In 1947, Ningxia, China. The tomb of the Dragon Emperor, the first emperor of China two thousand years ago, was excavated here. Meanwhile, in the United States, the great explorer O'Connor (Brendan Fraser) and his wife Evelyn (Maria Bello) were invited to send the legendary gem "Eye of Shangri-La" that can bring eternal life to China to show the everlasting friendship between the Chinese and American people. Unexpectedly, a Kuomintang officer (Anthony Wong) colluded with the curator of the museum and snatched the Eye of Shangri-La on the spot, which then awakened the evil force of two thousand years ago - the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li). At this time, the Dragon Emperor can not only use the power of the five elements to commit violence, but also transform into various monsters to destroy the world's creatures. The O'Connor family struggled to fight the Dragon Emperor and the huge terracotta army behind him. The thousand-year-old saint Ziyuan (Michelle Yeoh) and her daughter Lin Na (Isabella Leong) also joined this sacred team in order to eliminate the Dragon Emperor and bring peace to the world.