Phantom Blade Zero Walkthrough Part 4: Iron Fist Elder, Banyan Trials and the Puppet

Where Part 4 Picks Up

Part 4 opens back at the hub right after the two boss fights that closed out the previous episode. This session starts as cleanup: a quest item to hand in, a merchant network to unlock, and upgrades to bank at the bell. It then runs through Mask Walker territory toward the mountain lodge, a hidden dungeon, an Iron Fist Sect boss, the first of five banyan trials, six Gilded Lotus memories, and a two-phase puppet duel that opens a brand new region.

The Rooftop Bowyer and the Feather Bow

The first stop is a return trip to the starting region to turn in an overdue quest item. The NPC sits on a rooftop.

1. Fast travel back to the starting region and climb to the rooftop marked by the quest.
2. Listen to the bowyer's story. He crafted the bow himself from the finest mulberry wood. One winter, when the mountains were sealed by snow, he found starving children in a ruined temple, chewing on snow to survive. He took them in and taught them archery so they could build honest lives, but they turned to banditry instead.
3. He mends the bow and hands it over with one instruction: take it and kill those who deserve it. In his eyes, the Wulin has not changed in all these years.

The reward is the Feather Bow, and it comes with a genuinely useful mechanic: you can fire it even while it is not equipped. Several spots on the map are marked with a bow symbol, and shooting these hanging bundles knocks the loot down to ground level. Each one usually sits near a fast travel point, so you can hop between them quickly. Only one bundle gets shot down before the pace moves on; the rest stay on the to-do list, so circle back later if you have been skipping them.

Thieves Camp: Warnings, Traps, and the Quickhand Pendant

The route then swings through the Thieves Camp. A guard at the entrance offers advice if you are headed to see Quickhand Jang Du: keep your hands clean, trade only, and do not freeload. The sign of his hideout is a throwing knife strung with copper coins somewhere close by, so search the surroundings before moving on.

Two other flavor beats play out around the camp entrance:

• Villagers whisper about a headless monster that nevertheless knows the roads and knows people, so nobody who runs can escape it.
• Word spreads that the Order has dispatched two named hunters, the Crusher and the Saw.

A final NPC warns that the place ahead is packed with traps, nasty ones. Take that seriously, and check behind you whenever a climb feels like it looped too quickly, because the upper ledges can hide pickups. One such find here is the Quickhand Pendant, a one-handed weapon.

Quickhand Jang: One Merchant, Five Bodies

Inside the hideout, Quickhand Jang introduces himself as a trader who deals freely in chaotic times. His stock includes traversal consumables such as Phantom Reforge, which you can skip if you already carry plenty. A community tip repeated here: buy out a merchant's inventory before entering a new area, since stocks change as the story moves.

The conversation then branches into two important threads.

The Treasure Recovery Job

Jang is quietly working a job for a client he cannot name, recovering priceless treasures and relics scattered across the region. To a hero they are just decorations, but bring back everything on his list and the client will reward you with something of real value you can actually use. The list includes a blood-stained shelf, an ancient crossbow, and several other relics. Treat it as your collectible checklist for the zone.

The Legend of the Elder

Ask whether he is truly Quickhand Jang and he laughs. The legend is Quickhand Jang the Elder, a master of disguise with countless doubles nobody could tell apart. The man in front of you is his nephew, with a long way to go to reach that level. He recognized Soul from the start, and confirms that even without being freed, Soul would have found another way out. Risking his life to save a stranger from the Order is exactly the kind of friend he wants.

The kicker: there are five of them. Four more reflections are hidden across the land, and each will sell you more goods at better prices. Whether Jang is one person or five, he refuses to answer; every word spoken to one is heard by all five, and every word he speaks comes from five combined minds.

