Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre (C-Movie) (HK-Movie) (1978)

Very simply, the story follows the exploits of Cheung Mo-Kei (played by now director/writer Derek Yee), a child of a doomed romance between a swordsman from one of the major (i.e., ‘righteous’) martial arts clans and a woman from the Ming Cult. Cheung finds himself orphaned and poisoned at a young age. He’s also the only person who knows the whereabouts of his godfather, the Golden Lion King, a master martial artist of the Ming Cult and possessor of the all-powerful Dragon Sabre. Through a series of adventures, Cheung is cured of his poison, learns tremendously powerful fighting techniques, and finds his loyalties tested by the righteous clans and the Ming Cult. All the while, he and many others of the martial arts world seek to unite the Dragon Sabre with its sister blade, the Heaven Sword, for legend says that the two will reveal a secret of great power when brought together.