This paper presents a new system for the activity assay of arginine kinase (AK), based on the spectrophotometric determination of an ascorbic acid-reduced blue ternary heteropolyacid composed of bismuth, molybdate and the released phosphate from N-phospho-L-arginine (PArg) formed in the forward catalysis reaction.The assay conditions, including the formulation of the phosphate determination reagent (PDR), the assay timing, and the linear activity range of the enzyme concentration, have been tested and optimized.For these conditions, the ternary heteropolyacid color is completely developed within 1 min and is stable for at least 15 min, with an absorbance maximum at 700 nm and a molar extinction coefficient of 15.97 (mmol/L)-1 · cm-1 for the phosphate.Standard curves for phosphate show a good linearity of 0.999.Compared with previous activity assay methods for AK, this system exhibits superior sensitivity, reproducibility, and adaptability to various conditions in enzymological studies.This method also reduces the assay time and avoids the use of some expensive instruments and reagents.