The Supreme Swordsman, also known as The Eagle's Sword, is a 1984 Wuxia film from Shaw Brothers starring Jason Pai Piao and Derek Yee, notable for being one of the studio's last efforts in wuxia cinema, as interest in old-school swordplay fantasy are waning near the mid-80s.
Venerable villain actor Jason Pai plays Qin Wu-Xin, a master swordsman who is seeking to build for himself the "Ultimate Shrine of Swords", a shrine made from 100 swords collected from various swordsmen and warriors he had slain in multiple challenges, to establish his dominance in the world of martial arts. With 99 swords in his collection, his last target is the Master Blacksmith Xie, who had given the best weapon to his son, Xie Yan-bei (Derek Yee), a young warrior with potential of becoming the next greatest warrior in existence. Of course, Qin Wu-xin wouldn't allow that.
The Supreme Tropesman:
- Ambition Is Evil: Qin Wu-Xin is willing to hunt down, and kill 100 of the best swordsmen and warriors in the martial arts world and collect their swords as proof of his superiority, despite those swordsmen having done absolutely nothing to him.
- Battle Trophy: After killing each swordsman, Qin Wu-Xin will keep their weapons to be added to his collection. His "Shrine of Swords" has 98 of these, and he's seeking the 99th to make his collection "complete".
- Challenge Seeker: Qin Wu-Xin actively seeks other sword-fighters to challenge them to duels. Each Duel to the Death ends with Qin winning until the last one against Xia.
- Cool Sword: There are 99 swords adorning Qin Wu-xin's "Shrine of Swords", each one looking cooler and deadlier than the next. Keep in mind those weapons are retrieved from the numerous victims Qin had slain in swordfights prior to the movie's events. Qin's own weapon also counts, as does Xie's sword.
- Fearful Symmetry: The final Duel to the Death between Qin Wu-Xin and Xie Yan-bei features plenty of these. An example
. - Forging Scene: A brief sword-making montage turns up halfway through the film when Xie Yan-bei forges a new sword for himself to challenge Qin.
- Gotta Kill 'Em All: There are 100 elite swordsmen in the martial arts world, and Qin Wu-xin's method of proving himself to be the best, is to seek out the other 99, kill ALL of them, and collect their swords for his shrine to prove his dominance in swordsmanship.
- Human Pincushion: The Karmic Death of Qin Wu-xin, in the hands of Xie Yan-bei, who ultimately flings his opponent into the "Shrine of Swords". Resulting in Qin Wu-xin getting skewered, impaled and pincushioned by most of the swords he had taken from his slain victims.
- Malevolent Masked Men: The fighters from the Black Magic clan wears bronze masks resembling skulls.
- Master Swordsman: Qin Wu-Xin and Xie Yan-Bei. Most of the victims slain by Qin also counts, especially the swords from his more recent collections.
- Noble Demon: Qin Wu-Xin may be a ruthless murderer who kills other warriors just to prove himself to be the superior swordsman, but he plays fair in all his fights and displays plenty of Villainous Valour when challenging his last victi..
- Professional Killer: Qin Wu-Xin, who had killed 98 people prior to his confrontation against Xie Yan-bei. Fair and square in a direct challenge, by the way.
- Sword Fight: Pretty much every action scene in the film is a sword-fight, from the Action Prologue of Qin Wu-Xin defeating an opponent at a beach (and claiming his opponent's sword) prior to the end credits, to the night confrontation against another challenger, and the two duels between Qin Wu-Xin and Xie Yan-Bei. They should've just called this Sword Fight: The Movie.
- Title Drop: Occurs when Qin Wu-Xin declares himself to be "The Supreme Swordsman of the martial arts world".
- Wall of Weapons: The hall of Qin Wu-Xin's mansion has an entire rack adorned with the swords of the 98 sword-fighters he had slain in his quest to dominate the martial arts world.
- World's Best Warrior: The title Qin Wu-xin is actively seeking to prove his status as the "Best Swordsman in the Martial Arts World".
- Wire Fu: Most of the fights, especially the two duels between Qin Wu-Xin and Xie Yan-bei.
- Worthy Opponent: Qin Wu-Xin and Xie Yan-bei considers each other to be this by the end of the film.
