Where Winds Meet: Behind the Bronzehead in Mirkvale

Behind the Bronzehead is a Hidden Mountain Wandering Tale set in Mirkvale. The entry is the fifth Mirkvale tale, and it stays locked until the Mirkvale Campaign is done. After that, the bronze mask on Xiaoba is the whole problem. You buy him a meal, wait a day, then jump into the lake.

Quick answer: Finish the Mirkvale Campaign, talk to Xiaoguan, treat Xiaoba at the food stall, set the clock to Shen hour the next day, then dive the Mirkvale lake and speak with him in the water.

Mirkvale Campaign lock

Behind the Bronzehead does not start from the open world on its own. The Wandering Tales menu will not hand you the first clue until the Mirkvale Campaign is complete. If Xiaoguan has nothing new to say, that campaign is still open.

Once the campaign is cleared, open the map in Hidden Mountain and point it at Mirkvale. Hangrock Hamlet is the landmark that drops you on the right side of the village. Use the teleport prompt on that panel and go there before you hunt NPCs.

Hangrock Hamlet landmark panel on the map with a Space prompt to teleport — The Hangrock Hamlet landmark on the map, ready to teleport into Mirkvale. Image: Everstone Studio / via @ThanhPlays

Xiaoguan start and the food stall meal

The tale begins with a boy, not with Xiaoba. Xiaoguan is the first person who will talk about the bronze head. The food stall comes second, and the meal is the line that actually moves the clock forward.

Find Xiaoguan in Mirkvale and speak with him. That conversation is what puts Behind the Bronzehead on your tracker. Leave him only after the objective updates away from the first talk.

Walk to the food stall and meet Xiaoba. Choose the line that treats him to a meal. The exact prompt is “I’m here to treat you to a meal.” Pay for the food and stay in the talk until it closes.

A new Wandering Tales clue appears as soon as that meal lands. The banner reads Wandering Tales – New Clue Acquired, and you can open it with Y. Read it before you touch the clock. The next objective flips to Wait for developments.

Character jumping above rooftops as Wandering Tales New Clue Acquired appears — The New Clue Acquired prompt after the food stall, with Y available to read it. Image: Everstone Studio / via @ThanhPlays

Wait for developments until Shen

Xiaoba will not be in the lake on the same day you feed him. The trigger is the next day at Shen hour. Anything earlier leaves the Wait for developments objective stuck on the tracker.

Open the in-game clock and move time to the next day. Set the hour to Shen, then confirm. Do not keep skipping past that window. Shen is the hour the lake scene uses.

After the skip, stay in Mirkvale. The tracker should still say Wait for developments, with Track available. Standing on the wooden platforms above the water is enough. You are waiting for Xiaoba to move, not for a new NPC marker to appear on the far side of Hidden Mountain.

Character standing on a wooden platform with Wait for developments and Track shown — Waiting on a wooden platform with Wait for developments still active. Image: Everstone Studio / via @ThanhPlays

You can walk the same decks while that wait line is up. The objective does not cancel if you cross a platform or drop to a lower walkway. Keep the tale tracked so you can see the moment it changes.

Character walking a wooden platform with the Wait for developments objective tracked — Moving along a Mirkvale wooden platform while the wait objective remains tracked. Image: Everstone Studio / via @ThanhPlays

Rooftops work the same way. If you cut across the wooden roofs toward a staircase, Wait for developments stays on screen. That path is only travel. It does not replace the Shen skip, and it does not finish the tale.

Character running across wooden rooftops toward stairs with Wait for developments tracked — Crossing Mirkvale rooftops toward the stairs while Wait for developments stays on the tracker. Image: Everstone Studio / via @ThanhPlays

Note: If Xiaoba is missing from the water, the clock is wrong. Go back to the next day and Shen hour. The meal cannot be skipped, and same-day searching will not place him in the lake.

Xiaoba in the Mirkvale lake

The last trigger is underwater. Xiaoba is swimming in the Mirkvale lake after Shen. Shore chatter is not the completion line. You have to enter the water, find him, and talk there.

Jump into the Mirkvale lake. Look for Xiaoba in the water, not on the docks. Swim to him until the talk prompt appears.

Use the F Xiaoba prompt and finish the conversation. That talk is the completion trigger. Stay in the dialogue until it ends on its own.

F Xiaoba prompt on screen during the quest conversation — The F Xiaoba prompt that opens the final conversation by the water. Image: Everstone Studio / via @ThanhPlays

You know it worked when the talk closes and the reward window appears. Behind the Bronzehead leaves the active Wandering Tales list at that point. If the F prompt never shows, you are still on the wrong hour or still standing on land.

Behind the Bronzehead rewards

The payout hits as soon as the lake conversation ends. Nothing else in Mirkvale has to be cleared for these to drop.

Reward	Amount
Echo Jade	30
Hidden Mountain	10
Chuan	1750
Stored EXP	1750
Jade Fish	Granted

If those items never appear, the lake talk did not register as complete. Dive again, wait for F Xiaoba, and run the dialogue to the end. The bronze head mystery stops there. No later Mirkvale errand is required to cash this tale out.