In Republican-era China, Master Gau, Lam Ching-Ying, is a devoted Taoist priest who earns his living by performing protective magic to keep spirits in check and to restrain dangerous vampires. He shares a large, fortress-like house with his two somewhat inept students, Man Choi and Chau-sang, Ricky Hui Koon-Ying and Chin Siu-Ho, who assist him amid a sea of talismans and amulets designed to shield them from the spiritual world. The trio values discipline, but their daily routine also carries a sly humor as they navigate the dangers that come with meddling in forces beyond ordinary understanding. The world they inhabit feels both ancient and immediate, where superstition and survival intertwine in every corner of the house and its uncanny guardians.
The peace of this arrangement is shaken when Yam, a wealthy and ambitious businessman, hires Master Gau to perform a grave reburial for his deceased father, hoping the ritual will usher in greater prosperity for the Yam family. The coffin is opened, and the body that emerges is not decomposed but remains shockingly intact—an unmistakable sign that the corpse has become a vampire. Master Gau decides to move the body to his own home for closer study, a decision that will pull the others deeper into a battle against an ancient terror. The plan is to study, contain, and perhaps cure what ails the once-living man, but the protective spellwork begins to falter when a crucial mistake is made during a grim process.
Choi and Sang line the coffin with protective enchanted ink to safeguard the body, but they forget to line the bottom properly. The sealed vampire breaks free and heads straight to Yam’s house, where it brutally kills Yam’s son before retreating into the shadows as dawn approaches. The community is shocked, and Wai, a bumbling but well-meaning police inspector Billy Lau Nam-Kwong who has a soft spot for Ting, Yam’s daughter Moon Lee Choi-Fung, blames Master Gau for what happened and orders his arrest. While Kau is imprisoned, Sang remains at Yam’s house to guard Ting, and Choi stays with Yam’s family to provide protection. Soon, Sang frees his master, only to witness Yam reawakening as a vampire. A fierce confrontation ensues, and Kau and Sang manage to kill the reawakened threat, forcing Wai to confront the reality that another vampire roams free. The mythic dangers have become personal, and the stakes feel suddenly all the more urgent.
The vampire returns, invading Yam’s house once again. Kau and Sang arrive just in time to wound the creature and drive it away, but not before it inflicts a deep wound on Choi. To ensure Ting’s safety, Kau invites the young woman to stay at his house, creating a fragile safe space in the midst of chaos. The next morning, after a harsh examination of Choi’s injuries, Kau mutters that he, too, might someday become a vampire. He orders Sang to feed Choi glutinous rice, hoping the ritual might neutralize venom and restore Choi to health. On the way to obtain the rice, a shady merchant mixes different kinds, and Sang unknowingly accepts the altered bag. En route home, Sang is drawn into a hidden world when a mysterious woman lures him to her house. He discovers she is a spirit, a being who uses supernatural charm to seduce him. They sleep together, and Sang returns to Kau’s side changed and conflicted.
That night, Kau senses Sang’s entanglement and quietly follows him to the spirit’s dwelling. The spirit shifts into a ghastly form and launches an assault on Kau, but the Taoist priest’s talismans hold firm. She uses her power to bewitch Sang, turning him against his master, yet Kau breaks the spell in a tense confrontation, and the spirit escapes once more. The following night, Kau captures Sang’s attention by tying him to a chair, determined to confront the spirit directly. The spirit arrives at the house, sparking a dangerous chase through their corridors. In the ensuing chaos, Choi undergoes a horrific transformation into a vampire and lunges at Sang, forcing Kau to act decisively. He restrains Choi and nearly finishes the spirit, but Sang pleads for mercy, and Kau relents, allowing the spirit to depart with a broken, aching choice in her heart.
Over the next days, Kau works to restore Choi’s health and return him to normal humanity. Wai arrives with news that the vampire has become active again, and Kau departs to investigate. The vampire returns in a more demonic form, launching a brutal invasion of Kau’s home. It targets Ting and Wai, wasting no time in sowing fear, but Kau and Sang repeatedly divert its deadly focus. In a twist of coincidence, Kau’s fellow Taoist Four Eyes appears, and together they confront the creature in a final, fiery battle. The vampire is ultimately destroyed by burning, ending the immediate threat and allowing the balance between the living and the supernatural to begin restoration.
In the aftermath, the house steadies into a wary calm. Master Gau and his students have faced a threat that tested every rule they keep and every protection they trust. The narrative moves with a steady rhythm, balancing moments of quiet devotion with bursts of horror, and showing how courage, restraint, and faith can slow even the most ancient of shadows.
