The Eastern Zhou Kingdom fell to the Corpse Clan, whose tide of corpses crossed the Zhang River and advanced on Liaozhou, in the Longhua Kingdom. The ruler and ministers in the Purple Dawn Hall were shaken. The Duke Who Guards the Nation, Wei Zheng, a Land Immortal, went alone to investigate the borderlands. At the Zhang River ferry, he rescued the Ghost, Ronghua, and Mountain Spirit tribes, who were besieged by Corpse Clan ranks one through six and a seventh-rank Corpse General. He also discovered traces of an eighth-rank Corpse Emperor.
The court sent Wang Qian, Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, to seek aid. The top Zhao clan hoarded corpse cores to protect itself, but was forced to compromise after a sixth-rank great demon from the demon clan attacked its West Mountain mines. In exchange for a corpse-core refining agent, the Xuanyuan Sect sent two elders, Zhou Yun and Li Muran, both Land Immortals, to provide aid.
Bai Xue, an eighth-rank Demon Emperor from the Taihang Mountains, used the tide of corpses to sow chaos. She first attacked the mines to disrupt the human forces' plans, then appeared to obstruct the Xuanyuan Sect elders when they reached Liaozhou's main city, hoping to take advantage of the situation and seize Liaozhou. Thus, the Longhua Kingdom was plunged into a double crisis: besieged by the Corpse Clan and coveted by the demon clan. Wei Zheng held the Corpse Emperor at bay upstream on the Zhang River, while the human factions were forced to join forces against their enemies.
