The Songstress’ Test in Where Winds Meet sits in the middle of “Shadows in Bloom,” right as you’re trying to bluff your way into the Heroic Assembly in Kaifeng. Disguised as the famed musician Master Jiang Yi, you have to prove your musical talent to Songstress Bai Rong by tuning her Guqin using a set of five drums placed nearby.
The game gives you the note names and a short vocal demo, but never clearly spells out which drum is which. If you only want the solution, the correct order of drums is:
Zhi → Yu → Gong → Jue → Shang
The rest of the breakdown below explains how to read the drum layout, how the fail state works, and how this test fits into the broader “Shadows in Bloom” quest.
Where the Songstress’ Test appears in Shadows in Bloom
“Shadows in Bloom” unlocks once you have access to Kaifeng and have already tangled with the Heroic Assembly. Early in the quest you:
- Meet a Nine Mortals Disciple looking for Aunt Han, also known as the Water Lady.
- Learn that a list of Faceless Ones, a Mechanic Box, and a Yin-Inscribed Booklet are in play.
- Agree to infiltrate the Heroic Assembly together to keep this information away from the Khitans.
The agreed strategy is simple: you impersonate Master Jiang Yi, a renowned musician, to slip into the event without raising suspicion. When you arrive in disguise, Bai Rong intercepts you and demands proof of your supposed mastery, triggering the Songstress’ Test.
How the Songstress’ Test works
The test has two pieces:
- Bai Rong describes the melody of a song called “Deep Longing” using syllables like Sol, La, Do, Mi, Re (mapped to the Chinese scale names: Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, Yu).
- You then “tune” the Guqin by striking a row of five standing drums beside her in the correct order that matches the melody.
The problem is that the drums aren’t labelled by note name on-screen, so knowing the solfège alone doesn’t tell you which drum to hit. Instead, the game gives you subtle feedback:
- Hitting a correct drum in sequence causes that drum to glow pink and stay lit.
- Hitting a wrong drum clears the pink glow from all drums and resets the combination, so you must start again.
That makes the test solvable by trial and error if you have patience, but there is a fixed solution you can use immediately.
Songstress’ Test drum solution (Zhi–Yu–Gong–Jue–Shang)
The intended melody order for “Deep Longing” is:
Zhi → Yu → Gong → Jue → Shang
Each syllable corresponds to one of the five physical drums. In the interface for this specific scene, the drums are arranged left to right as five separate interactable objects.
To clear the test, you must interact with the drums in the following sequence:
- First: Hit the Zhi drum (position 4 from the left).
- Second: Hit the Yu drum (position 5 from the left).
- Third: Hit the Gong drum (position 1 from the left).
- Fourth: Hit the Jue drum (position 3 from the left).
- Fifth: Hit the Shang drum (position 2 from the left).
Once all five have been struck in this order, every correct drum remains lit, the Guqin is considered tuned, and the objective updates so you can speak to Bai Rong and move on.
Completing Tune and Play with Bai Rong
Step 1: Follow the “Shadows in Bloom” objective to the private area in Kaifeng, change into Master Jiang Yi’s outfit when prompted, and walk up to Bai Rong when she appears. Exhaust the dialogue until she asks you to demonstrate your skills and starts the tuning segment.
Step 2: When given the option, ask Bai Rong to sing the melody. This reinforces the intended note order (Sol, La, Do, Mi, Re) and confirms that you’re about to recreate the tune on the drums beside her.
Step 3: Walk over to the five drums lined up near Bai Rong. Face them so you can clearly see all five in a row from left to right. This makes it easier to remember the positions for Zhi, Yu, Gong, Jue, and Shang.
Step 4: Begin the combination by interacting with the fourth drum from the left (Zhi). Wait to see it glow pink and stay lit; this confirms you’ve started the pattern correctly.
Step 5: Interact with the fifth drum from the left (Yu). Both the fourth and fifth drums should now be glowing. If the glow disappears from all of them, you mis‑hit a drum and must restart from the fourth drum again.
Step 6: Move to the first drum on the left (Gong) and interact with it. With a correct hit, three drums (positions 4, 5, and 1) will now be glowing together.
Step 7: Interact with the third drum from the left (Jue). At this stage, four drums (positions 4, 5, 1, and 3) should be illuminated.
Step 8: Finish the pattern by interacting with the second drum from the left (Shang). All five drums will glow simultaneously, signalling a successful performance.
Step 9: After the combination completes, exit the drum interaction and talk to Bai Rong again. She acknowledges that the Guqin has been tuned and the Songstress’ Test is passed, allowing you to proceed to the boat and continue toward the Revelry Hall.
What happens after passing the Songstress’ Test
Once the melody is accepted, the quest objectives shift back to infiltration rather than music:
- You board Bai Rong’s boat to reach the Heroic Assembly’s Revelry Hall.
- A cutscene introduces the interior and the crowd of nobles and performers.
- The next major task is to explore the hall and Gather Clues (0/7) across its three floors.
Those clues involve small mini‑games—Pitch Pot, a music challenge against Ling Yuming, a debate, and a bit of pickpocketing—along with key conversations with named NPCs such as Fu Rong, Liu Rui, Wen Zixuan, Ouyang Binbin, and Ren Jiayu.
Later, you sneak into a locked chamber to examine items like Five Minerals Powder, Wine, an Unconscious Person, and a Fallen Pipa, then use the deduction interface to conclude that the Jiangnan envoy has gone to Nimbus Tower. The final stretch sends you to Nimbus Tower for a relatively simple duel, recovery of the Yin‑Inscribed Booklet, and a choice to burn it in the nearby fire, leading into a story sequence with Qin Ruolan and a reward for the Vernal Umbrella (Blossom Barrage Damage Boost).
How the broader music system works in Where Winds Meet
The Songstress’ Test is one of several musical activities in Where Winds Meet. Outside of this quest, you can play full rhythm mini‑games across the open world.
Musician NPCs are marked on the map with a musical instrument icon. Visiting one and interacting with them starts a music challenge where note icons drop down lanes on the screen toward circles at the bottom. Your job is to press the matching buttons when each icon hits its circle.
Each lane can have multiple icons falling at different times, and the scoring depends on timing accuracy. With a little practice, it becomes easier to read the patterns, and your character gradually feels more like the prodigy you pretend to be during “Shadows in Bloom.”
Once you know that the Guqin tune is Zhi–Yu–Gong–Jue–Shang and how that maps to the physical drum positions, the Songstress’ Test turns from an opaque puzzle into a quick formality. From there, the real challenge in “Shadows in Bloom” comes from piecing together social clues and navigating its mix of stealth, debate, and rhythm play rather than guessing your way through a five‑note pattern.
