The Melodic Trial quests in Where Winds Meet are short drum puzzles handed out by musicians stationed near rivers in the Hexi region. Each one asks you to rebuild a half-remembered tune by striking drum notes in the correct order. Song of Longing belongs to this same family of exploration challenges, so the way you solve it follows the same simple loop every Melodic Trial uses.
How Melodic Trial drum quests work
Every Melodic Trial runs on the same mechanic. A musician asks for help piecing a melody back together, then hands you control of their drums. You strike the notes in a fixed sequence, and some notes need to be hit twice in a row. Get the order right, and the song restores on its own.
The drum notes use traditional pentatonic names such as Yue, Jue, Zhi, and Shang. You are not improvising. There is one correct order per trial, and the quest treats it as a pass-or-fail input rather than a freeform performance.
Once the melody is correct, you talk to the musician a second time to close out the quest and collect the rewards. Many of these trials also point you toward a follow-up encounter nearby, so the drum puzzle often acts as a doorway into a longer thread.
Where to find Melodic Trial musicians in Hexi
These trials are tied to NPCs positioned along the water in the Hexi region, inside the Qinchuan Path area. The closest documented example sits in Huayin North, where the musician Ren Xia waits by the river with his drums.
Step 1: Teleport to Huayin North using the Brokegate Village Boundary Stone. This drops you near the riverbank where the drum trials are set up.
Step 2: Head north from the stone until you reach Ren Xia and his drums beside the river. Walk up and start the conversation to trigger the trial.
Step 3: Accept the request to help restore the melody. This unlocks the drums so you can begin inputting notes.
Confirmed Melodic Trial note order
The fully documented Melodic Trial in this area is A Tale of Two Dragons, played on Ren Xia's drums. Its note sequence is fixed and works as a reliable reference for how these inputs are structured, including the repeated hits.
| Order | Note | Hits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yue | Once |
| 2 | Jue | Twice |
| 3 | Zhi | Once |
| 4 | Shang | Twice |
Play those notes in this exact sequence, and the tune snaps back together. Ren Xia then explains that the melody belongs to the two "Dragon Kings" on the far side of the river, which opens the related encounter Mystery by the Shore.
How to confirm the trial is complete
You know the input worked when the full melody plays back smoothly with no broken note and the musician acknowledges that you restored the song. At that point, the quest updates and the rewards are paid out. If the trial points you to a follow-up, a new encounter appears in your log right after the final dialogue.
If the song does not finish, the most common cause is a note struck out of order or a doubled note played only once. Re-enter the sequence cleanly from the first note, and it will register.
Melodic Trial rewards in Hexi
Completing a Melodic Trial pays out a mix of crafting jade, regional exploration progress, character experience, and coin. The totals below reflect the full payout earned across A Tale of Two Dragons as you finish it.
| Reward | Amount |
|---|---|
| Echo Jade | x8 |
| Oscillating Jade | x2 |
| Hexi Exploration | x5 |
| Character EXP | x2,250 |
| Coin | x1,500 |
Because these trials are quick and stack toward Hexi exploration completion, they are worth clearing whenever you pass a riverside musician. Speak to the NPC, play the melody in order, then confirm the dialogue to lock in the payout and any encounter it unlocks.