The Struggle for the Phantom Realm

The story is set in an imaginary world, though it has some connections to reality.

It begins with the Tianqi Explosion of the Ming dynasty. After the disaster, some people are swept into a different world. Its inhabitants are divided into different ranks. The higher-ranking ones are much like humans, while the lower-ranking ones look like monsters. Their only similarity is that, like ghosts, they can possess humans and control their minds.

The inhabitants of that world have a supernatural power called Blood Soul Arts. Using blood as a medium, they gather and entwine the energy around their bodies, achieving nearly godlike effects. As humans fought the inhabitants of the other world, they evolved this ability and gradually seized control, sealing away the inhabitants' "King." Humans named this world the Illusory Realm and called its original inhabitants Corpse Spirits.

Later, as more and more people developed Blood Soul Arts, humans began fighting among themselves over control of the Illusory Realm. Three cities sprang up in its most fertile region: Huaming City, Xianing City, and Qingyu City. Two factions controlled these cities. The stronger faction called itself the White Faction and established the "Nightlight Division" as its subordinate force, governing all three cities. The weaker faction was disparagingly called the Black Faction. Unable to take the initiative, it established a gathering place called the "Three Cities Black Market" in the three cities as its base.

There is a legend in the Illusory Realm about a book called the "Five Elements Earthly Branches Manual," which can suppress some of the lower-ranking Corpse Spirits still lingering in the realm. After the Corpse Spirits destroy her "home," Bai Yeyun, a young woman who is one of the Black Faction's main forces, sets out to obtain the legendary book. She sneaks into the family of her uncle Bai Jianheng, who belongs to the White Faction despite being related to her by blood, to steal it. Along the way, she develops an inexplicable affection for Bai Jianheng's second son, Bai Xiaoqing. But Bai Xiaoqing already has a girlfriend.

While escorting Bai Xiaoqing to another city to visit his girlfriend, Bai Yeyun and her fellow Black Faction members Jin and Luo Yin are attacked by Corpse Spirits. They join forces with Xuan Minghai, the son born from a political marriage between the Ming and Xuan families, the leading families of the White Faction, and succeed. After two brief days of getting along peacefully, Bai Xiaoqing is bullied by Dai Xiang, a member of the White Faction, and loses his girlfriend. He begins to doubt the faction his father belongs to and changes his prejudice against Bai Yeyun. Meanwhile, Bai Yeyun is utterly disappointed by the Ming and Xuan families, who know the truth but still side with Dai Xiang. The hard-won alliance falls apart...

Not long afterward, an accident breaks the seal on the Corpse Spirits' "King"...

The story begins with Bai Yeyun and Bai Xiaoqing's meeting...