The Journey Home in Phantom Blade Zero: How to Finish Old Man Gen’s Quest Without Failing It

Quick answer: Accept Old Man Gen’s request while you’re still outside the Pangzhen backstreet. Reaching the backstreet after Town of Death with The Journey Home at its opening step causes the quest to fail.

How The Journey Home fails

That step can show either of these two objectives:

“Clear the Smuggler’s Tunnel, then return to Old Man Gen”
“Return to Village of Lu and tell Old Man Gen about the passage”

Once you’ve accepted his request, the quest proceeds into the backstreet rather than failing. Since the backstreet comes at the end of Town of Death, check your progress before you finish Town of Death. Look at your quest log. If The Journey Home is still on objective one, go back to Village of Lu and speak with Old Man Gen before entering the backstreet.

How to start The Journey Home

The Journey Home is a rumor-based side quest in Phantom Blade Zero, subtitled “Though this path leads to eternal ruin”. Old Man Gen gives you the quest. During the opening road chase, he is the elderly driver of Soul’s cart.

Old Man Gen driving the horse cart on the mountain road, Phantom Blade Zero

You encounter him again in Village of Lu, surrounded by puppets. Rescuing him starts the quest. He explains that the Smuggler’s Tunnel leads to Pangzhen and asks you to clear it to make the route safe. He also tells you about a girl traveling to Pangzhen.

All steps

Clear the tunnel. Your objective is “Clear the Smuggler’s Tunnel, then return to Old Man Gen”, which can also appear as “Return to Village of Lu and tell Old Man Gen about the passage”. The route through is covered in the Smuggler’s Tunnel walkthrough.

Go back to Old Man Gen in Village of Lu and accept his request. He explains that he has to find his wife in Pangzhen. They argued, he left town, and the plague hit afterward. When he asks for help, first choose “Immediately agree to Old Man Gen’s request” or “Not interested”, then choose “Agree to Old Man Gen’s Request” or “Refuse Old Man Gen’s request”. Accept both times.

Agreeing gets you Old Man Gen’s Brass Key. He tells you his house is in the Pangzhen backstreets and has a yellow lantern. The key’s card reads:

An old key passed down through generations, older even than Old Man Gen himself.

Old Man Gen's Brass Key item card, Phantom Blade Zero

The quest log moves to the next objective, which confirms you’re safe to enter the backstreet. If you refuse or don’t promise anything, he appears to ask you to pass a message to his wife instead, or says he’ll go into town himself.

Find his house. The objective reads “Find Old Man Gen’s old house in Pangzhen’s backstreets and learn his wife’s whereabouts.” Open “Old Man Gen’s Door” with the brass key. The Old Man Gen’s House bell is here too, and the rest are listed in the bells locations. Inside, his wife’s body lies on the bed holding the Dusty Old Wooden Comb. Take it. Its card reads:

A wooden comb left behind by the old woman. A thin layer of dust has settled on the parts her fingers never touched.

Dusty Old Wooden Comb item card, Phantom Blade Zero

Bring the comb back. The objective is “Give the Wooden Comb to Old Man Gen at the Village of Lu Gate”. Soul tells Gen his wife was holding it when Soul found her, and Gen grieves for his stubborn wife.

A different objective, “Find Old Man Gen in Pangzhen”, appears to belong to the branch where Gen went into town himself. On that path he is found dead, still clutching an old door key.

Rewards

If you chose to agree, Old Man Gen later gives you his armored war wagon. A vision at farewell shows him saying that he can finally see his wife again.

Reward	What it is
War Wagon	Phantom Edge
Old Man Gen’s Memory Flower	“THE FINAL ENTRUSTMENT”
Old Wooden Comb	“Used to Soul Temper the War Wagon.”
Together Till the End	Achievement: “Complete [The Journey Home]”

The Phantom Edge is covered in full in the War Wagon breakdown, and Gen’s flower joins the rest of the memory flowers. Spend the Old Wooden Comb through Soul Tempering on the wagon. Together Till the End unlocks when the quest completes, which confirms you’ve finished it, and it sits with the other Phantom Blade Zero achievements.