The film flashes back to the warlord and deadly fighter Wang Shichong killing an old man with a throat lock and throwing him off a high brick wall into a muddy river, then abusively ordering the rest of his slaves back to work. They're at a labor camp by the great river, toiling in the mud among corpses that hang from gallows as the soldiers whip them. It is during the rebellions at the end of the Sui Dynasty, when China became divided between various factions. Wang Shichong, who ruled from Luoyang, has treacherously installed himself as Emperor of the East Capitol, and is overseeing the bolstering of his riverfront defenses against the rival warlords on the opposite bank. They are near the Shaolin Temple. He forces even the old, crippled, and sick to work, but still the work isn't progressing fast enough for him. He orders an officer to bring all his prisoners, who are opposing rebels, to join the slaves.