Mu Xiaokui.

Mu Xiaokui, Young Mistress of the Order, is a swordswoman who treated the protagonist and his fiercest rival as her own family while growing up.

Her father established the Order and ruled it as Shadow Sovereign. As a child she was closest to two boys he had adopted. One was Soul, whom she constantly pulled away for sword practice, and the other was Zuo Shang, who stayed home to be with the elderly founder. That era is over by the time the game opens, as her father is dead and Soul is held responsible.

At the point where Village of Lu (campaign region number three) wraps up, Soul arrives before her, and she has opted for combat. Prepare beforehand: a collection Tale changes the outcome of the clash and your haul from it.

Iron Fiend perceives a pure and gentle heart in her. Jade Dancer fears the burden she carries today. Her own codex entries focus on her as a daughter and friend instead of her position in a secretive group.

Pretexts for Pulling Soul to the Practice Yard

Even as a child Xiaokui took up the sword and displayed uncommon gifts. Mu Tianmiao kept speaking at length of his ideals, yet he let his daughter come up with excuses to steal Soul away for swordplay, while Zuo Shang stayed and kept him company. In her memory the home was a happy one, and she regards every one of them as family.

Two things from those years go on to affect later events. She longed to wander the Wulin beside Soul, setting wrongs right as a pair, and at some point they promised each other that, should their swords ever meet, neither would go easy.

Brought Up Among Saw Blades and Iron Fists

The Young Mistress was given Jade Dancer and Iron Fiend as guards who also taught her, so two fighters of very different styles shaped her formal training. Blades strapped to her legs are Jade Dancer's weapons, and she moves with lightning speed. Iron Fiend depends on simple, heavy punches delivered with a pair of Iron Gauntlets.

Each of them came to love her. Jade Dancer, an orphan once saved by the Shadow Sovereign, softened once the small child addressed her as Sister, vowing that she would be kin. She drives her hard in practice, then afterward teaches her how to relieve soreness in her ankles. Iron Fiend came to regard her as a person he would defend with his life.

When Her Father Was Killed

After Mu Tianmiao was murdered, she heard that Soul was the culprit. Zuo Shang seemed to believe it nearly immediately, consoled her, and vowed to take revenge for their teacher and to deliver answers to her and the Order. All she wanted was for him to say it had been a misunderstanding.

Without a word of explanation, Soul went off by himself to Pangzhen, with the Order pursuing him. Zuo Shang assumed the Sovereign's seat in line with Mu Tianmiao's final wishes. Xiaokui was thereby left with a deceased father, an absent friend and an Order in turmoil.

Ribbons Scattered Through Village of Lu

A ribbon she left is tied to a tree shortly beyond the gate where Soul fights Zhuo Bi, and he can spot it. Another four lie around the village. You may skip gathering them, but doing so determines how full her fight will be.

Settling Accounts on the Dock

Searching for a way into Pangzhen, Soul comes upon her on a dock, which a lift from the Puppet Testing Grounds leads to. She first dealt with the Order's business, making herself stay composed despite her sorrow. What she wants now is to give him everything in a fight, so he grasps how furious she is over his secrecy, his silent departure and his stubborn habit of bearing it all alone.

What words could not accomplish, the clash does. As their blades cross she sees that the man before her remains the Soul she knew. He continues to refuse an explanation, so she resolves to uncover the truth on her own. Soul also comes away from the fight with Puppet No. 44's Eye, which opens the sealed passage in the Smuggler's Tunnel, the way onward to Pangzhen.

A Token Atop the Tower

Having finished Mirage Estate, Soul may revisit the frozen Crimson Forest and scale its Sha-Chi Tower, where Jade Dancer and Iron Fiend stand by on floor six. The tower key unlocks a door, and past it a stair leads up to the rooftop, where Xiaokui presents the Supreme Order Token. Once it could direct the whole Order, though it commands nothing now that Zuo Shang is in charge. Nothing forces you to attend this meeting.

Her Words About Zuo Shang

Major story spoiler: a line attributed to her blames Zuo Shang for steering Soul into her father's death. Soul's delivering of the blow is not denied, yet the guilt for setting it up is pinned on the one who now heads the Order.

Spirited, Direct and Confident

Descriptions call her lively, frank and confident, and what she does matches. When the Order condemned Soul, she neither took that at face value nor mourned in silence. Instead she seeks out the man himself and starts a duel to compel an answer. Her childhood dreams too were about doing things: roaming the Wulin and being a hero at his side.

