The March of the Dead quest in Where Winds Meet drops you into Ghostlight Market at its worst possible moment: choked in poisonous fog and patrolled by dead soldiers. Progress hinges on understanding what the lanterns are doing, how to move safely between them, and why you end up dressed like a ghostly horseman with a spear.
How the lanterns work inside Ghostlight Market
Ghostlight Market is transformed into a fog maze for March of the Dead. The most important mechanic here is the network of eerie green lanterns scattered around the area.
The fog constantly applies a stacking poison effect while you move through it. Standing close enough to a lantern purges those stacks and resets the timer so you can push deeper into the mist. Every meaningful route out into the fog is effectively anchored by these lights, turning them into your only safe waypoints.
Because the fog both damages you and can forcibly teleport you if it becomes “too dense,” you are meant to travel from lantern to lantern rather than trying to sprint blindly through the mist. Losing sight of the next light usually means backtracking or being dumped somewhere less convenient.
Starting March of the Dead and finding Liu Changsheng
March of the Dead plays out in a version of Ghostlight Market that only appears during a specific time window in the early evening. Once you load in, a man named Liu Changsheng waits near the stairs that lead up into the main market street. Speaking to him formally starts the search for three items tied to fallen soldiers: a suit of armor, a helmet, and a spear.
From this starting point, most routes into the fog split left and right. Players treat this set of stairs and Liu Changsheng as “home base” and return here between each item run, either by walking back along the lantern path or by letting the fog finish them off to respawn at the beginning while keeping collected items.
Armor location: following lanterns toward the river
The armor route begins on the right-hand side of the starting area.
Step 1: From Liu Changsheng, head to the right and immediately look for the nearest string of green lanterns. Move between them slowly enough that the poison stacks can be reset each time you stop in their glow.
Step 2: Follow this line of lanterns until you reach a Boundary Stone and an NPC named Chang Sheng, a member of Nine Mortal Ways. This encounter marks that you are on the correct branch for the armor.
Step 3: Continue past Chang Sheng and keep to the route that trends downhill until you reach a pier. To the right, more green lanterns float on or near the water. Trace their line across the riverbank until you spot a lone chest on a rock beside the river. Looting this chest grants the March of the Dead armor piece.
Once the armor is secured, returning to Liu Changsheng simplifies navigation for the remaining items because all three routes share the same initial hub.
Helmet location: cutting through stalls and piers with ghosts
The helmet path starts on the opposite side of the market from the armor.
Step 1: From the starting stairs, turn left instead of right. Follow the lanterns through the fog until you discover a covered stall where Nan Lugong is hiding. The layout resembles a makeshift vendor stand tucked into the shrouded street.
Step 2: To the right of Nan Lugong’s stall, a narrower path pulls you deeper into the fog. Again, your only reliable markers are the green lanterns, so advance from light to light while keeping an eye on your poison buildup.
Step 3: Eventually, you arrive at a small pier guarded by a few ghostly soldiers. They are part of the scene and hit extremely hard if provoked, so the safest option is to stay out of combat and move behind them. One of the wooden platforms off this pier holds a chest containing the helmet.
Nan Lugong’s dialogue is also a hint. If you speak to him, he nudges you toward the direction of the spear path once you have the helmet in hand, reinforcing that his location is the pivot point between the second and third objectives.
Spear location: climbing toward the upper market and the ghostly horseman
The spear route builds directly on the path that leads to Nan Lugong’s stall. It is the most winding of the three, weaving through upper streets, staircases, and a rope bridge watched by ghosts.
Step 1: Return to Nan Lugong’s market stall once you have the helmet. Behind the stall is a staircase leading up into the higher tier of Ghostlight Market. Climb these stairs and turn left at the top, where an antique bookstore stands as a recognizable landmark.
Step 2: Just beyond the bookstore, another staircase climbs to the left, again lined with green lanterns. Take this set of stairs and continue letting each lantern clear the fog’s poison as you ascend.
