How to Unlock the Mirror Gate at Four Guardians in Phantom Blade Zero

The Four Guardians mirror gate is one of the more mysterious locked doors in Phantom Blade Zero. Interact with it and all you get is a message saying the gate is unresponsive and that something must be missing — no hint about what that something is or where to look for it. The short version: something is indeed missing. Four somethings, in fact. You have to defeat all of the masked enemies in the game before this gate will open, and that means a hunt spanning four different regions. Here is the full path from sealed gate to open door.

Where to Find the Mirror Gate

The gate sits in Meigu Lake, all the way at the top left of the region map. Open your map and look for the Four Guardians Mirror marker — that is your destination. The rest of this guide assumes you have already made it to the gate, found it unresponsive, and now need to know exactly what it takes to get it open.

What the Gate Actually Requires

The masked enemies the gate cares about are scarecrows bearing talismans. They are part of a quest that takes you across four different regions, and every scarecrow works the same way: walk up to it, interact, and a challenge begins. You have to defeat the acolytes that appear, and at the end of each fight you claim a mask from them. One scarecrow per region, one mask per scarecrow — and the mirror gate will not budge until you are holding all four.

The Four Masks at a Glance

Here is how to get each one, in the order you will naturally run into them while playing.

Mask One: Yanru's Blazing Mask in the Village of Lou

The first scarecrow you come across is in the Village of Lou, over on the northern side of the map. If you are already deep into the game, there is a good chance you cleared this one a while ago without ever realizing what it was for.

Head for the area close to the Engine Giant Remains Bell and walk down from there. The scarecrow is impossible to miss — it literally looks like a scarecrow, wrapped in some big flashy effects. Interacting with it kicks off the challenge. Defeat the acolytes, see the fight through to the end, and you will be rewarded with Yanru's Blazing Mask, the first mask in the game and the first of the four the mirror gate wants.

Mask Two: The Thunder Mask in Pang Zhen

The second scarecrow is in Pang Zhen, but you cannot simply walk over to it. It sits behind the Flaming Mane doors, buried behind a whole stack of locked content, so your first job is to obtain the key to that entire section: the Flaming Mane Phantom Edge.

Defeat the Pang Zhen Boss and Repair the Flaming Mane

Start by defeating the main boss of Pang Zhen, found by the Lion Dance Hall near the end of the region on the left-hand side. The boss drops the Flaming Mane, a Broken Phantom Edge. Carry the broken weapon to the Jing Yang Hall, step inside the building, and the NPC there will reforge it into the complete Flaming Mane Phantom Edge.

With the repaired Phantom Edge in hand, you can now get past the Flaming Mane doors — and those doors are specifically what you need in order to reach the scarecrow in this region.

The Route to the Lightning Scarecrow

Begin at the Pond of Fading Song Bell and run back toward the east. Follow along the water down the right-hand side, and you will see brambles spawn in the distance. Run up to them and use the Flaming Mane Phantom Edge to burn the brambles away so you can pass through.

From there, the route runs like this:

1. Go up the stairs and follow the pathway in what is essentially a straight line — you cannot really get lost in this stretch.
2. The path eventually delivers you to a bridge. Collect the bell here, then continue along the pathway on the right.
3. Stick to the path, head across the rooftop, and take the chain across to the far side.
4. You land on the rooftops of the next area. Enemies patrol here and there is a lot to explore, so feel free to look around — the line below is just the direct way through.
5. Drop down the ladder and keep following the pathway until you spot the next bell ahead: the Pen Jan Slums bell.
6. Climb the ladder right next to it, head to the right, scale the wall, and take the pathway up on the right. Along the way you will pass a spot where you can grab a crank and open up a section — that part is optional and not required for this.
7. Go through the doorway and run to the end of the road. Another bell waits here: Old Man Jen's House. There is a quest tied to this house if you picked it up back at the beginning of the Village of Lou.
8. Continue down the road, swing around the corner to the left, and descend the stairs. The scarecrow is right down there.

This is the lightning scarecrow — the one for the lightning mask trial. Interact with it, win the fight, and the Thunder Mask is yours. That makes two out of four, and you are clear to move on to the next location.

Mask Three: Goohi's Venom Mask in Meigu Lake

Conveniently, the third scarecrow is back in Meigu Lake, right in the same region as the mirror gate itself. Check your map: the quest location sits on an island relatively in the middle of the lake, on its far east side, and there is a dock to aim for — the Maygu Village East Dock.

Sail one of the boats up to the dock exactly as you have already done with all the other islands in this area, moor it, and run inland. The approach is honestly super simple: run in a straight line from the dock and you will spot the scarecrow glowing green in the distance. This is the Poison Scarecrow Challenge. Take it on, defeat the acolytes, and you will walk away with Goohi's Venom Mask.

Three down, one to go — and the last one is, without competition, the most involved of the four.

Mask Four: Han Sui's Frost Mask in the Crimson Manor

The final mask is the reason most players end up needing a guide for this quest at all. Its icon sits in the Weeping Creek Valley, near the Crimson Manor, and you will have to progress within the Crimson Manor itself to actually reach it. That progression requirement is exactly why this ends up being the last mask you get in the game, even though the manor technically sits in the very first region.

Reaching the Crimson Manor

Start at the Creek Valley Plains entrance and run through the door there. That door originally requires a key, and the key rests at the very top of the tower — reachable with the Hook Phantom Edge. If you do not have the key yet, climb to the top of the tower and grab it, though by this point in the game you almost certainly should.

