Twisted Destiny is one of the more memorable Encounter quests in Where Winds Meet, sending you into a murder mystery around General Wang Qing and a vengeful Headsman. It blends disguise, timed events, clue hunting, and a deduction puzzle, and it is easy to miss if you do not know where to look.
How to unlock Twisted Destiny
Twisted Destiny becomes available after completing Chapter 1 – Heaven Has No Pier in the main story.
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Main story | Finish Chapter 1: Heaven Has No Pier |
| Region | Qinghe – Verdant Wilds (eastern side) |
| Key location | Bamboo Retreat / Bamboo Abode area and nearby ruined house |
Travel to the Bamboo Retreat teleport point in eastern Qinghe. Outside the ruined home near the retreat, you will be ambushed by a wolf pack. Defeat the wolves first; this is what exposes the quest hook.
Start the encounter at the ruined house
Once the area is clear, you need to trigger the encounter around Uncle Jiang.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Check the porch | Inspect the Bloody Sack lying on the porch of the ruined house. |
| 2. Read the challenge | Interact with the knife-pinned note on the broken door, titled “Challenge to the Cur”. This starts Twisted Destiny. |
| 3. Change clothes | Go inside and interact with the cabinet/wardrobe to put on Uncle Jiang’s outfit. |
Jiang’s clothes are critical. The Headsman expects Jiang at the next location, so the disguise is what lets the story move forward.
Go to the General’s Shrine and set the Zi hour
After changing outfits, your next target is the General’s Shrine northwest of Bamboo Retreat. You can move there on foot or use the nearby Boundary Stone teleport if it is unlocked.
The meeting only happens at Zi hour (the “Rat” timeslot on the in-game clock). The game lets you manually advance time:
- Open the main menu.
- Go to the Time screen.
- Scroll until you see Zi (Rat icon) and confirm the change.
Once the time is set and you approach the shrine, a cutscene plays and the Headsman attacks, mistaking you for Jiang.
First fight with the Headsman at the shrine
This duel is intentionally constrained and cannot be finished in the usual way.
| Condition | Details |
|---|---|
| Loadout | You are restricted to the Nameless Sword, with no Mystic Arts or Inner Way access. |
| Goal | Lower the Headsman’s HP to about half. |
| Outcome | He realizes you are not Jiang Yan and the fight ends in dialogue. |
Play defensively, focus on dodging and punishing his openings. As soon as his health drops to roughly 50 percent, the duel automatically stops and moves to the investigation phase.
Investigate the traces at the General’s Shrine
When the Headsman leaves, the shrine becomes a small crime scene. You must inspect six clues around the area. These glow in gold when nearby.
| Clue | Location |
|---|---|
| Bloody Sack | On a table directly in front of you outside the shrine after the duel. |
| Confession Letter | On the floor inside the shrine, a few steps north of the outside table. |
| General’s Teachings | On the table set in front of the General’s statue inside the shrine. |
| Two kneeling soldier statues | Pair of statues outside the shrine entrance; each must be inspected individually. |
| General’s Statue base | Base of the large statue facing the kneeling soldiers outside. |
Make sure every prompt has been triggered; missing even one statue will block the next step.
Complete the deduction puzzle
Once all clues are recorded, open your quest journal and start the Deduction minigame. You answer four questions by connecting two clue fragments each time. The links determine how your character interprets the scene and where to go next.
| Question | Clues to link | Resulting conclusion |
|---|---|---|
| What ties do these statues have to Wang Qing? | Statue’s Face + Confession Letter | Ones who wronged the General |
| How does the killer in the General’s Shrine view Wang Qing? | Remember the General’s Teachings + A General’s Death Repaid with Heads | From Respect to Blind Devotion |
| What brought the killer to the General’s Shrine? | Ones Who Wronged the General + From Respect to Blind Devotion | Avenge General Wang Qing |
| Where could this person go next? What for? | Avenge General Wang Qing + A Resident of Harvestfall Village | Go to Harvestfall Village and slay the traitor (or equivalent wording) |
Finishing the deduction points you toward Harvestfall Village and confirms that the killer is chasing someone who once wronged the General.
Travel to Harvestfall Village and confront the Headsman again
Head west from the shrine to reach Harvestfall Village. Follow the quest markers into the settlement to eavesdrop on a conversation between the Headsman and a deranged veteran, Liu Musan.
After the cutscene, you fight the Headsman a second time. This round plays out differently from the shrine duel:
- You can use your normal loadout: any equipped weapons, Inner Ways, and Mystic Arts are active.
- Again, you only need to reduce his HP to around half.
The battle stops mid-way once more, and dialogue reveals that Liu Musan’s memories and mental state are unreliable. The Headsman then changes tactics and asks for help.
Get the wine from Blissful Retreat
The Headsman wants to coax more truth out of Liu Musan using wine and your disguise. Your next stop is Blissful Retreat, a location you will visit in other content as well.
| Objective | Details |
|---|---|
| Reach Blissful Retreat | Follow the quest marker from Harvestfall Village toward the retreat. |
| Find the hidden wine | Look for a wine jar tucked between rocks near other wine containers in the area. |
| Return to the Headsman | Bring the wine back to him at a spot just north of Blissful Retreat. |
Handing over the wine triggers a long story segment. The Headsman recounts Uncle Jiang’s past, how General Wang Qing rescued him and raised him as a foster son, and how the General’s lenient judgment of friends became a fatal flaw. This also explains why impersonating Jiang is key to unlocking Liu Musan’s memories.
At the end of this conversation, you put on Jiang’s clothes again to fully commit to the ruse.
Return to Harvestfall Village and follow the footprints
With the disguise and wine ready, go back to Harvestfall Village. Sit on the marked bench to stage a meeting with Liu Musan. The cutscene shows him reacting to “Jiang” and the wine, but he soon panics and bolts from the scene.
Your job now is to track him down using Wind Sense:
- Activate Wind Sense to reveal footprints leaving the bench area.
- The prints start on the dirt path next to He Ran (the Headsman).
- Follow the trail toward the east exit of the village.
The tracks lead to a broken carriage outside the settlement, where Liu Musan is speaking again. Interact to trigger the final cutscene for the encounter.
This last sequence reconstructs the night of the General’s death, clarifies Jiang’s role, and explains the “box” that sealed Wang Qing’s fate. It also forces the Headsman to confront how his devotion turned into indiscriminate vengeance.
Twisted Destiny rewards
Clearing every step of Twisted Destiny, from Bamboo Retreat through the Harvestfall confrontation, delivers a packed set of rewards.
| Reward | Type |
|---|---|
| Hero Title – Guest from the Past | Title |
| Echo Jade ×80 | Premium currency |
| Red Fish Kite | Appearance accessory / cosmetic |
| Qinghe Exploration ×80 | Regional exploration progress |
| Enlightenment Points ×100 | Progression resource |
| Character EXP ×30000 | Experience |
| Coin ×30000 | Currency |
Some progress rewards arrive partway through the chain, with the rest granted after the final carriage cutscene at the village’s edge. Twisted Destiny also ties thematically into later Encounters that revisit Jiang and the General’s legacy, so finishing it early in Qinghe gives more context to what is happening across the region.
Handled in order—Bamboo Retreat, shrine at Zi hour, deduction, Harvestfall, Blissful Retreat, then the final chase—Twisted Destiny plays out as a self-contained wuxia tragedy and one of the best early showcases for Where Winds Meet’s disguise and clue systems.
