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Boss guide

All 5 Lóng Pillars in Phantom Blade Zero

Five trials, five access routes, and one identity problem the guides cannot agree on. Here is every pillar, what opens it, and what the Gold-Masked One actually guards.

By Parryline Staff Published Updated

The Lóng Pillars are five optional-looking trials that are not optional if you want the true ending. Each one is a boss encounter behind a traversal key, and each one hands over a fixed reward in the order you clear it. The confusing part is not the route. It is that older guides describe "three Gold-Masked One encounters," and there is no source behind that number.

Correction first: there are five Lóng Pillar trials, not three. The public sources split into two accounts: four pillars guarded by the Gold-Masked One with Mó Yuan as the fifth opponent, or all five guarded by the Gold-Masked One. This page does not claim three.

Who is the Gold-Masked One, and how many fights is it? #

The Gold-Masked One is also known as the Man in Black. He appears in the illusion Discordance, and his face and motion capture are performed by Donnie Yen. Mechanically, he is the recurring gatekeeper of Bloodline Awakening, which is why guides describe him as the pillar boss rather than a story boss.

The count is where the sources diverge. AllThingsHow describes the first four pillars as duels with the Gold-Masked One, with the fifth fought against Mó Yuan, Leader of the Bastion of Mó — a character players often mistake for the Gold-Masked One. ShowGamer and gamer.org describe all five as Gold-Masked One fights. All three agree on the fifth reward, the Bastion of Mó Mask, so the disagreement is about the opponent's identity, not the loot.

Account First four pillars Fifth pillar Source
4 + 1 Gold-Masked One Mó Yuan, Leader of the Bastion of Mó AllThingsHow
5 + 0 Gold-Masked One Gold-Masked One ShowGamer, gamer.org
3 encounters No source supports this None

All five pillar locations #

Pillar numbers below are map positions for reference only. The game numbers the trials by the order you finish them, so you can start with the Crimson Forest pillar and it will count as Trial 1.

Pillar Location Nearest bell / distance Access requirement
1 Weeping Creek Valley, east side Bell beside the pillar, about 35 m; Long Pillar Overlook bell about 165 m Sha-Chi Tower Base Camp Gate Key to open the east side, plus the Rusted Loong Key for the cave door
2 Crimson Forest, near the Mirrorwood start Mirrorwood Lóng Pillar bell, about 25 m Defeat Iron Fever, leave the main path, then use the Hunter's Chain Sickle grapple to cross the gap
3 Meigu Lake, eastern islet Midlake Lóng Pillar Dock bell, about 25 m Requires the boat; the island also has regular enemies such as the Butcher
4 Phantom Illusionist domain (Discordance) Four Guardians' Mirror bell, about 70 m All four Acolyte masks; enter through the mirror northwest of Meigu Lake; use the Dread Axe to break the barrier
5 Mirage Estate Mirage Estate Lóng Pillar bell, about 35 m Enter Mirage Estate, turn back near Willow Pavilion and use the Chain Sickle grapple

The fifth pillar is the reason Bloodline Awakening cannot be completed before Mirage Estate. The first four are reachable earlier, but the fifth sits inside the estate, so a "finish everything before the bridge" plan still has one step left after crossing.

The access route, step by step #

  1. Open the Weeping Creek Valley pillar

    Use Hunt's Scythes to reach the key at the top of Sha-Chi Tower and unlock the eastern pillar area. The cave door also needs the Rusted Loong Key.

  2. Cross to the Crimson Forest pillar

    After the Iron Fever arena, leave the main path near the start of Mirrorwood and use the Hunter's Chain Sickle grapple to cross to the far bank.

  3. Take the boat to the Meigu Lake pillar

    The third pillar stands on the islet east of Meigu Lake. You need the boat to reach it, and the island has regular enemies as well as the trial.

  4. Enter the Phantom Illusionist pillar

    Collect all four Acolyte masks, enter the Phantom Illusionist domain through the mirror northwest of Meigu Lake, and use the Dread Axe to break the barrier around the fourth pillar.

  5. Turn back in Mirage Estate for the fifth pillar

    After entering Mirage Estate, turn around near Willow Pavilion and use the Chain Sickle grapple. The fifth pillar is inside the estate, so Bloodline Awakening cannot be finished before you enter.

  6. Treat the Sha-Chi bar as the health bar

    Parry the blue flash, dodge the red, and do not attack in the middle of a combo. The trial ends when the enemy's Sha-Chi bar empties and you take the guard-break punish.

