Crimson Forest.

Crimson Forest is where Chapter 2, Snake’s Reflection, takes place, and it is the game's second region. This sprawling, forking belt of crimson trees lies between Weeping Creek Valley and Village of Lu. Its parts include a wrecked road, caves in the cliffs, bandit camps, a lodge full of poison, and, last of all, the fog of Mirrorwood. From the great bridge near the start you can spot Pangzhen far off, yet the path there is blocked, so the game drives you down through the woods.

These trees have not always been red. Here the Mandate, under the Pillars of Kunlun, set a trap for the Maskwalkers, and the killing on each side soaked the trunks in Sha-Chi and blood. Bandits and horse thieves, who reshaped their bodies with cursed devices left behind, still prowl the woods, and the foliage seems to drip with weeping blood.

The area is hard for two reasons. First, a firm cutoff applies: once Bai Chilian, Lady of the Twin Serpents falls at the end, several tales are lost permanently. Second, it can be revisited, since later Phantom Edges unlock sealed rooms, and far on in the story a section of the woods ices over and gives access to a new tower with an optional boss. Plan on coming back at least two times.

Map and structure

Think of the region as one route heading downhill, with side loops branching away. The Abandoned Main Road leads to the huge bridge at Pangzhen Bridge Overlook. When the bridge collapses, you land among the cliffs beneath it and pass through caves and walkways until you arrive at the Trail of Cages and Outlaw Trap.

Past that point, a giant wooden bridge spans over to Thieves’ Camp, which sits about midway and acts as the region's meeting place. Leaving the camp, the path ascends beside Red Serpent House to Cliff of Longing and Cliffside Lodge, then continues to Mirrorwood Entrance. The last third consists of Burial Grounds, a forest thick with fog, Parting Mists, Mirrorwood Depths and Threadbound Great Tree, home of the chapter boss.

A good share of the optional content is hidden below this path. Under Outlaw Trap there is a tunnel, under Cliffside Lodge there are a cellar and passages, and the Thieves’ Camp dungeon links up with the fields near Lakeside Arch Bridge. Look at the floor and along cliff edges, not just at the road in front of you.

Sub-areas

Bells:

• Crimson Forest
• Abandoned Main Road
• Pangzhen Bridge Overlook
• Outlaw Trap
• Thieves’ Camp
• Cliff of Longing
• Mirrorwood Entrance
• Parting Mists
• Mirrorwood Depths
• Threadbound Great Tree
• Mirrorwood Lóng Pillar
• Trail of Cages
• Ambush Trail
• Lakeside Arch Bridge
• Red Serpent House
• Crimson Forest Sha-Chi Tower Gate
• Crimson Forest Sha-Chi Tower Base
• Crimson Forest Sha-Chi Tower 6th Floor
• Burial Grounds
• Human-Faced Banyan
• Lóng Pillar
• Cliffside Lodge

Coming back

The revisits are listed by the sequence in which they become available.

Once Village of Lu is reached

Leave None Alive takes you back to Thieves’ Camp to look into what happened there. Killing the foe on the giant wooden bridge earns the Seal of Dugu. Killing the one at the door of Zhang’s hideout earns the Thief’s Manual, which you give to an injured thief in Village of Lu.

Using Bastion

Go to the Thieves’ Camp Bell and descend into the dungeon's lower part. Holding the Bastion Shield, get past an arrow trap to the Brass Chest Guard. Then ascend the ladder and pass a second trap, which brings you to a Memory Flower in the field and, close by, the Lakeside Arch Bridge Bell.

Visiting the Lóng Pillar

After Iron Fever, you need the Hunter’s Chain Sickle to grapple across to the Lóng Pillar. Touch the statue to trigger the duel against the Gold-Masked One. At this stage it is extremely tough, so it pays to come back after reaching Pangzhen.

Using Flaming Mane

Set fire to the branches blocking Red Serpent House and walk in. The Loong Emblem (Yin) lies right in front of you, while the Serpent Rattle: Red and Red Serpent Tongue are over to the left.

Using Tiger Cannon

Descend from the Cliffside Lodge Bell, walk to the tunnel's northern end and blast the wall open. In the little cave past it you will find Song of Parting, a material for tempering weapons.

Frozen woods and the Sha-Chi Tower (spoilers for the end of the game)

Once you have advanced through Mirage Estate, snow blankets the forest's southeast corner and a piece of Mirrorwood, and the ice over the water makes the Crimson Forest Sha-Chi Tower accessible. Before then the tower grounds stay shut, no matter how hard you look for an entrance. Fresh bells, foes and chests show up on the way.

