Melodies of Peace is one of the quietest but most powerful progression systems in Where Winds Meet. It hides behind small butterfly icons on the map, a wandering merchant, and a collection of strange insects and plants called Oddities. Turn those in, and you gain permanent stats, new Inner Ways, martial arts, and even world-altering items like the Bronze Bell Fragment that weakens outdoor bosses.
Where to find Qi Sheng and unlock Melodies of Peace
The Melodies of Peace system is tied to a single NPC: Qi Sheng, the Oddities trader.
| Step | What to do | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travel to the Qinghe region’s Verdant Wilds, near the General's Shrine Landmark and the first Wayfarer Camp. | Find Qi Sheng trapped under rubble in the Northern Bamboo Grove area. |
| 2 | Help pull Qi Sheng free and talk to him about Oddities. | Unlock the “Melodies of Peace” tutorial quest and the Oddity: Melody Hunt side quest. |
| 3 | Follow his request to shoot down a beehive using Fire Arrows, then collect it. | Gain your first Oddity hand‑in and a choice of weapon martial art. |
| 4 | Return to Qi Sheng and open his Melodies of Peace interface by selecting “Submit Oddities.” | Access the Harmony perk tree for Qinghe and start spending Oddities. |
Qi Sheng’s stall in Qinghe sits between the General’s Shrine teleport and the nearby camp where you get your first map. Once freed, he stays there as your permanent Oddity vendor.
Oddity: Melody Hunt and your first free martial art
The first structured encounter with Melodies of Peace is the Oddity: Melody Hunt exploration quest, which you can trigger as soon as you reach Qi Sheng.
| Step | Objective | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Approach Qi Sheng at Northern Bamboo Grove and pull him from the rubble. | Opens conversation about Oddities; he gives you Fire Arrows. |
| 2 | Switch to Fire Arrows while aiming your bow and shoot the nearby beehive. | The hive is on a tree; normal arrows will not dislodge it. |
| 3 | Climb or jump onto the tree trunk to reach and collect the beehive. | This beehive is treated as an Oddity for the quest. |
| 4 | Return the beehive to Qi Sheng. | Unlocks a weapon choice and the Melodies of Peace interface. |
Completing Melody Hunt grants Qinghe Exploration, Enlightenment Points, character EXP, Zhou Coin, and “The Music of Kaiping I,” which lets you learn one of four martial arts:
| Martial art | Role | Early game note |
|---|---|---|
| Panacea Fan | Support/healing fan | Strong for self‑sustain through the main story. |
| Thundercry Blade | Defensive/tank sword-spear line | Pairs well with early spear options. |
| Infernal Twinblades | Aggressive dual blades | Also obtainable fairly early via skill theft. |
| Vernal Umbrella | Ranged DPS umbrella | Normally tied to later content; picking it here shortcuts that. |
Any choice works, but this is one of the few times the game hands you a full martial art for free, so it is an efficient moment to grab a role you do not plan to unlock soon by other means.
How the Melodies of Peace Harmony tree works
Melodies of Peace is effectively a regional perk tree called Harmony that you fill by submitting Qinghe Oddities to Qi Sheng.
| Element | What it is | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Harmony nodes | Individual perks arranged in a tree, unlocked in numeric order (Music of Kaiping I, II, etc.). | Each node adds a specific permanent bonus, from raw stats to new passives or items. |
| Oddity cost | Each node lists required Qinghe Life Materials (Oddities) in the UI, bottom right. | You must pay with the correct Oddity types; generic currency does not work. |
| Submit Oddities | Qi Sheng’s main menu option that opens the tree. | Use “Add All” to feed all requirements you currently own, then “Activate” to unlock. |
| Effect types | Base stats (HP, minimum and maximum physical attack, Precision, Critical), Inner Ways, martial arts manuals, quest items. | Increases Martial Arts Level (gearscore), survival, damage, and unlocks exploration tools. |
| Permanence | Once a node is activated, it cannot be toggled off or refunded. | Every Oddity you turn in is a one‑way investment into long‑term power. |
One early example is a node called “The Music of Laiyi,” which adds a flat bonus to your minimum physical attack. That raises the floor of every hit you land, smoothing out damage and improving DPS consistency. Other nodes increase max HP, boost Critical, unlock Inner Way passives, or supply progression items.
Fully clearing the Qinghe Harmony tree requires finding every Oddity in the region. There are no duplicate spawns: each Oddity is a one‑time pickup.
What Oddities are and how they appear on the map
Oddities are small, bespoke collectibles scattered across regions. When picked up, they convert into “Life Materials” in your inventory, which you then spend at Oddity Exchanges (Qi Sheng in Qinghe, a different vendor in Kaifeng).
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Map icon | Butterfly-like symbol, also mirrored as butterfly-shaped pips on the minimap. |
| Spawn rules | Placed across the overworld; they do not appear inside instanced dungeons. |
| One‑time pickup | Each specific Oddity can be collected only once per character. |
| Wind Sense | Highlight tool bound to a key or stick press that outlines relevant objects and adds trails from Oddities to their mechanisms. |
Each Oddity type has its own small puzzle or interaction. You are not simply walking up to sparkling items; you are chasing insects, breaking crates, shooting butterflies, and gliding through swarms.
