The sole living practitioner of the eighth level is the wife of Tsing Tsung's mortal enemy Foeless, the head of the Foeless School, the name foeless is taken because all would be foes are dead or intimidated into acquiescence. Foeless desires to be the paramount leader of the Wulin and to do so issues challenges to duel the individual champions of each of the schools and associations making up Wulin. Despite his ambitions Foeless is a man of his word and has a gentleman's agreement with Tsing Tsung that the winner of a duel between them should have the right to command the other until the next duel between them, the period between duels being 10 years. Twenty years previously when Tsing Tsung and Foeless duelled, Tsing Tsung won but was geviously wounded, he was nursed back to health by Foeless' wife, Sum Man Kwun. Foeless has neglected his wife in his quest to become the greatest fighter in Wulin and lonely Sum and Tsing Tsung become lovers. When Tsing Tsung has to return to Wudang he leaves with Sum the most precious thing in his possession as a promise of his return, his copy of the level eight Wudang manual. However, Tsing Tsung never does return, and alone again Sum studies the manual in memory of her lover, having no previous experience of qi cultivation and therefore no preconceptions of how to interpret the manual, Sum succeeds where generations of Wudang practitioners have failed and acquires qi powers that surpass even that of both her husband and lover. In their last duel ten years previously Tsing Tsung almost defeats Foeless, and he never fully recovers from the internal injuries sustained at that time. Foeless has progressed in that time and Tsing Tsung knows that in their next duel he will lose and most likely die. To prevent the loss of Wudang level six, the six best Wudang students are selected and each is taught one of the components of the level, it being impossible in the time left for one individual to acquire all the components. One of those selected for this task is Fu Yuk Shui, a new pupil at Wudang who is taken in by the school when his entire family is supposedly murdered by Foeless. Fu yuk Shui is actually a mole in Wudang, being the grandson of the Old Man of the Ice Pool. The