Getting to the tower

Start at the Burial Grounds Bell and go southwest, then take the path upward and westward onto the ice. Frostward stands in the opening area. Next you will find the Crimson Forest Sha-Chi Tower Gate Bell, and going northwest through the tower, a chest holding a Sha-Chi Amber Fragment sits on the rear cliff.

Further up, a slope sends you sliding into a storey crowded with bomb-hurling opponents. Walk through that storey beyond the first steps; a Blackstone Fragment is stored in a chest close to the next set.

Yucong, No. 34 Twisted Puppet

This fight continues the Triple Threat tale, which starts with the Aberrant Three-Faced Puppet in Weeping Creek Valley. Before you go back, pick up the puppet's three Memory Flowers in Mirage Estate and use Soul Temper to put Sanguine Reach into Blazing Edge, which must be equipped for you to beat this boss.

Walk back across Mirrorwood toward where the earlier boss stood. Within the mirror zone you will now find a Sha-Chi Amber Fragment at its opening stretch and the Chaos Ring at the second, both placed before the old east portal. Yucong is then engaged by starting at the Threadbound Great Tree Bell.

The optional battle is lengthy and tough, and part of it pits you against three separate entities. Blazing Edge, fully upgraded, is your best damage source, and its charged attack quickly takes out any one of the three. Fire Meteor is also effective. You are rewarded with Freezing Chaos and a share of The Four Freed trophy.

Who you meet

Bosses

The hit point figures below are starting values, and they rise with difficulty settings and on subsequent playthroughs.

Stone Hand Iron Fever

Leap down beneath Mirrorwood Entrance to begin the battle. He keeps up a relentless offence, but his moves are easy to read, and if you keep blocking, he wears out his own Sha-Chi. Outlaw Warblade's healing lets you recover from whatever hits you.

Complete these ahead of the chapter boss

• Apprentice Healer (ahead of Jing Ye, not Bai Chilian)
• Purge the Sect
• Festering Secret
• Honor Among Thieves
• A Healer’s Mercy
• Secrets of the Baishan Sect (take it on, and it can be completed afterwards)
• The Flesh Lily from Hua, Deadly Betrothed, given to Yu’er

Enemies

23 enemy types make up the region's roster, sorted below by category.

In the Outlaw Trap cave and tunnel, Butchers stand guard with their dogs, and in the cave under Thieves’ Camp a Hound Trainer commands Frenzied Hounds. An Ice Powderkeg fears flames, so a single fire attack makes it blow itself up.

• Corrupted Brute

• Corrupted Arsonist

• Knife-Throwing Madwoman

• Corrupted Madwoman

• Bandit

• Veteran Bandit

• Horse Bandit

• Flame-Crazed Bandit

• Thief

• Firethorn Thief

• Butcher

• Wah-wah

• The Frozen Butcher

• Ice Powderkeg

• Gold Man: Fist

• Gold Man: Blade

• Gold Man: Staff

• Baishan Disciple

• Blackwater Crew Disciple

• Hound Trainer

• "Little Rascal"

• Frenzied Hound

• Crow

Tales

When the Gentle Thief quizzes you, three choices are right, in this sequence: “Stole a landowner’s jade belt”, “Butterfly”, “The letter never said. His fate is unknown.”

Complete these ahead of the chapter boss

Weeping Creek Valley has the same cutoff as this region, and killing Bai Chilian alters its Outpost too. Finish everything listed next before stepping into the arena.

Shop run by Quick Hand Zhang

After you free him, Zhang sells wares at his hideout close to Thieves’ Camp. What he stocks falls into two lists, and everything is priced in Dust.

Collectibles

Memory Flowers

Eighteen flowers are divided among the half-dozen sets named in the tables that follow.

Accessories

Zhang charges 30,000 Dust apiece for Quick Hand Might and Quick Hand Pair.

Memory Flowers

Three treasures wanted by Quick Hand Zhang

Weapons plus Phantom Edges

Medicines

Blackstone along with Sha-Chi Amber

Cranks and keys to find

Items to collect

Accessories

Route for the first playthrough

Following this sequence collects almost all that can be had prior to the chapter boss. The pages for individual sub-areas give more precise detail.

