TL;DR
- Festering Secret is a side Tale in Weeping Creek Valley — one of the first you’ll encounter.
- It starts automatically when you approach the two guards near the chain-sealed gate at the Outpost.
- You cannot enter the courtyard until you have the Dread Axe Phantom Edge from boss Peng Meng.
- After clearing the courtyard, speak to the Swordsman Captain and deliver his orders to the lieutenant at the Sha-Chi Tower outskirts.
- The lieutenant gives you Gu Lingran’s Secret Letter — take it back to the captain to finish the quest.
- This quest is missable. It fails if you reach the end of the Crimson Forest without completing it.
Festering Secret is one of those Tales in Phantom Blade Zero that starts quietly and then asks you to cross the whole valley to finish it. You walk past some guards, notice a chain-locked gate, and a quest begins before you’ve really thought about it. Then things get complicated — you need a specific Phantom Edge to even open the door, and the final step takes you to an area locked behind a different boss reward.
The good news is that the quest runs naturally alongside the main story of Weeping Creek Valley. If you know the steps, it never feels like a detour. Here’s the complete walkthrough.
What Is the Festering Secret Quest?
Festering Secret is a Tale in Weeping Creek Valley that has Soul uncovering a conspiracy brewing inside a Mandate-controlled outpost. A chain-sealed courtyard is hiding something the guards won’t talk about. Breaking in reveals soldiers, a secret, and a letter exchange between a captain and his lieutenant that ties directly into the wider corruption running through the valley.
The quest is also closely linked to the Four Fierce Axes quest. Completing Festering Secret is actually required to get one of the case file documents in that quest — so doing one naturally advances the other.
Is Festering Secret Missable?
Yes — and this is important to know before you push forward through the story.
Festering Secret fails permanently if you defeat the final boss of the Crimson Forest region (the second region) without completing it. The quest is set entirely in Weeping Creek Valley, and the game won’t wait for you to come back. Clear it before you move on.
The PowerPyx trophy guide and collectible walkthroughs both flag this as a missable Tale, so treat it with priority as soon as you accept it.
How to Start the Festering Secret Quest
The quest starts automatically — you don’t need to pick up an item or find a specific NPC first.
After reaching the Outpost Bell in Weeping Creek Valley during the Against the Flow chapter, head past Forge (the blacksmith who lets you upgrade weapons) and continue forward up the stairs. You’ll pass an Old Beggar and other NPCs along the way. Keep going until you see two guards standing near a wall made of iron chains.
Walk up to them and Soul will comment on the chain-sealed gate — something feels wrong about what’s behind it. The Festering Secret Tale activates at that point and is added to your quest log automatically.
The guards won’t let you through, and you can’t force the chains open at this stage. Note the location, then continue following the main story path up the stairs toward the Peng Meng boss fight.
Step 1: Defeat Peng Meng and Get the Dread Axe
To open the chain barrier, you need the Dread Axe Phantom Edge. This drops from Peng Meng, the Axemaster — the boss you encounter at the end of the main Outpost path in Weeping Creek Valley. You’ll fight him as a natural part of the story, so you can’t miss him.
Peng Meng is a slow but heavy fighter. His axe swings cover a wide arc. Here’s how to approach the fight:
- Blue flash (Brutal Move): Press L1 just before the hit lands to parry — this triggers Ghost Step and repositions Soul behind Peng Meng for free combo damage.
- Red flash (Killer Move): These cannot be parried. Dodge with R1 at the last second to trigger Ghost Step instead.
- His second phase is faster and more aggressive. Don’t get comfortable after surviving the first half.
- Use Power Surge (L2) when his Sha-Chi bar is broken to deal the biggest damage windows.
Once he goes down, you receive the Dread Axe Phantom Edge. Activate the Bell in the centre of the arena — it’s called the Axemaster’s Fall Bell — then fast travel or walk back to the Outpost Bell.
Step 2: Break Open the Chain-Sealed Courtyard
Back at the Outpost, head to the chain barrier where the two guards were standing. Equip the Dread Axe and use it on the chains. The barrier breaks and the courtyard opens up.
Inside, you’ll find a group of Mandate Maskwalkers — elite soldiers guarding whatever the courtyard is hiding. Clear them out. After the enemies are defeated, take the left staircase up and defeat the enemy on the upper floor to collect a Sha-Chi Amber Fragment. This also progresses the Festering Secret questline.
Explore the courtyard fully before moving on. There are items worth grabbing and the area connects to other parts of the valley you may not have seen yet.
Step 3: Talk to the Swordsman Captain
After clearing the courtyard, find the Swordsman Captain sitting near a large boulder at the entrance to the Weeping Creek Valley Outpost. He’s the man on the tree branch — easy to spot if you’ve already been through this area of the Outpost.
Talk to him. He’ll hand you a document — the Captain’s Orders — and ask you to deliver it to his lieutenant at the Sha-Chi Tower outskirts. He’ll also give you a book called Wulin Tales, which is a lore collectible tied to the wider lore of the valley. Hang on to both.
At this stage, the quest objective updates: you need to reach the lieutenant’s location near the Long Pillar Overlook Bell. This area is locked until you complete more of the main story.
Step 4: Unlock the Sha-Chi Tower Outskirts Area
The path to the lieutenant requires completing two things that happen naturally as you progress through Weeping Creek Valley:
- Complete the Sha-Chi Tower section — this is part of the main story chapter Steel and Steam.
- Defeat The Hunt (Hunter of the Order) — this boss drops the Hunter’s Chain Sickle Phantom Edge, which you need for traversal in the next step.
