All 3 Illusory Pipa Part Locations and Repair Guide

Why the Illusory Pipa Matters

The Illusory Pipa is one of the most important side-quest chains in Phantom Blade Zero. On the surface it is a simple fetch quest: recover three broken parts of a puppet instrument and have it restored. In practice, the repaired pipa becomes a Phantom Edge that dispels the mist barriers sealing off entire regions — including the Mountain of Imprisonment, an optional area that sits on the Perfect Ending checklist. If you are aiming for the true ending, this quest is not optional.

The three parts are the Head, the Backplate, and the Strings. Each is held by a different boss in a different region, and two of the three are hidden fights you can easily walk past. This guide covers every location, what gates each fight, and everything the repaired instrument unlocks.

Before You Start: The Broken Pipa Base

The instrument body itself — the Broken Illusory Pipa — comes from the main story. It drops from Bai Chilian, the Sacrificial Serpent, the chapter boss of the Crimson Forest. If you have finished that region, you already hold the base; the three parts below are what restore it.

Part 1: Illusory Pipa Head (Village of Lu)

The Head is the most missable part of the three:

1. Collect every Firefly Memory Flower in the Village of Lu — six flowers marked on the map once you get close.
2. With all flowers gathered, the way into the dark pit in the eastern part of the settlement opens.
3. Inside waits the secret boss Dusk, the Puppeteer.

Dusk is a straightforward hidden boss by the time you reach him — standard puppet strings, parry the blue flashes and Ghoststep through the red ones. The combat system guide covers the defensive fundamentals if the strings overwhelm you. Kill him and the Illusory Pipa Head is yours.

Part 2: Illusory Pipa Backplate (Mandate Encampment)

The Backplate sits behind the longest gate chain of the three:

1. Travel to Pangzhen and defeat Gu Wanyue in the Backstreets.
2. Search beneath the nearby well for the key to the Mandate Encampment.
3. Return to the Village of Lu entrance and open the giant door to the Encampment.
4. Clear the entire zone and reach the Training Grounds in its northern section.
5. Defeat Yubi, No. 21 Swordfighter Puppet, the chapter boss.

Yubi drops the Illusory Pipa Backplate plus the Baishan Stormswords, a dual-wield weapon. Before you leave, check behind the pavilion: a portal there starts the Herald’s Illusion thread that eventually feeds the Puppet Tongue Key chain and the Crystal Puppet Eyes hunt — do it while you are here.

Part 3: Illusory Pipa Strings (Meigu Lake)

The Strings belong to Yan Qiansui, the Zither Maiden, who waits in the ruined songhouse in the southern part of Meigu Lake, near the Meigu Songhouse Dock Bell. Some guides report that gathering the lake’s Memory Flowers through the Allure of Vanity thread is what opens the fight — the exact trigger is still being mapped, so collect the flowers as you explore to be safe.

Yan Qiansui fights like every musician puppet, tuned up: she floods the arena with projectiles. Block the blue orbs and avoid the red ones — reflecting the blue projectiles back at her drains her sha-chi, which is when you close in and punish. Patient defense wins this fight, not aggression.

Repairing the Pipa with Myst

With Head, Backplate, and Strings in hand, return to Pangzhen and find Myst at the tavern. Hand over the parts and she restores the instrument, completing the quest and granting the Illusory Pipa Phantom Edge. Equip it — from here on, walking up to a mist barrier and playing the pipa dissolves it.

The Phantom Edge works like any other in your loadout once equipped: approach a shimmering mist wall and use the Phantom Edge input to play a chord. The barrier thins and vanishes permanently, so each gate only needs a single visit. Keep it equipped while backtracking through older regions — mist pockets are easy to forget once the campaign pulls you forward, and several hide genuine upgrades rather than lore scraps.

What the Repaired Pipa Unlocks

The restored pipa is a skeleton key for sealed content across the map:

• Weeping Mistgate (northeast Meigu Lake) — opens the route to the Mountain of Imprisonment, the optional region whose completion awards Crystal Puppet Eye [Yin] and is required for the true ending. This is the single most important gate.
• Mist-shrouded doorway at the Meigu Songhouse Dock arena — behind where you fought Yan Qiansui; hides the Six Paths Warrant, the tempering material that turns the Outlaw Warblade into one of the best weapons in the game.
• Marketplace theater mist (Pangzhen) — frees the NPC Yu Ling and starts the Don’t Forget Me quest.
• Sealed Lion winds — playing the pipa stills the gale on the slope near the Sealed Lion bell, revealing a chest with the Auspicious Lion Fireball accessory.

Smaller mist pockets elsewhere hide upgrade materials and lore, so it pays to revisit old regions once the pipa is playable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get the pipa parts in any order? Yes. The three bosses are independent of each other — most players naturally get the Backplate or Strings first, since the Village of Lu Memory Flower hunt is easy to postpone. Myst repairs the instrument whenever all three are delivered.

Do the parts carry into the finale? Nothing about the pipa chain is missable before the final point of no return, but the content it gates (the Mountain of Imprisonment especially) must be finished before the warnings at Mirage Estate and The Last Chance bell if you want the Perfect Ending.

Is Dusk the Puppeteer the only secret boss in the Village of Lu? He is the one tied to this quest. The village and its surrounding regions hold several other hidden and optional fights — see the complete boss list for everything mapped so far.

Source: community-verified launch coverage from GameSpot, TheGamer, GameRant, and GameBoost (October 2026).