The Avenger, a brooding swordsman armed with a blade marked “Slayer of 1000 Armies” claims he’s waiting for a long-missing friend, at an outpost in Northwest China’s Sun Valley. The Avenger suffers an intense fear of blood, from being the only survivor of his clan’s massacre. The sight of blood propels him into a killing fury. Winter is setting in, so the local horse trader Black Bull, and most of the valley’s men, prepare to drive a herd to market, leaving behind Black Bull’s girlfriend, a feisty innkeeper.