Location: Bitterwater Village
Petitioner: None
Prerequisites: See below
Reward: Dragonwood, Amethyst, Eighteen Scholars, Luminous Pearl
This side quest is related to the many quests surrounding Sweetspring Village, in the far west of the world map. It has a number of prerequisites, and will only show up under some specific conditions:
- You need to have recruited Kong Liang earlier in the game (I'm not 100% certain of this, but at the very least you won't find this quest chain useful without having recruited Liang)
- You need to be playing through either Sweet and Bitter Springs or Badlands Stronghold, after visiting four locations to find help but before triggering the final battle of the scenario in Skylinemont
- You need to visit Bitterwater Village before heading to the Badlands Stronghold - this isn't the trigger for the quest, but it is necessary for the quest to trigger in the first place
Suffice it to say that it is quite easy to miss this side quest, and if you do you'll lose out on the opportunity to recruit a powerful character. Visit Bitterwater Village after fighting through Badlands Stronghld and Re-visit Bitterwater Village should go off.
Leave Bitterwater Village after the cut scene, then head east, to Canglan Village. Another cut scene will introduce you to a pair of monks whom you may have spotted elsewhere in the game. Follow them north, left through the blacksmith's area, and up the nearby stairs to trigger a cut scene, and a battle.
The Wise One and Dome Rinpoche
This is a novelty. Unlike other story battles, where you occasionally get caught in a pincer, this time it's the enemy stuck in the middle. You still shouldn't take these two monks lightly, however, as they aren't weaklings. They fight as follows:
- The Wise One is a ranged fighter who uses hidden weapons, and will often infict Bleeding on your party members. Get in close and box him in to negate his greatest advantage.
- Dome Rinpoche is a polearm fighter who excels at maximizing the number of characters he hits each turn, but on average he's weaker than The Wise One. Try to avoid letting him slip between groups of your characters and take him out second.
- The monks are accompanied by four Rinpoche's Disciples. They're all fist fighters, and not a huge deal. Try to catch them with AOE attacks while hitting the two named monks.
Di Zui (whom you may have met earlier in the game) has joined your party for this battle, and he's quite powerful. Let him distract the enemies on the left while you charge into the foes on the right. Take out the two mooks and assign someone to distract Dome Rinpoche while everyone else clobbers The Wise One from behind. Then mop up the enemies as needed. It's not that difficult a battle. (And is made easier if Frosty Condor is not in your battle party, as she'll join as a sixth member to help out.)
You'll receive a Big Dipper Boxing Glove and Rhinohide Beast Pattern Armor for driving away the monks, and Di Zui's Affinity for Yi will rise.
Di Zui leaves for Tianshui after the battle. Follow him west, then head north to the Outer City. As you're walking north you'll pass under a wall, and you'll see Di Zui standing on top. Climb up to meet him and you'll trigger a cut scene. Once it is done Di Zui will join the party, and his Affinity for Yi will rise again.
Head north to the entrance of Chengjia Fortress. The two attendants out front will try to stop you, but the combined party of Yi, Frosty Condor, and Di Zui will put them down with no problem. The battle that follows, however...
Cheng Wanqing
Ambush! Accompanied by four Berserk Chengjia Fortress Disciples, Cheng Wanqing can put up more of a fight than you might have expected... though not by a whole lot. Every enemy uses their fists to fight, and aside from Wanqing's Frosty Palm Strike you won't see any terribly dangerous moves coming out of the enemy's side.
The primary difficulty here stems from the positioning and your lack of fighters, though even then you should be okay. Back your force up to start and take out the disciples on your left. This will give you a turn or two before Wanqing and the rest of the disciples pile on from the right. For the most part the enemies need to get in close to damage you, and you can take advantage of this with AOE moves. Di Zui has a few powerful ones. Wanqing should be the last man standing, and he's not very strong on his own.
Di Zui's Affinity for Yi rises yet again after the battle. Leng Wuqing will offer some comments, if he's in the party, and the quest will end there. At this point you're probably headed back to Sweetspring Village to complete the scenario.