Creative Statement
Through an undercover investigation of an assassins' guild, a "man of letters" strips away, step by step, the romantic veneer of the whole jianghu, and in the process goes from bystander to part of the con.
Synopsis
On the surface: the Sword Saint challenges the Blade God, but on the eve of the duel the Sword Saint is attacked and badly wounded. Then the Blade God is attacked too, and dies. Unwilling to let it end there, the Sword Saint steals the body and brings the Blade God back to life. In the duel, the Sword Saint dies at the Blade God's hand, and a tale of martial chivalry is complete. The truth: the Sword Saint, drunk and jealous over a woman, challenges the Blade God. Afraid that the Blade God will lose, the owner of the blade arena hires the assassins of the Straw Hall to kill the Sword Saint. Meanwhile the Sword Saint has second thoughts and also hires the Straw Hall, to kill the Blade God. Finally the Blade God himself goes to the Straw Hall to have himself killed: he is a fraud with little real skill, he owes gambling debts and he has been unfaithful, so to save his life and his heroic image his only option is to fake his death. The Straw Hall plays along and stages a grand show, first faking the attack on the Sword Saint and then helping the Blade God fake his death, collecting money from all three parties without killing anyone. A few days later the Blade God wants to come back to life: his death was so heroic that many backers have put money into his funeral, and only by returning from the dead can he inherit it. The Straw Hall brings in the Sword Saint to steal the Blade God's body at the funeral and to find a "killer doctor" to revive him. The killer doctor is also a fraud, and they strike a deal at once to bring the Blade God, who never died, back to life. For money and fame, the Sword Saint, the Blade God, the Straw Hall and the killer doctor reach a settlement: on the day of the duel, the fight will end in a draw. But the Sword Saint discovers that the child his girlfriend is carrying is the Blade God's, turns on him and threatens to expose the Blade God's scandals to the world. For the greater good, the Straw Hall kills the Sword Saint and makes the Blade God the greatest fighter under heaven. On the surface the Straw Hall is an assassins' guild, but in fact it keeps the order, making sure that what ordinary people see is always a fair and romantic jianghu.
