Zuo Shang.

In Phantom Blade Zero, Zuo Shang is your first opponent. He is Soul's brother in all but blood and leads the organization that is hunting him.

The two grew up side by side starting on the streets, first as orphans in the same alley and afterward as the pair of sons adopted by Mu Tianmiao, who established the Order and ruled it as Shadow Sovereign. His daughter Mu Xiaokui makes up the third member of the story's core trio. The music echoes this: Soul, Xiaokui and Zuo Shang each get a theme, and one shared melody underlies all three.

By the time play starts, Mu Tianmiao has died and the Order blames Soul. Zuo Shang took the seat in line with the old man's final wishes and dispatched the Order's assassins after the man he calls brother. The opening scene, and the origin of the sixty-six days, is their duel at the training grounds, where each sword pierces the other's heart.

You mostly feel him through what he decides. Closed roads, Shadow Wardens he chose personally for Pangzhen, and former comrades sent out with instructions all lead back to him.

He serves as a reflection of Soul too. In boyhood Soul was impulsive while Zuo Shang stayed calm, and in skill they were evenly matched. An identical upbringing and equal talent sent them down opposite roads.

Alley Orphans

Each of the two began life as an orphan, fostered in a pair of impoverished homes along a shared alley. Both knew from the start that other people were their true parents. Mu Tianmiao afterward took the two in together, so a friendship formed on the street continued through years of Order training. Each saw the other at his lowest and watched him grow.

The Son Who Remained

His early days in Mu Tianmiao's home show him most clearly. While Xiaokui made up reasons to drag Soul off to sword drills, Zuo Shang remained beside the old man as he spoke of his ideals. Even as a child he was courteous and poised, so much so that others found it almost calculating. In spare moments he studied intelligence reports, had his own view on each Wulin matter, and stepped lightly even holding a wooden sword.

Soul interested him as well. He questioned his foster father about the origin of Soul's natural Sha-Chi, and whether his ancestry played a part. Mu Tianmiao replied only that the two were unusually talented, that their blood could not be common, and that no one should hurry toward the answer.

Shadow Edict Purple Shadow

He climbed to join the Shadow Edicts, the highest rank in the Order below the Sovereign, together with Inanis, Channa and Soul. There he was titled Purple Shadow, which in the original Chinese is also the name of his sword Aureate.

A deed of his still moves among the Order's ranks. After wiping out the Xuan family, including Xuan Li's elder brother, Zuo Shang let only Xuan Li live. Xuan Li later became the Order's Grand Scholar, and Zuo Shang describes his arrival as a blessing for the Wulin. To his face, Xuan Li replies that he lives on borrowed time and is grateful to have been left alive.

Spoilers: Meeting Huangxing

Roughly a year ahead of the main plot, the Order and the Mandate carried out a combined campaign against the Maskwalkers. Zuo Shang had pledged the alliance to Yuyin, who led Kunlun's sect and served as the Mandate's Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Wulin. In private he met Huangxing, another Pillar of Kunlun. He commended Huangxing for opposing the Maskwalkers, asserted that the alliance would offer no further aid, and asked what Huangxing would think should Yuyin disappear during the campaign.

In return he wanted a pipa master he named the Chord-Wielder captured, overpowered in a hidden spot and handed over at a set location. Huangxing answered that Zuo Shang's treatment of Yuyin was none of his business. Zuo Shang ended by suggesting they clear away the world's outworn ideas together, adding that their own Mandate alliance was included.

Yuyin indeed disappeared. Huangxing announced her death in battle and assumed command. Moji, his brother, stated plainly that Huangxing and Zuo Shang had killed her, and wrote the full story of the Order alliance in his notes before leaving. Later Huangxing guarded the shrine on the Mountain of Imprisonment, beneath which the Chord is held, and Inanis begs Soul to rescue the Chord-Wielder.

Claiming the Seat

Next came the murder of Mu Tianmiao, which the Order attributed to Soul. Following his master's dying instructions, Zuo Shang assumed the Shadow Sovereign's seat. He promised Xiaokui to avenge their father and to give her and the Order a reply. For that purpose he set the friendship aside and sent masters and Shadow Wardens to kill Soul. By the Order's existing law, nobody who enters may leave, and a deserter may not live. His codex entry gives this account as what the Order's members know, and then questions whether that truly covers everything.

Swords Clashing in Rainfall

Diverging Paths begins at the point where things end: rain falls, a pair of fighters with perfect knowledge of one another exchange fast blows, and both are run through together. Soul falls, and the game then jumps sixteen years back before giving any explanation.

Within that flashback, Zuo Shang is the youth standing on the road to the Order's training grounds. After greeting Soul, he relays a rumor about Soulrend Cliff, where a group of martial masters lost their minds and slaughtered one another, with ten bodies never found. Next he dares Soul to a sparring bout, which also works as the combat tutorial. It finishes with Soul kneeling as blood-red energy erupts from him, the first glimpse of the natural Sha-Chi that Zuo Shang had questioned Mu Tianmiao about.

