. The two young cultists who still admire her bring her her red wedding dress as she leaves.Meanwhile, Yi Hang has been found and told to come back to Wu Tang. He explains that he wants nothing to do with the situation. Pai Yung accuses him of betraying everyone close to him, while Lu Hua begs him to come back and at least explain his actions in person to Tzu Yang. He does so ...But the castle has been attacked, and Tzu Yang's head is found hanging from the roof. Yi Lang cuts it down, and tells the others to look for the body. It is found, and reunited with the head, and Yi Lang weeps. He hears Hsien Chang's voice weakly calling out, and finds him mortally wounded elsewhere in the castle. Hsien Chang tells him that the Wolf Girl and her men attacked while he was away. Yi Lang can't believe it, even as Hsien Chang dies in his arms.At this worst of all possible moments, Ni Chang arrives at the castle and is promptly attacked. She defends herself but doesn't use lethal force. Yi Lang arrives and orders the fighting to stop. She asks him if they can leave, but he has a question to ask her -- whether she is responsible for the attack on the castle. She claims that she doesn't care about it. All she wants to know is if he's coming with her. Then he asks her why she did it. Angrily, she turns to leave, but he won't let her go without an explanation ... and the Wu Tang won't let her go at all. Attacked again, she starts killing those who attacked her, employing her whip ruthlessly. She flings a spear that mortally wounds Pai Yung, wraps her whip around Li Hua's throat before slamming her into the wall. Yi Lang cuts the rope before she can decapitate Li Hua, and slaps Ni Chang hard ... just before Li Hua stabs her, although he tries to stop that as well. But his hands are on the sword, and in utter fury she pulls it the rest of the way into her body before asking him -- just once -- why he didn't believe her. She knocks him back several feet with a shove, and as she remembers all of the precious moments that they shared, all the pain she endured to be with him, her hair whips around her ... and turns pure white.She is now the Bride With White Hair.Employing telekinesis, she causes the sword in her own body to shoot out and impale Li Hua, killing her instantly. With a wicked smile, the red dress explodes off of her frame, and she releases her hair to reach out and strangle the remaining defenders of Wu Tang. In a few moments, only Yi Lang remains alive, and she holds a sword to his throat. He calls her Ni Chang ... and she tells him that person is dead. She jumps up and away from him. A moment later, incredibly, it seems that Tzu Yang has been resurrected, and he calls Yi Lang over to berate him, before stabbing him with a sword. It is actually Wu Shuang in disguise, just as the "Wolf Girl" that Hsien Chang saw was the sister in disguise. She mocks Yi Lang, before Wu Shuang returns in his proper form to tell him that he's going to die a horrible death.Yi Lang pulls the sword out of his body to wield it as a weapon, challenging Wu Shuang to come out and fight. Wu Shuang uses telekinesis to send another blade through Yi Lang, who then sees Li Hua's ghost appear before him and ask him why he did this. (Possibly, she tells him what should have been obvious -- that she was in love with him.) Lashing out at the ghost, he is then pummelled by Wu Shuang's telekinesis, and dragged toward a sword set up to bisect him from the groin up. But the head of the Buddha's statue is dropped on Wu Shuang, distracting him before he can complete this attack ... and the Bride with White Hair, who knocked it loose, looks down on Yi Lang with an unreadable expression. However, the head is flung at her, knocking her away despite Yi Lang's cry of warning. Wu Shuang gets up and flings it at Yi Lang as well, but he is able to dodge and run Wu Shuang and his sister through with a sword ... which annoys them, and so he knocks him around with telekinesis before going after the Bride. She tries to fight him, but is no match for his power. After incapacitating her, he goes after Yi Lang, demanding to know why he tried to steal his woman. The Bride tries to strangle Wu Shuang with her hair, but this doesn't work either, and they bounce around like pinballs for a few moments. His sister tells Wu Shuang to cut the Bride's heart out, but he doesn't really want to, and his indecision proves fatal when Yi Lang employs the same sword stroke that split the wood to split them in two, leaving them to bleed out on the ground.Yi Lang calls out for Ni Chang, and manages to stand up. He looks over the wrecked hall, and sees her standing in the doorway, looking back at him with that same unreadable expression, before she walks away.Ten years later, Yi Lang is still waiting for the flower to blossom ...
tragedy, revenge, cult, violence