Keyword Mingqing Transition

Chor Yuen was Gu Long before he started filming Gu Long. The director's first wuxia film, made at Shaws' rival Cathay, finds him relishing in a mode of expression that would later become the signature style of the 'martial-arts suspense thriller' mini-genre. Chor grafts the quasi-psychological stylishness of his Cantonese melodrama onto this actioner, laying on thick the atmosphere by dialling up the fog machine and unleashing the colours from his camera's palette. He also stages his fights in modern dance-like choreography, with moves that are more graceful than ferocious and paused poses that are longer on expressive narcissism than continuity of action. Cold Blade is the quiet beginning of an aesthetic.

During the Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty, eunuch Cao Huachun colludes with the Qing dynasty to seize the throne. Princess Changping and her sister Zhaoren seek the help of Zhou Shixian and Yuan Ruofei to eliminate Cao. Li Zicheng's rebels invade the capital and are rescued by the East Sea Fairy, who teaches them martial arts. The Qing then conquer the Central Plains, and Ping and Shixian pretend to submit to the Qing to save Ruofei. However, they have their own hidden agenda.