The Withered Woods traversal in Where Winds Meet sits inside the Qinchuan Path side story tied to the Painter and his missing friend Fang Bai. The forest blocks normal pathfinding because the route only opens after you light four roadside shrines and trigger a scripted encounter with a crying child in red. Once she appears, she teleports you across the woods to the area where the truth about Fang Bai is hidden.
Quick answer: From the West of the North Mountain Plateau Boundary Stone, follow the Painter east into the forest, place a Moon Birch Branch or Rabbit Meat at four shrines along the trail, then move toward the sound of crying to meet the child in red, who warps you to the East of the North Mountain Plateau Boundary Stone.
Where the Withered Woods traversal happens
The traversal is part of the Worldly Affairs quest tied to the Painter's search for Fang Bai in Qinchuan Path, the third Hexi sub-region added in Version 1.6. The forest segment begins at the West of the North Mountain Plateau Boundary Stone and ends at the East of the North Mountain Plateau Boundary Stone. The Painter waits just ahead of the western stone and refuses to enter alone, so the prompt to escort him is what starts the woodland section.
Requirements before entering the forest
You need progression and one utility skill before the shrine sequence will resolve cleanly. Without these, the path through the woods will not advance.
| Requirement | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Qinchuan Path unlocked | Reached by completing Liangzhou Campaign — Dasan Pass and Qinghe Main Chapter: By Lamplight, at Lv.14 or above. |
| Earlier quest stages cleared | The Painter only walks to North Mountain Plateau after the Mustard Hut and Lion Barrow stages, including the Jianghu Legacy "The People's Wish." |
| Wind Sense | Highlights the bright yellow Moon Birch Branches and rabbits when an offering is hard to spot. |
| Boundary Stones | The West and East of the North Mountain Plateau stones make returning and recovering simple if you wander. |
How the shrine system works
Each small shrine on the forest path needs one offering. There are two valid offerings, and either one counts toward the four-shrine total.
- Moon Birch Branch — bright yellow branches lying on the ground near the trail. Wind Sense will pulse on them when you are close.
- Rabbit Meat — dropped from rabbits scattered through the woods. Hunt one nearby if a branch is not in sight.
Place the offering at the shrine to light it. After the fourth shrine is lit, the encounter with the child in red triggers automatically.
Stepwise traversal
Step 1: Fast travel to the West of the North Mountain Plateau Boundary Stone in Rivergaze Plateau and walk forward to the Painter. Choose the option to accompany him so the forest path activates.
Step 2: Follow the trail until the first small shrine appears ahead. Pick up the bright yellow Moon Birch Branch lying on the ground beside it and place it on the shrine to light the flame.
Step 3: Continue along the path. When the next shrine has no branch nearby, switch on Wind Sense and look for either another Moon Birch Branch or a rabbit. A piece of Rabbit Meat works exactly the same as a branch.
Step 4: Light the third and fourth shrines the same way. The shrines lie roughly along the marker chain through the forest, so do not stray far from the trail to avoid losing the offering's pickup prompt.
Step 5: After the fourth shrine flares to life, listen for crying. Move toward the sound. The child in red will be standing in the woods. Speaking with her plays a short scene, and she teleports you to the East of the North Mountain Plateau Boundary Stone.
Step 6: On the eastern side, investigate the four highlighted points along the path: the carvings on the ground, the letter on a tree trunk, the suspicious corpse, and the rough tree trunk. The rough tree gives you Fang Bai's letter, which is what the traversal exists to deliver.
How to confirm it worked
The traversal is complete when two things happen in sequence. First, you arrive at the East of the North Mountain Plateau Boundary Stone via the child in red rather than by foot. Second, the rough tree trunk on the eastern path yields a letter from Fang Bai when you inspect it. Hand that letter to the Painter to advance to the Sunken City Lake stage of the quest.
Common reasons the path fails to open
- Fewer than four shrines lit. The encounter only triggers after the fourth offering. Backtrack and check for an unlit shrine using Wind Sense.
- Missing offering nearby. If a shrine has no branch beside it, kill a rabbit on the trail and use the Rabbit Meat instead.
- Walking past the child. When crying starts, slow down and turn toward the sound. Sprinting through the area can push you out of the trigger volume.
- Quest stage not active. The shrines and the child only respond once you have escorted the Painter from the West of the North Mountain Plateau marker. Talking to him first is mandatory.
What follows the traversal
After the letter is in the Painter's hands, he sits down by the trail and asks to be left alone. Move to the objective marker to break the line of sight, then advance time by one full day from the menu. He next appears at Sunken City Lake, where the quest continues with a dive into the Campaign — Sunken City Lake stage. The Withered Woods section itself is not revisited, so there is no need to keep extra branches on hand once the eastern boundary stone unlocks.
The forest stretch is short on combat and long on small interactions, which is why the shrine count and the child's trigger trip up players who try to rush the path. Keep Wind Sense on, light all four, and the woods open exactly as designed.