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Rating: 3.5/5
Since I'm writing a review on this series, I might as well write a ep guide. For anyone who is interested.
Against the Blade of Honor
Episode Guide
Episode 1
The series starts with a scene on top of a mountain where the moonlight shone on two men waiting for each other to make the first move; the bitter cold snow was falling around them. One of the men, Ding Pang (Louis Koo), a young man with his back turned at his opponent and his sword companion stuck standing vertically on the ground. The other man held a great saber in his hand and raised it slightly, preparing to initiate the fight. Ding Pang quickly responded to his opponent’s attack and unsheathed his sword. He ran up and propelled himself off a large rock and defended the opponents attack and politely returns the attack. The sword and saber clash nosily and to end the fight, Ding Pang used his special sword stances. The opponent with the saber fell lifelessly to the snow covered ground.
From afar men flying with thin large black sheets fabric over their shoulders and another group of men on foot proceed towards the restaurant where Ding Pang is seated eating noodles alone. People in the restaurant stood at a distance watching him and upstairs behind Ding Pang, three men stood together whispering and talking about how he had defeated KunLun sect leader with three stances and another martial artist with six stances. One of them commented how he looked very ordinary, while a third said, “You two are wrong, what’s special about him is the “Above Sky Meteor Shower Stance” that he uses. At that moment, the group of men arrived covering the entire restaurant with the black sheets of fabric. Inside the restaurant, the crowd upon hearing the sound of people walking on the roof tiles above decides to go outside to see what’s going on.
It turns out the representative from Dim Chon sect has arrived to privately bribe Ding Pang with 3,000 gold taels to not come to Dim Chon sect that night. Ding Pang refused, saying the Dim Chon Sect leader is one of the people he must defeat and will not change the decisions he had already made. He’s determined to fight with the sect leader of Dim Chon. Ding Pang desires fame and power over the fortune offered. For refusing the gold taels, the representative gestured for the Dim Chon students who were hiding in the dark, finally lunged out to attack him. But Ding Pang killed each of them with one stroke of his sword. Before he leaves, he throws back a string of coins to pay for his noodles. Then cut open the door and departed the restaurant.
Dim Chon sect leader finds out that his students have gone to bribe Ding Pang and scolded them. The sect leader arrives as planned, fights and loses to Ding Pang on a stage with a public audience watching from beneath. Ding Pang takes this opportunity to announce that his next opponent will be Gentleman Sword, Lau Yerk Chung (Eddie Cheung). Unknowingly, Lau Yerk Chung had already sent four of his men standing beneath that stage to copy Ding Pang’s “Above Sky Meteor Shower stance” onto paper so that Lau Yerk Chung can study his moves in order to beat Ding Pang. It is said when Ding Pang uses that stance, he would disappear before his opponents eyes for just a second and when he appear again, his sword was already at the opponent’s neck.
The night before the battle with Gentleman Sword, Lau Yerk Chung, Ding Pang orders six bowls of Yun Chun Noodles with full view of the nearby brothel, where people were awaiting the new courtesan. Irene Wan enters the scene being carried and wrapped inside a blanket. Tuern Ho Qing (Irene Wan) runs to Ding Pang asking for his help but he just stares at her and continues to eat his noodles. Tuern Ho Qing (Irene Wan) was then taken away to serve a brothel customer and in her struggle to get away, she takes a vase and hit the man. In the process, she falls from the window and lands conveniently upon Ding Pang’s table. She grabs his hand begging him to rescue her but is pulled away. Later the customer who paid for her came out with a bloody face and purposely forces himself on her while she struggles and continuously calls out for Ding Pang’s help.
After saving Tuern Ho Qing, she persists on following him and finally Ding Pang gives in. Before he leaves, he promises to meet her at a particular abandon temple. Lau Yerk Chung requests to postpone the battle between them for a month because his father had just died three days ago. Ding Pang reluctantly promises to come back after a month. Ding Pang returns to see Tuern Ho Qing had really stayed and waited for him and thus he allowed her to stay with him in that month as long as she did not bother him. During that month Ding Pang practiced his sword everyday under the sun.
Tuern Ho Qing spends a lot of her time watching Ding Pang, waiting for him and cooking his meals. One night, a man from the Dim Chon sect came to Ding Pang and threatened him. Ding Pang upon returning the house to see it caught on fire, worried about Tuern Ho Qing he frantically looks around for her. He finds her in the forest holding onto a shirt she had made for him. Touched by her act of love, he hugs her. Ding Pang lights the candles of the temple where he had promised to return to her, revealing both Ding Pang and Tuern Ho Qing in their white under-clothes, hinting that they had slept together.
Tuern Ho Qing reveals that her parents had been killed in a brothel and later she was brought to the brothel. Ding Pang tells her to forget her past and that from this day on, he will make sure she will have a happier future. Tuern Ho Qing wondered how that can be possible if he is leaving tomorrow. She gives him her jade pendant, saying that when he sees the jade pendant, he will remember her. Seeing that the jade pendant was a precious gift from her mom, Ding Pang (stupidly) gives her his only prized possession, the manuscript to the Above Sky Meteor Shower stance.