How the trial fight works #

The sources agree on the shape of the fight even where they disagree on the opponent. The health bar is not the real target; the Sha-Chi bar is. Parries and Sha-Chi combos drain it, and only an empty bar opens the damage window.

Rule What it means in practice
Drain Sha-Chi, do not race the health bar Your damage before a guard break is mostly cosmetic. Spend the early part of the fight parrying and building posture damage.
Blue flash means parry, red means dodge Same rule as every other fight. If you are not sure you can counter safely, dodge instead of gambling on the parry.
Do not attack mid-combo He can counter-hit during his own strings. Wait for the full sequence to end before stepping in.
Punish only after the break Use your heaviest combo when the guard breaks, then stop before he recovers. Greeding the extra hit is how the punish turns into a trade.
You can leave The first pillar is reachable early, but that does not mean you should fight it early. Come back with later weapons and accessories if the damage feels too low.

The gear list the sources give is a suggestion, not a requirement: Jagged Steel for bleed damage in short windows, Quick Hand Pendant for 10% more one-handed damage, Ancient Armor Fragment for up to 20% damage reduction at full health, Jewel's Knot for 10% maximum HP and Resonance Talisman for 15% maximum Sha-Chi. The defensive pieces are there because the fight punishes greedy attacks more than slow ones.

Rewards in completion order #

Win Reward Type Effect
1 Counterstrike Bracers Accessory +20% damage for 2 seconds after a parry
2 Miraculous Scabbard Accessory Super Armor and 25% damage reduction for 2 seconds when you switch main weapons
3 The Quenched Flaming Grip Soul Tempering material Repairs the Flaming Grip when the fragments are collected; used to Soul Temper Sanguine Reach
4 Chaos Iron Fragment I Soul Tempering material Used to repair the Chaos Twin Daggers and Soul Temper Sanguine Twin
5 Bastion of Mó Mask Soul Tempering material Used to Soul Temper Sanguine

The first two rewards feed the parry playstyle directly, which is why the pillar trials are worth doing even on a save that is not chasing the true ending. The last three are materials, not equippable items, so they only matter if you are upgrading the matching Sanguine variants.

TODO

The attack differences, health, level and damage of the five encounters are not covered by any source. One guide explicitly says the per-encounter differences "have not been fully established." The fifth opponent's identity is also unconfirmed. Neither gap is filled with a guess here.

FAQ #

How many times do you fight the Gold-Masked One?

Four or five times depending on the source. One guide says the first four Lóng Pillars are guarded by the Gold-Masked One and the fifth by Mó Yuan; two others say all five are the Gold-Masked One. No source supports the older three-encounter claim.

Where are the five Lóng Pillars?

Weeping Creek Valley in the east, Crimson Forest near the Mirrorwood start, the eastern islet at Meigu Lake, the Phantom Illusionist domain reached through the mirror northwest of Meigu Lake, and Mirage Estate near Willow Pavilion.

Does the order of the Lóng Pillars matter?

No. You can clear the five trials in any order. The game numbers them by the order you complete them, not by their position on the map, so the same pillar can be Trial 1 in one save and Trial 4 in another.

What does each Lóng Pillar reward?

In completion order: Counterstrike Bracers, Miraculous Scabbard, Quenched Flaming Grip, Chaos Iron Fragment I and Bastion of Mó Mask. The first two are accessories; the last three are Soul Tempering materials.

Who is the fifth pillar boss: Mó Yuan or the Gold-Masked One?

The sources conflict. AllThingsHow names Mó Yuan, Leader of the Bastion of Mó, and says players often mistake him for the Gold-Masked One. ShowGamer and gamer.org say the fifth fight is still the Gold-Masked One. All three agree the reward is the Bastion of Mó Mask.

Do you need all five pillars for the true ending?

Yes. Bloodline Awakening requires all five trials, and the true ending requires Bloodline Awakening plus a completed Secrets at the Heart of the Lake. Missing even one pillar gives Lóng's Roar instead of Final Battle.

Parryline Staff

Editorial team

We test on a fresh save on the current build. Anything we have not confirmed stays marked as a TODO instead of being filled in with a guess. Read our editorial standards.

Sources #

Where the pillar locations, rewards and conflict come from (accessed Nov 7, 2026)

Screenshots and credits

  • No third-party screenshots, key art or soundtrack files are used on this page; every figure here is written from testing notes and the sources listed above.
  • When screenshots are added, they will be captured by Parryline during normal gameplay, and each caption will name the platform and build plus the capture method.

Data is based on the current version of Phantom Blade Zero. Last updated . Spotted something out of date? Tell us with a screenshot and we will re-test it.

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