The series begins with Boon Sai Hong, a local thief in the northern city of Zhumar breaking into the house of the scholar Wing Tei. He finds Tei already dead and steals two objects he later discovers to be the Ring of Staffs (which turns the wearer into an instant master of Bōjutsu) and the Book of the Hell of the Hungry Dragons. He fails to find the third object he intended to steal, the Phoenix Heart, which he later discovers was stolen before his arrival by fellow thieves, Jao and Yan. Discovered in the act, Boon must fight his way past agents of Zhumar's corrupt ruler Judge X'ain.