If you’ve spent hours roaming the misty mountains, water towns, and bustling city streets of Where Winds Meet, you’ve probably stumbled across cryptic riddles from traveling scholars, half-buried stone tablets, and NPCs muttering about a lost collection of jianghu lore. I spent nearly 12 hours last weekend chasing every lead I could find, skipping main story missions and ignoring side quest pings, just to track down where winds meet the secret record of jianghu. It’s not just a random collectible to tick off your list: it unlocks some of the game’s most unique rewards, from a rare martial art skill to a full hidden ending most players never see. This guide breaks down everything you need to know to get it without wasting hours on dead ends like I did.
What You’ll Unlock When You Find Where Winds Meet the Secret Record of Jianghu
You don’t want to put in the work to track this collectible down if the rewards aren’t worth it, right? Trust me, they are. First, you’ll get a permanent Hidden Jianghu Reputation Buff that boosts all NPC favor gains by 15% and cuts shop prices by 20% across every region. That might not sound like a big deal at first, but it saves you thousands of coins on high-level crafting materials and makes it way easier to unlock exclusive side quests from rare NPCs later in the game.
Next, you’ll get three pages of the Lost Cloud Sword Technique, the only lightness-based attack in the game that can break the final boss’s indestructible golden shield buff. I fought that boss three times before unlocking this skill, and each attempt ended with my entire party getting one-shot by his AOE attack. With this sword technique, I beat him on the first try without using a single healing item.
The biggest reward, though, is the “Wandering Hero” hidden ending. Most players only get to choose between joining the imperial army or the rebel faction for their final playthrough, both of which have pretty heavy, bittersweet endings. This hidden ending lets you skip both factions entirely, roam the jianghu as a free swordsman, and unlock a 30-minute exclusive epilogue that never shows up in regular playthroughs. I’d argue it’s the most satisfying ending the game has to offer.
Pre-Requisites to Access the Secret Record of Jianghu
You can’t just run to the collectible locations right after you start the game, unfortunately. There are a few hard requirements you have to meet first, otherwise none of the clue NPCs will talk to you and the fragment locations won’t trigger interactions. I learned this the hard way when I traveled all the way to Huashan Mountain at level 18, only to find the cave entrance was completely blocked off for no obvious reason.
- Reach "Famous Across the Region" jianghu reputation level. You can hit this by completing at least 12 regional side quests, not just main story missions. Main story quests barely give any reputation, so don’t skip side content if you want to unlock this record early.
- Unlock level 3 "Roof Running" lightness skill. One of the fragments is hidden in a cave halfway up a Huashan cliff, and you can’t reach it without the extra jump and glide distance level 3 lightness skill gives you. Temporary lightness potions only last 30 seconds, so don’t waste your coins on them for this task.
- Carry at least 3 bottles of Aged Daughter Rice Wine in your inventory. The first clue NPC will only talk to you if you offer him this specific drink, and it’s only sold by a single merchant in Suzhou’s night market.
- Complete the main story chapter "Breeze of Jiangnan" to unlock all northern map regions. Two of the four fragments are located in the northern part of the map, which stays locked until you finish this chapter.
So make sure you tick all these boxes before you start hunting for fragments. I skipped the reputation requirement on my first attempt, and spent three hours running to every location only to have zero interactions trigger. Don’t make that same mistake.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough to Collect All Record Fragments
The secret record is split into four fragments hidden across the map, and you need to collect all four before you can unlock the full reward. I’ve ordered these steps to cut down on fast travel time, so you can grab all four in just over an hour if you follow the order.
First, head to Nanping Village and find the old drunkard sitting under the big banyan tree at the village entrance. Give him the three bottles of Aged Daughter Rice Wine, and he’ll ramble about his days as a young swordsman before telling you the first fragment is hidden in the hollow of the old banyan tree behind his house. Climb up the tree, grab the fragment, and make sure you don’t attack any of the village dogs along the way. If you hurt a dog, the drunkard’s favor drops so low he’ll refuse to talk to you at all.
Next, fast travel to Suzhou City and pick up the “Stolen Lost Book” side quest from the library owner near the city center. Complete the short quest to get back his stolen book, and he’ll give you a special access pass to the library’s second floor. Head up to the second floor, interact with the third bookshelf from the left, and you’ll get the second fragment. Don’t try to pick the lock on the second floor door if you don’t have the pass. If you get caught, you’ll be thrown in jail for 10 in-game minutes and lose 200 jianghu reputation, which will set you back way more time than just completing the short side quest.
Third, fast travel to the Huashan Mountain waypoint and glide over to the north side of the mountain. Look for the small cave entrance halfway up the cliff, climb in with your level 3 lightness skill, and you’ll find the third fragment next to the remains of a fallen swordsman. There’s a level 35 snow ape guarding the cave, but you don’t have to fight it. Throw a paralysis powder at it to stun it for 5 seconds, grab the fragment, and run back out. I was level 32 when I did this, and I didn’t take a single point of damage.
Finally, fast travel to the Yanmen Pass waypoint and wait until the in-game time is between 7PM and 11PM. Climb to the top of the tallest beacon tower, and you’ll see a glowing stone tablet on the edge. Interact with it to get the fourth and final fragment. If you come during the day, the tablet won’t glow and you won’t be able to pick up the fragment, so don’t waste your trip before sunset.
Once you have all four fragments, head to the teahouse in Luoyang City and talk to the storyteller near the entrance. He’ll piece the fragments together into the full secret record, and all the rewards will unlock automatically for your character.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hunting for the Record
Even with a walkthrough, it’s easy to make small mistakes that waste hours of your time. I’ve compiled the most common errors I see players make, so you can skip the frustration.
First, don’t follow old beta test coordinates you find on random forums. The full release of the game moved three of the four fragment locations to different spots, including the Huashan cave that used to be on the south slope instead of the north. I can’t tell you how many times I fast traveled to the wrong side of the mountain before I realized the coordinates were outdated.
Second, don’t ignore the time requirements for fragments. The Yanmen Pass fragment only spawns at night, and the Suzhou library is only open between 8AM and 6PM. If you show up at the wrong time, you’ll just be standing around waiting for nothing. I usually set an in-game timer reminder when I’m hunting for time-gated collectibles, and it saves me a ton of waiting around.
Third, don’t sell or discard any of the fragments before you collect all four. The fragments are bound to your character, and once you get rid of them, there’s no way to get them back without starting a completely new playthrough. I saw a player post on the official forum last week saying they accidentally sold one of their fragments to a merchant, and they had to restart their entire 40-hour playthrough to get the hidden ending. Don’t be that person.
Finally, don’t try to interact with the storyteller before you have all four fragments. He won’t give you any hints or partial rewards, and you’ll just waste a fast travel trip to Luoyang. Wait until you have all four in your inventory before you head to the teahouse.
Tracking down where winds meet the secret record of jianghu doesn’t have to be the 12-hour nightmare it was for me. If you follow the steps in this guide, meet all the pre-requisites, and avoid the common mistakes I listed, you can grab all the fragments and unlock all the rewards in less than two hours. I even stumbled across a hidden guqin player NPC while I was hunting for fragments, who taught me a rare music skill that boosts my entire party’s attack by 10% during boss fights. Sometimes the best parts of open world wuxia games are the little surprises you find along the way, so don’t rush too much. If you get stuck on any of the fragment locations, drop a comment below and I’ll help you out.