1. Kindle the Crimson Forest Bell first. Then walk the Abandoned Main Road down to Pangzhen Bridge Overlook, collecting a Shieldbreaker Talisman plus a Blackstone Fragment as you go.
2. Beat Hua Qianxiao on the bridge. After the fall, grab the Simmering Brew, then trace the cliff into the cave, where dogs watch over a Memory Flower.
3. Light the Trail of Cages Bell, collect the flower and the Blackstone chest sitting in the poisonous water, then use the crank to lower Quick Hand Zhang and pick up Cavalrybane underneath.
4. Make your way to Outlaw Trap, pick up the Crimson Forest Tunnel Crank and the initial talisman fragment in the cave, and defeat the enemy by the campfire to launch Honor Among Thieves.
5. Unlock the tunnel to obtain the Preservation Jar, the Sect Leader’s Snuff Bottle, a Sha-Chi Amber Fragment and Kuye Dew.
6. Confirm that Apprentice Healer is done, and then kill Jing Ye. Prior to crossing the following bridge, jump down on the right to find a Memory Flower.
7. Chat with Lanlan upon the giant wooden bridge. Next light the Thieves’ Camp Bell, respond to the quiz put by the Gentle Thief, and receive A Healer’s Mercy via Yu’er.
8. Tend to the initial pair of injured thieves in Outlaw Trap, then ascend to Quick Hand Zhang’s hideout to receive the Quick Hand Pendant and hear his tales.
9. Take the walkway out of his hideout into the cave, which holds a flower and the Bloodstained Seal, defended by a Hound Trainer and Frenzied Hounds.
10. Collect the Forest Outpost Courtyard Key and a Blackstone Fragment from the pair of buildings reached by the stairs, and afterwards light Red Serpent House, Cliff of Longing and Cliffside Lodge.
11. Fight through the lodge cellar. Doing so earns you the Secret Chamber Crank, the Thieves’ Camp Dungeon Key, some Sha-Chi Amber and Blackstone, and a chance to help thief number three, plus the meeting with Junior Sister Meng.
12. Head back to Thieves’ Camp, unlock the dungeon, tend to the fourth thief and collect the Ancient Crossbow, the Cave Prison Key and a pair of extra Sha-Chi Amber Fragments.
13. Give Yu’er your progress report and she rewards you with the Calming Gourd; then bring Zhang all three treasures and take the Flying Dagger as payment.
14. Travel on to Mirrorwood Entrance and slay Stone Hand Iron Fever, then explore the eastern cave. Inanis’ earliest flower can be found where it branches.
15. Light the Mirrorwood Lóng Pillar Bell, skip the duel for now if it proves too tough, and swing across to Burial Grounds.
16. Comb the fog, then, once the cutscene ends, light Parting Mists and complete the banyan trial.
17. Head north through the cave, ford the river to reach Mirrorwood Depths, and work out both groups of mirrors, picking up the flowers lying on the central paths.
18. Ignite the Threadbound Great Tree flame, work down the entire cutoff checklist of tales, and after that you may enter the arena of the boss.

Tower summit and base

1. From the 6th Floor Bell, talk to Spectral Blade to move A Severed Mindseal forward.
2. Descend to the Base Bell. A pair of chests on the lowest level contain a Miracle Remedy and a Blackstone Fragment.
3. Swing over to the furnace. Just to its right is the Crimson Forest Sha-Chi Tower Key, and the Primal Stone rests in the doorway that stands open.
4. Go back up to the 6th Floor and hand Spectral Blade the Primal Stone, which completes his quest.
5. Unlock the door with the key and ascend to the roof. There, talk to Mu Tianmiao to be given the Supreme Order Token.
6. Talk to Jade Dancer to begin Use It Against Them, a sparring match restricting you to Fiend Saws and Iron Gauntlets. A win rewards you with the Heel Reinforcement Part.
7. Iron Fiend gives you Heart of the Fist in conversation. Afterwards, return to Burial Grounds Bell and check the tall stone grave toward the southwest, which rewards you with Fist Fragment: Shell; fuse it with Fist Fragment: Core and Worldbreaker Fist results.

Hazards

Nearby locations

Weeping Creek Valley · Outpost · Abandoned Main Road · Pangzhen Bridge Overlook · Trail of Cages · Ambush Trail · Outlaw Trap · Thieves’ Camp · Red Serpent House · Cliff of Longing · Cliffside Lodge · Mirrorwood · Mirrorwood Lóng Pillar · Burial Grounds · Parting Mists · Threadbound Great Tree · Lakeside Arch Bridge · Crimson Forest Sha-Chi Tower · Human-Faced Banyan (Crimson Forest) · Village of Lu · Pangzhen · Green Serpent House · Mandate Encampment · Mirage Estate · Crimson Forest Tunnel

Characters

Inanis · Quick Hand Zhang · Spectral Blade · Mu Tianmiao · The Chord · Iron Fiend · Jade Dancer · Flame · Bai Chilian · Iron Fever · Hua Qianxiao · Lanlan · Jing Ye · The Gold-Masked One · Yucong · Cavalrybane

Weapons

Sanguine Reach · Blazing Edge · Outlaw Warblade · White Serpent & Crimson Viper · Freezing Chaos · Fiend Saws · Dread Axe · Tiger Cannon · Flying Dagger · Fire Meteor · Iron Gauntlets · Flaming Mane · Bastion