The Path of Heroes in Where Winds Meet – full encounter walkthrough

The Path of Heroes is an Encounter quest in Where Winds Meet that plays out in Harvestfall Village and around Encircling Lake in Qinghe. It starts with children bragging about their fathers and ends with a genuine rescue and a solid bundle of Echo Jade, Coins, and experience.

Path of Heroes quest location and how to start it

Step 1: Travel to Harvestfall Village in Qinghe and head to the large training arena on the eastern side of the village. The encounter trigger sits at the entrance to the training grounds.

Step 2: Approach the entrance until an Encounter prompt appears and a group of kids spawns to the right of the gate. Talk to the children who are arguing about whose father is the real hero. One of them, Yan A'niu, insists that his father once fought alongside Tian Ying.

Step 3: Let the conversation play out. Yan Datie, A'niu’s father, shows up and takes his son away, leaving the argument unresolved.

Recover the lost charm and speak to Yan Datie

Step 1: After the cutscene ends and the kids disperse, look around the training ground near the haystack/hay bale. There is a small object on the ground – a wooden charm.

Step 2: Interact with it to obtain the Worn Protective Charm. The inscription reads “A gift to my friend Datie from Ying,” which is the proof A'niu claimed to have.

Step 3: Leave the arena and find Yan Datie just outside the training area. Talk to him and hand over the charm. During the dialogue, you also uncover a crude letter stating that A'niu has been taken and that Datie must “find Tian Ying” if he wants his son back.

Step 4: When the first conversation ends, talk to Datie again and choose the first dialogue option to confirm that you are ready to depart. This confirmation is required to advance; if you walk away here, the quest will not continue.

Travel to Encircling Lake and investigate Tian Ying’s traces

Step 1: After you agree to help, the game teleports you and Yan Datie to the area around Encircling Lake. Follow the quest marker north of the lake.

Step 2: At the marker, you find a sword stuck in the ground with “Ying” carved into it. Talk to Yan Datie before examining the sword; speaking to him first is what reliably moves the objective forward.

Step 3: Once you’ve spoken with Datie, interact with the sword to finish the “search for Tian Ying’s traces” objective. Datie then heads toward the next waypoint, and you should follow him.

Clear the bandit fort with Yan Datie

Step 1: Follow Yan Datie along the path until you arrive at a small bandit camp/fort. Enter the quest arena when prompted.

Step 2: Defeat every bandit in the camp. Standard mobs spawn here; there is no boss yet, but you must kill all enemies or the objective will not be completed. If a bandit falls off a ledge and you cannot progress, search around the cliffside – that last enemy still needs to be defeated.

Step 3: When the camp is clear, speak to Yan Datie again. The dialogue points out a strange sound coming from nearby ruins and sends you to investigate.

Find the sachet and track the strange noises

Step 1: Move toward the ruined house marked by the quest objective near the fort. Use Wind Sense if needed to highlight interactable objects.

Step 2: Next to the broken roof and rubble is a small sachet. Pick it up; Datie recognizes it as belonging to A'niu.

Step 3: Return to Yan Datie and give him the sachet. He now accepts that his son really is involved and tells you to meet him near the Palace of Annals area for the next stage.

Step 4: Follow the new waypoint to Datie’s position by a staircase northwest of the ruins. Talk to him to trigger another “strange noise” objective.

Step 5: After the conversation, move with Datie toward the sound. Use Wind Sense again to locate a set of small footprints on the road. You can suggest that A'niu might be following you, which pushes the quest into the tracking phase.

Track A'niu’s footprints and rescue him

Step 1: Follow the trail of footprints from the road into the wilderness. The path ends at a second enemy camp where A'niu has been captured by black-clad figures.

Step 2: Enter the arena and defeat all enemies in this camp. One of them is an Aureate Commander–type mini-boss who is noticeably tougher than the regular bandits and can summon snakes during the fight. Be ready to parry and manage adds instead of face-tanking everything.

Step 3: Once every enemy is down, interact with A'niu to free him, then speak to both Yan Datie and his son. The final dialogue wraps up their story and completes The Path of Heroes encounter.

Path of Heroes quest rewards

All of these rewards are granted across the short encounter chain, with the large chunk of character EXP and Coins dropping when you finish the conversation with Yan Datie and A'niu at the end.

If the encounter refuses to appear even at the right spot and time, cycle the in-game clock, teleport to another landmark for a while, then re-enter Harvestfall Village from a different direction. Once the children spawn near the training ground, following the steps above will carry the quest cleanly from first argument to final rescue.