Time Raiders

In the Himalayas, Hendrix leads an armed team pressing locals for the secret of immortality. Zhang Qiling intervenes and defeats Hendrix, earning the trust of the local elder who then tasks him with averting a catastrophe.

A writer arrives at a weathered warehouse to interview Wu Xie, an antiques dealer, who begins unfolding a sprawling, never-before-told saga about his bloodline and the mysteries that haunt him.

As a boy, Wu slips into a temple to lift a relic but is halted by a figure behind a bronze mask. That encounter seeds a lifetime of dreams and an enduring sense that memory and fate are linked.

Growing into a young man, Wu ventures into a tomb from the Warring States period with his uncle Wu Sansheng. They stumble upon a hidden chamber whose inscriptions recount the legend of Iron Mask and the Snake Empress.

Wu and Sansheng discover an artifact, but a swarm of moths forces them to retreat. Hendrix’s forces monitor the aftermath via video footage, linking the artifact to Tamutuo.

Zhang Qiling, who has not aged since his fateful meeting with Hendrix, watches the footage unfold. He is revealed to be a divine being plagued by amnesia.

Wu confesses that his dreams keep revisiting the temple moment from his youth, layering doubt and memory on the quest. The dreams tie his fate to the ancient relics and the mission at hand.

Ning, a ruthless rival, blasts an entrance into the tomb complex. Ning’s team uses drones to relay data back to Hendrix, as Sanxing’s project comes under relentless pressure.

The expedition is harried by booby traps and flesh-eating beetles; a cave-in further destabilizes the team, fracturing the bond between Wu and Zhang.

In a dormant chamber, warriors that look human but are made of plant cells awaken and attack. A retreat is forced, Wu and Zhang reunite and kill the awakening figure, but Ning arrives to seize the precious key.

Hendrix explains the monstrous plan: the Snake Empress swallowed the essence of a magical tree to sleep for two thousand years and to birth an army of worms that could eradicate humanity when she wakes.

The Empress emerges, releasing worms into the wider world. Zhang engages her but cannot break through her magnetic defense, and danger escalates toward a climactic battle.

Wu urges Hendrix to abandon immortality and support the plan to defeat the Empress. Ning’s team detonates explosives to shatter magnetic barriers, enabling Zhang to deliver the decisive blow and kill the Empress, destroying her worms as the lair collapses. Wu, Ning, and Sanxing flee while Zhang is trapped.

In a montage of flashbacks, Wu recalls his time with Zhang. The ending mirrors their first meeting, with Zhang seeing Iron Mask and Wu seeing a bronze mask, inviting reflection on memory, identity, and the cost of immortality.