Ni Laoshan sits at the center of one of Where Winds Meet’s most confusing unlocks: the Sword Horizon Inner Way for Strategic Sword. He is both a story-facing character in the Nine Mortal Ways sect and a hidden merchant in the Ghostlight Market who sells the items you need to unlock Sword Horizon.
Who Ni Laoshan is in Where Winds Meet
Ni Laoshan has two distinct roles in the game:
- Ghostlight Market vendor: A masked bookseller who offers “Unknown Old Book” items that contain Sword Horizon pages (Sword Horizon: Tomes).
- Nine Mortal Ways elder: An elder of the Nine Mortal Ways sect, referenced during the Mortal Rope Dart Skill Theft mission and involved when you pay to leave the sect.
For Sword Horizon, Ni Laoshan matters because he is the only source of the Unknown Old Books tied to that Inner Way. For sect progression, he later appears as the elder you pay to “betray master” if you want to leave Nine Mortal Ways.
How to unlock access to Ghostlight Market
You can’t reach Ni Laoshan’s shop until Ghostlight Market is open on your account. That happens from Kaifeng, through either the main story or a side quest chain.
Path 1: Main story route
Step 1: Progress the main chapter until Kaifeng City is unlocked. Story beats in this arc naturally funnel you toward the Ghostlight Market.
Step 2: Follow the related quests until you are taken into the Ghostlight Market instance and can interact with the Boundary Stone there. Once the Boundary Stone is activated, you can return freely.
Path 2: “Bounty Trouble” side story
Step 1: In Qinghe, start and complete the “Bounty Trouble” side story. During this chain, your character is kidnapped and wakes up in the Ghost Market.
Step 2: Continue into the “March of the Dead” storyline that follows. During this arc, you gain access to the Ghost Market Boundary Stone, permanently unlocking fast travel back to the area.
Once you have the Boundary Stone, Ghostlight Market becomes a regular destination rather than a one-off story space.
How to reach Ni Laoshan’s bookstore in Ghostlight Market
Ni Laoshan’s shop is easy to miss because the vendor is literally sitting on the ceiling and the market uses a disguise system.
Step 1: At the Ghostlight Market entrance, talk to Horse Face and obtain the Ghost Rat Mask if you don’t already have it. Equip the mask so you can trade with Ghostlight vendors.
Step 2: From the entrance, walk straight along the main street. Stay on the central path and look ahead for a large staircase decorated with hanging lanterns.
Step 3: Just before or at that first big set of stairs, look to your left for an antique book shop with a white banner outside. This is Ni Laoshan’s store.
Step 4: Enter the shop and tilt the camera upward: Ni Laoshan is perched on the ceiling. Speak to him and choose the dialogue option to see what he is selling to open his shop inventory.
How Sword Horizon unlocking actually works
Sword Horizon is an Inner Way for the Strategic Sword that changes how its skills behave. It adds timed follow-up attacks and a powerful Bleed detonation effect when enemies reach five Bleed stacks.
The game doesn’t hand this Inner Way to you directly. Instead, you assemble it out of ten collectible pages by using items hidden inside a limited stock of books.
Buying Unknown Old Books from Ni Laoshan
Ni Laoshan’s shop stocks exactly 30 copies of an item called Unknown Old Book. Each book costs 12,500 Coins, for a maximum total of 375,000 Coins if you buy all 30.
The Sword Horizon pages—called Sword Horizon: Tomes—come from consuming these books:
- Each Unknown Old Book can convert into a Sword Horizon: Tome when used.
- You need 10 Sword Horizon: Tomes to fully unlock the Inner Way.
- The drop is chance-based per book, so players can finish with books left over or be forced to buy the full stock.
Some players report that all 30 books must be bought and consumed, with Sword Horizon guaranteed by the end of that stock. Others unlock the Inner Way early with fewer books, which suggests that the behavior functions like a fixed stock with RNG distribution across it.
Step 1: Farm or save at least 375,000 Coins before visiting Ni Laoshan. This ensures you can buy all 30 books if you get unlucky.
Step 2: At Ni Laoshan’s shop, purchase as many Unknown Old Books as you can afford, ideally clearing his entire stock of 30.
Step 3: Open your inventory, locate the Unknown Old Books, and use each one. Every use either gives you a Sword Horizon: Tome or nothing relevant.
Step 4: Watch the notifications and Inner Ways menu as you collect Tomes. When you reach 10 Sword Horizon: Tomes, the Sword Horizon Inner Way unlocks.
What to do if you see fewer than 30 books or get no pages
Not every player currently sees the full 30-book stock at once, and a few report extreme bad luck where no Sword Horizon pages seem to drop.
- Partial stock (for example, 22/30): Ni Laoshan can show only part of his full 30-book inventory at first. Later visits may fill in the rest of the stock, so check back periodically after story or server updates.
- No pages from all purchased books: If you have bought every available book, consumed them, and received zero Sword Horizon: Tomes, that behavior is inconsistent with the typical experience and can indicate a bug.
In that edge case, the only practical actions are:
- Double-check that every Unknown Old Book has been consumed in the inventory.
- Revisit Ni Laoshan later to confirm whether his stock has refreshed to the full 30.
