Mu Xiaokui boss guide: the five ribbons and the third phase

At a glance

The five ribbons — every location

Collect all five before you step onto the elevator. Each one hangs on a landmark you already pass on the main route:

Four of the five sit on bells you activate anyway. Only the coffin one requires clearing an optional area.

Moves and how to answer them

Game8 documents five answers to her kit, in the order below. Each set of stills is three frames pulled from its in-page demonstration, HUD left in so you can match the moment in-game. Phase-by-phase detail follows underneath.

Phase 1: swords and blinks

She opens with paired spinning sword throws, vanishes, and blinks back in with a dodgeable projectile. Perfect-dodging that projectile is the single best punish in the fight — it staggers her heavily and opens a long window.

Play defensively through the opening. Her combos end on a glint; that is the only place you should be swinging.

Phase 2: where runs end

Three hazards stack here, and they are what actually kills people:

• Phantom guardians. She summons holograms that attack out of the environment. Watch the purple rifts in the arena floor — they are the tell for where a summon is about to appear.
• Black-flash attacks. Unblockable by definition. Guard will not save you; only the dodge will.
• Sha-Chi draining thrusts. Her thrusts drain your Sha-Chi, which is what makes the follow-ups lethal. Do not trade through them — disengage and re-engage.

At roughly one-third of her remaining health she summons the two guardians and steps back. That is the phase change, not a new boss.

Phase 3: the duo

She leaves you with Jade Dancer (玉妖) and Iron Fiend (铁鬼). Jade Dancer fights on leg blades, moves fast, and has ranged options. Iron Fiend is a heavier brawler whose moveset reads as a reskin of Iron Fever.

Kill Iron Fiend first. He is easier to isolate — space out and he follows, which leaves a beat where Jade Dancer has not caught up and you get free hits. Then finish her alone.

The duo shares four red glint grabs between them. Jade Dancer’s horizontal scissor kicks and Iron Fiend’s whirlwind dash are readable; Iron Fiend’s surprise kicks are the fastest grab in the fight and have almost no startup cue — that one is a reaction test, not a read.

They also have a combined three-hit attack when they are close together, telegraphed by purple effects on Jade Dancer’s blade. The first two hits are blockable; parry the third.

Notes

• The fight is not hard on paper. Her own damage is moderate; the phase-2 black-flash chain and the phase-3 duo are the only real threats.
• Do not split damage in phase 3. Committing to one target is the whole strategy.
• The ribbon collection is the only missable. Everything else in this fight is repeatable.

Related

• Heartless Remnants — the chapter hub
• Iron Fiend and Jade Dancer — the third phase in detail
• All bosses