Bank Your Upgrades at the Bell

Back at the rest bell, this is the moment to spend. The main weapon gets pushed toward level 10, the current maximum, using accumulated Remnant Dust and forging materials, though materials run out just short of a full spree. The soundtrack has been a highlight of the whole run. Get into the habit of topping off upgrades at every bell, because the difficulty curve in this episode only goes up.

Into Mask Walker Territory

Heading back out, the path forward is described by a guard as the first line of defense against the Mask Walkers; beyond that point, they hold the ground.

The Checkpoint Argument

The guards notice Soul's outfit, which looks like a disciple's garb from the Mandate's main headquarters, and place him as coming from the base camp in the northeastern woods. They ask whether he is fleeing the battle. The exchange escalates: a true man neither clings to life nor fears death, but becoming a Mask Walker through Perfect Transcension is never an option. Called just another coward clinging to life, the guard orders his brothers to seize him, and the fight is on.

Fighting Through the Woods

Follow the main path from the checkpoint. Combat notes from this stretch:

• The combat continues to feel fluid, and the Mask Walker packs hit hard, so expect to get torn up if you overextend.
• Some enemies are already fighting each other when you arrive. Let them thin their own ranks and pick off the survivors.
• Lock-on helps in the crowded clearings, and the traversal tool is handy for closing distance or escaping a bad spot.

An Apprentice Healer's Memory Medicine gets upgraded to level 2 during this stretch, so keep feeding those medicine items as materials allow.

The Courtyard Key and Black Stone Shards

Deeper in, a side alcove yields the Courtyard Key, and somebody is guaranteed to be guarding whatever it opens. Nearby loot includes a Black Stone Shard, which matters if you have been hoarding them: the count at this point is three or four, and one more is all that is needed for the first upgrade tier. Sweep this zone before leaving if you are missing shards.

The key opens a spot below the current route, which looks confusing at first because you have to climb up and over before dropping back down. It all connects. Be careful with the pits here; falling into one leaves you no way to climb out, so save before experimenting with drops. A bell shows up at the end of this stretch, plus an Ancient Timber pickup nearby.

Scaling the Ridge

Past the bell, the terrain opens into a climbing section with several forks. Notes for this leg:

• An enemy type with genuinely wild movement speed patrols here, darting in and out of range. It punishes whiffed attacks hard, so punish its recovery rather than chasing it.
• An Incense Ash pickup sits along the route, and a scan of the opposite cliff face shows a lot of loot on the far side, including what reads as a level 10 Phantom Edge not reachable from this side yet. Remember where that is.
• Eventually you hit a drop with roughly three options: head back, keep scaling, or drop down. You cannot climb back up, so once you commit to the descent, you are committed to the area ahead. The Wulin rewards full-clear attempts but does not allow them, so prioritize bells, keys, and upgrade materials over total extermination.

The section ends with a hook for the next area: attackers took survivors' fellow sisters and are heading to the mountain lodge to take more people, and one voice advises simply running from this Wulin because it is beyond saving.

Mountain Lodge Approach: Poison, Cranks, and the Iron Fist Schism

The approach to the lodge has its own quirks.

1. A mechanism here wants a Solar Crank. You may already hold a different crank; they are not interchangeable, so keep hunting if the socket does not accept yours.
2. Another bell and a climbable route open up, so rest and save before pushing deeper.
3. Poison mist sections deal alarming damage per tick. The practical approach used here is to sprint through and tank it rather than fighting inside, and elevated paths exist so you can stay above the poison.
4. Forged Metal pickups are sprinkled along the climb, and grabbing them triggers the occasional ambush.

Midway through, a cutscene locks you in and introduces the Iron Fist Sect schism. A junior brother announces he has avenged their master, so the Wulin's battles are no longer his to fight. The senior brother counters that the master's legacy rests in their hands: the Iron Fist Sect will dominate the Wulin, and every rival sect the master set his sights on must be crushed. The junior brother remembers how the master actually died: too many enemies, and a single defeat was enough. These fists were meant to protect the weak, not to slaughter the innocent, so he calls his senior unworthy of the master's teachings. The senior's answer is simple: nobody walks away without going through him.

