Phantom Blade Zero Side Quests: Best Tales and Missables

Phantom Blade Zero has dozens of side quests, split into Tales (character stories), Collectible Quests (exploration chains) and Purple Quests (mysteries that feed into the endings), and many of them hand out the game's best weapons, accessories and medicines. The catch is timing: several Tales close for good once you pass a story milestone, most notably the Bai Chilian fight and the entrance to the Mirage Estate. This guide shows how the quest log is organized, which side quests pay off most, and which ones you have to finish before the doors close.

We checked quest names, triggers and rewards against Game8's Tales, Collectible Quests, Purple Quests and missables pages, plus GameSpot's medicine guide, in November 2026. Quest names and some late-game area names appear below, but no story outcomes.

How the Quest Log Is Organized

Game8 sorts the game's quests into four groups, and knowing which group a quest belongs to tells you what kind of reward to expect:

• Main Quests: the campaign chapters, plus a few optional branches such as Deep in the Valley.
• Purple Quests: also called Mysteries. They live under the Story tab and, according to Game8, mostly relate to unlocking specific endings.
• Tales: the side quests proper, built around NPCs, bosses, books and Memory Flowers. Most reward a weapon, accessory, medicine or Soul Tempering material.
• Collectible Quests: exploration chains such as Quick Hand Zhang's hideout hunt, some of which grant permanent stat boosts.

Game8's Tales list held 32 entries in early November 2026, with a note that its team was still adding detail, so treat that as a floor rather than a final count. What matters more than the number is where Tales come from. Many start when you pick up a Memory Flower or a book, not when you talk to someone, which means thorough exploration triggers far more side content than following quest markers.

Tales Worth Doing First

Not every Tale pays the same. These stand out because the reward changes how you play, and all of the reward names come from Game8's Tales list:

• Purge the Sect (Weeping Creek Valley): talk to the old man on the roof east of the Weeping Creek Valley Outpost Bell. It rewards the Feather Bow Phantom Edge.
• Festering Secret (Weeping Creek Valley): start it at the chained gate near the Outpost Bell. It rewards the Dread Axe, which cuts iron chains blocking paths.
• Apprentice Healer and A Healer's Mercy: speak to Yu'er at the Outpost, then again at the Thieves' Camp in the Crimson Forest. The pair gives the Medicine Case and the Calming Gourd.
• Young Master Lan (Village of Lu): speak to Lan Shaodi at his hideout for the Crimson Resolve accessory.
• The Journey Home (Village of Lu): talk to Old Man Gen near his hideout Bell for the War Wagon Phantom Edge and the Old Wooden Comb, its tempering material.
• A Brother Once More (Pangzhen): get the Huang Manor Key from Niu the Shopkeeper. It rewards the Rouge Box, one of the best Sha-Chi accessories.
• Hero's Lament (Mountain of Imprisonment): free Liu Yi from his cage near the Cavern Passage Bell for the Ink Cut Phantom Edge.
• Heart of the Fist (Crimson Forest): speak to Iron Fiend near the Sha-Chi Tower 6th Floor Bell for the Worldbreaker Fist, the tempering material for the Iron Gauntlets.

Rouge Box and Crimson Resolve both rank highly in accessory tier lists, which is a good example of why Tales are not optional for strong builds. Our accessory guide explains which of these rewards deserve a slot.

Missable Tales and the Points of No Return

Game8 describes one crucial point of no return: after you defeat Bai Chilian, NPCs in the Outpost and the Thieves' Camp turn maskless and can no longer be spoken to. Several Tales die with them. Handle these before that fight:

• Honor Among Thieves: deliver the Nimble Thief's letter to his brother, the Gentle Thief, for the Silent Wrap.
• Festering Secret and the sixth Four Axes case file: Game8 says this must be done before the end of Snake's Reflection, after which the relevant NPCs go maskless.
• The Boulderguard conversation: speak to the Petrified Mandate Disciple near the Old Archer's hut early.

Other Tales hinge on a single choice or a boss you might beat too soon:

• Daughter of the Dark Sect: when you first meet Red, the Mysterious Swordswoman, disengage and escape instead of killing her. Killing her locks you out of the Tale and its Twin Fish Pendant.
• Leave None Alive: give the Wounded Thief the Thief's Manual before you defeat Yuzan, or he dies and the Arrowward is lost.
• The Stately Monk: answer that you do not believe in The Lady, or he turns to stone and the Agarwood Prayer Beads are gone.
• Triple Threat: equip the Blazing Edge before fighting Yucong to unlock a third phase and the Chaos Iron Fragment II.