More Wounded by Silence Than Steel

Revenge in the ordinary sense is not what motivates her. Being kept out is what angers her, namely Soul's unwillingness to explain and his habit of bearing everything alone. Showing discipline, she restrains her emotions until the Order's affairs are settled, and then pours them all out in a single battle.

Those who guard her view her differently again. Iron Fiend speaks of a pure, gentle heart paired with the strength to lead, and he is willing to adopt her choice about Soul as his own. Every gift Xiaokui ever gave Jade Dancer is quietly kept by her.

Locating the Five Ribbons

Soul triggers the Young Mistress Tale by studying ribbon number one, knotted around a trunk beyond the gate following Zhuo Bi's arena. Ribbon two flutters from a tree next to the Temple of Blue Fireflies bell; ribbon three is on a pole half way over the Covered Bridge after its thread barrier is gone; ribbon four lies at The Lady Grounds bell, inside Master Bi Yuan's fighting ground; ribbon five is tied to a pole of the bridge immediately past the Beneath the Well bell.

Complete this task before you ride down on the lift to reach her. Skip it and the third phase never happens, so you lose all that hinges on it.

The Battle and Its Rewards

No skipping is possible, since she is a set story boss. She swings her sword fast, with elegant slashes and thrusts in the air. Two entries list her as a boss, with the Young Mistress having a base of 9,000 HP and the Queen of Iron and Jade a base of 12,000 HP. No elemental weakness or resistance applies to either. Higher difficulty and later playthroughs raise those base figures.

Puppet No. 44's Eye and a Silver trophy, Will We Meet Again?, are the prizes for her defeat. Finishing the Tale adds the Fiend Saws and Fist Fragment: Core to what phase three drops. After you walk away, the broken lift seals off a pair of extra loot spots: the Wild Oriole Sword lies ahead on the dock, and a Sha-Chi Amber Fragment is in the chest near the tree on the left.

Tianmiao and Wild Oriole

Only one thing makes use of the Supreme Order Token she hands over: Soul Tempering the Wild Oriole Sword to produce Tianmiao · Wild Oriole, at the price of the token and 5,000 Remnant Dust. After upgrading, Mu Tianmiao's blade joins your combos next to that of his daughter.

Wild Oriole

Her trademark weapon is a slim, light blade forged only for sharpness and speed. That fits the way her combat is portrayed, with ten hits in a flash and sword shadows spreading around her. Once the fight ends Soul inherits it as a one-handed main weapon, and with its Oriole Song state his attacks send out blade waves for 10 seconds.

Moving from Seeking Comfort to Pursuing Truth

At first Xiaokui hopes that another person will resolve matters for her, with Zuo Shang calling it a misunderstanding or Soul giving an account. Neither happens. On the dock she quits waiting. Once she has verified personally who Soul remains, she no longer questions him and takes up the hunt for answers herself.

Her standing reflects this same change. Those around her once guarded, taught and pampered her, yet she finishes up making her own decisions within a rattled Order, and Iron Fiend takes her verdict on Soul as if it were his. The powerless token she gives Soul suits such independence, because the Order hunts him while she hands him the emblem that used to command it.

Voice actor: Zhang Jinzhi (the actress playing her)

Zhang Jinzhi, an actress, is the performer cast as Mu Xiaokui. Live actors depicted the leads in Phantom Blade Zero, yet Chinese and English dialogue came from other actors working with directors of their own; consequently this credit should not be taken to cover voices in every language.

A Single Tune for Three Characters

In the score by composer Caisheng Bo, Soul, Mu Xiaokui and Zuo Shang each get a theme, and the same melody underlies all three.

Quotes attributed to Mu Xiaokui

“Someday, I'll roam the Wulin with you and be a hero!”

The shared dream between her and Soul.

“Fine. But stop treating yourself like my subordinate.”

Urging a person to drop the formality.

“If fate lets us meet again, I'll argue with you then.”

Saving a dispute for their following meeting.

• The journal subtitle of her Tale, Young Mistress, is "Even a fledgling blade can be honed". It sits among the collection quests and names Jade Dancer as quest giver, although it begins with a ribbon.
• A second credit name for her lines is The Little Girl's Voice from Memory.
• Queen of Iron and Jade is the name of her boss form, which echoes the arts she took from Iron Fiend and Jade Dancer.
• In Soul Tempering Wild Oriole, father and daughter share swords that complement one another, a long one and a short one practicing a single art.