Inside the Lodge Dungeon

The cutscene relocates you a surprising distance, and the route you walked before is gone, which sets up a small navigation puzzle.

Backtracking to the Crank Socket

The crank mechanism from before is right where you left it, a short walk from where the cutscene dropped you, and using it opens the way down. Expect poison on the lower routes, and grab the pickup labeled Reflections down here.

The Floor-by-Floor Gauntlet

The descent becomes a multi-floor gauntlet of arenas. There is no way to tank everything at once, so work floor by floor: fight, breathe, loot, descend. Watch for stagger windows on the bigger enemies; a well-timed heavy hit interrupts their strings. Mid-arena loot grabs are tempting and occasionally terrifying, and the player does dive in for one risky pickup mid-fight, but that is a calculated risk, not a recommendation.

Deeper down, an automated voice mutters that it will not be left to rust, foreshadowing machinery ahead. Key finds:

• A Chamber Crank, the second distinct crank of the episode.
• A dungeon key that unlocks the exit path.
• A Life-Saving Pill, which appears to aid recovery.

The exit loops back to an earlier area, a welcome shortcut once discovered. If you feel like you missed loot below, hop back in and sweep again; the player does exactly that while noting the whole dungeon feels like side content, because the critical path blends into optional material so smoothly that the main objective icon becomes hard to pin down.

The Elder's Purge

One more cutscene plays near the end of the dungeon. An elder laments that for twenty years the Mask Walkers have run rampant while the Wulin stands at the brink, and if his sect does not seek strength, it is doomed. In his telling, Perfect Transcension is no forbidden art and carries no danger of losing control, so better the cause perish with honor than survive in disgrace. His opponent spits back that he has disgraced the sect and thrown the Wulin into chaos, and today he will be purged in the master's stead. The retort cuts deep: raising your blade against your own people while lecturing about loyalty is hypocrisy itself. Defend yourself.

Before leaving, note the item labeled simply a Firearm that gets picked up and deferred for later. The return trip is simpler than the way in, because a direct cut-through makes the earlier route look more complicated than it needed to be.

Boss Fight: The Blood-Mad Elder of the Iron Fist Sect

The arena for this fight telegraphs itself immediately, and the player's grim joke that this will be the next hour of his life turns out roughly accurate in spirit.

Pre-Fight Preparation

Stop at the bell first and visit the ability training menu. The pick here is an ability tied to executions, on the logic that execution openings come up constantly in real combat. Top off medicine and save.

Why He Fights

The boss opens with a monologue. He can see that Soul has held his Sha Chi down with sheer will and asks why he forces himself so far. They met once, years ago, when the boss still belonged to the Order, and even then he could feel Soul fighting to contain his rage. In his judgment, the Order's crimes now far surpass anything the Mask Walkers have ever done. He can no longer suppress what is inside him, so he has one request: end this for me.

Fight Strategy

This is a relentless duel built around constant pressure. Notes from the winning run:

• He simply does not stop attacking. Chip damage and reset; do not trade blows.
• His callouts, including "You cannot win," "Our sect fist art cannot fail," and "There's no turning back now," accompany the heavier strings. When you hear the line, brace for a burst.
• The lunges are the killers. The clearest deaths come from attacks that should have been dodged and were not.
• Expect to die several times. The winning attempt takes roughly ten minutes, shorter than some earlier walls in the series.

After the Fall

The dying boss is told he was once a master of hand-to-hand who never would have fallen this far before transcension. He answers that years ago he was reckless, strayed, and became a Mask Walker, but this new Perfect Transcension was made for slaughter. The observation that follows lands hard: Perfect Transcension may be tied to the Order, and this man left the Order long ago.

The drop is the Iron Gauntlets.

