It's the Eagle clan against the Iron Flag for martial arts supremacy with the White Robed Rambler, an itinerant mercenary, as the wild card

Iron Flag is ambushed at a phony celebratory dinner hosted by Eagles. With intervention of White Robed Rambler it turns into a bloody stand-off with the leader of each group mortally wounded

Unlike times past the authorities were unable to ignore the murderous clash since the Eagle Clan made a formal complaint. While both leaders were killed, many Eagle soldiers were killed as well while the Iron Flag soldiers were only wounded. Constable Huang is bribed to let Luo Xin, a senior Iron Flag man be the fall guy, charged but allowed to escape into exile.

Luo Xin winds up as a lowly inn waiter but is found out by one of the ten assassins and by Yuan Lang. Lang dispatches the assassin, Iron Axe. There has been a turn for the worse back home and the Iron Flag is now allied with the Eagle Clan in running gambling and prostituion rackets and the 10 assassins are hunting them (now nine) are hunting Luo and Lang.

The battle between good and evil has begun. Unfortunately there are too many double-crosses to keep straight as loyalists turn against both Eagle Clan and Iron Flag. That the action stops dead a few times so that a fighter can explain who is who and who is killing who doesn't help--just slows things down. Plenty of excellent weapons action to keep us entertained, even if we aren't sure which side should be winning.