The five Long Pillars are the spine of Phantom Blade Zero’s true-ending route, and they are easy to walk past. Each one is a sealed trial guarded by the Gold-Masked One, and each one feeds the Bloodline Awakening questline that decides whether Soul leaves Mount Soulrend with a new heart or dies on it. This guide covers all five locations, the keys and tools that open them, the duel sequence, and the exact gates that close behind you.
What the Long Pillars Actually Are
The Long Pillars (rendered “Lóng Pillars” in-game) are five sealed trial sites spread across the world. At each one you fight a Gold-Masked One — also described in community guides as the Man in Black — and the duels escalate in a fixed sequence regardless of which Pillar you visit first.
Completing all five finishes the purple Mystery Bloodline Awakening, awards the Phantom and Blade achievement, and tempers Sanguine into Infernal Rouge. The fifth Pillar also gates the Bastion of Mó Mask, which is one of the two flags required for the true ending.
All Five Long Pillar Locations
| # | Region | Route to the Pillar | Gate / Key | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weeping Creek Valley | Lóng Pillar Overlook; eastern locked cave | Deep in the Valley → Rusted Loong Key | Counterstrike Bracers |
| 2 | Crimson Forest | Mirrorwood / Parting Mists; after Iron Fever, take the right fork, grapple across | Hunter’s Chain Sickle | Miraculous Scabbard |
| 3 | Meigu Lake (east island) | Midlake Lóng Pillar Dock; sail east | Sha-Chi Powered Boat | Quenched Flaming Grip |
| 4 | Phantom Illusionist Ruins | Four Guardians’ Mirror; third bell, smash the barrier | 4 Acolyte Masks + Dread Axe | Chaos Iron Fragment |
| 5 | Mirage Estate | Covered Corridor → right → grapple | Green Serpent House door | Bastion of Mó Mask |
You can tackle Pillars 1–4 in any order. Pillar 5 sits inside Mirage Estate, so it is necessarily last.
Pillar 1 — Lóng Pillar Overlook (Weeping Creek Valley)
The first Pillar is the one most players miss, because the cave entrance is locked and the key comes from a separate Mystery.
Prerequisite: progress Deep in the Valley until you obtain the Rusted Loong Key. The key is found at the Crane Bell at Lóng Pillar Overlook.
Route: from the Overlook, head to the eastern locked cave. Unlock it and descend to the trial.
Reward: Counterstrike Bracers.
Deadline: none hard, but the Weeping region’s soft gates (Jing Ye, Bai Chilian) close several other quests. Finish this before you leave the valley if you want a clean sweep.
Pillar 2 — Mirrorwood / Parting Mists (Crimson Forest)
Prerequisite: the Hunter’s Chain Sickle, used as a grapple tool.
Route: after the Iron Fever sequence, take the right fork into Mirrorwood / Parting Mists and grapple across the gap to the sealed site.
Reward: Miraculous Scabbard.
Deadline: before Bai Chilian is the safe rule for Crimson Forest content generally. The Pillar itself is not listed as hard-locked by that fight, but treat it as region-clear work.
Pillar 3 — Midlake Lóng Pillar Dock (Meigu Lake)
Prerequisite: the Sha-Chi Powered Boat, which unlocks sailing on Meigu Lake.
Route: sail east from the Midlake Lóng Pillar Dock to the eastern island site.
Reward: Quenched Flaming Grip.
Deadline: Meigu and Mountain of Imprisonment interleave via the Illusory Pipa chain, so sequence your travel carefully. The Illusory Pipa should be finished before Mountain of Imprisonment.
Pillar 4 — Phantom Illusionist Ruins
This is the most demanding Pillar, because it requires two separate collectible sets.
Prerequisites:
- All 4 Acolyte Masks — Yanru’s Blazing Mask (Lu), Leiting’s Thunder Mask (Pangzhen), Guhe’s Venom Mask (Meigu East Dock), Hansui’s Frost Mask (Crimson Manor depths)
- The Dread Axe
Route: take the four masks to the Four Guardians’ Mirror in frozen northwest Meigu Lake. Using all four shatters the mirror and opens the Phantom Illusionist Ruins. Inside, at the third bell, smash the barrier with the Dread Axe.
Reward: Chaos Iron Fragment.
Deadline: before the Green Serpent House door. The Ruins also host the Secrets at the Heart of the Lake finale, so clear both in the same trip.
