The denizens of the martial world seek to obtain a secret message detailing an exceptionally powerful form of kung fu. The more unscrupulous amongst them have no hesitation to kill for it, as demonstrated by the massacre of the Beggar Clan by the forces of Pai Mei (Phillip Ko Fei, referred to in this English version only as "The White Eye Brow Priest"). The infant son of the Beggars’ leader (Min Min) is saved from death by Princess Chi Fung (Doris Lung Chun-ehr), leader of the all-female Poison Clan, but Pai blinds her as she escapes with the baby. Abandoning her fellow warriors (who include super kicker Hsia Kuang-li), Fung escapes to remote Ming Valley, where she raises the child away from the chaos and murder in the surrounding area. Under his new mother’s tutelage, Sau-san (Lin Hsiao-hu) becomes a skilled fighter, while Fung’s abilities remain formidable, in spite of her handicap. Fung’s former paramour Liang Chun (Pai Ying) asks her to leave the valley with him but he only really cares about obtaining the message and, soon, does not bother to hide that fact. A fearsome adversary wielding a deadly whip, Liang has reduced the opposition to a great degree, leaving only the sole surviving Beggar clansman Chang Ho (Wen Chiang-long), benevolent General Lung (Chen Sing), and Sau-san’s older brother (Yeh Hsiao-yi) to help Fung and her adopted son.

Lurking behind that idiotic Ground Zero retitling is Lo Shan’s SECRET MESSAGE, an exceedingly cheesy Taiwanese production that previously saw American release as NINJA MASSACRE (well, some of the villains dress like ninjas...). Innumerable kung fu movies have utilized the old "secret kung fu manual" plot over the years but few have done so in such a cavalier manner. It is practically a McGuffin here, never really ever coming into play, though characters certainly talk endlessly about it (half of the wretchedly dubbed dialogue seems to consist of variations on "Gimme the secret message!"). The martial arts are very poorly staged and edited, and you have to wonder about the logic of casting Chen Sing and then using his martial skills in only a single, pitiful scene (he gives an awful performance to boot). The movie’s low point finds Liang attempting to murder Fung and Sau-san by lighting dynamite strapped to a (clearly terrified) German Shepherd and having the animal barrel into their home as a canine kamikaze! Recommended only to fans of the lovely Doris Lung (resembling MAGIC OF SPELL star Lin Hsiao-lan here), who engages in several battles obviously inspired by similar sequences in the ZATOICHI series.