Siu Lao (Lieh) and Ma Tien Piao (Feng) are bandits who ride from town to town holding up banks and killing anyone who tries to stop them using their superb and rapid fire shooting skills. When a holdup goes wrong, Siu sends Ma away with the cash and tells him that if he is caught to try and rescue him later. Siu is tortured and as time passes he realizes his sworn brother isn't coming for him instead setting up a bandit gang to carry on with murdering and banditry. Sui manages to escape and heads for Ma's encampment to settle some scores.

Li Zhishan is a rich man, but wealth cannot keep the loyalties of his wife, who has been visiting the bed of a rival. She helps plot against him, and the Vicious Long Brothers invade his home and steal the Golden Dragon Blade - a sword that makes its wielder unbeatable. Zhishan, crippled in the attack, and his young daughter are whisked away by a devoted servant, and the trio soon find shelter in the home of an herbalist. Years pass, the daughter grows up to be a lovely young woman and a powerful fighter, and the Long Brothers use the Golden Dragon Blade to gain power in the region. Zhishan's family of sorts has managed to stay well hidden, but a trip into the city - the daughter's first - sets off an old power struggle as Zhishan's wife discovers her daughter is quite alive.

Soon-to-be legendary director Chu Yuan had just joined the Shaw Brothers when he helmed this thriller of bickering bandits. Audiences loved watching three pairs of cunning male and female crooks trying to steal a million gold taels from the Fu Lai Treasury House...not knowing that one of them is actually an undercover hero. Even without him, there's no honor amongst thieves, so the double-crosses and deadly duels come fast and furious, all choreographed by Hsu Erh-niu.