Sword Seeker Chronicles in Zenless Zone Zero (v2.5) – Dates, Requirements, and Rewards

Sword Seeker Chronicles is a limited-time story and combat event in Zenless Zone Zero built around Ye Shunguang and the Qingming Sword. It combines a sandbox-style exploration map with fixed combat trials and a reward track that grants a free A-Rank W-Engine, Cauldron of Clarity, plus currency and upgrade items.

Sword Seeker Chronicles event schedule and requirements

The event runs in Version 2.5 from December 31, 2025, until February 5, 2026. All event stages and rewards sit inside that window; anything unclaimed when it ends is lost.

Two different unlock thresholds are referenced for this event:

• You must reach an appropriate Inter-Knot Level. Game event listings describe the requirement as Inter-Knot Lv. 20 or higher; some event descriptions mention Lv. 15 for earlier participation. In practice, you should aim for at least Lv. 20, so you comfortably meet all conditions.
• You must progress the story far enough. One set of conditions points to the Season 1 Chapter 1 Intermission in the main story. Another describes the requirement as having completed Ye Shunguang’s Agent Story “Mole in the Hole” and having access to the 2.0 zone Failume Heights. Both are part of the same general progression arc around Ye Shunguang and the Qingming Sword.

Once those criteria are satisfied, the event banner appears in the usual Events menu, and you can enter the Qingming Realm from there.

Structure of the Qingming Realm sandbox

At the center of Sword Seeker Chronicles is the Qingming Realm, a hollow area reshaped by the Qingming Sword. It functions as a small open map where you freely control Ye Shunguang, explore, and trigger combat and story beats.

The Qingming Realm supports several distinct activities:

• Main event quests tell the story of the hidden realm and the history of past swordmasters, from Big Pan of the Melt Iron Mercenaries to figures connected to Yunquay Summit.
• Sword Keeper's Trial stages are instanced combat encounters that unlock day by day and form the backbone of the event’s Sword Mastery income.
• Sword Collection Memories are exploration pickups scattered across the realm that add narrative fragments and grant more Sword Mastery.
• Mini Cargo Trucks and treasure chests provide extra materials and give you more reason to comb through every path and plateau.

The realm’s fiction also powers its mechanics. The Qingming Sword is actively watching Ye Shunguang’s choices and replaying echoes of famous swordmasters as trials. The narrative cutscenes where Ye talks to Belle, Shifu, Big Pan, and the memory of her brother are tied directly to the areas and stages you clear.

How to start playing Sword Seeker Chronicles

Step 1: Open the in-game Events menu once Version 2.5 is live and the date has reached December 31, 2025. Select the Sword Seeker Chronicles banner to access its event hub. If the banner does not appear, level your Inter-Knot Rank and push the main story until the relevant intermission or agent story is complete.

Step 2: From the event hub, choose the option that sends you into the Qingming Realm for the first time. A cutscene explains that Ye Shunguang heard a woman’s voice from the Qingming Sword, guiding her and Belle into a hidden realm created by the sword itself.

Step 3: Follow the initial quest markers. Early on, the event introduces a Shifu figure within the realm who explains that this is the “world of the sword” and sets your overall objective: seek out three extraordinary swords by reliving decisive moments from different swordmasters’ lives.

After this opening, the event branches into three key task types that you can rotate between: trying out characters in combat, unlocking Sword Will Resonance abilities, and gathering Sword Memories.

Trying out Ye Shunguang and Zhao in combat

The combat portion of Sword Seeker Chronicles is split into named stages under Sword Keeper's Trial, plus a final Nightmare Gauntlet.

• Each Sword Keeper's Trial stage uses fixed lineups that showcase Ye Shunguang and Zhao. You do not need to own either character to play them here.
• Combat scales through multiple days, from Trial I to Trial XII, before culminating in the Nightmare Gauntlet boss fight that represents the peak challenge of the realm.
• Clearing these trials is the most direct way to earn Sword Mastery, which feeds into your progression track and W-Engine reward.

Story cutscenes are woven through the trials. For example, one arc follows Big Pan in the early years of New Eridu as he struggles with fear of his own strength while fighting looters who transform into ethereals. Another arc focuses on Ye Shunguang’s brother and the question of who should bear the Qingming Sword’s curse. These scenes unlock organically as you push through each day’s combat set.

Sword Will Resonance and Ye Shunguang’s special abilities

Sword Will Resonance is the event’s progression layer for Ye Shunguang inside the Qingming Realm. It represents the Qingming Sword acknowledging her growth and grants exploration and combat bonuses when you unlock its nodes.

Step 1: Clear a mix of Sword Keeper's Trial stages and exploration content to earn Sword Mastery. Sword Mastery is the event currency that fuels Sword Will Resonance.

Step 2: In the event hub or Qingming Realm interface, open the Sword Will Resonance screen. This page lists several of Ye Shunguang’s special abilities tied to the Qingming Sword, including improved movement, enhanced combat tools, or other realm-specific perks.

