画家黄仁杰和妻子的父辈当年曾是黑帮的小头目，两人并不做亏心买卖，当发现把兄弟陈在清暗地里贩卖毒品时，他们秘密地将毒品藏了起来，地点藏在一把铜锁里，二人各自执有锁和钥匙。陈在清将二人杀害，锁和钥匙也不知去向。多年后，黄与阮结婚，铜锁重新出现，更名为龙山的陈在清认出了黄仁杰，与另一黑帮展开了对铜锁的争夺。黄、阮二人与杀父仇人龙山展开了殊死的搏斗，最后仁杰与公安联手，利用一场画展引出了黑帮，终于将歹徒绳之以法。

The story is based on the historic martial art legend Hung Hei-gun (Donnie Yen) in the Qing dynasty. In the final stand Hung Hei-gun and Fong Sai-yuk (Nick Cheung) fight their way to defend the Shaolin Monastery against the invading army of the Qianlong emperor who was trying to get rid of oppositions. Qianlong was also afraid to reveal that he was not a true manchu.