As you make your way from the Hidden Passage to Pangzhen, and leave behind the Village of Lu, the Heartless Remnants chapter also closes, and the Town of Death chapter begins. Pangzhen is divided across two areas, and two chapters, and we will be doing the same.
While we will cover the entire Pangzhen region, we will do it over multiple articles so that it does not become too long and cluttered. However, we will keep the numbering constant across, and carry over the count to subsequent articles for Pangzhen for consistency.
With that said, let’s enter Pangzhen, where we already know we have 4 NPCs (Old Man Gen, Len Shaodi, Yu’er and, as always, Quick Hand Zhang) waiting for us, in addition to new side quests and upgrade materials.
On This Page
Entering into Pangzhen
As you make your way from the Hidden Storehouse bell, you get welcomed to Pangzhen with an exploding head at your first turn – so be careful. There is a second one as well when you have made your way to the ground level, from a space on the left. Make your way to the Abandoned Wine Cellar bell.
The gate behind it is locked, so make your way out on to the main road. Go straight first at the end of the rooftops and get the Concentrated Solvent, before taking the left. Get the Tainted Crystal Shard in the narrow space on the right behind the pots on the way.
Take out the enemies, get the Polished Broadplate Metal on the left, and go up the stairs to the campfire for the next set of enemies to wipe out.
Go left, and here, you have to get rid of the healers first before taking out the other enemies. Once you take out the 2 in the image above, there will be another 1 who also spawns, and he will heal others at range and also damage you, so keep that in mind. Get the Apprentice Healer’s Memory, and use the climbable wall to jump to the other side.
Blackstone Shard #1
Get the Polished Twinned Metal before taking the left and clearing out the next group of enemies. Once done, get the Concentrated Solvent from a narrow space on the right, and then go left to be ambushed by another enemy. Get the Blackstone Shard from the chest on the left after dealing with him.
On the left of the chest is a gate that you can unbolt, and leads to the Abandoned Wine Cellar bell. Get the Illusory Incense Ash, and then step out onto the rooftops to see the whole of Pangzhen laid out before you.
Sha-Chi Amber Shard #1
Take in the scene, and then, climb onto the left. Here, in between the rooftops, there is a small passage that you can take to get Amber Shard #1. I have marked the spot in the image below.
The next section takes you across rooftops, clearing out enemies before coming across a hole in one of the roofs to get you to your next bell – South Gate Bridge bell.
Flameward Accessory
Take out the enemies here, and before going up the stairs with the big gate in front, look to its right for a smaller set of steps, take those to get the Flameward accessory. This will be super useful for the upcoming boss fight.
Get the Forged Metal from the right, and start the ascent up the steps, taking out enemies. Equip the Flameward accessory before going through the open gate at the top of the steps. This will trigger a cutscene, which, lets say, gives you added incentive to take out the boss. A lot of added incentive.
Blaze Boss Fight
This is a 2 phase boss fight. The Dual Fiends and the Outlaw Warblade work really well on the boss. His first phase is easy to handle, and is made longer because he keeps calling in reinforcements twice. He will mostly stay in the background and not do too much when his minions are there, so that works out well for us also.
Any time he comes at you rotating his weapon, it always ends with a red glowing attack, so be ready to punish this move. He also tends to get staggered for a long time, allowing you a lot of time to go in with your attack chains.
Phase 2 is when things get more frantic – though, with the Flameward accessory equipped, you should be able to avoid too much damage from Burn. The one attack here to watch out for is when he pulls out a Phosphor sphere that rains down Phosphor in that much area on the ground – stay away from that by dodging constantly.
The other thing to watch out for is that the boss’s red and blue moves will get you even if he is some distance away, so be ready with your response to these attacks and don’t assume that the larger distance will mean that the attack will not reach you.
Also, if you have heals, its best to stay topped up – his red glowing attacks take out a LOT of your health. If you see the burn status building up, just stay away for a couple of seconds to let it go away before getting into attack mode.