The last big lock comes late. Entering the Mirage Estate cuts off the Mountain of Imprisonment, which holds Hero's Lament, The Broad Saber, Ledger of Atonement, Bai Xue and Don't Forget Me. It also holds a portal you need for the sealed manor under the Sha-Chi Tower, covered step by step in our Crimson Manor walkthrough.

Region by Region Highlights

A quick tour of where the side content clusters, so you know what to sweep before moving on:

• Weeping Creek Valley: Flesh Lily (meet Yu'er near the Lady's Rift Bell in Chapter 2, reward Scarlet Wraithblade), Triple Threat through the nearby Rift, Four Fierce Axes from a book by the Broken Puppet Valley Bell, and A Severed Mindseal at the Valley Sha-Chi Tower Summit.
• Crimson Forest: Honor Among Thieves, Secrets of the Baishan Sect (Soft Snake Sword and Baishan Stormswords), Use It Against Them and Heart of the Fist. Our Crimson Forest guide maps these alongside the region's bosses.
• Village of Lu: Young Master Lan, A Puppet's Wooden Heart, Dahuang in Chapter 5, Leave None Alive, Cui and The Journey Home.
• Pangzhen: the busiest hub. Myst's Tavern alone starts The Star Performer (Dance Fan), The Cube (Remnant Spark Cube and Loong Trident), The Undying Heroic Spirit and The Sword and The Way, while Kin Against Kin and A Mother's Heart start from Memory Flowers.
• Mandate Encampment: Xue, Admirer of Heroes (Sha-Chi Headscarf) after defeating Corpse-Eating Xue, and Daughter of the Dark Sect (Swordsman's Summon and Twin Fish Pendant).
• Mountain of Imprisonment: the five Tales listed in the previous section, all behind the Weeping Mistgate.

Collectible Quests With Permanent Rewards

Collectible Quests are easy to dismiss as busywork, but two of them grant permanent stat boosts. Game8 lists both Lion Dance Grandmaster (start it by collecting the Memory Flower inside the building beside the Pangzhen Marketplace Bell) and The Seven Stars Formation (climb the ladder by the Cliffside Walkway Entrance Bell in the Mandate Encampment) as rewarding +10% maximum HP each.

The others are worth knowing too:

• The Wily Hare's Three Dens and Quick Hand's Request: free Quick Hand Zhang near the Trail of Cages Bell, then track his hideouts and treasures across the Crimson Forest, Village of Lu, Pangzhen, Meigu Lake and the Mirage Estate. Rewards include the Flying Dagger, Goldblaze, the Fine Thread accessory and the Sha-Chi Blood Catalyst.
• Heart of the Banyan: interact with the large tree in the southwest Crimson Forest for a Banyan Heart, the rare material behind the last Boundless Capacity level.
• Resonant Strings: begins in the cave near the Stone Hand Iron Fever fight and leads to the Iron Gauntlets.
• Young Mistress: starts from a ribbon at the Village of Lu entrance and rewards the Fiend Saws. Game8 adds that completing it unlocks a secret third phase in the Mu Xiaokui fight.

Zhang is not missable, according to Game8, so his chain can be finished at any point, but his very first free accessory is: rescue him before beating Stone Hand Iron Fever.

A Practical Order of Operations

Pulling all of that together, here is a simple routine that avoids nearly every lockout:

1. When you reach a new region, rest at every Bell you find and read every book and note; many Tales start that way.
2. Pick up every Memory Flower. Several Tales and Collectible Quests start from them, and they are glowing blue patches that are easy to spot once you know to look.
3. Before the Bai Chilian fight, clear every Tale in Weeping Creek Valley and the Crimson Forest that involves a masked NPC.
4. Before entering the Mirage Estate, finish the Illusory Pipa chain and all five Mountain of Imprisonment Tales.
5. Revisit old regions each time you get a new Phantom Edge; burned vines, broken floors and cut chains often hide quest items.

Some rewards from finishing the campaign are cosmetic, and our outfits guide explains which ending-based looks unlock and how. For the trophy side of side content, the existing trophy guide covers what the platinum needs.

If You Would Rather Start Fully Equipped

Side quests are where most of the gear comes from, and missing one can mean waiting a whole new cycle for the reward. If you want to replay the Tales for the stories without worrying about the loot, the store's mega modded save starts you at the beginning of Cycle 1 with all 33 main weapons, 73 fully upgraded accessories, 17 fully upgraded medicines, resources and inventory items at 9,999, and 99,999,999 currency, across four slots built for different difficulties.

It covers PlayStation 5 and PC only, the game itself is not included, and the platinum trophy is a separate product. See the rest of the range on the Phantom Blade Zero hub.

Frequently Asked Questions