Guo Jing [Alexander Fu Sheng] and Yang Kang [Li Yi-Min] are the sons of two rebels. When imperial soldiers kill their parents, the brothers are saved by a group of six skilled pugilists who choose to divide them, teaching each boy martial arts separately and promising to reunite them later to test whose talents have grown stronger. Guo Jing becomes a student of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, while Yang Kang, by a twist of fate, grows up as the foster son of a Jurchen prince.
As an adult, Guo Jing travels to a local town and befriends a beggar named Huang Rong, who is really the daughter of Huang Yaoshi, master of the mysterious and famed Peach Blossom Island. In the same town, he encounters Yang Kang again during a contest aimed at winning the hand of Mu Nianci, the adopted daughter of Yang’s father. Yang Kang’s father is believed to be dead, but in truth he is alive, and the temptation of wealth and status leads Yang Kang to betray his own father, while his mother ultimately takes her own life.
Huang Rong later reveals her true identity to Guo Jing, and the two decide to journey together. Guo Jing trains further, learning the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms from the legendary Nine-fingered Beggar Hong Qigong, who also helps groom Huang Rong to become his successor as leader of the Beggars’ Sect. The pair eventually travels to Peach Blossom Island to meet Huang Rong’s father. Huang Yaoshi, Huang Rong’s father, does not approve of the marriage, adding tension to their alliance. While exploring the island, Guo Jing meets a mysterious man, Zhou Botong, who pushes him to master unique martial arts techniques and compels him to study a long manuscript—one later revealed to be authored by Huang Rong’s late mother.
Ouyang Feng [Johnny Wang Lung-Wei], accompanied by his nephew Ouyang Ke [Danny Lee], arrives on the island and proposes a marriage between Ouyang Ke and Huang Rong. Hong Qigong also arrives and lends his support to Guo Jing’s union with Huang Rong. Huang Yaoshi eventually arranges a contest between Guo Jing and Ouyang Ke to determine who is worthy of Huang Rong’s hand. The final phase of the contest requires both men to read and recall a manual from memory. Because Guo Jing had already studied the manual earlier, he recites it with ease and is declared the winner. Huang Yaoshi yields to the match, approving the marriage between Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Yet the story’s tension deepens when Ouyang Feng realizes that the manual is the legendary Nine Yin Manual, setting the stage for further intrigue and power struggles.
