Ning Tsai-Shen, a humble tax collector, arrives in a small town to carry out his work. No one is willing to give him shelter for the night, so he ends up in the haunted Lan Ro temple. There, he meets Taoist Swordsman Yen Che-Hsia, and the beautiful Nieh Hsiao-Tsing, with whom he falls in love.
A magical needle is used to stab and restrain ghosts, though a man gets accidentally stabbed with it (it's played for humor and shows no blood or gore).
There are no "man in a dress" jokes, and tagging it as such was very misleading and frustrating to watch with for someone with this trigger. A female villain is played by a man, but this is played entirely straight, in a similar way to the drag dame in British pantomime. No jokes are made about the character, nothing about her features is pointed out or made fun of. This film is filled with physical comedy and poking fun at the status quo, so you might interpret the casting choice in that way, but the film can be watched without fear of any direct jabs at men in 'female' attire.