The scene returns to the present and the duel carries on to its end. Zuo Shang battles as Shadow Sovereign, flooding the drenched courtyard with summoned golden weapons and climbing onto the temple roof. It concludes the one way it can, as the shared strike plays again and both fall. Afterward the plot follows Soul to the Flesh Sculptor and to the decision between two hearts.

Closing the Road by His Command

Through most of the game, his orders are how you encounter Zuo Shang. A terse written order inside a book titled Zuo Shang's Game says the Shadow Sovereign will travel along the Main Road that day, all important routes are to be shut, and unauthorized persons must be pushed back a hundred zhang. Shadow Warden Cavalry, dispatched by the new Sovereign to cut Soul off, charge straight down the main roads.

The Hunt turns the chase into something personal. He expresses amazement that Soul keeps fighting after the Shadow Sovereign Zuo's deadly blow to his heart, and taunts that the Sovereign has shown him quite some attention. Mindseals tie the Order's Shadow Wardens to the Sovereign's will, so the manhunt is simply his intent carried out through other people. Along the way Mu Xiaokui gives Soul the Order's supreme token, though with Zuo Shang in charge of the Order it commands nothing now.

Control Over Pangzhen

His plans can be seen at work in Pangzhen. Shadow Wardens in white robes, picked by him personally, walk the town's patrols, close off its streets and guard its courtyards. Warden Heartpiercer, an elite, occupies the White Serpent House, and nobody knows if Zuo Shang placed him there because he trusts him or by way of some special deal.

Lei Dang enters the town at his command, assigned to halt the long-planned scheme of the Herald of the Veil. He also informs Soul that Shadow Sovereign Zuo has an agreement with the Herald who created the Heart; thus the Order's new head seems to be dealing with the very Herald whose scheme he sent someone to stop. The closing lines of Lei Dang's codex entry wonder whether even his faithful, steady behavior, such as showing Soul the way to Mirage Estate, lies within Zuo Shang's calculations. Later Leng Tu, the Herald, kills Lei Dang by swapping two poisons.

The Illusion of Inanis steers Soul to the Realm of Mirage, which she says is beyond the reach of the Sovereign's troops.

Spoilers: Xiaokui's Revelation

Over the course of play, the commonly believed version of the murder falls apart. Soul is told by Mu Xiaokui that her father's death came about because Zuo Shang manipulated him. If that holds, the vengeance Zuo Shang pursues takes on an entirely new look, and her accusation sits beside what Soul tells Mó Yuan: the path had twists and turns, yet the old Sovereign did die by his hand. A line spoken by Zuo Shang himself says only, "He killed Shifu..."

Spoilers: The True Lóng at Mount Soulrend

Near the story's peak, Zuo Shang's actual goal is revealed. He pilots a body named the True Lóng, cast from solid gold, topped by a draconic head and covered in thick golden scales. Fueled by the Radiant Heart, it resists the corrosion of the Blight and shields the mind within from the recoil. His plan is to master the Blight, the consuming force with which Meng Hua has merged.

Every player fights Leng Tu and Meng Hua on Mount Soulrend, but Zuo Shang's actions once Meng Hua is defeated vary with how far you have progressed. Endings and Fate describes these results.

Spoilers: His Reason for Taking the Hollow Heart

Soul rejected the Hollow Heart since emotion was the price. That same price is why Zuo Shang took it. In his own eyes he is one more piece on the board, and doubt, compassion and attachment strike him as faults that would dull the accuracy of any move.

That also accounts for the single point on which Soul baffles him: with an identical gift, Soul still opted to retain his passions and live for sixty-six days. One traded away emotion for control, while the other shortened his life to preserve it. The text leaves open whether any emotion remains after that choice; having lost the only opponent worth fighting might leave him hollow, or perhaps from the first move he had already forfeited any right to a kindred spirit.

Spoilers: Battle in The Fallen Dream

The golden portal at the summit of Soulrend Cliff leads to The Fallen Dream, a rendition of the house where Soul grew up, and he picks that place for the fight. Undying Grudge goes back to the same picture, showing Soul's grave before the house.

Two forms make up the closing fight. Wearing down his stagger gauge in the gaps between combos pays off more than trading hits. A finger snap means you should keep blocking while swords rain down, and then evade the heavy blow plus the huge mace that flies in after. Should he throw his blade skyward, parry it, and afterward parry the thrust trailing it. As for the thrust and four kicks, sidestep the quartet of aerial ranged strikes and the heavy finisher, then hit back. Winning leads into quick-time events.

Recorded in the Chinese data as silver-haired, the Mount Soulrend Shadow Sovereign starts with 11,000 HP and 3,000 Sha-Chi. Ice cannot hurt him, Fire and Water are reduced by 30%, and he takes 16% extra from Lightning and Poison. The True Lóng begins with 13,000 HP and 3,000 Sha-Chi, and reduces Fire, Ice, Lightning, Water and Poison damage by 80% apiece. Higher difficulty and later playthroughs raise these figures.

