Return of the Sentimental Swordsman (1981)

This movie is the sequel to the Sentimental Swordsman and the events take place three years later.

I wrote that A Fei in earlier movie was not as stupid as in the book, that he soon realized that Lim Sian-ji was not a good woman. In this sequel, the plot returned to the book so he was a fool again. A Fei had been mesmerized by Lim Sian-ji's beauty and purity and had been living with her since. She drugged him every night (so she could slip out and met other men) and forbade him to return to the martial arts world. He spent his days counting plum blossoms.

A Fei: Total 2092 today
Li : You count the blooms everyday?

Lim Si-im was still alive after the death of her husband Liong Siau-hun, and lived alone in Hin-hun-ceng. Li Sun-hoan secretly stayed in a little inn located across the manor, perhaps to guard her. Here he heard that Siangkoan Kim-hong from Kim-ci-pang wanted to rule the world. If Siangkoan Kim-hong teamed up with his number one henchman, Hing Bu-bing, it would be very difficult for Li Sun-hoan to defeat them. So Li Sun-hoan went looking for A Fei. He found A Fei and Lim Sian-ji, but she forbade him to go with Li Sun-hoan and took him instead to Kim-ci-pang, where A Fei was humiliated and realized what kind of woman Lim Sian-ji really was. He went to help Li Sun-hoan in the final duel.

Lim Sian-ji's fate in the movie was better than in the book. She was killed by Hing Bu-bing.

The plot was not as tight as in the previous movie, so they had more room for more fights, including the disputes if their weapons had been ranked right in the Book of Weapons.

They had cast a perfect actress to play Lim Sian-ji. Perhaps not what I had in mind when I read the book, for it was not easy to imagine a face so beautiful, let alone found the right actress to represent her. But when this actress smiled, it was believable how the great swordsmen could fall for her and did everything she had told them to do.

Fu Sheng played the cold blooded Hing Bu-bing. For me he was more a comedian, so it was odd watching him in a serious role, a character so reserved. His costume was even weirder. It looked like a tank-top to me. He also wore a big-chain-necklace and a big earing. His hair style was also funny. Was his character a foreigner? He looked a bit over-weight, but he fought vivaciously.