It is during the Ming Dynasty when Japanese pirates are in cahoots with local accomplices to wreak havoc in China’s coastal regions. The Shaolin monks Yue Kong and Yue Wen commit themselves to combat this threat to the people. As both monks become acquainted with Li Ruolan and the Japanese swordswoman Ippon Hideko, they are drawn into romantic entanglements. Yue Kong is forced to leave Shaolin because of Hideko’s wilful and indiscreet speech. Yue Wen, on the other hand, is manipulated by his own father, a county magistrate who is also a pirate leader in disguise. A senior monk is killed as a result, and Yue Wen himself is abused to the point of disability. Fortunately, Shaolin’s martial monks manage to buck up and engage the pirates in a heroic battle. Yue Kong has to fight a former friend to death and at the end of it return to a seriously ill Hideko. Yue Wen, however, does not return to Shaolin as he is determined to change his father’s heart. The bane of piracy is eventually quelled only when the imperial government brings about radical reforms.