The Senior Brother's Warning

A follow-up scene plays out with the senior brother. He never forgot the master's teachings and avenged him with his own hands, but in his final days the master was like a different man, and something ominous is spreading through the Wulin. What the master found was the Iron Fist Sect's hope for dominating the region, and now the man in front of you has killed the disciple guarding it. His terms are oddly honorable: defeat me first, then we will talk, and when you come for me, use our sect's fist techniques and fight fair and square. His last warning lingers: whatever you find among the master's belongings, destroy it, because whatever destroyed the master will destroy you too. The junior brother's reply closes the scene: he was wrong, and so was the master, but some mistakes, once made, can never be undone. A permanent 5 percent boost pickup sits in this aftermath.

Testing the Iron Gauntlets

The gauntlets are quick and satisfying up close, but they drop at level 1, and their bleed scaling only comes alive once upgraded toward level 10. The verdict after a test drive: stick with the current loadout. The ranged pair in use has ridiculous reach and handles crowd control, while raw close-range gauntlets would force a playstyle change on under-leveled gear. Resist reshuffling new, un-upgraded weapons mid-run; it turns your build into a mess quickly.

The Gilded Lotus: The Six Memories Begin

Dropping down from the lodge area leads into the emotional core of this episode, a chain of six collectible memories centered on a mother, her sick daughter, and a pipa. The first pickup grants a permanent 10 percent boost and registers as one of six.

Memory One: Pipa Practice

A young girl asks to skip practice, feeling dizzy, insisting she is already good at the pipa. Her mother relents for the day but reminds her that skipping a day's practice loses a day's progress, and the pipa might forget her. The girl loves playing; she simply has no strength today. The mother recalls performing on stage at the same age, sick or bleeding, the show went on, and after the girl was born she swore never to perform again. When the girl asks about the huge gilded lotus ship they own, and why she is never allowed near it, the mother deflects: one day you will understand, and play the pipa only for yourself. Her last revelation matters most: their pipa is no ordinary instrument, and it holds power enough to speak to another world.

The Burial Grounds

Nearby sits an area the map labels the Burial Grounds, guarded by a dense enemy pack including heavy hitters that take multiple attempts. Clearing it earns a bell and breathing room. This region is full of parallel routes, and much of it evokes the branching design of Wuchang and Black Myth: Wukong, so mark points on your map as you go.

Memory Two: The Sickness

The second memory shows the girl bedridden. Her mother soothes her: take your medicine and rest, and with mom around, nothing in the world can hurt you.

The Rift Backstory

A conversation with a master lays the tragedy bare. The girl's illness can never be cured, and even revenge will not heal her. The mother vows to wipe a certain someone from the Discordance, body and soul, and bring her daughter back. The history: years ago the mother and daughter were thrown out into pouring rain and left half dead in the mud, saved by a friend who then paid a terrible price. By the mother's seventh year of training she understood the truth: her daughter was born with a rare gift, and when a certain woman laid eyes on her, she planted a rift inside the girl, one connecting to the Discordance. The girl remembers nothing from before that day, and even new memories are devoured by what lies beyond the rift. Only practicing the pipa lets her barely hold on to her memories, and even that cannot stop her body from corroding. That woman has gone mad and is using such rifts to feed something monstrous within the Discordance. Why her child? The woman did not spare her own child either.

With two of six memories collected, three different routes open up.

Road to the Realm of Mirage

A Poison Lesson

Trying to climb back the way you came runs straight into poison that does not stop, and the player dies outright to it. The lesson: the elevated paths exist so you can stay above the ground, and when in doubt, fast travel back to a safe bell rather than forcing a route. Live and learn.

The Sealed Sha Chi Stone

Interacting with a large Sha Chi crystal triggers a focus prompt, then a choice: continue or leave. An immense power is sealed inside, somehow tied to the visions, and it feels strangely familiar. The episode leaves it for now with a promise to return. Note these sealed stones on your map.