Fire Meteor Phantom Edge
Defeat him to get a cutscene, and the Fire Meteor Phantom Edge. Grab the Crimson Flesh Lily, Shadow Wardens And the Mindseal Note, Otherworldly Copper from the right, and ring the Jingyang Hall bell on your left, in front of the closed red door.
Pick the Precision Mechanical Gear from in front of the door. You can’t enter yet, so take the climbable wall across the square, collect Blazing Darkfire Charcoal. In the next room, take out the healers first and then the Shadow Warden enemy.
Use the ledge to get on to the roof and collect Camphor Timber. From here, go to the right and jump down.
Enter the building on the left, take out the enemy and get Illusory Incense Ash and Mechanical Gear. Come out, and bait the two enemies to clear them out before taking the one on horseback. From here, go straight, take out the lone enemy, and get the Apprentice Healer Memory from next to the Shopkeeper Puppet.
Other routes here are inaccessible to us for now, so take the steps up on the right to save at the Marketplace bell.
Memory Flower of Lion Dance Grandmaster (1/6) | Blackstone Shard #2
From here, go up the steps on the left to get Twinned Metal. Enter the building to get the Tavern’s Ledger Note, the Memory Flower, and Concentrated Solvent from this floor. Take the steps to the first floor, to take on a new enemy. Watch out for her scream – that can drain out your Sha-Chi bigtime.
Go on to the next floor, and from here, jump down to get the chest with the second Blackstone Shard. Also grab the Polished Forged Metal from the left, and unbolt the gate. Now, take the steps up from the Marketplace bell, clear out the two enemies.
Here, there will now be a set of steps to your left going up, and to your right going down. Get the Remnant Dust from the right, and then take the left to first grab the Pang Sheng Meets Ti Note, and then take out another group of enemies. Ring the Huang Manor Crossroads bell. From here, there is a road straight ahead, and steps to the right.
Take the steps, they lead to the Pavilion of Knowledge Crossroads bell. We will first explore the area around the Pavilion of Knowledge, and then come back to the Huang Manor Crossroads.
Exploring the Pavilion of Knowledge Crossroads
There are 3 main things to do here:
- 1) Interact and complete the Lan Shaodi side quest;
- 2) Explore the building with enemies guarding the entrance; and
- 3) Take the steps going up
Crimson Resolve Accessory
Interact with the Severely Injured Mandate Disciple. Complete the series of interactions on the left with Lan Shaodi here to close the quest and get the Crimson Resolve accessory. Get the chest at the end of the corridor to get Weapon Reforge Talisman.
Moving to 2), enter the building, get the Pavilion of Knowledge Note, and Polished Twinned Metal from the chest on the left of the steps. Go up, we will get to the chest on the left shortly. Keep defeating the enemies as you make your way up.
Defeat the final set to get the Pavilion of Knowledge Rooftop Key. Head out and speak to the Child of Insight. Select all options for interaction. If you have collected all the Four Fierce Axes Case Files, give The Axemaster’s Relic to get the Blood Oath Dagger.
Amber Shard # 2
From here, jump down to your left to land right on the chest. Open it to get Sha-Chi Amber Shard # 2.
With that, the final area (no. 3 in the list above) to be covered is the steps, so take those. Defeat the enemies at the top, particularly watching out for the red robed one wielding a giant butcher knife. Get the Broadplate Metal at the end of the corridor, and go right to arrive into another open area with enemies. Get the Healers first, and then the rest.
Once done, use your Bastion ability to get through the corridor on the left, that leads to a chest with Apprentice Healer’s Memory, and Polished Forged Metal. The other doors are locked, so nothing else that we can do here for now. Now, return to the Huang Manor Crossroads bell and start there.
Exploring the area around Huang Manor
With the Pavilion of Knowledge covered, the Huang Manor Crossroads holds the path for main story progression to a boss, and from there, opens up into 3 different mini-sections. Let’s start with the boss fight part.
Memory Flower of the Lion Dance Grandmaster (2/6)
Take the road straight ahead. Get the Memory Flower, Precision Mechanical Gear from the right.
From here, look for the collectible on the left. The steps that lead down ahead have Illusory Incense Ash, and open up a shortcut to the Marketplace bell. Retrace your steps, collect the Wooden Man’s Note and ready up for the second boss fight.