Step 3: At the top, turn left and pass a tree ringed with lit candles. This area signals that you are now close to the final leg of the quest’s scavenger hunt. Move forward until you reach a rope bridge with a solitary ghost in the middle.
Step 4: Resist the urge to cross the bridge. Instead, skirt around it and follow the path forward into deeper fog. Continue until you come across a small gathering of spirits. Behind them sits the final chest, which contains the spear used later in the confrontation that ends March of the Dead.
The spear, combined with the armor and helmet, completes the “ghost gear” set that turns your character into a spectral soldier, visually echoing the ghostly horsemen haunting the market.
Moving safely through the fog and avoiding combat
Beyond the explicit directions, March of the Dead pushes a particular style of movement. Most enemies here are not meant to be farmed; they are obstacles that can kill you quickly or force you to restart long lantern routes. The simplest pattern is to ignore combat entirely.
Staying alive comes down to three habits:
- Stick to the lantern network. Do not wander off into the blank fog just to see what is there. Almost every useful branch in Ghostlight Market broadcasts itself with green lights.
- Let the mist kill you strategically. If you take a wrong turn, allowing the fog to finish you off is sometimes faster than walking back, since deaths return you to Liu Changsheng without stripping the items you already collected.
- Use environmental hints. Objects like pots, small braziers, and certain audio logs can also act as fog reset points or wayfinding anchors, especially on the longer routes toward the spear.
Wearing the ghost gear and following the procession
Once all three items are collected, Liu Changsheng becomes the focal point again. At this stage, the armor, helmet, and spear are not just loot but a disguise.
Step 1: Return to Liu Changsheng’s position by the stairs and equip the complete ghost gear set: the armor, the helmet, and the spear obtained from the three chests. The quest logic checks for the full set to be worn at the same time, not merely carried in your inventory.
Step 2: After your character is dressed in the full ensemble, watch the main street in front of the starting area. A ghost procession will eventually pass by, marching along the lantern-lit route through the market. Join this line of spirits and follow them uphill, staying close enough not to lose track of their path.
Step 3: The procession will wind its way past more ghost soldiers and eventually stop near a stone gate. This gate opens onto a brighter, almost cavernous space that contrasts sharply with the dense, sickly fog of Ghostlight Market.
The procession sequence is the payoff to all the lantern work: by wearing the right armor and weapon, you effectively pass as one of the dead, walking openly among them as they guide you to the quest’s final confrontation.
Facing Zhu Yousheng and finishing March of the Dead
Beyond the stone gate lies a vivid underground cave. Here you meet Zhu Yousheng, the founder of the Nine Mortal Ways sect and the true figure behind the restless spirits.
Step 1: Enter the cave and trigger the encounter with Zhu Yousheng. Dialogue and staging reinforce his connection to the ghost soldiers, the river of the dead, and the artifacts you recovered from the fog.
Step 2: The fight itself is tuned to be manageable for players who have reached this point. Zhu Yousheng’s moveset still demands basic combat fundamentals: dodging or sidestepping telegraphed attacks, parrying when possible, and counter-attacking rather than trading blows head-on.
Step 3: Defeat Zhu Yousheng to resolve the lingering unrest at Ghostlight Market. The quest then pays out a package of rewards that includes Inner Arts customization items, a Medicinal Tales entry, crafting material such as Lv. 3 Ebon iron, Echo Jades, Kaifeng Exploration Points, Enlightenment Points, character experience, and coins.
The combination of those rewards, plus the story payoff of confronting Nine Mortal Ways’ founder, makes March of the Dead one of the more substantial Jianghu Legacy detours in Kaifeng.
Seen as a whole, March of the Dead is less about raw combat and more about learning to read Ghostlight Market’s geography through its lanterns and processions. Once the pattern clicks—right for armor, left for helmet, up behind Nan Lugong for the spear—the poisonous fog shifts from a frustration into a carefully paced route toward the river of the dead and the ghostly horseman who waits beyond.
