The Story of Ashes of Time

After ten years of adventures, Ouyang, now a cynical and materialistic middleage man goes to the desert and opean an inn. He becomes an agent for killers, hiring youg but pinniless swordmen with a buming passion for fame to odo the dirty work of others.

Ouyang has a close friend, HUANG Yaoshi (Tony LEUNG Kar-fai), who, like Ouyang, also has a sad love story to tell-he once had an unconsummated affair with the wife of his best friend at Peach Blossom Land. Huang comes to drink with Ouyang every year at the peach blossom season. Afterwards, he goes to White Camel Mountain to visit the woman Ouyang loved. The woman has a ten-year-okd boy now and still thinks of Ouyang a lot.

A year ago, outside Fusu City, Huang met and befriended a man who called himself MURONG Yang (Brigitte LIN Ching-hsia). Huang jokingly promised that he'd marry his sister. They made an appointment to meet her, but Huang did not turn up.

Now MURONG Yin (also played by Lin), Yang's sister, comes to Ouyang. She wants him to kill Yang for her because he wouldn't allow her t obe with Huang. As soon as she leaves, Yang and offers a handsome amount to Ouyang for the life of Huang. It is obvious that Yang loves his sister passionately. But as the conversation carries on, Ouyang cannot but suspect that Yin and Yang are in fact the same person with two personalities.

A young girl (Charlie Young) comes to Ouyang, begging him to avenge her brother. But all she has are a basket of eggs and a mule. Ouyang rejects her, but she insists on waiting until someone who'll help her comes along.

A down-and-out swordsman with failing eyesight (Tony LEUNG Chiu-wai) from Peach Blossom Land offers himself to Ouyang for a killing job. He needs money to go home to see the peach blossoms bloom once more before he turns blind. He left home because his wife (Carina LAU) had fallen in love with hise best friend, who turns out to be Huang.

The swordsman demonstrates his martial arts skill by defeating a proud samural. He then agrees to fight a gang of horse thieves for the villagers. During the combat, the sun suddenly turns dark-actually it's the swordsman going blind completely. He is slaughtered.

A year later, Ouyang, out of curiosity, pays a visit to Peach Blossom Land. There aren't any peach blossoms. Instead, he meets the swordsman's wife, who turns out to be called Peach Blossom.

Hong Qi (Jacky CHEUNG) is fast with his sword. Ouyang immediately hires him to fight the horse thieves. Hong smashes them. He also kills the group of swordsmen responsible for the death of the young girl's brother over the price of an egg, which makes Ouyang very unhappy. Hong's wife has followed her husband to the desert begging him to take her on his martial adventures. Hong complies in the end and the couple leaves Ouyang. At their departure, Ouyang suddenly feels very jealous and for the first time, starts to reflect on his lift.

The woman whom Ouyang loved dies out of sickness. Just before her death, she asks Huang to take a magic wine to Ouyang, which makes one forget one's past. Drinking half a jar of the wine, Huang, indeed, starts to lose his memory. Despite this, he can never forget the woman-he's destined to always fall in love with some other person's woman...

A few years later, Huang returns to Peach Blossom land and leads a hermit's life.

Meanwhile, Ouyang receives a letter informing him of the woman's death. It is signed Ouyang Ke, who claims to be the woman's son.

Ouyang leaves the desert. He is returing to White Camel Mountain.

This text is originally come from the "Photograpth Collection of Ashes of Time"