Pillar 5 — Mirage Estate (The True-Ending Gate)
Prerequisite: passage through the Green Serpent House door in Pangzhen backstreets, which itself requires the three serpent relics — Red Serpent Tongue, Black Serpent Fang, and White Serpent Eye — inserted into the serpent door.
Route: inside Mirage Estate, take the Covered Corridor, turn right, and grapple to the fifth trial.
Reward: Bastion of Mó Mask.
Deadline: before The Last Chance bell on Mount Soulrend. This is the final gate and the game warns you even on a perfect run.
Bloodline Awakening: Completion Checklist
- Obtain the Rusted Loong Key via Deep in the Valley
- Clear Pillar 1 at Lóng Pillar Overlook
- Obtain the Hunter’s Chain Sickle
- Clear Pillar 2 in Mirrorwood / Parting Mists
- Obtain the Sha-Chi Powered Boat
- Clear Pillar 3 at Midlake Lóng Pillar Dock
- Collect all 4 Acolyte Masks
- Obtain the Dread Axe
- Shatter the Four Guardians’ Mirror and clear Pillar 4
- Pass the Green Serpent House door
- Clear Pillar 5 in Mirage Estate
- Confirm Bloodline Awakening completes and Phantom and Blade unlocks
- Temper Sanguine → Infernal Rouge
How the Fifth Pillar Gates the True Ending
The true ending requires two flags. The first is the Violet Blossom, earned by finishing all ten pre-Mirage purple Mysteries and speaking to Inanis in the Realm of Mirage at the end of The Lake. The second is Bloodline Awakening — all five Pillars, and therefore the Bastion of Mó Mask.
Without the Pillars, you get Long’s Roar: Zuo Shang kills Meng Hua, but the brothers’ duel is unwinnable and Soul is banished to die on Mount Soulrend. With both flags, Zuo Shang appears after Leng Tu and Meng Hua, leads Soul into the Fallen Dream, and duels him in two forms — the second form is true-route only.
| Ending | Flags | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Final Battle (true) | Violet Blossom + Bloodline Awakening | Soul wins, leaves with a new heart |
| Long’s Roar | Violet Blossom only | Duel is unwinnable; Soul banished |
| Annihilation | Violet Blossom missing | Meng Hua revives, destroys the Wulin |
| Undying Grudge | 66 Days counter = 0 | Run ends permanently |
If you are chasing the platinum, pair this with the true ending checklist and the missables checklist so the Green Serpent door does not strand unfinished work. For the wider quest web these Pillars sit inside, see the all tales and side quests guide.
Common Mistakes and Uncertainties
The Mandate Encampment outlier. One source (Kungfupunk) places a Long Pillar in Mandate Encampment. GameSpot, GameRant, KeenGamer and the PBZ Wiki all place Pillar 4 in Phantom Illusionist Ruins instead. Treat the Mandate placement as an error.
Pillar order. The duels escalate in a fixed sequence, but the sites themselves can be visited in any order among 1–4. Do not assume you must do them numerically.
Mask prerequisites. The four Acolyte Masks are not optional flavor — they are the literal key to Pillar 4. If you skipped Hansui’s Frost Mask in Crimson Manor, you cannot open the Ruins.
The Dread Axe. Obtained during Festering Secret in Weeping Creek Valley. If you let that quest lapse past Bai Chilian, verify you still hold the axe before attempting Pillar 4.
Sources & confidence
Primary sources are GameSpot, GameRant, KeenGamer and the PBZ Wiki for the five Pillar locations and their gates, cross-checked against PowerPyx for the Bloodline Awakening completion and Phantom and Blade achievement. The biggest uncertainty is the Mandate Encampment outlier for Pillar 4, which conflicts with four independent sources and is treated here as incorrect; the exact strict-flag status of some adjacent true-ending checklist items (Zhu Yuan, Bi Feng, the 16 Quick Hand’s Requests) is also unconfirmed by a single authoritative source.
Sources & further reading
- True ending guide — PowerPyx
- All 33 Tales — KeenGamer
- Memory Flowers — Kungfupunk
- Collectibles guide — PowerPyx
We link to the primary source for every hard number. If a source conflicts, we say so in the text.
By the PBZ Guide Team · Reviewed by the editorial desk This page was translated with editorial review. Spot an error? Tell us. We link to the primary source for every hard number. If a source conflicts, we say so in the text.