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
