Through the efforts of Shaohao, the last emperor, Pandaria had been transformed into mist, granting the Pandaren Empire over ten thousand years of peace. But peace was ultimately shattered.
The Pandaren Empire, even older than the Night Elves, finally faced the greatest crisis in its history.
The Sha of Doubt launched a surprise attack on the Temple of the Jade Serpent, corrupting and slaughtering countless monks. Yu'lon, having lost her reincarnated body, was utterly unable to contend with the Sha of Doubt, and the temple became a place where it ran rampant.
After escaping its seal, the Sha of Fear invaded the Mantid Empire's imperial palace on the Mantid Plateau. Using the power of fear, it controlled the Mantid Empress Shek'zeer and her subjects. The once-in-a-century cycle of war erupted ten years early, and the Mantid army launched a massive assault on the Serpent's Spine.
The Yaungol, another native people of the Mantid Plateau, fled the Mantid army, breached the Xuan Niu Pass from beyond the border, and entered the lands within.
The Sha of Anger then took control of the Yaungol who had fled into the pass after losing their homes. The possessed Yaungol Iron Cavalry burned, killed, and plundered across Kun-Lai Summit, destroying countless Pandaren villages and inflicting grievous casualties upon the Pandaren people.
The Shado-Pan, the Pandaren Empire's foremost military organization, suffered devastating losses under attacks by the Sha of Violence and the Sha of Hatred.
As a result, Taran Zhu, leader of the Shado-Pan, had no choice but to conscript martial monks from across Pandaria to defend the Serpent's Spine against the Mantid army. Nearly every martial monk of the Stormstout Family went, leaving only Uncle Gao behind to tend to the Stormstout Brewery.
The powerful Mogu, the Pandaren's enemies for tens of thousands of years,