Victory grants Soul three rewards. Aureate turns into a one-handed weapon that allows him to mimic Golden Sword Energy, and its Soul Tempering form, The Grand Design, requires Broken Lóng Body, a material dropped in the same battle. The Radiant Heart is a complex metal heart that beats without pause, produces unlimited Sha-Chi and never betrays its wearer. Its description labels it avaricious and arrogant, scheming to rule the Wulin and forces beyond this world, then concedes it could instead be a heart whose sense of justice never faded.

Calm That Looks Like Scheming

Steadiness is what people spot first. As a boy he read intelligence reports for fun and sat listening to his foster father; he grew into someone who plans many moves in advance. A saying of his suits that habit: nobody alters the nature of water, yet its course can be steered.

Even toward people he has harmed he is polite, saying that the Order's acceptance of a survivor from a family he ruined is a blessing to the Wulin.

All the World a Board

Xuan Li describes conversing with him as being asked to watch a game whose pieces are Lóng and the Blight. According to Lei Dang's entry, even faithful behavior may be something Zuo Shang already anticipated. Uncle Zhong tells him that his foresight stretches well beyond the Wulin, past even that of old Sovereign Mu.

Golden Sword Energy

As a boss, Zuo Shang matters through his moves, and every fight uses the same toolset: Golden Sword Energy collected along the blade so strikes chain together, plus Sha-Chi that works as a tether on weapons nearby, which he launches one after another or simultaneously.

Fights in the Prologue

The sparring match is where defense gets taught. Blue-flash attacks have to be parried, while red-flash ones have to be dodged. In his Shadow Sovereign phase, he conjures eight golden weapons in a ring and fires each in turn; sending all eight back his way takes a big chunk out of his Sha-Chi. Elsewhere in his repertoire are firearms made of gold, a whirling disc of blades, and lunges flagged by red flashes.

When less than half his health remains, he vaults up to the roof of the temple and boots a run of tiles your way (cut through them when the button prompt appears), then lands carrying an enormous golden broadsword. A parry on that blade creates a guard break.

Prologue Starting Values

Figures given here are starting values; HP and Sha-Chi grow with difficulty and in later playthroughs. Young Zuo Shang has 2,900 HP and 1,400 Sha-Chi, takes 30% less from Lightning and is a little vulnerable to Bleed buildup. The Shadow Sovereign has 8,000 HP and 2,400 Sha-Chi. Ice cannot hurt him, Fire and Water are reduced by 30%, and he takes 16% extra from Lightning and Poison.

His sword is Aureate, a longsword made of solid gold whose blade is silky smooth. The Chinese name for it is the same as his Shadow Edict title.

His power is on show in two places: the streets of Pangzhen, patrolled by his Wardens in white, and the Main Road, which is shut down whenever he passes.

Moving from Next to the Seat to Occupying It

Everyone can see that his position has shifted. Once a boy at the Shadow Sovereign's side forming quiet views about the Wulin, he is now the one giving commands. According to his codex entry, his youth has long passed, his movements are harder to read, and he has reached the summit of his sword and Sha-Chi mastery. Taking the seat gave what was once a personal routine of studying and evaluating the authority to act.

Soul's Blood Red, Set Against Gold

Each tool he uses in battle is gold. His blade Aureate is solid gold, the Sword Energy rolls over its edge like fabric, and conjured weapons are formed of golden light. By comparison, the weapon Soul wields is blood red.

Voice actor: Zhang Xince (credited portrayal)

Playing Zuo Shang is Zhang Xince, who studies at a film academy. Yucheng as Soul, Zhang Jinzhi as Mu Xiaokui and Donnie Yen as Mó Yuan were named together with him among the performers for the leading roles.

Voice work is handled separately for the Chinese and English releases, each with its own cast, director and lip sync. Spoken dialogue totals 180 lines for Zuo Shang, 67 for Mu Xiaokui and 795 for Soul.

He has been part of this project for a long while. Artwork depicting both him and Soul appeared in Chinese gaming media in October 2017, several years prior to the start of full-scale production in 2022.

A theme of his own was written for him by composer Caisheng Bo. Soul, Mu Xiaokui and Zuo Shang have one apiece, and a single melody is the basis of all three.

Zuo Shang's listed lines

“Shifu... Soul was born with this Sha-Chi. Could it have something to do with his lineage?”

Questioning Mu Tianmiao about the power Soul was born with.

“No one can change the water's nature... but you can guide where it flows.”

On which things can be altered and which cannot.

“He killed Shifu...”

About how Mu Tianmiao was killed.

“Unfortunately for him, he fell to my blade before he could finish it.”

Words he speaks regarding a certain person whom he slew while that person's own task remained unfinished.

“I'd like to see which is stronger —Lóng or Mó.”

About the struggle between Lóng and Mó.

• Purple Shadow, his English title, and Aureate, the English name for his sword, appear unrelated yet trace back to the one Chinese name 紫冥.
• One in-game book is titled after him. Zuo Shang's Game is only a brief three-line directive, unsigned and with no recipient, telling readers to seal the Main Road ahead of his passing.
• Both his tale of Soulrend Cliff and the Order's own account of that night involve the figure ten, yet they differ about its meaning. He claims the bodies of ten masters disappeared, whereas the book The Eleven states that ten people lived.