A control tip from this stretch: dash and run share the circle button, so double taps happen by accident when spamming interactions, and half the sudden dodges mid-looting are the controller's fault.

The Machinery and the Confession

The path forward winds through huge machinery with a steampunk vibe and visibility so bad that orienting takes effort; sweep the item pockets as you go. The centerpiece scene: someone praises the mother as the sect's most talented member and finest phantom artist, but also the least willing to accept fate. Her Gilded Lotus is the Wulin's most famed house of pleasure, yet everything in it is built on illusion, and the chaotic Sha Chi gathered from countless indulgences must be immense, enough perhaps to stand against her enemy. She fires back that her accuser cocooned himself in the black forest, feeding on travelers' dreams to escape that enemy's pull. Her own method drains the world's turmoil through illusion and grants reality a moment of peace. The counterargument: the indulgence in this phantom world has grown out of control, and something in the Discordance is corrupting everything. Her response is bleak: where she grew up, the Wulin was already rotting before transcension ever existed, lost in indulgence, with no trace of righteousness anywhere. To her, everything in this world is an illusion, everything except her daughter. The reply she receives is the episode's gut punch: cherish the time that remains, because her daughter will not live past eighteen.

The Offer and the Banyan

In a deadly forest walked like a garden path, the mother explains that between the waking realm and the Discordance she shaped a realm of her own, the Realm of Mirage, the only place beyond her enemy's reach. She cannot bring Soul inside herself, and can barely set foot in the waking realm; even this conversation is difficult. The pipa may be the answer. She crafted that pipa, and the illusion choking the forest was born from its destruction, so she can clear the mist ahead, but if anything goes wrong, he will be trapped forever. Knowing that, he still accepts: Soul fears neither heaven nor earth.

Before her form dissolves, she plants the next objective: remnant dust can restore the abilities Soul lost when his heart was pierced, and not far away stands a banyan tree with a human face, its trunk warped by absorbing too much Sha Chi and flesh from the Mandate and the transcended.

Trial at the Human-Faced Banyan

Sweep Before You Drop

With the mist cleared, resist the urge to dive straight down. The upper level has two separate paths with remnant dust and pickups, and the player doubles back twice to confirm nothing is missed. There is an opening where you can go straight or drop back down, and assuming dead ends here is a mistake.

Rest and Check the Intent Tree

At the bell, check the level 5 intent node that improves recoverable HP. For this build it is the main survivability tool against blood loss, and it is only at level 2, so it becomes the priority for future materials. The open question: the track clearly runs to level 10 and may run as high as 25, so do not assume current caps are final.

The Trial Fight

Drop down past the water toward the small tree, and yes, there is a face on it. Interacting triggers a trial: a wave fight against a horde of screaming enemies plus a big shielded one. The winning plan:

1. Kill the projectile-throwing small enemies first. They are the actual threat, and leaving them alive while you whale on the big one is how you die.
2. Use the grapple attack liberally; it restores health on hit and keeps you mobile.
3. Focus the shielded enemy once the chaff is cleared. Its shield has to go before real damage sticks.

Just when the arena seems cleared, a second stage begins: a rematch against a boss already beaten in an earlier episode. A higher weapon level makes the damage feel noticeably better, but this is still a multi-attempt fight. The recurring killer is a set of homing projectiles that are genuinely hard to see; most deaths trace back to them and nothing else. Winning registers as one of five trials complete, and it leaves the player's heart pounding. Gear gets reshuffled afterward because of the deaths here, so if a loadout keeps failing you, change it before moving on.

The Order Comes Calling

Back out and rested, the memory chain resumes, and the lore drops get heavier.

Memory Three: Three Years in Bed

The girl asks her mother if she is dying and says she does not want to leave her; she still wants to hear her mother play the pipa. She has been sick for three years and can no longer play at all, but she keeps practicing in her head so the pipa will not forget her. Her mother tells her that is enough, and to just rest.

