The Iron Spear in the March of the Dead Jianghu Legacy quest is hidden in one of the most disorienting areas in Where Winds Meet: the fog‑choked version of Ghostlight Market. The Nether Mist constantly drains your health, most of the map is invisible, and the game gives almost no waypoint help for the spear itself.
Despite that, the route to the Iron Spear is fixed and repeatable. Once you know the landmarks and how the green lanterns work, reaching the chest behind the Spectral Soldiers becomes straightforward.
How the Ghostlight Market maze works
When March of the Dead begins, Ghostlight Market is covered in Nether Mist and repopulated with Spectral Soldiers. Liu Changsheng is your anchor point: every time you die to the mist or the ghosts, you respawn at the inn/teahouse near him.
Two mechanics matter more than anything else:
- Lanterns of Underground (green lanterns): Standing near these resets and slowly removes your Nether Mist bar. They are your only reliable navigation markers and your main way to survive long stretches between safe zones.
- Nether Mist bar: When it fills, chunks of HP are lost until you reach another lantern. Running seems to increase the bar faster since it’s tied to distance traveled rather than pure time.
The Mountain Armor and Battle Helmet are both introduced through clear NPCs and objective markers. The Iron Spear is not: you must find Xiang Gutong, then break through a group of Spectral Soldiers to loot the final chest.
Route overview to the Iron Spear
The Iron Spear path always flows through the same chain of landmarks:
- Liu Changsheng at the inn/teahouse (spawn/checkpoint)
- Gate with a hanging lantern (used earlier for the Battle Helmet path)
- Nan Lugong’s stall, just past that gate
- A side staircase beside Nan Lugong
- Upper terrace with another staircase and a green lantern
- Bridge with a single Spectral Soldier and a green lantern
- Xiang Gutong, sitting by the lantern near the bridge
- Final cluster of Spectral Soldiers, with the Iron Spear chest behind them
If you get lost, it is always faster to let the mist or a Spectral Soldier kill you so you respawn by Liu Changsheng, then re-run the route from the start.
Find Nan Lugong again (your starting reference)
Step 1: From Liu Changsheng at the inn, face the street that leads out under the main gate with a green lantern hanging from it. Run straight through that gate, following the faint torchlight and green lanterns along the street.
Step 2: At the end of the street, go up the steps to the decorated gate with ribbons and another green lantern. Pass through this gate as well; it’s the same route you use when tracking down the Battle Helmet.
Step 3: Once you step past the ribboned gate, listen for crying and look to the right. Nan Lugong is seated behind a stall lit by a green lantern. This stall is your pivot point for the Iron Spear route.
Reach Xiang Gutong above the market
Step 1: With Nan Lugong’s stall on your right, walk a little further forward along the same street. On your left, almost beside the stall, there is a side staircase leading upward. Take these stairs; do not turn off into alleyways.
Step 2: At the top of the first stairs, keep going straight while hugging the left‑hand wall. Your next target is another green lantern ahead. When you see it, move into its radius to clear your Nether Mist bar, then look for a second staircase going further up.
Step 3: Climb this second staircase. At the top, turn left and run along the upper path. You are now on a higher terrace above much of the market. Keep moving in a straight line and watch for a bridge in the fog.
Step 4: As you approach, you will see a short stone or wooden bridge with a single Spectral Soldier standing on it. Next to the bridge is another green lantern, and beside the lantern sits Xiang Gutong, the NPC tied to the spear.
Talk to Xiang Gutong and locate the Iron Spear chest
Step 1: Stand in the green lantern’s radius near the bridge to fully clear your Nether Mist bar. Then talk to Xiang Gutong. After this short interaction, the objective will internally track the Iron Spear chest ahead, even if you still have no explicit on‑screen marker.
Step 2: Do not cross the bridge itself. The spear is not over there. Instead, from Xiang Gutong’s position, continue up the mountain path that runs alongside and beyond the bridge, following any additional green lanterns you can see through the fog.
Step 3: Keep moving uphill. There is a relatively long gap between lanterns on this stretch, so the Nether Mist bar will climb. As long as you started with a cleared bar at Xiang Gutong’s lantern, you can afford to take some mist damage without dying.
Step 4: Eventually, you emerge into a wider plateau where a group of Spectral Soldiers stands together in formation. The Iron Spear chest sits directly behind this group. If you see several ghosts grouped and an isolated chest just beyond them, you are in the correct place.
Stealing the Iron Spear from the Spectral Soldiers
The final hurdle is not a puzzle; it is a risk calculation. The chest is in plain sight, guarded only by the enemies’ aggro.
Step 1: Stand just outside the Spectral Soldiers’ detection range and let the Nether Mist bar drop if you have a lantern nearby. Plan your sprint line so you do not get stuck on terrain or the soldiers’ hitboxes.
Step 2: When ready, sprint through or around the group directly to the chest. Interact with it immediately to loot the Iron Spear. Expect the entire group to aggro the moment you move past them or open the chest.
Step 3: As soon as the spear is in your inventory, turn and sprint back down the path toward the last green lantern you used. Spectral Soldiers tend not to chase very far on this route; once you are a short distance away, they usually leash back to their starting positions.
Step 4: From the lantern near Xiang Gutong, keep running downhill, retracing your steps down both staircases, past Nan Lugong’s stall, through the ribboned gate, back under the first gate, and into the inn area with Liu Changsheng. Hand over the Iron Spear along with the Mountain Armor and Battle Helmet.
Why the Iron Spear is harder to find than the other items
The Mountain Armor and Battle Helmet each have a clear onboarding NPC (Jin Yunhai on the raft, then Nan Lugong at the stall) who both mark the route with nearby lanterns and voice lines. By contrast, the Iron Spear asks you to:
- Reuse Nan Lugong’s area as a reference without any new waypoint from Liu Changsheng.
- Notice a side staircase almost hidden beside the stall.
- Trust a long, misty stretch between lanterns where it feels like you have gone off the intended path.
- Ignore an obvious bridge and instead climb further into the fog toward an unmarked plateau.
Combined with the limitations in this quest instance — very low visibility, Wind Sense disabled, and high damage from Spectral Soldiers — many players circle the lower market for a long time, convinced they are missing a door or cavern, when the actual route simply climbs above the main streets.
Once the spatial layout clicks, the pattern is consistent: armor to the right along the river, helmet straight ahead and slightly left through the markets, spear above and beyond the helmet route via Nan Lugong and Xiang Gutong.
After turning in the Iron Spear along with the other two pieces, Liu Changsheng assembles the Spectral Soldier Armor and hands it over. Equipping it under the Quest tab conceals your living scent, causes most Spectral Soldiers to ignore you, and unlocks the slow procession toward the Ghost Gate and the boss fight with Zhu Yousheng. The most frustrating navigation segment of March of the Dead ends the moment the Iron Spear leaves that chest behind the ghost formation.