From there, work your way over to the base of the tower and head inside. You will find one of the big jar-head creatures — the kind that explodes — and it keeps dispensing more of them from the right-hand side the entire time. Your task is to lead the creature over to the marked section and let it blow a hole there. The explosion unlocks a lift: run over to it and ride it all the way down. At the very bottom sits the Crimson Manor.

Here is the catch. You can actually reach this spot at the very beginning of the game, but the manor door still will not open. It is missing a tongue — a puppet-shaped tongue — and you have to progress the story to obtain the Puppet's Tongue before you can step inside.

Opening the Three Portals for the Puppet's Tongue

The Puppet's Tongue belongs to the three-eyed puppet, the big guy planted in the middle of a certain room, complete with a giant tongue. To take it, you have to open all three portals tied to the Heralds' Illusion quest.

The first portal is in the Village of Lou. Early in the game you fought through this area, jumped into the well, and made your way down beneath it to the Puppet Testing Grounds. After the boss fight around there, you pushed on into the room with the three-eyed puppet and saw the portal waiting in the distance. That is portal one of three, and you most likely already have it open.

The second portal is in the Mandate Encampment, tied to the region's very last boss. Fight your way through the entire region until you reach the training grounds — the stretch just before the final boss — then challenge and defeat them. Once the boss falls, access opens to the portal in the distance. Collect the bell there and step through the portal. Check the ribboned three-eyed puppet afterward and it should now have two glowing blue eyes; the eye on its forehead is the next and last one you need to activate.

The third portal begins from Meigu Lake, and it only becomes available after you have restored the illusory pipa — a Phantom Edge you pick up naturally through the story. With the pipa in hand, sail to the island with the Weeping Mist Gate bell, dock your boat, and use the pipa to interact with the Mist Gate. That opens the Mountain of Imprisonment, and you now have to push through this entire new zone, all the way up the mountain, until you reach the quest objective for the Heralds' Illusion.

At the end of that climb you will face and defeat Chainsaw Man, the final boss of the region, and claim the Flying Guillotine Phantom Edge — which, as a bonus, unlocks access to several other locations you can go back and explore later. For this quest, though, you use it immediately to unlock a pathway below the final arena. Jump all the way down, and the final portal you need is sitting right there.

With all three portals open, return to the three-eyed puppet. You can finally interact with it — and that is how you get the Puppet's Tongue.

Descending to the Frost Scarecrow

Now make your way back to the Crimson Manor. Take any of the portals and use the bell to traverse back to the first region of the game, the Weeping Creek Valley, then travel to the Crimson Manor bell you unlocked earlier. Walk up to the manor door and insert the tongue to finally swing it open.

Inside, head toward the back of the room. Feel free to explore the rest of the house first, but know that the way forward goes down — and it goes down deep, because the scarecrow waits a long way underground.

You will reach a wall you can slide down, and from that point the descent turns into a careful landing exercise: you have to land on the ribbons as you fall. Drop too far without one and you die, so take your time, work down methodically, ribbon by ribbon, until you reach the rope. Slide down it and keep descending — it is a long way. At the very bottom, run past the scarecrow you find standing there. This is the frost scarecrow. Jump down into the arena and the boss fight begins.

Walk out of that fight victorious and Han Sui's Frost Mask is yours — the final mask. As a bonus, this also completes the scarecrow portion of the Secrets at the Heart of the Lake quest and finishes off the Crimson Manor quest in the same stroke.

Opening the Mirror Gate

With all four masks finally in your inventory, return to Meigu Lake and travel all the way back to the top left of the map, to the Four Guardians Mirror. This time the gate answers. Interact with it, insert all of the masks, and the mirror gate opens at last. That is how you get through.

Tips

• Explore off the main path in Pang Zhen. The rooftop route to the lightning scarecrow cuts through an area packed with enemies and things to discover. The direct line works, but it is only the fastest option, not the only one.
• Skip the crank. The crank section along the Pang Zhen route is entirely optional — you do not need it to reach the lightning scarecrow.
• Ring every bell on the way. The route passes the bridge bell, the Pen Jan Slums bell, and Old Man Jen's House bell. The house also ties into a quest if you picked it up at the start of the Village of Lou.
• Do not rush the manor descent. The drop beneath the Crimson Manor punishes careless falling. Aim for the ribbons every single time, and use the rope when you reach it.
• Revisit old zones after the Flying Guillotine. The Phantom Edge earned from Chainsaw Man unlocks access to several locations beyond this quest — well worth a return trip once the gate is open.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the Mirror Gate say it is unresponsive?

Because something is missing. The gate will not open until you have defeated all four masked enemies — the talisman-bearing scarecrows — and collected all four masks from them.

Can I open the Crimson Manor early in the game?

You can reach the manor area early, but not the inside. The door is missing a puppet-shaped tongue, and the Puppet's Tongue only becomes available after you open all three portals in the Heralds' Illusion quest. That is why Han Sui's Frost Mask is usually the last mask players get.

Which Phantom Edges do I need for the masks?

Several. The Flaming Mane Phantom Edge burns the brambles blocking the Pang Zhen scarecrow, the Hook Phantom Edge reaches the tower key outside the Crimson Manor, the illusory pipa opens the Weeping Mist Gate to the Mountain of Imprisonment, and the Flying Guillotine from Chainsaw Man opens the path to the final portal.

What does opening the gate complete?

Inserting all four masks opens the mirror gate, completes the scarecrow portion of the Secrets at the Heart of the Lake quest, and wraps up the Crimson Manor quest line.