- Report the issue through the in-game event/recommendation or community channels so it can be fixed in a patch.
Sword Horizon effects and why it matters for Strategic Sword
Sword Horizon is classified as a Legendary Inner Way on the Bellstrike - Umbra path, tagged as Attack / Martial Arts / Pursuit. It is designed specifically around Strategic Sword.
| Property | Details |
|---|---|
| Inner Way name | Sword Horizon |
| Weapon pairing | Strategic Sword |
| Path | Bellstrike - Umbra |
| Rarity | Legendary |
| Main tags | Attack, Martial Arts, Pursuit |
Its core effect adds a new timing-based layer to Strategic Sword:
- After using a Martial Arts Skill, Special Skill, or Charged Skill of Strategic Sword, you can press the same skill button again at the end of the animation.
- If the timing is correct, your character casts Crisscrossing Swords, performing a follow-up attack.
- If the target currently has 5 stacks of Bleed, this follow-up consumes all Bleed stacks and deals a single, high burst of Bleed damage.
In practice, Sword Horizon turns Strategic Sword into a two-stage weapon style: the first press builds Bleed, while the follow-up detonation punishes enemies that reach maximum stacks. It rewards players who keep track of Bleed buildup and who can hit the timing window on the follow-up prompt.
Sword Horizon breakthrough tiers
Like other Inner Ways, Sword Horizon gains extra bonuses as you raise its tier. These breakthroughs revolve around three ideas: endurance sustain, raw physical power, and stronger Bleed detonations, especially in conjunction with Unrestricted Sword Intent.
| Tier | Bonus effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Casting Crosswind Blade restores 8 Endurance. |
| 2 | Increases maximum Physical Attack based on your Solo Mode Level. |
| 3 | High Bleed damage from the detonation builds Crosswind Blade Spirit; when this gauge is full, the next Crosswind Blade becomes a guaranteed Affinity hit. |
| 4 | When Unrestricted Sword Intent is not empty, high Bleed damage from the detonation is increased by an additional 15%. |
| 5 | Physcial Penetration increases by 5.6. |
| 6 | While Unrestricted Sword Intent is not empty, high Bleed damage detonations leave 2 Bleed stacks on the target. When Unrestricted Sword Intent is full and triggers the next Comprehension hit with Unrestricted Sword, 20 points of Intent are preserved instead of being fully consumed. |
These bonuses deepen the playstyle:
- Tier 1–2 give better uptime via Endurance restoration and higher attack.
- Tier 3 ties detonations into a loop with Crosswind Blade, guaranteeing Affinity hits after enough Bleed explosions.
- Tier 4–6 couple Sword Horizon tightly to Unrestricted Sword Intent, increasing Bleed bursts and letting you retain some Intent and Bleed stacks for sustained pressure.
How to upgrade the Sword Horizon Inner Way
Inner Way upgrades are gated behind your Solo Mode progression and specific upgrade materials.
Step 1: Raise your Solo Mode to Level 4 (Roaming Level 4). Before that threshold, Sword Horizon’s tier can’t be advanced.
Step 2: Acquire Sword Horizon: Notes. These are advancement items for the Inner Way. One notable source is the Tips Exchange, where you can trade appropriate currencies for Inner Way materials.
Step 3: Open the Inner Ways menu, select Sword Horizon, and use Sword Horizon: Notes plus any required currency to increase its tier from 1 up to 6, unlocking the breakthrough bonuses listed earlier.
Because the upper tiers scale Bleed damage and Affinity reliability, Sword Horizon benefits noticeably from being upgraded rather than left at Tier 1.
How Ni Laoshan ties into the Nine Mortal Ways sect
Ni Laoshan is also important if you get involved with the Nine Mortal Ways sect storyline.
- During the Mortal Rope Dart Skill Theft mission in Kaifeng’s Martial Hall, Elder Ni mentions the Ghostlight Market as a recruitment venue for Nine Mortal Ways.
- Once you have joined Nine Mortal Ways, leaving the sect does not use a standard Severance Trial. Instead, you pay Elder Ni to cut ties.
Step 1: Open the Sects screen and choose Betray Master while you are a member of Nine Mortal Ways.
Step 2: Accept the quest “Find the Elder to leave the Nine Mortal Ways.” A marker appears pointing to a location west of Harvestfall Village.
Step 3: Travel to the marked wooden house west of Harvestfall Village. Elder Ni Laoshan waits there only for this quest.
Step 4: Talk to him and pay 50,000 Coins to leave the Nine Mortal Ways sect.
Outside of this quest, Ni Laoshan can be found in the Nine Mortal Ways Martial Hall in Kaifeng, reinforcing how tightly he is woven into both the sect’s identity and the Sword Horizon unlock chain.
Ni Laoshan looks like a throwaway ghost-market oddity at first glance, but he quietly controls one of the strongest Strategic Sword Inner Ways and manages your relationship with one of the game’s most notorious sects. Once Ghostlight Market is open, a mask is equipped, and his full inventory is burned through, Sword Horizon turns Strategic Sword into a timing-heavy Bleed specialist that pays off the effort and coins you invest in those dusty old books.
