Steel and Steam

Steel and Steam is Chapter 3 of Phantom Blade Zero in Weeping Creek Valley: break through to the Creek Valley Plains, clear the Ruthless Archer Camp, climb the Valley Sha-Chi Tower, and beat The Hunt at the Great Waterfall for the Hunter's Chain Sickle. The optional Hua, Deadly Betrothed waits under the tower, and The Gold-Masked One's first trial is nearby.

Chapter 3 is the axe-and-chain chapter: Soul smashes chain barriers with the Dread Axe across the rest of Weeping Creek Valley, clears the Ruthless Archer Camp, climbs the Valley Sha-Chi Tower and ends at the Great Waterfall, where beating The Hunt hands over the Hunter's Chain Sickle, the grapple that opens the way out, all in Game8's 40 steps. Two optional bosses sit off the route, Hua, Deadly Betrothed under the tower and the first trial of The Gold-Masked One, and five side quests begin or move on here.

Those two tools are why the valley rewards a second look. In Fextralife's Oct 9, 2026 preview video (7:34), from the game's first two chapters, the secondary weapons "play a role in exploration": with the axe "you can break through chains and go to certain areas", and with the chains "you can like grapple to areas" you could not reach before. Steel and Steam gives Soul the second of them; the chapters before and after are Against the Flow and Snake's Reflection.

The side quests that start in this chapter are Deep in the Valley, A Severed Mindseal and Pillars of Kunlun, and Apprentice Healer, Flesh Lily and Purge the Sect each take a step, by Game8's walkthrough of this chapter, the story's third (Game8); the steps below say where.

1. Reach the Creek Valley Plains

Break the chained barrier with the Dread Axe; take the Battle Reports from a dead swordsman and a Focus Pill from the chest (Game8). By the stream, pick up the Blood-Stopper Vine for Yu'er's Apprentice Healer quest. A chest under the stone bridge holds Remnant Dust, three Forged Metal and two Broadplate Metal. Two greatshield enemies follow: a heavy Dread Axe attack breaks their shields. Break a second barrier, pass the dying Mandate Disciple by the cage (a Phantom Reforge Talisman lies to his right) and ring the Creek Valley Plains Entrance bell, which starts the Deep in the Valley tale, one that Game8 says can change the main story.

2. Clear the Ruthless Archer Camp

Archers hold the roofs and watchtowers; kill them first, then the ground enemies, one at a time (Game8). The Hunt is glimpsed here. The last enemy drops a Blackstone Fragment and the Broken-String Bow, the item the Old Archer wants for Purge the Sect, and once the camp is clear its golden chest gives the Token of Pursuit, an offensive accessory. Ring the Ruthless Archer Camp bell.

3. The Valley Sha-Chi Tower

Cross the bridge, deal with the explosive thrower, and break the barbed shield of one of the three guards at the locked cell with the Dread Axe. A Shadow Warden with twinblade flurries guards the Valley Sha-Chi Tower 1st Floor bell (Game8). Behind the tower is a Primal Stone record, and inside, Hua the Bride's letter to Liu Shangli and a hole in the ground.

4. Optional: Hua, Deadly Betrothed

Slide down the hole; Game8 suggests making one enemy of the horde below fight the others. Past a pile of corpses is the flower field of Hua, Deadly Betrothed, among the hardest early bosses by Game8's ranking, who drops the Scarlet Wraithblade. Her altar holds the Twin Flesh Lilies for Flesh Lily, and the Flesh Lily Fields bell lights only after you win.

5. Leave the Sha-Chi Tower

Climb the tower floor by floor (Game8):

Floor	What to do
1	Beat three monks; a Sha-Chi Investigation Report by the pillar
2	Bait the furnace-carrying enemy into jumping so it explodes, then climb the wall
3	A Transcension document behind a partition; three more monks
4	Bait the second furnace carrier; "What Is Sha-Chi?" in a cart
Top	The Valley Sha-Chi Summit Tower bell; the Friendly Shadow Warden asks for a Primal Stone and starts A Severed Mindseal

From the roof take the long ladder down. A second Shadow Warden drops the Sha-Chi Furnace Inspection Crank, which you need for the Primal Stone. By a campfire, the collapsing Mandate Disciple starts Pillars of Kunlun, a quest Game8 says affects the ending (Endings). Ring the Waterfall Bridge bell; the cave chest below the bridge has three Broadplate Metal, three Forged Metal and a Weapon Forge Talisman.

6. Settle the score with The Hunt

Ring the Great Waterfall bell and upgrade first (Skills and Upgrades). The Hunt fights at range with chain sickles in two phases, the second more aggressive: play defensively and parry his red-glint attacks, Game8 advises. He drops the Hunter's Chain Sickle, which swings Soul across chained ledges (Phantom Edges). Climb past two Phantom Reforge Talismans, swing across the ledge and take the Traversal Talisman from the shrine to end the chapter; a flashback carries Soul to the Crimson Forest.

Optional: The Gold-Masked One

At the Weeping Creek Long Pillar, southeast of the Sha-Chi Tower, the colossal dragon monument starts The Gold-Masked One, a boss that punishes aggression and drops the Counterstrike Bracers (Game8). After the first death the Long Pillar bell is open. Winning all five Long Pillar trials completes Bloodline Awakening. Game8 advises coming back with the Outlaw Warblade, which Jing Ye drops in the next chapter.