Reckless Pursuit is the Chapter 1 main quest in Phantom Blade Zero, which unlocks right after the opening prologue events of Diverging Paths. Bound by the Tainted Heart implanted by The Flesh Sculptor, Soul has only 66 days left to live. Riding toward the Pangzhen town, what starts as an ominous journey erupts into a high-octane carriage chase through the Shadowed Ravine.
Phantom Blade Zero Reckless Pursuit Quest Walkthrough
Road to Pangzhen
The chapter starts on a mountain road with Soul riding in the wooden carriage driven by a local named Old Man Gen. As the horses run forward, Gen spills the beans about something terrifying going on in the nearby town named Pangzhen.
A strange illness has swept through the town, leaving the residents in a zombie-like trance—dazed, drooling, and unresponsive, yet clinging to life. Witnesses claim to have seen lifelike wooden puppets stalking the borders, some drifting on strings while others walk unassisted. Soul thinks this disturbance is Soul Displacement, a forbidden craft from the Thread-Binding Sect.
Before you can learn more, pursuers catch up with the wagon, kicking off a frantic mounted fight. A quest true to its name!
Survive the Chase Fight
This chase is an on-rails trial to test your reflexes, defense, and how well you manage a crowd in tight quarters. Two mounted assassins trail behind the speeding wagon and shoot with ranged weapons.
- Auto-Block: Hold the Guard button to auto-deflect normal projectile fire. Keep eyes peeled on your yellow Sha-Chi meter beneath your health, as blocking steadily drains your stamina pool.
- Blue Flash Attacks: Enemies telegraph charged shots highlighted by a blue flash. Parry just before the projectile hits you to reflect it back at the shooter.
- Red Flash Attacks: Unblockable strikes glow red, which you should dodge either left or right to get out of the way. Successfully avoiding this volley triggers a camera shift cutscene as the horsemen pull right next to the carriage.
With the riders flanking both sides of the wagon, next up is the melee action. Lock onto one enemy at a time so you can keep your footing on the narrow boards. Deflect the usual blade strikes, but be wary of their attack finishers. You want to parry incoming blue flashes to stagger them, and dodge out of the way of red attacks.
Punish their recovery periods with standard attacks and Sha-Chi combos. Once you break a rider’s stance and reveal the execution marker, press Circle on controller or E on keyboard to perform execution and take the enemies down.
Two guards are down, and a third assassin drops down onto the carriage bed. Since it’s so cramped in there, dodge rolls make you bump into the railing or mess up your camera angles. You will have to rely mostly on parrying and guard deflections instead. Trade quick blows, parry his attacks, and execute him to clear the wagon deck.
The Hunt, Hunter of the Order Boss Fight
With his foot guards dead, The Hunt decides to enter the field. Wielding dual chain-sickles, this elite assassin of The Order intends to murder Soul to avenge Zuo Shang, The Order’s Shadow Sovereign. Because the duel happens on the moving carriage, footwork is restricted, and success depends if you can perfect parry and manage your Sha-Chi.
The Hunt’s Moveset and Counters
| Attack | Moveset | How to Counter |
|---|---|---|
| Chain-Sickle Swings | The Hunt delivers quick strings of close-range horizontal and diagonal slashes while standing on the carriage bed. | Parry on spot with each strike or block selectively. Avoid holding guard repeatedly, as the string block will drain your Sha-Chi meter and trigger a guard break. |
| Blue-Flash Dive (QTE) | The Hunt leaps into the air or perches on the lead horses with a bright blue flash before he dives toward Soul with both sickles. | Time a parry right as he descends to the wagon. A successful deflect triggers a quick-time event (QTE)—mash the mentioned button to reverse the grapple and deal heavy stagger damage. |
| Overhead Chain Swings | The Hunt grapples and swings from overhead branches or ropes and throws wide horizontal sickle slashes across the deck. | Deflect or block the sickle heads as they swing toward you. Avoid dodge rolls here because the cramped carriage boundaries make it easy to clip into the rails and take a hit. |
| Dual-Blade Blue Swipe | The boss sweeps out in wide arcs using both sickles, telegraphed by a blue and white shine across the blades. | Hold your ground and execute a timed parry right as the blades swing across your guard to interrupt his momentum and create an opening for a combo. |
| Surprise Drop Attack | The Hunt jumps skyward and completely vanishes into the mist above, then delivers a short voice line right before he crashes down on Soul. | Listen to his dialogue cue and immediately raise your guard or execute a dodge to avoid the heavy plunge and landing shockwave. |
Play defensively whenever The Hunt keeps his distance or perches on the horses, and focus just on deflecting his ranged chain throws. Once he’s back on the carriage, close the gap and unload standard combos combined with Sha-Chi attacks to delete his health bar.
Note: You don’t actually have to drain his full health, because getting The Hunt down to roughly 50% HP triggers the final cutscene.
Soul Flashback – Heart of Pangzhen
Soul ends the battle with a decisive strike to knock The Hunt back, but the wagon arrives at a broken bridge. With no way to stop, the horses leap into open air, and the carriage shatters into the gorge below. Soul leaps clear, slides down the rock precipice, and falls unconscious into the river of Weeping Creek Valley.
While unconscious, Soul relives a memory with The Flesh Sculptor, where the figure tells him about a mythic artifact hidden somewhere in Pangzhen—a heart that’s said to have the power to reform flesh and bring the dead back to life.
If Soul manages to get his hands on this relic and bring it back, Sculptor might be able to replace his infected organ and grant him life far beyond 66 days. Soul wakes up at the bottom of the ravine, which completes Reckless Pursuit and kicks off the next chapter quest, Against the Flow.
