China, 1120 AD. The Emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty has an outlander of great proportions and of fair hair and pale skin brought to his courts, barely alive. Mongol raiders attacked the man as he foolishly traversed the Silk Road. The Emperor Huizong ordered his court priests to petition Shang-Ti for assistance in communicating with the man. The spells worked, but the outlander's grievous wounds resisted healing and he would not wake from his feverish slumber except to utter two words: "stolen" and "Gjallarhorn".

Seeking more assistance from Shang-Ti's divine magic, the court priests then discovered that the Gjallarhorn is a powerful artifact from the lands to far to the West. What darkens even the Emperor's beneficent face is the artifact's use. The Gjallarhorn is a horn, that when blown, signals the end of the world.

Into the Emperor's courts then strode a Buddhist monk of great determination and awesome power. He presented a scroll without a word and then strode away. The scroll introduced the monk as Ming, Brother of Purity and explained that Ming was going to retrieve the Buddhist Scrolls from Big Goose Pagoda, meditate on them and then end the world with the Gjallarhorn so that he may remake the universe in his image.

Fearing the monk's power and that of the Gjallarhorn, the Emperor summoned four heroes. They were to give chase against Ming and recover the Gjallarhorn so that the apocalypse will not come early.