How to Use the Lift on the Mountain of Imprisonment in Phantom Blade Zero

Quick answer: Use E on the metal switch box next to the wooden lift house to install the Missing Lift Crank. If the house is raised, press E on the box again to bring it down; then enter and press E.

The lift on the Mountain of Imprisonment sits at the bottom of a cliffside plank path that starts at Liu Yi’s cage. Liu Yi points you toward it, telling you to follow the path to find a lift. The walk has no enemies and no fights, so the only thing you need to bring is the Missing Lift Crank.

How to reach the lift from Liu Yi

Walk past Liu Yi’s cage along the plank deck until you reach the edge. Press Space to jump onto the rock.

Soul on the rock past Liu Yi's cage on the way to the lift in Phantom Blade Zero

Stay on the boards beside the rock and follow them to their end. Hold W, then press Space to leap to the ledge bearing a lantern.

From the lantern ledge, continue along the boards. The route tracks the cliff downward to the lift area.

Cliff ledge on the plank route to the lift in Phantom Blade Zero

How to work the lift

The lift is the whole wooden house, not a separate platform. Operate it using the metal switch box beside the house; chains and a tall frame are behind the box, with a brazier nearby.

E prompt on the lift switch box in Phantom Blade Zero

Approach the switch box and press E with the Missing Lift Crank in your inventory. The first interaction fits the crank into the box; its handle will be visible there once inserted.

Soul inserting the crank into the lift switch box in Phantom Blade Zero

Look to see if the lift house is present. An exposed shaft showing chains and gears means the house is at the top. Press E at the box again to lower it; it returns in about 15 seconds. If the house is already down, pressing E sends it up.

Open lift shaft with chains after the house goes up in Phantom Blade Zero

Walk into the lift house and press E once you’re standing inside it. The house climbs about 49 m in roughly 10 seconds, and you step off at the top of the shaft.

Inside the lift house in Phantom Blade Zero

The switch box only calls the house down or sends it up empty.

Lift house rising past the rock wall in Phantom Blade Zero

What is at the top of the lift

Step off the lift at the top of the Mountain of Imprisonment and walk a short way to the wooden barred gate set into the rock. Press E when the prompt appears. It opens without a key.

Barred gate with an E prompt at the top of the lift in Phantom Blade Zero

Enter the open yard, where red candles are scattered about. A large red double gate fitted with lion-head door rings stands within view of a bell.

Barred gate open onto the yard at the top of the lift in Phantom Blade Zero

Leave the red gate alone for now. Its E prompt shows a red key symbol; pressing E only makes your character rattle it, since the gate is locked. The item card for the Shrine Gate Key reads: “The key to the mountain gate on the only path to the shrine. It was hidden within the caverns by Huangxing’s personal guards.”

Locked red gate with a key icon in the yard above the lift in Phantom Blade Zero

Walk to the bell at the edge of the yard and press E to ring it. The Mountain of Imprisonment map now shows “Shrine Outer Gate”, and dying from here on returns you to this bell.

Shrine Outer Gate bell with an E prompt in Phantom Blade Zero

The lift house may not be at the upper stop. If it is away, an exposed shaft crossed by a beam is left behind. Step into it and you’ll fall to your death, returning to the last bell you rang. When the house is parked at the top, standing inside won’t display an E prompt. Check that the house is in place before heading toward it.

What you find around the lift

A headless figure kneels with a staff near the lift. Press E to inspect it. The game describes him as “A master worthy of respect, but he faced an enemy he could not defeat” and adds “His head was taken clean off. Was the killer using something like a flying guillotine?”

Headless kneeling master near the lift in Phantom Blade Zero

A corpse near the lift carries the book FRAGMENTS OF THE MANDATE. Its page “THE LIFT LEVER HAS BEEN STOLEN” explains why the crank went missing in the first place:

The Lift Lever Has Been Stolen book page in Phantom Blade Zero

“Huangxing’s personal guards came to seize the lift switch, only for the madwoman Kui Yanyan to charge in. This Maskwalker is notorious for setting up pots on the mountain road and boiling people alive. She is utterly deranged.”
“In the chaos, the switch fell into the madwoman’s hands. Brothers, hold your positions for now. We will lure Huangxing’s guards into fighting her and reap the benefits once both sides are weakened!”

The corpse spot also yields about 5,700 Remnant Dust.

A short walk from the lift’s switch box, a note sits at the red shrine. It goes into the PRAYERS AND VOWS collection as the page “PRAYER DEFACED BY THE WUDANG SECT”, and it reads: “Brother Chen, How can those of us who follow the righteous path pray for blessings from a wicked cult? Try to draw me into this faith again, and do not blame your younger brother for severing all ties with you! Lu Chongyun of Wudang”

Prayer Defaced by the Wudang Sect note by the lift in Phantom Blade Zero