Yao Hao (Chen Sing), is a young man whose father was assassinated and whose mother was killed in an attack on the funeral procession. He survives the attack and winds up at a Shaolin temple where he insists he wants to stay and become a monk. His beautiful fiancée (Lu Shu Chin) pleads with him to come back with her, but he refuses. The head monk, Brother Fa (Chan Wai Man), an orphan who's been at the monastery all his life and is expecting to succeed the current Shaolin Abbot, is jealous of the privileges Yao Hao has had in life and asks him questions about the outside world, including what it's like to touch a woman. Brother Fa's weakening resolve soon finds him leaving the monastery and falling into the clutches of Lord Eagle (Kam Kong), the Manchu ruler in the area who's trying to wipe out all resistance to Manchu/Ching rule.

The Crane Fighter is set just after the majority of the Shaolin monks have been outlawed and killed by the, I think, Ching Dynasty. A few have escaped, and live secretly among the common people. One old guy has a daughter that he has forbidden to learn kung fu, but she does so anyway, by watching some other monks in a nearby temple.

The evil Ching government has taken over and is out to rid the land of the remaining Ming rebel patriots, including the still surviving Ming Prince. Unknowingly, the evil Ching overlord and his men capture the incognito Prince and throw him in jail. Hearing word of the Prince's capture, Shao Chang and Fang Ping mount a rescue effort to get the Prince before his identity is found out.

Mysterious Heroes centers around Lau Tien, master of the deadly 13-Sword Style. Thrown into prison by a group of jealous enemies, the 13-Sword Style is rarely spoken of, let alone seen, until 20 years later, when a second swordsman going by the name of Lau Tien proves to be the world's second 13-Sword expert. Action-packed martial arts chaos ensues when the enemies of the original Lau Tien vow to destroy his successor

Mysterious Heroes centers around Lau Tien, master of the deadly 13-Sword Style. Thrown into prison by a group of jealous enemies, the 13-Sword Style is rarely spoken of, let alone seen, until 20 years later, when a second swordsman going by the name of Lau Tien proves to be the world's second 13-Sword expert. Action-packed martial arts chaos ensues when the enemies of the original Lau Tien vow to destroy his successor

The plot deals with a search for a valuable pearl, dubbed the Buddha's Relic, which is sold to an unwitting Japanese emissary by a corrupt Ching Dynasty prince who seeks to steal it back for his own purposes.

Turmoil outside the walls of the temple lead Cliff Lok to go there and find the answers to save his country from the Manchus. Nothing could prepare him for the tests and trials he will face inside the walls of Shaolin: martial monks, hidden chambers, and the 18 Bronzemen.

1976 film by Tso Nam Lee