During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (Zhao Lei), China's coastal regions have come under attack by wokou Japanese pirates under the leadership of the infamous Hakatatsu (Sammo Hung). To combat this threat, the Emperor tasks a trusted general, Zhu Wan (Tu Kuang-chi), with assembling a group of skilled warriors to find and eliminate the pirates. Under the command of General Yu Dayou (Roy Chiao), the band of soldiers, including husband-and-wife sword-fighters Wu Ji-yuan (Pai Ying) and Wu Ruo-shi (Hsu Feng), set out to draw Hakatatsu, his ally Xu Dong (Han Ying-chieh) and their pirate clan into a series of spectacular showdowns.