Yang Naiqing

During the Yongle Reign of the Ming Dynasty, a villager named Song Lai in Jixiang Town provoked the bandits of Jiaolong Village when he tried to rescue his childhood sweetheart, Qiao. Since then, Jixiang Town suffered repeated arson, killing, and looting by bandits. The bandit leader, Scar Dragon, threatened that if the town did not hand over ten thousand jin of tribute grain within three months, he would lead all bandits of Jiaolong Village to massacre Jixiang Town. To resolve the crisis, Song Lai took on an urgent mission to find Yuan Jiugong, an old beggar skilled in the mystic arts of gadget-making, to resist the bandits. Though Yuan Jiugong was once abandoned by the townspeople, he did not bear grudges and came back to help villagers set up magic formations to subdue the bandits. Finally, Jixiang Town won; Song Lai and Qiao'er got married as expected, while Yuan Jiugong declined the villagers' offer of retention and chose to travel around the world

Director Wang Jian visits a desolate village at night and learns from an old woman, who has been guarding the ancient village for decades, about a massacre caused by greed: After the villain Hu Rencheng struck a gold vein, poisoned his benefactors, sexually assaulted a young girl, and drowned the witnesses in the lake, he was eliminated by his senior, Uncle De, at the cost of Uncle De's life. Uncle De blocked the spring with his body, and the lake water became clear again. The old woman telling the story is Uncle De's young apprentice who swore to guard this place back then—what goes around comes around, and the guardianship never ceases.

Hu Bayi searches for his ancestors' remains alongside his friends Chubby Wang and Golden Teeth. He ventures into Daxian Mountain, facing deadly tombs, eerie ghosts, and perilous traps.

Uncle Jiu and his disciples escort an old general's body home to Xiangxi. Along the way a vengeful badger spirit strikes: a paper-effigy shop and several children fall victim. The greedy A Biao swallows a golden pearl taken from the corpse, to farcical effect. Framed for the deaths and thrown in jail, Uncle Jiu joins forces with A Biao and Shuangbao to lure the spirit into a trap, and in the end wins it over rather than destroying it. Cleared of the charges, they carry the general on to his burial in Xiangxi.