TL;DR
- Ascetic’s Rest is a story Abyss unlocked during Chapter 9’s Face the Inner Self quest
- You access it through the Jijeong Temple Pagoda Abyss Gate
- The puzzle involves draining a flooded chamber using two abilities
- Use Nature’s Snare on the turbine first, then Turning Slash to break a wall
- Finish by using Force Palm on the circular mechanism to restore the Abyss
- You get an Abyss Artifact as a reward — don’t skip this
The Ascetic’s Rest Abyss in Crimson Desert is one of those puzzles that looks simple but throws people off because the steps need to happen in the right order. It’s tied to the Face the Inner Self main quest in Chapter 9, and if you rush past it, you’ll miss the Abyss Artifact. Here’s everything you need to know.
Ascetic’s Rest Location in Crimson Desert
You can’t access Ascetic’s Rest early. It only becomes available when you reach Chapter 9: The Sage of the Desert, specifically during the sub-chapter called Six Pensive Statues and the Evil Spirit.
The Abyss Gate sits at the top of the Jijeong Temple Pagoda. To get there, glide from Serpent Marsh toward the mountain to the southwest. This is a long climb — you need to reach the very peak, not just the middle section. When you’re close enough to the summit, the objective autocompletes. Head inside the temple and interact with the Abyss Gate to enter.
Once inside, you’ll automatically unlock a fast travel point. That’s useful for later content in Chapter 9, so it’s worth noting.
If you’re still working through story content, check out our Crimson Desert main story quests and chapters guide for a full breakdown of quest order.
Ascetic’s Rest Abyss Puzzle Solution
The core challenge here is a flooded chamber blocking your progress. The mechanism you need to activate is underwater and completely useless until you drain the water. You’ll do this in two stages.
Step 1 — Use Nature’s Snare on the Turbine
Walk forward from the entrance. You’ll find a large flooded chamber with a metallic turbine sitting partially submerged in the center.
Get as close to the turbine as you can, then activate Nature’s Snare. The ability latches onto the turbine blades and forces them to spin. This causes the water level to drop. Keep using Nature’s Snare until the water stops going down.
This only drains part of the water. Don’t stop here thinking the puzzle is done — you still need to clear the rest.
Step 2 — Go Left, Down the Stairs, and Break the Wall
With the water partially lowered, look to the left side of the flooded chamber. You’ll see a stone staircase heading up. Take it.
Follow the path until you reach a statue. Then head down another set of stairs. Keep going until you find a stone lantern and a cracked wall at the end of a cave section.
Use Turning Slash on the wall to break it. This is a simple attack ability — on controller it’s usually a Left Click + Right Click combo (check your keybinds). Once the wall breaks, water rushes out and the rest of the pool upstairs fully drains.
Step 3 — Use Force Palm on the Circular Mechanism
Go back to the now-empty chamber. You’ll see the circular mechanism that was previously underwater. Walk up to it and use Force Palm on it.
That’s it. The Abyss is restored.
Make sure you grab the Abyss Artifact from the gate before moving on. It’s a permanent upgrade that boosts your skills — you don’t want to leave it behind. If you want to know more about how these upgrades work, our guide on how to get Abyss Cells in Crimson Desert explains the system well.
Do You Need to Solve the Puzzle to Finish the Quest?
No, technically you don’t. The Face the Inner Self quest just requires you to move through the Abyss and reach the top of the area. Once you do, a short cutscene plays with a boy who tells you to keep going and not overthink things. That ends the quest.
But solving the puzzle gets you the Abyss Artifact. Skip it and you lose out on a permanent skill upgrade. If you care at all about building your character, do the puzzle.
For reference, the reward here is particularly helpful against elemental-based enemies in later chapters. Speaking of which, our guide on how to use elemental attacks and imbue elements in Crimson Desert is worth reading before you push further into the story.
What Happens After Ascetic’s Rest
After completing Face the Inner Self, the next quest in the chain is Fragments of Darkness. The Jijeong Temple Pagoda Spire is also marked as complete, which counts toward exploration challenges.
The fast travel point you unlocked inside Ascetic’s Rest stays active permanently. You can use it to skydive back down to the surrounding ground areas anytime, which is handy for returning to Demeniss quickly.
If you’re working through all the Abyss puzzles in the game, you can check the Crimson Desert hub page for a full list of our guides covering puzzles, bosses, armor, weapons, and more.
Tips Before You Enter
A few things worth knowing before you start:
You can technically skip the water puzzle by parkouring over the flooded obstacles if your stamina is high enough. But you’ll miss the Abyss Artifact. It’s not worth the shortcut.
Watch your ability icons when you’re near interactable objects. The game often gives you a visual cue — icons pulse or glow when an ability can interact with something nearby. This saves a lot of guesswork in puzzle areas.
Make sure you’ve eaten before going in. Carrying power panels or using abilities repeatedly in puzzle rooms drains stamina. A cooked meal before you enter gives you a comfortable buffer. Check out our guide on how to cook the best healing food in Crimson Desert if you need help with that.
If you want to boost your stamina more permanently before tackling this and future Abysses, our max stamina guide covers all the ways to do it.
Other Abyss Puzzle Guides You Might Need
Crimson Desert has 40 Abyss puzzles in total. Here are some others that players often get stuck on:
- Vault of Vengeance Abyss puzzle
- Secret Garden Abyss puzzle
- Precipice of Truth Abyss puzzle
- Root’s End Abyss puzzle
- Sanctorum of Darkness Abyss puzzle
- Loop of Life Abyss puzzle
- Frostbitten Paradise Abyss puzzle
- Ether Rest Abyss puzzle
- Abyss Without Balance puzzle
Crimson Desert is available on PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. You can also visit the official Crimson Desert website for the latest news and updates.
