Where Winds Meet: A Keen Ear and Return, O Soul Walkthrough
How to clear Huang Chuan's name, carry the Soul-Calling lantern, and set the clock so both encounters finish.
How to clear Huang Chuan’s name, carry the Soul-Calling lantern, and set the clock so both encounters finish.
by AllThingsHow Staff
Greenshade Village in Where Winds Meet has two Encounter quests that run on the in-game clock. “A Keen Ear” has you trace a treason rumor about a failed scholar back to its source. “Return, O Soul” has you walk a ritual lantern through the village at night to cure a sick basket seller. Both stall if the hour is wrong, so the time wheel matters as much as the dialogue choices.
Quick answer: Eavesdrop at Crownleek Terrace (Shen hour), clear Huang Chuan, then skip two days. For “Return, O Soul,” start at the market, run the ritual at Zi hour, then skip to Wu hour the next day.
Greenshade Village encounters: start points and clock requirements
Both encounters sit in Qingzhou-Eastern Peak, just outside and inside Greenshade Village. “A Keen Ear” is marked on the world map near Crownleek Terrace and Sageplow Stead, and its map entry shows an “Accept Within” countdown, so accept it before that window runs out.
Encounter
Starts at
Clock settings
Ends when
A Keen Ear
Crownleek Terrace entrance
Shen hour, then +2 days
Elders gossip again
Return, O Soul
Greenshade Village market
Zi hour next day, then Wu hour next day
Wang Xiulian wakes with her cat
When villagers stay silent or the ritual refuses to start, use the time wheel to set the specific hour named by the quest. Until then, nothing else will trigger.
A Keen Ear walkthrough
The quest text sets it up plainly: Li Hongxia, posted at the entrance to Crownleek Terrace, claims to know every secret in the village. This time the secret is that scholar Huang Chuan failed his exams and is supposedly plotting a rebellion.
Go to the road at the Crownleek Terrace village entrance and find Li Hongxia, Liu Yinyuan, and Xu Guiying standing by the rocks. Approach slowly, because the objective asks you not to get caught.
Crouch behind the boulder beside them until the eavesdrop prompt appears, then trigger it. You’ll hear them whisper about Huang Chuan failing his exam and scheming rebellion.
Cross the river toward Sageplow Stead, following the waypoint; swim across if necessary. Huang Chuan’s home is a stone house with a thatched roof among the fields.
Watch the scene play out. Huang Chuan recites classical passages, including lines from Mencius, before a cloaked visitor arrives with a tied bundle and urges him to hide it.
Speak with Huang Chuan and his visitor. The visitor is Meng Ding, his friend in the Inkbound Order. The bundle contains his Master’s lecture notes, meant to help Huang Chuan pass his exams. Tell them you’ll set the villagers straight about what happened.
Return to the village entrance under the objective “Find Li Hongxia at the village entrance.” Running back works, and so does fast traveling to the Crownleek Terrace waypoint.
Talk to Li Hongxia and pick the options that explain each misheard verse. They are “Explain ‘behead the folk.’”, “Explain ‘taking lives to seize official seals.’”, and “Explain ‘forge blades to start war.’” Finish with “I can vouch for Huang Chuan.”
When the prompt reads “Wait two days before returning to check,” open the time wheel and skip forward two full days. Setting it to Day After Tomorrow at Si hour works.
Go back to the Crownleek Terrace village entrance. Li Hongxia is there with Madam Zhao and Grandpa Yang, and a final eavesdrop scene plays. She has moved on to claiming that you joined Huang Chuan’s rebel cause and are brewing illegal liquor.
A Keen Ear rewards
The quest is done when the “Encounter-A Keen Ear” completion screen appears after the final gossip scene. It grants the following:
Reward
Amount
Echo Jade
50
Qingzhou Exploration
50
Coin
15,000
Stored EXP
15,000
Return, O Soul walkthrough
Basket seller Wang Xiulian falls ill after an argument at the market, and Granny Guo insists she has lost her soul. Curing her takes a night procession with a lit lantern, so the ritual can’t begin until you reach the right night hour.
Find Wang Xiulian and Li Cuilan at the Greenshade Village market stalls, where they are arguing loudly over basket prices. Step in to settle their dispute.
Take the path uphill to Wang Xiulian’s house, following the quest tracker. Listen through the window as villagers talk about her sudden fever and delirium.
Go inside, where physician Lu Wenxin is examining Wang. Talk to Granny Guo (Guo Daoqun), who explains that the ritual needs a young martial artist carrying a lantern lit with thread from the sick person’s clothes.
Open the time wheel and set it to Zi hour (23:00) the next day. The ritual only starts at night.
Carry the Soul-Calling lantern through the village
At the riverside, collect the lit Soul-Calling lantern from Granny Guo. Follow her from house to house, performing Soul-Calling at each one in sequence, with the large tree as the final stop.
Stop
Resident
What to do
House 1
Sun Mangzi
Soul-Calling at barred window
House 2
Li Cuilan
Soul-Calling at her window
House 3
Chu Xiaoshan
Soul-Calling, then talk outside
Large tree
Little Mao
Persuade him to call for Wang
Sun Mangzi curses at you from inside, and Li Cuilan talks guiltily in her sleep. Scholar Chu Xiaoshan comes out to complain about cat scratches but forgives Wang. For the last stop, follow the distant crying to the tree, where Little Mao, the boy who ran away from Wang earlier, is sitting in the branches. Convince him to call out for Auntie Wang’s soul.
Return to the yard outside Wang Xiulian’s home. A black cat with one white paw appears and meows, and the lantern’s flame comes back to life without help.