Step 3: Spend Sword Mastery to unlock Resonance nodes. As you purchase more, the realm opens up—paths become easier to traverse, combat gets smoother, and the Qingming Sword feels more under Ye Shunguang’s control.

The narrative reinforces this progression. In dialogue, the Shifu entity and the “other” Qingming Sword voice comment on Ye’s increased control, her ability to perceive past causes and effects, and her evolving “sword will” that lets her stand alongside historic swordmasters rather than beneath them.

Collecting Sword Memories in the Qingming Realm

Sword Memories are scattered objects and viewpoints around the Qingming Realm that record key moments from swordmasters’ lives. Interacting with them grants Sword Mastery and expands the lore.

Step 1: While roaming the realm, keep an eye out for interactable markers tied to Sword Memories. These often sit near landmarks that feel significant to the cutscenes you’ve seen—battlefields, statues, bells, and similar focal points.

Step 2: Activate each Sword Memory to watch or read the attached scene. Examples include Big Pan’s turning point when he chooses to draw his blade despite his fear, or echoes of swordmasters facing disasters in Aridu and arguing whether to use cursed bells or forbidden tools.

Step 3: Return periodically to the Sword Will Resonance screen to spend the extra Sword Mastery you accumulate from memories and chests. This keeps your exploration and combat strength in step with the event’s difficulty curve.

Collecting memories is not only for completionists. It meaningfully feeds the corruption-delay mechanic the Qingming Sword describes at the end of the realm: the more swordmasters’ journeys you witness and carry within your own sword will, the slower the weapon’s corruption advances on its current keeper.

Clearing the Nightmare Gauntlet and earning the event title

The Nightmare Gauntlet is the final combat challenge that unlocks on the fourth day alongside the last set of Sword Keeper's Trials. It pits you against the boss of the Qingming Realm, framed as the culmination of Ye Shunguang’s trials inside the sword.

Step 1: Make sure you have unlocked a sufficient amount of Sword Will Resonance nodes before attempting the Nightmare Gauntlet. Extra mobility, survivability, or damage bonuses applied in the realm can make the difference between success and a narrow wipe.

Step 2: Enter the Nightmare Gauntlet from the event hub once it appears. Expect a multi-phase boss fight that revisits mechanics and enemy types from earlier trials but with tighter tuning and less margin for error.

Step 3: Defeat the boss at least once. Doing so grants the event-specific title “The Swordmaster Who Sunders the Sky,” which you can then equip through the usual titles interface.

Even after clearing the Nightmare Gauntlet, the realm’s final scenes emphasize that Ye Shunguang’s relationship with the Qingming Sword is ongoing. The sword hints at a deeper solution to its corruption “beyond the door” that she is not yet qualified to reach, setting up future content while giving closure to this event’s storyline.

All major rewards from Sword Seeker Chronicles

Sword Seeker Chronicles offers a mix of account-wide rewards and cosmetics tied to Belle and Wise. Most of them are earned simply by playing through all stages and spending Sword Mastery efficiently.

Free A-Rank W-Engine: Cauldron of Clarity

The headline reward is the event-exclusive A-Rank W-Engine Cauldron of Clarity. It comes with:

• The weapon itself, granted through the event’s reward track once you reach the required Sword Mastery total.
• Exclusive enhancement and overlock materials for Cauldron of Clarity, allowing you to upgrade it without dipping heavily into regular resource pools.

Cauldron of Clarity is positioned as a strong A-Rank option for appropriate characters, making it particularly valuable for players who want to strengthen their roster without spending Premium currency.

Event currencies, consumables, and progression items

Clearing stages and completing missions in Sword Seeker Chronicles awards a range of familiar items:

• Polychrome for signal searches.
• Hamster Cage Pass, used for the game’s relevant systems.
• Original Chip, which feeds into W-Engine acquisition or enhancement.
• Denny, standard currency for various upgrades.
• W-Engine Energy Modules and other upgrade materials.

All of these drop from the event’s missions and combat stages. None require co-op or external modes; everything is contained within the Qingming Realm event flow.

Cosmetics and title rewards

On the cosmetic side, Sword Seeker Chronicles grants:

• Suibian Temple earrings for Belle and Wise. These are accessory pieces tied to their Suibian Temple outfits and expand your Proxy Wardrobe customization options.
• The Swordmaster Who Sunders the Sky title, unlocked by completing the Nightmare Gauntlet at least once.

Once unlocked, these cosmetics and the title are permanent additions to your account, independent of the event’s end date.

Sword Seeker Chronicles is built to be self-contained: reach the progression threshold, enter the Qingming Realm, follow Ye Shunguang’s story across its four days of unlocks, and you naturally collect the Sword Mastery needed for Cauldron of Clarity, currency bundles, cosmetics, and the event title. As long as you clear every Sword Keeper's Trial and take the time to explore for Sword Memories before February 5, 2026, nothing important is out of reach.