Walk past a cluster of eerie, glowing red mushrooms in Where Winds Meet, and you’re almost certainly standing on top of a Redmist Beetle oddity. These beetles are one of the five Qinghe oddities tied to the Melodies of Peace system, and they’re easy to miss because the actual pickup point is hovering in the air above those mushrooms, not on the ground.
Red mushroom: What the Redmist Beetle actually is
Redmist Beetles are airborne insect swarms linked to a distinctive patch of luminous red mushrooms on the ground. The mushrooms themselves don’t do anything when you walk over them; they’re a visual marker telling you to look up. Directly above the mushrooms, a cluster of red-glowing beetles hangs in midair. Touching the swarm gives you the Redmist Beetle item, experience, and Qinghe Exploration progress, and it also contributes to your Melodies of Peace progression once you turn it in.
In gameplay terms, Redmist Beetles are:
- One of the five Qinghe oddity types (alongside Ironwing Mantis, Dagger General, Enchanting Lotus, and Whisper Hive).
- Tied to the butterfly/fairy icon on the minimap.
- Registered as a Life Material once collected, used later at Oddity Exchanges for Melodies of Peace upgrades.
How to recognize a Redmist Beetle spot (the red mushroom clue)
Before trying to grab the beetle, you need to be sure you’re actually standing on the right type of environmental clue. Redmist Beetles always appear with the same setup:
| Element | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Ground marker | A tight cluster of red mushrooms that glow or give off a red aura. |
| Above you | A small clump of flying red beetles directly over the mushroom patch. |
| Minimap icon | Butterfly / fairy symbol roughly centered on the mushroom location. |
| Wind Sense | The swarm can be easier to pick out from a distance; step back and look up. |
How to collect Redmist Beetles above red mushrooms
Redmist Beetles are not collected with a button prompt on the ground. You have to physically move your character through the swarm in the air. That means the puzzle is about gaining enough height, not about interacting with the mushrooms themselves.
Use this basic sequence:
- Stand next to the glowing red mushroom cluster and confirm the beetle swarm is floating above it.
- Identify the nearest height source: a rock, roof, cliff edge, or other elevated surface close to the mushrooms.
- Climb or run up to that elevated point and face the beetle swarm.
- Use your jump tools (up to a triple jump or lightness skills, depending on what you’ve unlocked) to launch yourself toward the swarm.
- Align your trajectory so your character passes through the cluster of beetles in midair.
- When you pass through the swarm, the game automatically awards the Redmist Beetle oddity and associated rewards.
In many low setups, a well-timed triple jump from ground level is enough. In trickier placements, you’ll need to treat nearby buildings or rock faces as springboards, using them to start your jump from a higher ledge so you can arc down through the beetles.
Why you can’t “pick up” the red mushrooms
The red mushrooms themselves are not an item like the standard Mushrooms raw material used for cooking and crafting. Ordinary mushrooms are separate materials that can be gathered in the wild or purchased from general goods vendors. The glowing red cluster tied to Redmist Beetles is a static environmental indicator, not a harvest node.
Common points of confusion around the red mushrooms include:
- Trying to interact directly with the mushrooms and seeing no prompt.
- Expecting them to behave like standard gatherable Mushrooms.
- Standing exactly on the icon but never looking upwards, so the swarm goes unseen.
When that happens, the fix is always the same: ignore the ground and look above the mushroom patch. The real “hitbox” is in the air where the beetles hover.
How Redmist Beetles fit into oddities and Melodies of Peace
Redmist Beetles are one part of a larger loop that upgrades your character beyond basic levels and gear. All oddities in Qinghe and Kaifeng feed into the Melodies of Peace tree via regional Oddity collectors.
| Element | Role |
|---|---|
| Oddity icon on map | Marks the location of an oddity event, including the red mushroom / Redmist Beetle spots. |
| Life Material | Inventory category for collected oddities like Redmist Beetle. |
| Oddity Exchange NPC | Merchant where you submit Life Materials to fill out Melodies of Peace nodes. |
| Melodies of Peace | Skill tree awarding stat bonuses, movement skills, Mystic Art slots, and other upgrades. |
Every Redmist Beetle you grab from above a mushroom cluster adds another piece of currency to feed into that tree. Alongside the other Qinghe oddities, you’re trading a few seconds of platforming for permanent combat and mobility gains.
Other Qinghe oddities that look like environmental traps
The red mushroom setup is part of a broader design pattern in Qinghe, where oddities hide behind small environmental tricks instead of simple pickups. If you’re chasing oddities around the same areas as the Redmist Beetles, expect to run into these as well:
| Oddity | Visual cue | Core action |
|---|---|---|
| Ironwing Mantis | Purple insect on the ground with a subtle glow. | Interact to scare it off, then chase and grab it when it lands again. |
| Enchanting Lotus | Purple lotus surrounded by poisonous miasma. | Use Wind Sense to trace smoke trails to butterfly clusters, shoot them with flaming arrows, then pick the lotus. |
| Dagger General | Sound and Wind Sense outlines around breakable crates, pots, or rocks. | Break the objects, then quickly interact to scoop up the crickets that burst out. |
| Whisper Hive | Beehive hanging from trees or cliffs; getting close triggers stings. | Hit the hive with fire arrows from a distance, then climb up and collect the nest. |
| Redmist Beetle | Glowing red mushroom cluster with a beetle swarm floating above. | Gain height via jumps or nearby terrain and pass through the swarm in midair. |
Seen together, the red mushrooms and their beetles fit into a consistent language: unusual environmental props almost always hide an oddity, and the solution hinges on looking up, breaking something, or using Wind Sense and elemental arrows in simple ways.
Anytime a butterfly icon sits over a patch of strange red mushrooms, treat it as an invitation to play with vertical movement. Once you train yourself to look above the ground marker, Redmist Beetles become some of the fastest oddities to collect in Qinghe—and a reliable feed of Melodies of Peace upgrades every time you take a flying leap through that red-glowing swarm.