All Qinghe Oddity types and how to collect them
Qinghe, the starting region, has five Oddity types. These are the only ones Qi Sheng in Verdant Wilds accepts for the Qinghe Harmony tree.
| Oddity | Visual cue | How to collect |
|---|---|---|
| Dagger General | Chirping from beneath piles of rocks, jars, crates, barrels; piles glow golden in Wind Sense. | Break the pile with your weapon or a ground‑slam, then immediately interact on the spot. Multiple Dagger Generals can hide in one pile. |
| Enchanting Lotus | Purple lotus flowers shrouded in toxic miasma; nearby clouds of purple butterflies. | Use Wind Sense to trace purple smoke lines from each blossom to a butterfly cloud, then shoot the butterflies with arrows. Once all clouds are gone, the miasma clears and you can safely pick the lotus. |
| Ironwing Mantis | Ground‑level insect surrounded by purple sparkles; emits a distinctive metallic clank. | Interact to “observe” it, causing it to leap away. Chase it and press interact again when it lands to capture it before it escapes. |
| Redmist Beetle | Swarms of red bugs hovering above glowing red fungi or mushroom circles. | Stand on the mushrooms and jump, or drop/glide from a higher ledge through the swarm. Passing your character through the bugs collects the Beetle. |
| Whisper Hive | Large beehives attached to trees, cliffs, or high ledges; bees will poison you if disturbed up close. | Keep your distance and shoot the hive with Fire Arrows to disperse the bees, then climb up to loot the empty hive. |
Oddities are distributed across almost every quadrant of Qinghe, including Verdant Wilds, Moonveil Mountain, and surrounding areas. Once you pick them up, they sit in your inventory until you submit them at Qi Sheng’s exchange.
Kaifeng Oddities and the second Melodies of Peace tree
After the early game, the story pulls you across the river into Kaifeng. There, the game introduces a second Oddities collection and a second Melodies of Peace tree, tied to a different Oddities vendor.
| Oddity (Kaifeng) | Behavior | Collection method |
|---|---|---|
| Heartsoothe Twig | Glittering bird circling in a fixed pattern overhead. | When the butterfly icon is moving, look up and track the gold bird. Shoot it with an arrow; it drops the twig, which shines gold on the ground. |
| Moonbeam Toad | Fast golden frog leaving a trail of gold sparkles as it flees. | Chase and intercept it; a simple interact prompt captures it once you are close enough. |
| Midnight Nibbler | Squeaking from under crates, stones, or junk piles; glowing outline in Wind Sense. | Destroy the pile with your weapon, then pursue the rats that scatter out. They glitter gold to stay visible; multiple Nibblers can spawn per pile. |
| Thunder Fluff | Puffball plants in grassy fields that eject little seed puffs when disturbed. | Interact with the plant, then sprint to catch the airborne puffs before they land; each caught puff counts as a pickup. |
| Swallow’s Rest | Swallow nests sitting on roofs or ledges. | Approach the bird; it flies away, leaving the nest. Loot the abandoned nest as a Life Material. |
Kaifeng Oddities feed into a separate Melodies of Peace tree, accessed at its local Oddity Exchange (marked by a butterfly icon in a white circle on the map). Where Qinghe’s Harmony nodes lean heavily on base stats and early Inner Ways, Kaifeng’s tree adds a second wave of passives and eventually a cosmetic reward at its end.
Key rewards from Melodies of Peace
Melodies of Peace is not just about raw numbers; several nodes feed into other systems that shape late‑game play.
| Reward type | Where it appears | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Stat boosts (HP, attack, crit) | Throughout the Qinghe and Kaifeng Harmony trees. | Raises survivability and damage without needing gear upgrades, and pushes Martial Arts Level/gearscore thresholds for new content. |
| Inner Ways and passives | Specific Harmony nodes tied to Inner Way pages. | Adds new passive trees that modify martial arts, healing, damage, or defense, deepening build options. |
| Martial arts manuals | Early nodes such as “The Music of Kaiping I.” | Unlocks full weapon movesets (Panacea Fan, Thundercry Blade, Infernal Twinblades, Vernal Umbrella) earlier than normal acquisition routes. |
| World unlock items | Later Qinghe Harmony nodes, including a Bronze Bell Fragment. | Used to repair the Demoncalm Bell at Moonveil Mountain’s pagoda, reducing the strength of wilderness world bosses. |
| Exploration attributes | Indirectly, via stat and Inner Way gains that feed into broader progression. | Supports unlocking exploration skills and perks that can, for example, sometimes double your gathering yields—including Oddities. |
The Demoncalm Bell in particular is easy to overlook. After obtaining the Bronze Bell Fragment from Qi Sheng’s tree, you can climb the scaffolding of the Moonveil Peak pagoda and repair the massive bell at the top. Ringing it weakens open‑world bosses, which becomes noticeably useful once you start facing higher‑level wilderness encounters and outpost elites.
Efficient ways to approach Oddities and Harmony nodes
Because Oddities are finite, it helps to be deliberate about when you hand them in and which nodes you chase first.
| Priority | Recommendation | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Early | Stat nodes and extra Inner Way paths near the start of the Qinghe Harmony tree. | They immediately increase Martial Arts Score and basic survivability, helping you through main story bosses. |
| Mid | Nodes that unlock Inner Ways or utility passives tied to your main weapons. | They synergize with your chosen build and often outperform flat stats once your gear improves. |
| Later | World unlocks and late‑tree bonuses like Demoncalm Bell fragments or Kaifeng cosmetics. | Useful but not mandatory for the earliest chapters; better targeted once you can comfortably clear world content. |
You do not have to “bank” Oddities for a perfect route—every node is permanent and ultimately desirable—but putting early Oddities into HP and attack perks has an outsized effect on how forgiving the opening chapters feel.
Melodies of Peace sits at the intersection of exploration and character growth. Every time a butterfly icon appears, it is a chance at more than a checklist tick: it feeds a tree that quietly raises your damage, your defenses, your build depth, and even the difficulty curve of the world around you. Visit Qi Sheng often, empty your Oddity pouch into Harmony, and the game’s heaviest doors open far earlier than they otherwise would.
