While the battle around Yiwu Island raged, far away on White Ning Island in the Chang Kong Sea, the righteous and unorthodox sides were also locked in fierce combat.
Led by the Incense Market in Fine Goods Ward, with powerful rogue cultivators from every quarter rallying to its banner, the East Sea Immortal Alliance assembled an elite force and launched an assault on the great burial grounds where the ruler of the White Ning Kingdom resided.
This move was made entirely to support the army's campaign over in the Du Sea.
Both sides understood that warfare had no fixed shape. Any part of the East Sea might become a crucial battleground.
If they could seize a territory or two while the fighting raged at the front, they would undoubtedly gain a considerable advantage.
This was also a means of fomenting strife and calamity.
The Netherworld Sect's usual method was to shatter the peace, recruit unorthodox cultivators amid war and displacement, slaughter the populace, and create an environment suited to nurturing corpse ghouls with yin energy, thereby expanding its strength.
Under such circumstances, the forces of the Unorthodox Path would grow rapidly, leaving many hidden pieces and pawns behind.
The righteous side naturally could not stand by and watch, but with grievous losses during the war and manpower and resources stretched thin, how could they possibly eradicate every hidden piece and pawn?
Thus, in as little as ten years or as long as twenty or thirty, these pieces concealed in the wilds would emerge from the shadows and bring fresh turmoil.
The cycle repeated, suffering never ceased in the mortal world, and the Netherworld Sect's corpse ghouls came in an unending stream.
Buried within this ancient tomb were corpses hidden away when the White Ning Kingdom fell several hundred years ago.