The Scammer Victims encounter in Where Winds Meet looks like a simple Qinghe side story, but it hides a few traps of its own. The quest can refuse to appear, it burns 3,000 coins, and it quietly locks in the Art of Resistance Inner Way tome and a unique pose.
Where Scammer Victims starts and what you need first
Scammer Victims is an Encounter-type side quest in the Qinghe region. It triggers near Zhang Yihao, the Well of Heaven disciple who stands on the cliff path above the Mysterious Outpost.
| Quest type | Region | Start NPC / trigger | Main prerequisite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Encounter side quest | Qinghe | Approach Zhang Yihao on the cliff near Mysterious Outpost | Initiation: Well of Heaven Elder exploration quest |
You must finish Initiation: Well of Heaven Elder before the encounter can spawn. That quest chain involves Zhang Yihao and the Nine Mortal Ways, and it effectively “unlocks” him as the hook for Scammer Victims.
Some players also report the encounter only appearing after progressing the main story into Chapter 2 – Universal Furnace or after finishing an “Easy Street” style quest chain. If you have cleared the Well of Heaven initiation and Scammer Victims still won’t appear, move your story forward by a chapter and then return to Qinghe to check again.
How to trigger Scammer Victims (and fix the missing encounter bug)
Even with the prerequisites done, Scammer Victims is notorious for not spawning when it should. Several interacting systems can block it: encounter caps, time gating, and a cooldown on failed trigger attempts.
Trigger rules that matter
- Encounter cap: You can only have three Encounter quests active at once. If three are already in your log, Scammer Victims will not spawn.
- Real-time cooldown: If you visited Zhang’s cliff without meeting requirements, there is a reported ~30-minute real-time cooldown before a new encounter trigger can roll again at that spot.
- Quest progress dependency: Specific Encounter chains (“Leaf/Leaves from Kaifeng” and similar) and the Well of Heaven initiation line can block Scammer Victims until they are finished.
Standard workaround from Well of Heaven Elder completion
Method 1 – Game8-style workaround
Step 1: Finish Initiation: Well of Heaven Elder. Once the exploration quest is fully resolved, use the time-skip feature to advance the in-game clock by around five to six days.
Step 2: Start any Encounter or Exploration quest. You do not need to complete it; perform at least one objective so the game registers active progress.
Step 3: Check your quest log and ensure you have at most two active Encounters. If you already have three, use the “Give up” option on one or more encounters until you drop to two or fewer.
Step 4: From Qinghe, move down the cliff path toward the Mysterious Outpost beneath Zhang Yihao’s usual position. Reach roughly the outpost level along the path.
Step 5: Turn around and walk back up toward the tree and cliff edge where Zhang stands. The Scammer Victims encounter should trigger before you reach the tree.
Step 6: If nothing happens, log out to the title screen, wait out the ~30-minute encounter cooldown, then log back in and repeat from Step 1 with a fresh time skip.
Alternative community fixes when Scammer Victims is still missing
Scammer Victims can be blocked by a variety of earlier choices and unfinished content. The following patterns have consistently resolved the issue for different players:
Method 2 – Clear encounter clutter and respect cooldowns
Step 1: Open your quest log and look at the Encounters section. If three encounters are listed, use “Give up” to abandon some of them until you have zero to two active Encounters.
Step 2: If you have any multi-part “Leaf/Leaves from Kaifeng” style encounter chain, fully complete at least one of those segments before returning to Qinghe.
Step 3: Wait at least 30 real-world minutes from your last failed attempt to spawn Scammer Victims near Zhang Yihao, then fast travel back into Qinghe and walk toward his cliff trigger zone again.
In many cases, simply freeing up encounter slots and respecting the cooldown has been enough for the encounter to appear automatically in the log as soon as the player returned to Qinghe or stepped near the cliff.
Method 3 – Interacting again with Zhang Yihao and sect status
The quest chain tied to Well of Heaven and Nine Mortal Ways can also gate the encounter. Several variations have worked:
Step 1: Make sure you have finished the Well of Heaven/Nine Mortal Ways initiation conversation line involving the jewelry bag theft from Zhang Yihao.
Step 2: Visit Zhang Yihao again and attempt to steal his valuables once more if the option is present. Some players found that re-stealing the bag, then advancing time by two to three days, caused a follow-up encounter from the original owner and later unlocked Scammer Victims.
Step 3: If you are currently a member of the Well of Heaven sect and nothing else works, leave the sect, re-approach Zhang, and check if the encounter appears when you are sectless. Others have reported the reverse: completing Well of Heaven initiation while not committing to Nine Mortal Ways and remaining sectless, then returning later, finally triggered the encounter.
Method 4 – Progress the main story and other content
If all of the targeted workarounds fail, a blunt but effective approach is to push other content forward.