Memory Four: The Invitation

A man steps onto the prow of the Gilded Lotus, untouched by its illusions, inviting the mother to join the Order with a seat among the Shadow Edicts. She declines: she has nothing to offer, and the Shadow Sovereign has nothing she wants. His counteroffer is the one she cannot refuse, because he knows she studies the Soul Displacement Scroll day and night trying to save her daughter. The Threadbinding Sect never possessed the complete scroll, but they once submitted to the Lone Clan, placing it in the Clan's hands, and the Lone Clan has since been wiped out. Join the Order, and the scroll is hers, and her daughter may yet be reborn. In exchange, he reveals that war between the Order and the Eleven is coming: the Eleven are behind the transcension spreading through the Wulin, and the evil empress at the heart of the mother's vendetta is one of them. Only someone from the mother's world can discern the empress's true nature. The invitation is simple: stand with the Order and wipe the empress from existence.

That closes the fourth memory, with two more to find.

Field Notes: Snakes and Strings

The surrounding area is patrolled by snake enemies, and killing them pops Forged Metal. They appear to respawn indefinitely, but here is the key economic insight: enemies do not seem to grant experience at all. Progression comes entirely from upgrades, so farming mobs for drops is worthwhile while farming for levels is not. Scattered pickups include Resonate Strings near the snake dens, plus a Tainted Crystal Shard and a Refined Indigo Crystal close to the final memory spot, and one neutral-looking creature forces a kill along the way.

Memory Five: The Scroll's Purpose

The Threadbinding Sect's Soul Displacement Scroll describes a method to draw out a person's consciousness with fine threads and bind it to a puppet. Mastering it would let the mother extract her daughter's memories into a vessel she has prepared, freeing the girl from the rift to live again, unbound, just as the mother once freed herself from a wretched place. A closing scene shows the daughter asking her mother to stay and tell her about the world outside; the mother promises a cure is coming, tucks her in, and leaves to finish her work, over the girl's quiet protest that she just wanted to talk a little more.

That is memory number five, and the last one sits almost directly ahead.

The Weeping Paths

Memory Six: Mastery and Fire

Several months pass inside the story. The mother masters every line of the Soul Displacement Scroll, crafts a flawless vessel, and perfects the art of soul displacement. Then she burns the scroll to ashes, ensuring no one can ever recreate the art. Watching the flames, she feels quiet relief: perhaps she can stay by her daughter's side until the final moment and perform the ritual then. A tender scene follows, the mother offering to play a song and promising she can stay forever from now on. Then the collapse: the girl's breath fades to almost nothing, and the rift seems to be devouring her faster than ever. Out of options, the mother begins the ritual with a plea: my daughter, will you come back to me?

Completing this final memory grants a permanent 10 percent HP increase. Well earned.

The Sound Puzzle

The next obstacle is a puzzle of three passageways, and the mechanic is audio: something is weeping, and the sound is audible only from the correct side. The approach that works:

1. Stand still and listen at each of the three openings. Two are silent, or nearly so.
2. The correct path is the middle one, confirmed by elimination; the weeping is heard only from one side.
3. Keep following the sound through each chamber until the haze clears. If you hear nothing where you expected to, you drifted off the trail, so backtrack and re-listen.

The Servant of the Lady of the Veil

Once through, a scene plays. A trapped soul asks how long they have been stuck in this illusion: a month, a year, a lifetime, then tells their snake companion to go find out. They lament being left to rot in a sunless place, and are assured that the Lady of the Veil has already cast her gaze upon them; they simply have yet to seize the sacred moment. Addressing a Master Herald, they beg to leave this dark place. Then the realization: the pipa is incomplete, and the lady promised that putting it back together means freedom. But the missing pieces are not here, so the pipa must be made whole: find the missing pieces, write down every clue, and recover something left behind by Vessel Zero. The closing vow doubles as the side quest banner: I will bring her the pipa back whole. A pickup near this scene grants another 5 percent bump, and all three passageways now stand open.

