[Edit]It is the Northern Song Dynasty, and China is faced with threats from various countries. The Dali kingdom to the southwest is friendly, but the Liao empire to the north and the Xi Xia empire to the west threaten military incursions. With a weak government and a corrupt army, the defense of China lies mainly with the warriors of the martial arts world, led by the Beggar Clan and their powerful leader Qiao Feng, who is the first of the three main characters. Due to internal plotting within the Beggar Clan, Qiao is revealed to be a Liao by birth (with an original name Xiao Feng), and only raised as a Chinese, and that is enough to have him removed from leadership and cast out.
The second main character, Dali prince Duan Yu, having by chance learned the "Six Divine Meridian Swords" martial arts, is kidnapped by the martial arts fanatic Jiu Mozhi and dragged to China in order to reveal the secrets of the art. Along the way, he meets several friends - Wang Yuyan, the beautiful martial arts "encyclopedia" who knows virtually everything there is to know about martial arts without having actually practiced any of it - and two maids, including the talented Ah Zhu who is a master of disguise. Duan has an infatuation for Wang, even though Wang only has feelings for her cousin Murong Fu. Nevertheless, Duan follows her around like a groupie genuinely concerned for her safety and happiness.
The final main character, Xu Zhu, is a kind-hearted monk from Shaolin who, through some good luck and some help from Duan Yanqing (a notorious villain who nevertheless felt obliged to repay Xu Zhu's kindness), received 70 years worth of inner power from a dying old man from an old near-extinct Carefree sect. Xu Zhu then proceeds to get entangled in the history of the sect, resolving the differences of the older generation and unifying the remnants of the sect which had split into the Sacred Vulture and Cosmos sects.
Along their journeys, Xiao Feng, Duan Yu and Xu Zhu meet each other and through sheer respect for each other's honest and straightforward character, swear brotherhood. This brotherhood is tested when Xiao Feng is persecuted by the martial arts world, and the three brothers emerge victorious. Xiao Feng's tale is tragic as he loses his wife, but Duan Yu's perseverance with Wang Yuyan pays off, while fate deals Xu Zhu a kind hand when he manages to reunite with his lover who he had never seen before. They also fight with adversaries like Duan Yanqing, Murong Fu, You Tanzhi, Ding Chunqiu and other less powerful (but less dangerous) villains such as the Beggar Clan's Quan Guanqing and the amorous Kang Min. In the end, Xiao is caught between loyalty to his own people and his love for those who raised him, and commits suicide in penance after blackmailing the Liao king to call off his invasion of China. Duan Yu becomes king of Dali while Xu Zhu remains leader of the Carefree sect and becomes son-in-law of the Xi Xia royal family, thus ensuring that China remains safe from its three neighbours.
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