Step 1: Progress the main campaign into Chapter 2 – Universal Furnace and finish the early chapter quests (including the “grandma” story segment reported as a soft gate by some players).
Step 2: While doing that, complete two or more other Encounters in your log so that new encounter slots are freed regularly.
Step 3: After these, teleport back to Qinghe or to a Boundary Stone near Zhang Yihao’s cliff. For several players, Scammer Victims appeared instantly in the Encounter list as they arrived in Qinghe or when they next walked up to the cliff tree.
Full Scammer Victims walkthrough (step-by-step)
Once Scammer Victims finally triggers, the quest itself is straightforward but slightly cruel. You are asked to help supposed victims of Nine Mortal Ways scams and end up being played.
Step 1: Talk to Zhang Yihao on the cliff.
He explains that scams run by Nine Mortal Ways disciples have drained Well of Heaven’s resources. He sends you to meet someone called Chengshi near the Porcelain Kiln to “settle the matter.”
Step 2: Meet “Chengshi” at the pagoda tree by Porcelain Kiln.
Travel to the big, old pagoda tree near the Porcelain Kiln. A man claiming to be Fang Chengshi sits on a rock at the base of the tree. He calls you the thirty-eighth victim to come asking for help and tells you to find other victims where Nine Mortal Ways disciples usually gather.
Step 3: Rescue the first victim at Finesteed Hamlet.
Fast travel to Finesteed Hamlet if you have its Boundary Stone. The first “victim” is stuck up in a tree surrounded by aggressive geese. Speak to him, defeat the geese, then talk to him again. He demands payment for his troubles; hand over 1,000 coins.
Step 4: Help the second victim at Harvestfall Village.
Head to Harvestfall Village. The second man lies on the beach beside a cooking pot, too hungry to talk. Interact with the pot and cook Steaming Hot Noodles for him. After eating, he blames you for his swollen tongue and only calms down if you pay another 1,000 coins.
Step 5: Free the third victim near Porcelain Kiln.
Return near Porcelain Kiln, but this time climb over the fence and up the cliff to the left of the entrance. On the far side is a blocked cave mouth marked with red cloth, with a trapped man named Long Zai calling out from inside.
Step 6: Blow open the cave and pay Long Zai.
Grab the nearby explosive barrels located to the left of the cave entrance and drag them in front of the blocked opening. Use a Fire Arrow to ignite the barrels and clear the rubble. Talk to Long Zai, then cover his “medical fees” with yet another 1,000 coins.
Step 7: Return to the pagoda tree and follow the tracks.
Go back to the pagoda tree where Chengshi was waiting. He is gone. Activate Wind Sense and follow the highlighted footprints leading away from the tree. Eventually, you reach bushes overlooking a meeting spot; hide there and eavesdrop on a conversation between the three “victims” and the fake Chengshi.
At this point, it becomes clear you have been scammed. All of them are Nine Mortal Ways disciples working together.
Step 8: Confront the fake Chengshi with the real Fang Chengshi present.
The real Fang Chengshi arrives, exposing the imposter. A fight breaks out. Defeat the fake Chengshi in combat. Once he realizes he is losing, he throws a money bag at you and flees.
Step 9: Check the money bag and complete the encounter.
Inspect the money bag. It is full of counterfeit coins, underlining the theme of the quest. At this point, Scammer Victims complete,s and your rewards are granted.
Scammer Victims rewards
Despite the in-world scam, the mechanical rewards for finishing Scammer Victims are solid, especially if you are collecting Inner Ways.
| Reward | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Art of Resistance – Tome | Inner Way unlock item | Grants access to the Art of Resistance Inner Way in your Inner Ways menu. |
| Pose – Play Dead | Pose / cosmetic | New pose emote that fits the quest’s theme of feigned misfortune. |
| Echo Jade ×50 | Currency | Premium currency used for various systems. |
| Qinghe Exploration ×50 | Exploration points | Progress toward 100% in the Qinghe region. |
| Enlightenment Points ×100 | Progression currency | Used to improve character growth. |
| Character EXP ×15,000 | Experience | Applied directly to your current character level. |
| Coin ×15,000 | Currency | Net gain still positive even after paying out 3,000 coins during the scam. |
Functionally, the key reward is the Art of Resistance – Tome, which unlocks the associated Inner Way listed in the game’s Inner Ways compendium. If you are chasing specific build synergies or simply want every Inner Way available, Scammer Victims is mandatory.
Once Scammer Victims is out of the way, Zhang Yihao’s cliff becomes far less mysterious. The encounter is a small narrative joke about gullibility, but mechanically it is a gate for a valuable Inner Way and a handful of progression currencies. If it refuses to show up, clearing extra encounters, finishing the Well of Heaven initiation, waiting out the encounter cooldown, and revisiting the area later in the story are the levers that actually move it.
