The new action role-playing game Black Myth: Wukong from developer Game Science takes you on a fraught journey across perilous lands, pitting you against a plethora of enemies (and nearly 80 bosses). But you’ll also encounter friendly faces along the way, staunch allies willing to lend a helping hand—and, just like those characters, we’d like to aid you on your adventure as well.

This Black Myth: Wukong guide walks you through the steps necessary to gain access to the Ruyi Scroll, an item that unlocks the secret domain known as the Painted Realm. This acts as your personal hub of sorts, a tranquil area where several friendly NPCs reside. We'll also give you a quick overview about the new shops and abilities that become available once you've unlocked the Painted Realm—including a way to upgrade your armor and a semi-hidden boss you can challenge.

Please note that this guide contains minor spoilers.
 

How to unlock the Painted Realm in Black Myth: Wukong

Below are the steps that allow you to unlock Black Myth: Wukong's Painted Realm:

1. Advance through the campaign until you defeat Chen Loong in Chapter 3: White Snow, Ice Cold.
2. Obtain the Resurrection Pills from the Xu Dog.
3. Return to Chen Loong and receive the Ruyi Scroll, which automatically teleports you to the Painted Realm.

Where to find Chen Loong and how to beat him

You’ll encounter Chen Loong just after the events at The New West: Turtle Island during Chapter 3. Once you’ve defeated the major boss in the area (which we don’t want to spoil here), a certain event occurs and you’ll find yourself in the Bitter Lake. From there, make sure to interact with the North Shore of the Bitter Lake Shrine to unlock a fast travel point. Then, assuming you’re facing inland, go to the left-hand side of the beach.

You’ll notice Chen Loong in the shallow portion of the sea, whereupon you’ll engage him in combat. Similar to the previous boss, this humanoid dragon has several lightning-based spells that you need to watch out for. Thankfully, your companion Zhu Baije will fight alongside you, making this battle significantly easier.

 

How to get the Resurrection Pills from the Xu Dog

Once you’ve beaten Chen Loong, you’ll receive 1,186x Will and 2x Cold Iron Leaves. Moreover, he’ll remark that he can hardly move a muscle and he needs the Resurrection Pills from the Xu Dog.

The Xu Dog is actually the medicine merchant that you encounter during Chapter 2. If you've lost track, he’s in the Yellow Wind Ridge: Crouching Tiger Temple - Cellar Shrine. Simply talk to him and he’ll give you the Special-Made Bone-Strengthening Pellet.

Return to Bitter Lake and you’ll find Chen Loong at a nearby pier. Upon handing over the remedy, he’ll tell you of a domain that he created alongside his fellow deities. This unlocks Black Myth: Wukong's Painted Realm. This small hub has a Shrine, allowing you to fast travel to it whenever you please by selecting Ruyi Scroll: Zodiac Village - Village Entrance from the list. It’s also where you’ll find various zodiac animal NPCs that can aid you on your journey in various unique ways.

 

Shen Monkey: More gourd upgrades

The Shen Monkey originally encountered during Chapter 1 will reside in the Painted Realm after it's unlocked. He offers the following services:

• Upgrade Gourds: Increases the number of flask charges in exchange for Luojia Fragrant Vines.
• Upgrade Drinks: Increases the number of slots for Soaks (as well as inherent effects) in exchange for Awakened Wine Worms.
• Brew: This function is similar to what you see from the Shrine interface, letting you equip Drinks and Soaks for your flask/Gourd.
• Store: Sells all sorts of Gourds, Drinks, Soaks, and upgrade materials. More items become available as you progress further in the campaign.

Xu Dog: Medicine requests

The Xu Dog will also move to the Painted Realm once unlocked and offers:

• Request Medicine: When you select this option, Xu Dog will reward you with a few random consumables, including legendary and mythical variants. You can make another request after enough time has elapsed in-game. The internal timer will not count down if you’re not playing.
• Make Medicines: This allows you to craft Mortal Medicines (consumables that require various materials) as well as Celestial Medicines (which cost Mind Cores and grant attribute bonuses).
• Remake Celestial Medicines: Refunds all Mind Cores so you can reallocate them to other stat bonuses.
• Store: Xu Dog sells several types of consumable medicines, as well as formulae so you can craft them on your own.

Chen Loong: Seeds and gardening

Since Chen Loong unlocked the Black Myth: Wukong Painted Realm for you, it’s a given that he’ll also be in this area. He offers his gardening services, and you can give him any seed that you’ve collected. Just like the Xu Dog’s Request Medicine option, you may harvest these plants after enough time has elapsed in-game.

This particular mechanic is quite useful since you can gain up to eight of a particular common herb and a select few of the rarer variants. This saves you a lot of time, reducing the need to farm them individually in different regions.

 

Yin Tiger: Weapons and armor upgrades

The Yin Tiger is a doughy warrior who offers his blacksmithing expertise, including:

• Craft Weapons and Armor: This is similar to the function that you see in the Shrine interface.
• Upgrade Armor: This is the only mechanic for upgrading your armor in Black Myth: Wukong, and it's only available when talking to the Yin Tiger. Here, you can upgrade the rarity of an armor piece up to Mythical tier by spending Will and assorted materials.
• Store: You can purchase a bunch of upgrade materials, such as Silk, Yaoguai Core, Refined Iron Sand, Stone Spirit, and Gold Tree Core.

How to defeat the Yin Tiger in the Painted Realm

Surprisingly enough, the Painted Realm in Black Myth: Wukong also has a special boss fight. If you pick the “Challenge” option when interacting with the Yin Tiger, you’ll be able to battle him. Here are some abilities that you need to watch out for:

• Multi-hit combos: Don’t let the size of the Yin Tiger’s blade fool you, since his melee combos can have four or more attacks per sequence. Some are sweeping or cleaving attacks that hit a wide area, while others have an explosive effect that sunders the ground.
• Teleportation: The boss might disappear, leaving only leaves behind. When this occurs, be prepared for a teleport strike from high above.
• Power Rush: Periodically, the Yin Tiger will rear up and begin to charge. This is followed by a shorter attack sequence with high-damage blows.
• Grab and pound: If you get caught in the boss’s grip, then you’re bound to take a chunk of damage.

We defeated the Yin Tiger by casting A Pluck of Many as soon as the fight began, followed by Immobilize to deal as much damage as possible before the effect broke. We also used Loong Aura Amplification Pellets to increase our attack, critical hit chance, and critical hit damage. As for the staff stance, we preferred the Thrust Stance due to its defensive counter-oriented playstyle. Lastly, as our HP dwindled, we transformed into the Wolf Guai—the separate health bar allowed us to survive long enough to take the Yin Tiger down.

If you manage to defeat this boss, you’ll earn a valuable reward: the Ebon Flow transformation, which allows you to shapeshift into the Yin Tiger himself. You’ll also see a new dialogue option when talking to the Yin Tiger, which will allow you to increase your curio slots by one extra accessory.

That does it for our Black Myth: Wukong Painted Realm guide. We hope this guide helps you unlock this secret hub and make use of its various NPCs. And for more tips related to combat and survival, be sure to check out our best skills guide, too.

Black Myth: Wukong is available now on the Epic Games Store.