Once you have the Hunter’s Chain Sickle, head back to the top of the Sha-Chi Tower and use it to grapple to a platform at the summit. There you’ll find the Sha-Chi Tower Base Camp Key. Take it down and use it to unlock the gate near the Creek Valley Plains Entrance Bell. This opens the path to the Sha-Chi Tower outskirts — and the lieutenant.
Step 5: Deliver the Captain’s Orders to the Lieutenant
With the area unlocked, head toward the Long Pillar Overlook Bell in the Sha-Chi Tower outskirts. The Mandate Lieutenant is stationed in a building in this area. You’ll need to navigate up and across some elevated paths — use the Hunter’s Chain Sickle to grapple up when needed.
Once inside the building, find the lieutenant and hand him the Captain’s Orders. He reads them and hands you back a different document: Gu Lingran’s Secret Letter. He asks you to take this letter back to the captain at the Outpost — it contains information about what’s really been happening behind those chain-sealed doors.
Note: the lieutenant also gives you a case file related to the Four Fierce Axes quest during this exchange. If you’re running both Tales, this completes one step of that one at the same time.
Step 6: Return the Secret Letter to the Captain
Fast travel back to the Outpost using any nearby Bell. Find the Swordsman Captain again — still at his spot by the boulder — and hand him Gu Lingran’s Secret Letter.
A brief scene plays out as the captain reads the letter and reacts to what it contains. With that exchange, the Festering Secret quest is complete.
Festering Secret Quest Reward
Completing the Festering Secret Tale rewards you with a tempering material tied to the Dread Axe upgrade path. The full chain — Festering Secret plus Four Fierce Axes — ultimately leads to the Blood Oath Dagger, which is the item used to Soul Temper the Dread Axe once that system unlocks through Myst at the Order’s underground tavern later in the game.
Beyond the material reward, Festering Secret also fills in important lore about what the Mandate faction was actually doing in Weeping Creek Valley and why the captain and lieutenant’s exchange matters to the wider conspiracy Soul is unraveling.
Full Festering Secret Quest Steps at a Glance
- Reach the Outpost Bell during the Against the Flow chapter
- Approach the two guards near the chain-sealed gate — quest starts automatically
- Continue the main story and defeat Peng Meng to get the Dread Axe Phantom Edge
- Return to the chain barrier and break it open with the Dread Axe
- Clear the Mandate Maskwalkers inside the courtyard
- Speak to the Swordsman Captain near the boulder at the Outpost entrance — receive the Captain’s Orders
- Complete the Sha-Chi Tower section and defeat The Hunt to get the Hunter’s Chain Sickle
- Use the Chain Sickle to reach the top of the Sha-Chi Tower and grab the Base Camp Key
- Use the key to unlock the gate near Creek Valley Plains Entrance Bell
- Head to the Long Pillar Overlook area and deliver the Captain’s Orders to the Mandate Lieutenant
- Receive Gu Lingran’s Secret Letter from the lieutenant
- Fast travel back to the Outpost and hand the letter to the Captain — quest complete
Tips for Completing Festering Secret Without Getting Stuck
- Do not leave Weeping Creek Valley without finishing this quest. It fails after the final Crimson Forest boss. If you push into the Crimson Forest with this quest still open, wrap it up before you fight your way to the end of that region.
- Use the Dread Axe immediately after getting it. It’s easy to forget about the chain barrier once the boss is down and you’ve moved on. Fast travel back to the Outpost right after activating the Axemaster’s Fall Bell and break open the courtyard while you’re thinking about it.
- Talk to every NPC at the Outpost. The captain is easy to walk past. After clearing the courtyard, circle back around the Outpost area and interact with everyone — the captain’s dialogue is what moves the quest forward.
- Complete the Sha-Chi Tower before worrying about the lieutenant. That section is story content anyway. Just play through it naturally and the Chain Sickle and Tower Key will come to you as part of normal progress.
- Run Festering Secret and Four Fierce Axes together. They share objectives in this region, and completing one step in Festering Secret simultaneously completes a step in Four Fierce Axes. There’s no reason to do them separately.
How Festering Secret Connects to Four Fierce Axes
The two quests are deeply linked. You cannot complete Four Fierce Axes without going through the Festering Secret steps. Specifically, delivering the Captain’s Orders to the lieutenant and speaking to him is what earns you one of the Four Fierce Axes case file documents — the lieutenant hands it over during that exchange.
If you’re working through both Tales at once, which is the most efficient approach, the flow looks like this: Break the courtyard, talk to the captain, progress through the tower, reach the lieutenant, hand over the orders, collect both the secret letter and the Four Fierce Axes document in one visit, then return to the captain to close out Festering Secret. Two quests advanced in one run of the area.
For the full Four Fierce Axes walkthrough with all document locations, see our guide: Phantom Blade Zero Four Fierce Axes Quest Walkthrough.
More Phantom Blade Zero Guides
- Phantom Blade Zero: How to Go Through Red Thread Barrier
- Phantom Blade Zero: All Outfits and How to Unlock Them
- Phantom Blade Zero: All Chapter List — Every Mission and Region
- Phantom Blade Zero Review (PS5 & PC)
Where to Buy Phantom Blade Zero
Final Thoughts
Festering Secret is one of Phantom Blade Zero’s cleaner Tales — it has a clear start, a logical sequence of steps, and each objective lines up naturally with things you’d be doing in the main story anyway. The only real danger is pushing too far into the next region before finishing it.
Break the chains as soon as Peng Meng goes down. Talk to the captain. Then run the Sha-Chi Tower, grab the Chain Sickle, reach the lieutenant, and close it out. Done right, this quest never feels like extra work — it feels like part of the valley’s story, which is exactly how a good side quest should feel.