Cavalrybane, Elite Shadow Warden Boss Fight
The two things to watch out here is to dodge the overhead slam from the spear, and that his red glowing attack has a long moveset till it is fully done, so don’t stop dodging. The overhead slam is also sometimes a red glowing attack.
The Dual Fiend swords work brilliantly well here, you can stagger him for his entire Sha-Chi bar. So does the Fire Meteor – it also helps in damage reduction.
Armybreaker
Defeating the Cavalrybane gets you the Armybreaker two-handed weapon.
Blackstone Shard # 3
From here, there are 3 routes to take:
Take the one on the left first with all the benches laid out. Get the Female Lead’s Verse Note, and Phantom Reforge Talisman by crouching below the stage. On the left of the benches, clear out the enemies to get Blackstone Shard #3.
Next, take the one straight, with the blue-lit lantern room on the right. Go straight down the linear path to get Blazing Darkfire Charcoal. There’s nothing else to be done here for now.
Memory Flower of The Lion Dance Grandmaster (3/6)
Finally, take the one on the right. Get the Concentrated Solvent and Camphor Timber on the left just before the steps. Defeat the two enemies, and get the Memory Flower at the very end.
With all this done, now enter the Tavern (with the blue lantern) to get the Polished Twinned Metal. Exit the other side as Soul remarks on the neatly arranged wine rack. Destroy the racks to expose a lever, and press it to open a hidden path that leads to the hub area for Pangzhen
Exploring the Pangzhen hub area
Use the elevator, and complete the interaction with Myst, who can now soul temper weapons – once you have the materials with you. Exit the other side, collect The Bastion of Mo and The Long Clan Notes. Ring the Myst’s Tavern Crane bell to trigger a cutscene. Pick up The Fall of Long and Mo Note.
Interact with the NPCs at the hub area, in particular with:
- Interact with Daoist Bi Di to start The Sword and The Way side quest
- Purple-Robed Wolf Leader to start The Undying Heroic Spirit side quest
- Shopkeeper Niu to get the Huang Manor key
- Leading Opera Actress to start The Star Performer side quest
- The Old Beggar, who has found his way here as well
- The Fisherman to start The Cube side quest
Collect the Weapon Reforge Talisman, and head out the exit.
Amber Shard # 3
Get the Polished Broadplate Metal, and make your way to the rooftops. Defeat all enemies here – take care you don’t fall off from the rooftops. Cross the rooftops to the other side, and enter the building highlighted above. Get the Precision Mechanical Gear, and clear out the enemies to get Amber Shard #3.
Exit the building from where you entered, look to the left, and jump down to the passage with the red lanterns. Defeat the enemies. Now, there is one end that leads to a red gate with the Unsent Letter Note just before it – which is the main quest progression route. We will come here later, for now, take the other one.
Get the Concentrated Solvent, and go down the edge of the pond with a bridge across it. Ring the South Town Pond bell. Open the chest to get Camphor Timber, Otherworldly Copper, and Concentrated Solvent. Get the Weapon Reforge Talisman next to the bell.
Medicine Manor Pot Accessory | Memory Flower: Reunion with Brother (1/2) | A Brother Once More side quest
Return to Huang Manor, and explore it for getting the Medicine Manor Pot accessory. This one also has a Memory Flower, which, upon interacting, kicks off A Brother Once More side quest as well. Check our guide on the Huang Manor key location and rewards on exploring it.
Quick Hand Zhang Treasure (1/3) | Dance Fan Accessory | Dancer’s Ribbon
Start and complete The Star Performer side quest by speaking to the Leading Opera Actress. This eventually gives you the key to the Tianxiang Pavilion, where you get all the above items on exploring it. Check our detailed guide on the side quest for a step by step walkthrough for the quest completion, as well as all secrets and rewards that Tianxiang Pavilion has to offer.
With that, make your way to the South Town Pond bell, and go towards the red gate. Open it, walk through the mist, and the Town of Death Chapter comes to a close, as we pick up the action on the backstreets of Pangzheng for the next chapter – The Heart’s Trail.
