At his estate, Sir Te accepts the grand gift and places it in a decorative case.

Shu
Lien also meets Jen (Ziyi Zhang), the daughter of a Manchurian governor, who is set
for an arrange marriage. Despite her upbringing, Jen is inquisitive and seems
envious of Shu Liens status as a free warrior. That night, a thief dressed in black
sneaks into Sir Tes study and steals the Green Destiny. An alarm is raised and the
thief is chased over rooftops, pursued by Shu Lien, both of them demonstrating high
skill in Wudang technique. The two engage in combat but the thief manage to
escape.
Crossing the desert in a caravan, Jen watches the unchanging landscape beside her
mother, holding a white hair comb. Suddenly, the caravan is attacked by a group of
bandits. Jens mother faints while she watches. A young man on a horse, Lo,
appears and snatches the comb from Jens hand. Angered, Jen leaves the safety of
her coach and begins to fight the bandits. Lo, impressed with her skill and anger,
leads her on horseback into the desert, baiting her with the comb. They stop for
water but Jen continues to fight until she knocks Lo out and collapses from the heat.
When she wakes up, she finds herself in a large cave where Lo apparently lives. He
allows her to bathe herself and tells her that he will sing so she always knows where
he is. As he is cooking outside, Jen hits him over the head with a pot before
escaping on horseback. But the desert is vast and soon the horse dies and Jen
continues on foot until she collapses. She wakes up some time later, tied up and
back in the cave. Lo had tracked her down and tied her up so she couldnt hit him
again. But over time, they fall in love and Lo takes her to settlement in the
mountains. They notice in the distance that Jens family is trying to locate her and
Lo convinces her to return to them, saying that he would do the same for a missing
daughter. He tells her the story of a man who climbed to the top of a mountain
where it was rumoured that, if you made a wish and ten jumped off the mountain,
your wish would come true. He wished for his sick family to be well again and
jumped off. His wish came true and, because his heart was pure, he didnt die. Jen
and Lo share an intimate moment before she leaves, giving him her comb.
She takes Jen to her hideout in the hills and tells her to rest and secretly places
strong, smoking herbs in a jar before leaving. Jen awaken some time later, dazed,
and stumbles to a flooded portion of the cave where rainwater is falling. She drinks
some of the water before noticing Mu Bai entering the cave; he has followed them.
Jen stumbles into his arms and he takes her back to her bed, knocking the herb jar
away. He revives her and asks where Jade Fox is. Suddenly, Fox appears, screaming,
and shoots a flurry of poisonous barbs towards them. Mu Bai manages to deflect
them with his sword. He engages Fox sword-to-sword and eventually shreds her
blade, sending the shards through her body, mortally wounding her. N her dying
breaths she calls Jen a deceitful whore and tells Mu Bai that he will die just like his
master. Mu Bai finds that one of the barbs has hit his neck. Jade Fox dies as Shu Lien
arrives. Jen, contrite, says that she knows the antidote to the poison, but that will
take time to prepare. She leaves and Shu Lien stays with Mu Bai as he meditates to
slow the effects of the poison. However, before Jen can return, Mu Bai succumbs in
Shu Liens arms, professing his love for her.