Quick answer: Sect Leader He’s remaining body is in the red-thread hall past the Engine Giant Remains bell in the Village of Lu. Attacking it opens the sealed well for Heartless Remnants.
You reach Sect Leader He during Chapter 1 of Phantom Blade Zero, as part of the main quest Heartless Remnants. He isn’t a boss fight. What’s left of him is a stationary target that keeps the village well sealed. Destroying it completes a Memory Flower and pushes the quest forward.
Where Sect Leader He is
Start from the Engine Giant Remains bell. It’s a wooden cross surrounded by dozens of red candles on a plank floor, under a wooden hall lit in red. Its menu offers Traverse, Upgrade Equipment, Store, Train Abilities, Save and Leave, so this is a good place to upgrade and save before you head in.
From the bell, keep walking into the red-lit storehouse hall. It’s packed with crates and sacks, red threads run across the room, and red candles sit on the floor. Partway through, a lingering memory plays. It’s the echo of an Engine Art Master vowing that the Shenji School won’t allow such abominations to stay in the world. Push on until the room ahead is thick with red threads. Sect Leader He’s remaining body is inside.
How to destroy Sect Leader He’s remaining body
When you enter the thread-choked room, the hint “Attack the sect leader’s remaining body.” appears next to a huge fleshy mass pierced with swords and spears. That mass is your target.
The remaining body has 936 HP. It doesn’t move and doesn’t attack, so you can stand in front of it and hit it freely. On PATHBREAKER, the default difficulty, six hits and one art bring it down in about 13 seconds, and it costs you no health.
What happens when the remaining body is destroyed
The moment it breaks, the message “The threads sealing the well at the village entrance have vanished.” appears.
A short scene follows, showing the red threads over the well at the village entrance falling away.
Next, a memory plays. Sect Leader He introduces himself as He Guang of the Shenji School. He explains that he found Transcension devices in the caves, similar to the ones the Mandate sealed inside the Sha-Chi Towers. He describes a sickness that puts villagers into a sleep they never wake from and leaves their bodies like puppets. The villagers still awake, he says, follow the Lady of the Veil’s teachings so completely that they give up their own children. He blames whoever is behind this for poisoning their minds and swears that, even if he can’t destroy that master, human lives won’t be played with.
Here’s what you get out of it, and how to confirm it worked:
- A card for “MANDATE MASTERS’ MEMORY FLOWER” with the petal “III. THE CONSPIRACY”.
- Since it’s the third of three petals, the flower completes with “All Memory Remnants collected. HP increased +7%”.
- Petals I and II come from Master Bi Yuan’s and Master Bi Hai’s arenas.
- In the Quests tab, Heartless Remnants now shows the objective “Enter the well”, with the well marked on the Village of Lu map.
Leaving Sect Leader He’s room through the courtyard
A red-threaded crate wall in Sect Leader He’s room leads down to a courtyard below the hall.
Standing right beside that brazier sets Soul on fire and drains health, so give it a wide berth as you pass.
