Unofficial guide · Launch edition · Last checked Confirmed Reported Conflict After unlock
Diverging Paths walkthrough: the first quest, step by step
Diverging Paths is the prologue. It is mostly a tutorial: a short run through the movement basics, a sparring match that teaches combat, then one duel against Zuo Shang, all in Weeping Creek Valley. Reported· Game8
The short version
This page covers this quest only. The one story beat at the end is hidden behind a toggle.
IGN reports that your health refills on its own in both fights, so treat the quest as practice for the parry and dodge timing you will need for the rest of the game.
Step by step
Each step carries a mark. A reported mark with one source means only one guide has said it so far.
1. Pick a difficulty
You choose a difficulty right at the start of a new game. Reported· IGN IGN says you can change it at any time during the playthrough, so you are not locked in. The difficulty page compares them.
2. Watch the opening duel
A fight between Soul and Zuo Shang ends with both of them on their knees, then the game jumps back 16 years and hands you control. Reported· Game8
3. Follow the path and learn to move
The route is mostly linear and each action is prompted: camera, jumping, crouching, climbing ledges and wall running. It ends at a building where Zuo Shang is waiting. Reported· Game8
Scratch marks on ledges and walls mark surfaces you can climb or run along. Reported· IGN
When the path splits, both sides rejoin. One gives extra wall-run practice and the other drops you past the walls; the left fork at the first split has nothing to pick up. Reported· IGN
The guides we checked list no other enemies and no pickups in this stretch.
4. Learn combat by sparring Zuo Shang
Zuo Shang teaches combat by fighting you: lock-on and light combos, Sha-Chi combos, guarding, parrying and dodging. Beating him ends the lesson. Reported· Game8
The lessons are pop-ups you clear by doing them: light combos, two Sha-Chi combos, holding guard, breaking his guard, three dodges, then two blue parries and two red dodges. A Power Surge is shown last. Reported· IGN
Blue flash means parry, red flash means dodge. The same colour code runs through the whole game; see the combat guide.
He only attacks when you are close, and your health refills on its own, so you can step back and practise without pressure. Reported· IGN
5. Fight Zuo Shang again
The game returns to the opening duel and you take Soul's side of it. This is the quest's real boss. Reported· Game8 IGN, which played on Hellwalker, reports two phases and a button-prompt event when he moves to the roof. Reported· IGN
Parry blue flashes and dodge red ones, the same habits as the sparring match.
A Power Surge can break up his combos when you are under pressure.
6. The ending cutscene
Story beat that ends the quest · show
When Soul wakes, a figure called the Flesh Sculptor offers him two replacement hearts: one removes emotion and desire, the other keeps him alive on venom for 66 days. Soul takes the second, which is the setup behind the 66-day countdown. Both guides treat it as a cutscene, not a choice. Reported· Game8
After the prologue, the first regular boss in Weeping Creek Valley is reported to be Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute; its Rustblade Pavilion bell sits next to the arena.
Game8 labels Diverging Paths the Prologue and Reckless Pursuit Chapter 1. IGN calls Diverging Paths the first part of the prologue, which suggests the prologue continues into the next page.
Game8, 28 Oct 2026 Diverging Paths Quest Walkthrough and Rewards
IGN, 29 Oct 2026 Diverging Paths Walkthrough - Phantom Blade Zero Guide
How we handle it: Naming differs, but both put Reckless Pursuit right after this quest.
PBZ