| Director | Kuei Chih-Hung, Kuei Chih-hung |
|---|---|
| Box office | HK$984,108 |
At a lavish banquet, the Manchurian Empress Dowager Cixi of the 19th century Qing empire orders security chief of the Forbidden City Liu Jing Tian to capture the five thieves that stole 2 million taels from the Royal Treasury. Lord Liu, in turn, asks chief court constable Leng Tian-Ying, nicknamed Killer Constable, to assemble a small group of his best men to find the thieves, dead or alive, and return the gold treasure within ten days. Leng accepts, but soon finds that his own brother Cun Yi, also law enforcement officer, refuses to join him, because he is fed up with Leng's merciless attitude and execution-style justice.
The first lead towards catching the thieves brings the constables to a watermill. There Leng tortures and ultimately kills the miller in front of his family, but he only recovers a small part of the gold treasure. Continuing on their quest, Leng and his men are ambushed by two bandits at night in an abandoned temple. One constable, Peng Lai, who wandered off to feed the starving Han Chinese villagers, is ambushed and staked alive. It falls to Leng to execute his companion and end his suffering. Then Leng hunts down the two bandits to the seaside where they are, once again, ambushed. Soon thereafter, they also discover a highly skilled assassin, Fan Jin-Peng, whom the bandits want to hire to assassinate Leng. Leng ultimately defeats the assassin, but gets injured and loses the older constable, Ma Zhong.
Later, the constables are attacked by gang leader Fang Feng-Jia and the remaining bandits. Thanks to the unexpected return of Leng's brother, Leng survives and is carried unconsciously on horseback to the residence of Fang. There he is welcomed by the bandit's blind daughter, Xiao Lan, who tends to his wounds. Later when Fang returns, the two men hide their conflict for Xiao Lan and pretend to be friends.
After leaving Fang's home, Fang is wounded by Leng, but he still manages to escape to his hideout. When Leng finds Fang, they are both attacked by a mysterious group of armed men that do not appear to belong to the group of robbers. Fang, dying from the wounds inflicted by Leng, reveals it was Lord Liu that had sent his troops after them and that he in fact arranged for the gold to be stolen. He choose Leng to hunt down the robbers, knowing he would not spare their lives, and in this way hide all evidence. Fang then offers to sacrifice his life in order to let the constable escape. However, this is on the condition that Leng promises to take care of his blind daughter.
Leng survives the attack and soon discovers his brother was killed by Lord Liu's troops. A grief-stricken and betrayed Leng seeks vengeance. He succeeds in murdering Lord Liu, but not before he activates a trap mechanism that kills Leng. We are left with the daughter of gang leader Fang waiting in vain for either her father, or Leng, to return.