The Fate Incense Burner at Halo Peak is the hub for the antiques system in Where Winds Meet. It does not work like a normal interactable object you can simply walk up to and use. The burner only comes to life once you complete a specific progression requirement in Qinghe and hand an item to the NPC standing next to it.
What the Fate Incense Burner does
The Fate Incense Burner in Halo Peak is tied to four things:
- Revealing clues for antiques in the Qinghe region, including rough locations and item identities.
- Recovering antiques you recycled from your inventory, for a small in-game fee.
- Helping you finish all antiques in a region, which is required for earning Concealed Edge.
- Serving as the practical payoff for the “Antiques” and “Traces of the Past” system that Qingxuan explains at Halo Peak.
Until you unlock it properly, the burner will appear unlit and cannot be interacted with, even if you can see it on the map.
How to unlock the Fate Incense Burner (Qinghe Memories requirement)
The incense burner at Halo Peak only activates after you obtain the Qinghe Memories item and hand it to Qingxuan, the monk-like NPC near the burner. Using Qinghe Memories directly in your bag only pings the burner’s location; it does not light it.
Step 1: Raise your Qinghe Exploration level to six. Exploration experience in Qinghe comes from general play in the region: discovering locations, completing content, and interacting with its systems. Reaching level six grants the Qinghe Memories item as a reward.
Step 2: Open your bag and confirm that you have the Qinghe Memories item. It functions as the key to the incense burner. If you trigger “Use” on it, you will see the Halo Peak burner’s location marked, but the burner still remains inactive until you complete the next step.
Step 3: Travel to Halo Peak and find Qingxuan, the NPC standing close to the large incense burner. He talks about Antiques, Traces of the Past, and Concealed Edges, and initially asks you to offer “Karma” to activate the burner.
Step 4: Give Qinghe Memories to Qingxuan when prompted. Although the dialogue mentions Karma, the actual requirement is handing over the Qinghe Memories item itself. Once you do this, Qingxuan completes a short interaction, and the Fate Incense Burner becomes lit and usable.
After this one-time handoff, the burner remains active, and you can interact with it whenever you visit Halo Peak.
What if Qinghe Memories is missing?
Some players reach Qinghe Exploration level six and either never notice the Qinghe Memories reward or can no longer find it in their bag. There is no separate, documented re-earn requirement for the Memories item itself; it is tied directly to that exploration rank reward.
If the problem is not the Memories but other antiques you lost along the way, you can fix that at the burner once it is active. A monk associated with the system allows you to pay in-game money to reclaim antiques that were recycled. These antiques reappear in your inventory in a “repaired” state.
Why the burner is not burning or interactable
Several common issues lead to players finding the Fate Incense Burner but being unable to interact with it:
- Qinghe Memories has not been handed in to Qingxuan yet. The burner stays unlit until that happens.
- The player only used Qinghe Memories from the inventory, which pings the burner’s location but does not count as unlocking it.
- The required NPC is not present at the burner due to in-game time.
Once you resolve these, the burner will appear lit with smoke and can be used normally.
How to find Qingxuan or the monk if they are missing
Occasionally, players reach Halo Peak and see the incense burner but no monk or NPC beside it.
Step 1: Open the in-game time controls and adjust the time of day. NPC schedules in Where Winds Meet can place certain characters only within specific windows.
Step 2: Set the time to roughly late morning, around 9:00 to 11:00 in-game. This window is known to make the monk at Halo Peak appear for players who initially find the spot empty.
Step 3: Once the time is changed, re-approach the Fate Incense Burner area. Qingxuan (or the monk tied to antiques and the burner) should now be present next to the burner, ready to accept Qinghe Memories.
If you still do not see the NPC after adjusting the time, double-check that you are at the correct incense burner on Halo Peak rather than a different ritual object elsewhere in the world.
How to use the Fate Incense Burner once it is active
After Qingxuan accepts Qinghe Memories and lights the burner, it becomes a permanent utility for antique hunting in Qinghe.
