Yan Qiansui, the Zither Maiden
Maskwalkers · Meigu Lake · Chapter 7, The Lake
Yan Qiansui, the Zither Maiden is a Meigu Lake boss in Phantom Blade Zero, met in Chapter 7, The Lake. Its enemy level on a first playthrough is 19. Beating it gives 66,000 Remnant Dust, Fanatic's Fragment: Attachment and Illusory Pipa Strings. The game tells more of its story in Yan'er's Memory Flower (6 scenes).
Yan Qiansui's story in the game
Memory flower
Yan'er's Memory Flower
Back then, people throughout the Wulin whispered that the head of the Ming Sword Sect had gotten entangled with a woman at a songhouse, and that the zither player there was even carrying his child.
I. Allure of Vanity
- Clear Female Voice
Sister Yan'er, you're performing "Allure of Vanity" today! The house is packed!
- Yan'er
You're making me nervous... ugh—
- Clear Female Voice
Your pulse... are you pregnant?
- Clear Female Voice
Is it Sect Leader Ming... the one who always comes to your performances?
- Yan'er
That night, after we drank... He said he'd take me with him... and make me his wife.
- Yan'er
Do you think life in those great righteous sects is much better than it is here?
- Clear Female Voice
That's wonderful... you're finally leaving all this behind...
- Clear Female Voice
I'm so happy for you.
- Clear Female Voice
I wonder when it'll be my turn...
- Theatre Host
Next performance—"The Allure of Vanity"!
II. Bloodline
- Sect Leader Ming
Here. Take the gold. Do it cleanly. Leave no trace.
- Assassin
But the child, Master Ming... it's your own flesh and blood...
- Sect Leader Ming
The heir of the Ming Sword Sect could never come from a place like that.
- Assassin
Understood.
III. Into the Lake
- Maidservants' Screams
Ahhh!!!
- Guard's Shout
Assassin!
- Yan'er
Master Ming sent him... to kill me?
- Yan'er
How heartless!
- Yan'er
Xiniang... please, take care of yourself!
- Assassin
Damn it. She jumped...
- Assassin
Fine. With a child in her belly, she won't survive that lake.
- Assassin
I need to report back to Sect Leader Ming.
IV. Yan Qiansui
- Elder's Voice
As the body nears its end, the illusion manifests of its own accord. Fascinating...
- Yan'er
Who are you? My baby—where is my baby?
- Elder's Voice
Your child is gone, as if it never existed.
- Elder's Voice
And now rests under the Lady's grace...
- Yan'er
Where... where am I...
- Elder's Voice
A place for the broken and the lost.
- Elder's Voice
All who come here must leave their past behind and be reborn through sacrifice.
- Yan'er
My child...
- Elder's Voice
You have already paid your price.
- Elder's Voice
Now that you have joined my sect, you must forsake all worldly ties. I grant you a new name, Yan Qiansui.
- Elder's Voice
These pipa strings, I bestow them upon you as well!
V. the Offering
- The High Elder
It would have taken sixty more years to complete the passage, but a turn of fortune has shortened it to three...
- Leng Tu, Herald of the Veil
You must have offered something extraordinary, High Elder.
- The High Elder
The child of a Mandate's elite, carried in the womb of a most promising woman from that theatre.
- The High Elder
To come upon such fortune myself, The Lady's blessings are beyond measure.
- Leng Tu, Herald of the Veil
Your mastery is awe-inspiring, High Elder.
- The High Elder
It is all for Her glory. The honor is entirely mine.
- Yan Qiansui
Master, you—ah!—
- Leng Tu, Herald of the Veil
High Elder, why spare her life only to banish her?
- The High Elder
Let her be. Killing her could disturb the offering. The pure soul must remain untouched, or The Lady will be displeased.
VI. All Has Changed
- Wulin Fighter's Voice
Listen… there's music’s coming out of that theater again.
- Another Wulin Fighter's Voice
No one dares go near that place now!
- Another Wulin Fighter's Voice
Hear how eerie that zither sounds!
About Yan Qiansui
Yan Qiansui, the Zither Maiden
琴女烟千岁
A woman who wanders before a ruined songhouse, playing the zither in her arms day and night without rest. The instrument seems almost alive, its ringing notes giving voice to her pent-up resentment and indignation, spilling them over any living thing that strays here.
Yan’er was once a renowned zither player who captivated every audience. She thought she had found true love with a great hero and even bore his child, only to be met with an assassin’s blade... In the debauched life of that Mandate sect leader, there was never any place for the happiness a lowly musician could hope for.
After narrowly surviving the calamity, Yan’er was taken in by the High Elder and given the name Yan Qiansui. But what the High Elder truly wanted was the child in her womb. To him, her unborn child was merely a sacrifice to shorten the passage. When Yan Qiansui learned the truth behind her child’s death, she was alive in body but dead inside. Yet it seemed all she could do was flee from the truth.
Only the zither that had always remained by her side could offer her a little comfort, allowing her to lose herself in a fleeting dream of past splendor and seek a salvation that never existed.
What beating Yan Qiansui gives
66,000 Remnant Dust
Fanatic's Fragment: Attachment
Illusory Pipa Strings
Where to find Yan Qiansui
Meigu LakeChapter 7, The Lake
Major ChestForbidden PathFour Guardians' MirrorWhiteshadow's FallFrozen Lake DockWeeping MistgateOne-Eyed Isle DockBlackwater Crew DockWhite Serpent HouseMeigu Village East DockWhite Serpent House DockZhang's Hideout (Meigu Village)Midlake Lóng Pillar DockMeigu Village West DockLake Banyan DockPangzhen Sha-Chi Tower SummitPangzhen Sha-Chi Tower Lower ExteriorPangzhen Sha-Chi Tower Lower PassagePangzhen Sha-Chi Tower DockMeigu Songhouse DockPangzhen Sha-Chi Tower Upper Level 1Village of Lu Shallows Dock
Yan Qiansui
Nearest bellMeigu Songhouse Dock, 30 m away