Final Boss: The Puppet and the Ruined Pipa

Make a manual save before dropping into the arena below. The player does exactly that, worried the fight ahead might lock the story past anything missed. It is the right instinct.

The Girl in the Illusion

The scene opens on a voice wondering where someone has gone, longing to follow them to that other world, asking why she alone is trapped here. She blames the cursed pipa, then a woman from the Order, then corrects herself: no, she is just a doll, a puppet. The puppet trapped her here, and now you have come to take the pipa too. In her world, nobody can fix what has been ruined. Then the screaming starts.

Phase One

This fight demands dodge-first discipline:

• The red attacks must be dodged, not blocked. Multiple deaths come from trying to answer them with anything other than movement.
• Her movement is erratic, with long strings that cross the whole arena, so do not commit to heavy attacks unless she has clearly finished a string.
• Projectile pressure is constant, and callouts like "That pipa is for the lady" and "Lady of the Veil, take me with you" mark her aggression spikes.
• The first attempt is a learning fight; a decent chunk of her health goes down before the deaths start.

Midway, a scene interrupts: the puppet begs Master Herald, reminding him he promised the lady would free her from this dark place. His answer is doctrine: they are all her servants, and those who defy her never escape punishment. The puppet, confused, asks what is happening, because he has been taken over by something else, cannot he see it. He replies only that he would give everything to the great and merciful lady.

Phase Two

The second phase triggers at the worst moment, with healing items nearly exhausted. Expect:

• String-mounted movement that keeps her hopping across the arena, hard to close the gap against.
• A gimmick mechanic that has to be learned on the fly; recognizing it is half the battle.
• A fight that feels chaotic by design, to the point of not being sure what is happening.

The mercy is the checkpoint: dying in phase two restarts you at phase two, not the start of the fight. That design choice saves this duel from being a wall.

Her dying words: even if you kill me, you are still the one who lost. The answer comes back that she already lost a year ago, and what followed was truly astonishing. The player's verdict, delivered shaky and exhausted, is that this was one of the coolest boss fights in the entire game so far.

Rewards and the Road Forward

The reward screen shows White Serpent and Crimson Viper, and the advanced options reveal a Resonance Talisman worth a 15 percent boost, tempting enough that it gets swapped in on the spot. The map ticks up by 1 percent completion, and the region now all connects. A new area opens beyond the arena, and backtracking remains possible.

Episode Recap and What Part 5 Should Cover

Part 4 closes with the hardest content of the series so far: a ten-minute Iron Fist duel, the first of five banyan trials, six memories that reframe the Gilded Lotus storyline, and a two-phase puppet boss. Threads left dangling: the remaining four trials, the sealed Sha Chi stone, the four missing Quickhand Jang reflections, the Soul Displacement Scroll aftermath, the missing pipa pieces tied to Vessel Zero, and the new region beyond the arena.

Key Drops and Permanent Upgrades in Part 4

Frequently Asked Questions

Does dying in the final boss's second phase restart the whole fight?

No. The puppet duel is a two-phase fight, and a death during phase two restarts you at phase two. That checkpoint keeps the fight fair, because phase two tends to catch you low on healing items.

How many pipa memories are there, and what do they give?

Six in this region. They tell the story of the mother, the sick daughter, and the Gilded Lotus, and they hand out permanent boosts, including 10 percent on the first memory and a 10 percent HP increase for the final one.

What are the five trials at the banyan tree for?

Per the dialogue, remnant dust can restore the abilities Soul lost when his heart was pierced, and the human-faced banyan holds Sha Chi that helps recover something lost. The fight at the banyan counts as the first of five trials.

Do regular enemies give experience points?

Not as far as this playthrough can tell. Enemies do not grant XP; progression comes from upgrading weapons, medicine, and abilities with materials and remnant dust. Farm mobs for drops, not levels.