Step 1: Interact with the lit Fate Incense Burner at Halo Peak. A menu opens that lists antiques associated with the Qinghe region.
Step 2: Select an antique entry to receive a clue. Each clue states the antique’s name and roughly where to look for it in the world. For example, one clue describes the Tang Palace Hairpin and explains that it lies at a lone grave in the deepest part of the Gleaming Abyss. Clues give general directions and context, not full Traces of the Past solutions.
Step 3: Use the antique clue in combination with your Journal and map. Antiques are not marked directly on the world map, so clues narrow down the area and context rather than giving a waypoint. Look for locations tied to events, battles, or notable characters mentioned in the clue text.
Step 4: Return to the burner whenever you want to check remaining antiques in Qinghe. The list tracks which antiques exist in the region and which ones still need to be found, which makes it easier to see what is missing for regional completion.
Recovering recycled antiques at the incense burner
Many antiques in Where Winds Meet double as equipment, so it is easy to accidentally recycle them into upgrade materials before realizing they belong to the antiques system. The Fate Incense Burner mitigates that mistake.
Step 1: With the burner active, interact with it and look for the option to retrieve antiques. The interface lets you browse antiques that the game considers recoverable.
Step 2: Spend in-game money to reclaim a recycled antique. The fee is relatively small. The antique returns to your inventory so you can once again equip it, read its lore, and use it in Traces of the Past.
This recovery function allows players who cleaned out their inventory early to still fully engage with antiques and their associated systems without restarting progress.
How antiques, Traces of the Past, and Concealed Edge connect to the incense burner
The Fate Incense Burner sits inside a broader structure built around antiques:
- Antiques are special items scattered through most regions. They are often found in places with clear narrative context, such as a battlefield, a tower where a duel occurred, or near important NPCs. Many can be equipped as armour, weapons, or accessories.
- Traces of the Past represent deeper stories or hidden conditions tied to each antique. Item descriptions usually hint at what you must do to “activate” an antique as a true collectible. For example, Ye Wanshan’s armour points you toward a monk who should inherit it; meeting that monk unlocks its Traces of the Past.
- Traceable antiques in your bag highlight items whose stories are not fully resolved yet. Filtering the bag to “Traceable” surfaces every antique with remaining Traces of the Past.
The incense burner’s role is to:
- List all antiques that exist within Qinghe, so you know what is missing.
- Grantfor each of those antiques.
- Let you fix earlier inventory mistakes by buying back recycled antiques.
Once you have tracked down and fully registered all antiques in a region using these tools and the Traces of the Past system, the reward escalates.
Using antiques and the burner to earn Concealed Edge
Concealed Edge is the ultimate reward that ties together antiques, the Fate Incense Burner, and regional completion.
Upon collecting every antique in a full region, you earn a Concealed Edge. For Qinghe, this means finishing all antiques across its composite areas such as Verdant Wilds, Moonveil Mountain, and Sundara Land. The requirement is the entire large region, not just one shrine or sub-area.
Once you have found all antiques in one of these large regions, return to Qingxuan at Halo Peak. He grants one Concealed Edge for each region you have fully completed.
Concealed Edge has a more specialized use:
- It can transform certain weapons into accessories. Despite the broad flavor text, only a small subset of weapons qualify.
- At the moment, only Swords and Spears appear to be eligible for conversion, and even within those categories, only specific items work.
Step 1: After receiving a Concealed Edge, open your inventory and interact with the Concealed Edge item from the menu.
Step 2: When you use Concealed Edge, the game highlights every weapon you own that can be turned into an accessory. Choose one of the highlighted weapons to permanently convert it.
This conversion is one of the main long-term payoffs for thoroughly using the Fate Incense Burner, finishing antiques, and resolving Traces of the Past within each major region.
Once Qinghe Memories has been handed to Qingxuan and the Fate Incense Burner is lit, it becomes a reliable tool rather than a confusing, dormant prop. Use it to track your antique progress in Qinghe, correct earlier inventory mistakes, and steadily work your way toward Concealed Edge rewards for your sword and spear collection.
