Village of Lu Walkthrough: Mu Xiaokui, Five Ribbons & Puppet Workshop

Village of Lu: Heartless Remnants

Mu Xiaokui has spent years believing Soul murdered her father, and the Village of Lu is where that belief finally draws blood. The region is a puppet testing ground dressed as a settlement: red ribbons mark the Young Mistress trail, the Bi brothers guard its seals, and something patient waits beneath the well. This route covers every mandatory fight, the optional detour worth taking, and the sword you cannot come back for.

Story Context

Soul arrives in the Village of Lu during Chapter 4, Heartless Remnants. Mu Xiaokui is his childhood friend and the daughter of the murdered Shadow Sovereign, Mu Tianmiao. She holds Soul responsible for her father’s death.

The village itself is not a home — it is a testing ground for puppets. The five red ribbons left along the route trace the Young Mistress’s path through the settlement. Bi Yuan and Bi Hai stand as guardians of the seals, and Yuzan waits in the testing grounds beneath the well. At the Lakeside, Xiaokui finally confronts Soul with Wild Oriole in hand, and only then realises he has not changed.

Step-by-Step Route

1. Meet Jewel and take Jewel’s Knot.
2. Ring the Mandate Encampment Outer Gate bell and meet Old Man Gen.
3. Defeat Zhuo Bi in the gate yard for Bastion.
4. Meet Young Master Lan and accept his tale.
5. Follow the five red ribbons through the village.
6. Complete the Temple of the Blue Fireflies and meet the Flower Masked Weaver.
7. Ring the Covered Bridge and Zhang’s Hideout bells.
8. Defeat Bi Yuan at the Lady Grounds for the Tianxuan Bronze Sword.
9. Defeat Bi Hai at the river arena for the Kuye Temple Prayer Beads.
10. Meet the Wounded Thief.
11. (Optional) Defeat Dusk in the Broken Puppet Pit.
12. Defeat Yuzan in the well testing grounds for the Heartrend Pipa.
13. Defeat Mu Xiaokui at the Lakeside.
14. Take the Wild Oriole Sword from the dock.
15. Enter Pangzhen.

Mandatory Bosses

Five fights gate your exit from the region. None are skippable, and all five drop something you will use.

Boss	Location	Reward	Notes
Zhuo Bi	Gate yard	Bastion	Parry the shield bar, then burst during the 10–15 second kneel.
Master Bi Yuan	Lady Grounds	Tianxuan Bronze Sword	Guard-break him; sidestep the sword-chi fans.
Master Bi Hai	River arena	Kuye Temple Prayer Beads	Break the bell with the Dread Axe or Tianxuan.
Yuzan	Well testing grounds	Heartrend Pipa	Dodge the red blades late; leave the teal orbs alone.
Mu Xiaokui	Lakeside	Wild Oriole, Fiend Saws, Fist Fragment: Core, Puppet No. 44’s Eye	Dodge the bursts; stay out of the crimson rings.

Mu Xiaokui is the chapter’s real test. She is listed at difficulty 4, and the crimson rings she leaves on the ground punish greedy punishes. Treat her like a duel, not a brawl.

Optional Bosses and Detours

Dusk is the one optional fight in the Village of Lu, found in the Broken Puppet Pit. Kill the adds first, then chase the copy once Dusk drops to roughly 40 percent health. The reward is the Puppeteer’s Bell and the Illusory Pipa Head.

Acolyte Yanru also appears in the region, at the terraces scarecrow. Yanru drops Yanru’s Blazing Mask — one of the four Acolyte masks needed for the True Ending. Dodge the doubles and parry the real one.

Tales and Collectibles

Two tales in the Village of Lu are points of no return once you leave for Pangzhen:

• The Journey Home — accept it before departing.
• Young Master Lan — accept and progress it before departing.

The five red ribbons are the region’s structural collectible. They are not optional flavour: following them is how you reach the Young Mistress trail and the bosses along it. Ring the Mandate Encampment Outer Gate, Covered Bridge, and Zhang’s Hideout bells as you pass.

The Temple of the Blue Fireflies is a required story beat, and the Flower Masked Weaver and Wounded Thief are both encountered on the main line.

Before You Leave: Missables Checklist

• Accept The Journey Home.
• Accept and progress Young Master Lan.
• Follow all five red ribbons to completion.
• Defeat Dusk in the Broken Puppet Pit.
• Defeat Acolyte Yanru and take Yanru’s Blazing Mask.
• Take the Wild Oriole Sword from the dock.
• Ring all three bells.

The Wild Oriole Sword is the sharpest missable here. It sits on the dock after the Mu Xiaokui fight, and leaving the dock for Pangzhen closes the window. If you are tracking the wider list, cross-reference the missables checklist and the collectibles checklist so nothing else slips.

Next Region: Pangzhen

Entering Pangzhen moves you into Town of Death and the Heart’s Trail, the longest stretch of the game at roughly 6–8 hours and levels 10–18. Pangzhen is where the Four Serpent Houses begin, where Lei Dang repairs the Dormant Flaming Mane, and where the first major True Ending cutoff sits: entering Mirage Estate through the Green Serpent House. Before you commit to that, make sure your Village of Lu tales are closed out.

If you want the full sequence, the walkthrough and boss order pages carry the region-to-region route. For the fights ahead, the combat system explained page covers the parry/dodge and Sha-Chi rules that Pangzhen assumes you already know.

Sources & Confidence

Route, boss list, rewards, and missable flags are drawn from the Fextralife game progress route, PowerPyx’s walkthrough, and kungfupunk’s boss compendium, with boss-level data from pbz.gg. The biggest uncertainty is the chapter numbering around the Village of Lu — sources disagree on whether it is Chapter 3 or Chapter 4, and the in-game table, trophy names, and guide numbering do not match. The boss order and rewards within the region are consistent across sources.