Latter-day Chang Cheh martial arts film with an intriguing plot and excellent fight scenes (as you'd expect with Kuo Chui as the lead). The first 5 minutes are hard to follow, but turn out to have next to no bearing on the rest of the film anyway - I guess they're backstory from a novel that gave the film it's name, since it's the only time "Royal Blood" gets a mention. Not too fond of Candy Wen - would have preferred a different lead actress, but such is life.