Burning Paradise

The Yongzheng emperor orders the destruction of the Shaolin Monastery, forcing Fong Sai-yuk and his master Chi Nun to flee. They become fugitives, constantly on the run as government agents close in. The chase sets the tone for their perilous journey through Qing-dynasty territory.

On the run, Fong and Chi Nun encounter Tou Tou, a female prostitute who offers shelter and helps them hide from pursuit. She becomes an essential ally and provides aid during their escape. Together they try to stay ahead of Crimson's pursuit.

Crimson and his men track them down and catch up with the fugitives. Chi Nun is wounded and killed by Crimson; Fong and Tou Tou are captured and restrained. The pursuit ends with their imprisonment.

Fong and Tou Tou are imprisoned alongside other Shaolin practitioners. Warden Kung rules with brutal tyranny, forcing slave labor and booby-trapping the temple. Hung Hei-gun serves as the cruel foreman.

Kung wounds Fong with a spear and leaves him for dead in a pit full of corpses. There, Fong meets Shaolin master Chi Seen, another inmate who shares his fate and helps him survive the trap. Their bond becomes the seed of their eventual escape.

Tou Tou is taken as Kung's concubine, and when she asks for Fong's release, Kung agrees only to renege due to jealousy. Fong is thrown back in jail as Tou Tou becomes a pawn in Kung's game. The heart of the power struggle within the temple tightens the noose around them.

A complex web unfolds: Brooke, the head priestess, flirts with Hung while Luk betrays Hung by feigning freedom to map the temple. Hung's ruse is exposed, but he uses the deception to aid Fong in freeing prisoners. Luk is slain by fellow inmates in retaliation.

Hung proposes blowing up traps with explosives from the temple's weapons storehouse to free the prisoners. Fong and Hung work with the others to seize the plan as the guards' attention wavers. The plan marks a turning point toward a large-scale breakout.

Fong and Tou Tou locate Tou Tou in Kung's bedroom; Brooke appears and fights them but is incapacitated when a broken bedframe traps her leg. A poison-gas trap floods the room, forcing a perilous retreat. Hung saves Brooke by carrying her to safety.

The group follows a passage to a catacomb of dead concubines, where other claustrophobic dangers lurk. Meanwhile Hung and Brooke hustle toward the explosives, seeking a way to cripple the temple's defenses. The catacombs become the arena for the final confrontation.

Crimson enters the catacombs and fights Fong as Hung detonates the explosives, sending the temple into chaos. The panic forces soldiers to retreat while Fong and Crimson resume their duel in the forge. Crimson is finally killed as he is impaled and blown apart by the explosions.

With Hung and Chi Seen held back by danger, Kung reveals himself as a deadly master using ink-weaponry. Fong uses a trick with his own ink to blind Kung, and they overpower him by hanging him with chains. The temple collapses as a booby-trapped Buddha statue and gunpowder cause further havoc.

The remaining Shaolin survivors escape the collapsed temple and reunite with their allies. Fong escorts Tou Tou back to her home on horseback, signaling a bittersweet victory and a chance for a new life beyond the monastery's walls. The film ends with their safe departure from the ruins.