- Niccolò Polo: [to Marco] If you are ever afraid, if ever you doubt your place in the world, follow The Three Sisters and they will lead you home. My only fear is that I might awaken in my bed destined to live a common life once again. The blood of an adventurer courses through your veins. I can see this. You will enjoy the greatest adventure of all. You will meet the richest most powerful king on the face of this earth. The Great Kublai Khan.
- Kublai Khan: [abort previous visitor having been dragged out] A man found in possession of a stolen horse must return it to its owner, add nine horses of the same kind. If he is unable to pay this fine his children must be taken instead of the horses. If he has no children then he must be slaughtered like a sheep. That man has no children.
- Title Card: Kublai Khan, King of the Mongols, reigns over the largest empire on earth. His armies rage across the Silk Road, annihilating every holdout in his path.
- Title Card: Except one.
- Title Card: Chancellor Jia Sidao and his Chinese rebel army are entrenched within the walled city of Xiangyang - they have resisted the Mongol horde for over 30 years.
- Title Card: The Polo family - foreign merchants from Venice - venture into the heart of the Great Khan's war-torn empire.
- [first lines]
- Village Woman: [woman crying out in Mandarin]
- Niccolò Polo: [translating] She says it is the work of the barbarian devil king.
- Village Woman: [continuing in Mandarin]
- Niccolò Polo: [translating] Her village was loyal to the rebel Song dynasty. If one does not submit to the rule of the Khan this is what happens.
- [indicating cruel carnage]