How to Complete A Mother's Heart in Phantom Blade Zero

How to Complete A Mother's Heart in Phantom Blade Zero

A Mother's Heart starts when you pick up the first Memory Flower on the Slums rooftop route reached from the Back Hill Pavilion Bell, right after you open the purple chest holding the Backstreet Cellar Crank and drop the ladder beside it. The crank itself is used later, northeast in the Pangzhen Slums near Old Man Gen's House Bell. The Tale completes once you've collected two Memory Flowers. Your reward is Merciful Dew Medicine, the quest reward (restores 60% health over 10 seconds, five charges, per icrewplay's guide).

That's the short version. The long version matters because the route is a multi-step rooftop descent from the Back Hill Pavilion Bell, and the key item you need sits in a purple chest on that route.

What you need before you start

• Progress into Pangzhen. The town shows up in the prologue chapter "Reckless Pursuit."
• The Lion Dance Grandmaster fight, which you'll handle in Step 1, the Flaming Mane Phantom Edge it drops is the gate to the route below.
• Phantom Blade Zero on PS5 or PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store (per igamemag and howtovideogame). If a patch has shifted an item name or a chest position, check your build first.
• Time before the campaign's late lock. Tales in Phantom Blade Zero are missable, and regional side content shuts once the story passes its point of no return.

Step 1: Reach the Back Hill Pavilion Bell

Fight the Lion Dance Grandmaster in Pangzhen and take the Flaming Mane Phantom Edge from the kill. Don't rush off to the southwest yet: the weapon only opens that route after you push the main story a little further. Once it does, use the Phantom Edge to reach the southwest side of the region and ring the Back Hill Pavilion Bell.

Treat the bell as the anchor for everything below. The whole route is a descent from there. If you're still hunting other boss weapons, our guide to Where to Find Every Phantom Edge covers the rest of them.

Step 2: Descend the Slums rooftops to the purple chest

1. From the Back Hill Pavilion Bell, head down the path while clearing enemies, then use the chain to cross to the other side.
2. Kill the enemy on the rooftop and drop to the roof below. Clear that roof too.
3. Jump down to the balcony and continue toward the rooftop ahead.
4. Look right for a climbable wall. Climb it, then drop down on the left.
5. You'll land in an area with a purple chest, a raised ladder and several enemies. Clear the enemies first, then loot the chest for the Backstreet Cellar Crank.

Step 3: Drop the ladder and claim the first Memory Flower

With the crank in hand, drop the ladder in front of you.

Then pick up the Memory Flower next to the ladder. That pickup is what actually starts A Mother's Heart, so if your quest log was empty before this moment, that's why. The pickup is a permanent upgrade in its own right, so it pays off even if you never finish the Tale.

Step 4: Use the crank to cross the courtyard

After collecting the Memory Flower, make your way northeast toward the Pangzhen Slums and continue to Old Man Gen's House Bell. Head slightly south of this Bell to find the location where you can insert the Backstreet Cellar Crank. Using it will open the cellar door, allowing you to enter.

One warning here, because it catches a lot of players: don't go looking for the Pangzhen Backstreet Courtyard Key instead. That's a separate item tied to Old Man Gen's house and the acolyte scarecrow area, according to community guides, and it does nothing for this quest. Same district, different key, different job. If you've mixed up key items before, our breakdown of the Phantom Blade Zero Forest Outpost Courtyard Key follows the same logic of matching a key to the one door it opens.

Step 5: Collect the second Memory Flower and take Merciful Dew

Inside the cellar, collect the Tainted Crystal Shard and deal with the Puppets, then climb the ladder to find a Shield Puppet. Defeat it and continue ahead to another ladder you can drop down. Loot the chest for resources and collect the second Memory Flower to complete A Mother's Heart.

Slot it as an early-game heal: per icrewplay's guide, Merciful Dew restores 60% health over 10 seconds across five charges.

Common mistakes

• Hunting the Backstreet Courtyard Key instead of the Cellar Crank. They're different key items in the same district. Only the crank opens the cellar passage for this Tale.
• Rushing the Back Hill Pavilion Bell the moment the Lion Dance Grandmaster dies. The Flaming Mane Phantom Edge only opens the southwest route after further main-story progress.
• Opening the purple chest mid-fight. Clear the enemies around the chest and ladder first.
• Leaving the Tale for later. Side stories in Pangzhen are missable and lock at the late-campaign point of no return.
• Skipping the Memory Flowers because you only wanted the medicine. Both pickups are worth having either way.

Clean up the rest of Pangzhen before the point of no return

Pangzhen is dense with overlapping objectives, and A Mother's Heart is only one of them. Work through Yu'er's healer quests while the region is still open, and if you're chasing the letter delivery, here's Where to Find Pei in Phantom. Players chasing every medicine in the district should also check the Phantom Blade Zero medicine locations guide.

Keep collecting Memory Flowers across every zone for permanent health upgrades, alongside Sha-Chi Amber Fragments for energy and Blackstone Fragments for attack and guard break. Then push the main story only once the district's side content is clear, because the late-campaign lock shuts regional Tales for good.

A Mother's Heart rewards patience more than skill. The only real trap is walking past a purple chest because nothing told you it mattered. Grab the crank, drop the ladder, take both flowers, and walk away with Merciful Dew Medicine.