Phantom Blade Zero Who Can Judge? guide

Mid game · Steam, achievement, Who Can Judge, Training Grounds key, Illusory Pipa Backplate

By Hizzle Guides · Published 2026-11-04 · Facts checked 2026-11-04 · Game version checked: PC 1.0302256 official November 4 patch reviewed; PS5 trophy context; exact PS5 build parity UNSURE; no in-game testing

Phantom Blade Zero Who Can Judge? asks you to investigate the Training Grounds. The best documented chapter-completion lead is the Illusory Pipa Backplate pickup in Mandate Encampment. UNSURE unlock mapping: that pickup has a published Hero or Heretic end-card record, but no independently checked source here explicitly records the Steam achievement at that exact moment. The route below gives you the investigation steps without turning that inference into a guaranteed unlock.

Obtain the Training Grounds Key

Enter Mandate Encampment with the Outer Gate Key obtained through Pangzhen. Follow Sunset Path and the battlefield route.
Defeat Wan Jun, the Coppermaul for Bashpole. Use its exploration ability on the weakened floor along the route beyond Main Encampment Gate.
Continue through Dovecote toward Three Towers. Defeat the Chief Disciple of the Seven-Stars Formation for the Training Grounds Key, then activate Tower Rear Exit.
Follow the route toward Road to the Training Grounds and its locked red door. Use the key and ring Training Grounds Bell.

Phantom Blade Zero Sword Against the Seven-Stars covers the Chief Disciple encounter, Red's conditional appearance and the reward gaps. Calling that boss optional in a general walkthrough does not establish that this key is unnecessary for the route described here.

Protect the Baishan quest before the duel

Before defeating Yubi, No. 21 Swordfighter Puppet, finish the relevant Secrets of the Baishan Sect investigation: defeat Wu Lengshuang, then inspect Bi Taotao's body among the flowers. The accepted tale and earlier conversation requirements are in Phantom Blade Zero The Last of Baishan trophy. If that tale already failed, this page does not promise that collecting the Backplate repairs it.

Keep a manual save before the fight. Yubi's defeat and inspecting the Training Grounds are different tasks; do not use one reward notification as proof of every related achievement.

Find the Backplate and chapter-completion lead

After Yubi, enter the building beyond the arena and inspect its table. All Things How places the Backplate beside a flame censer, roughly 43 m from Training Grounds Depths Bell, and reports Hero or Heretic / End of Chapter when it is taken. The distance is that source's approach reference, not a measured search radius.

Take the item using the interaction prompt actually displayed. Check the Illusory Pipa collection progress and Steam's achievement record afterward. Do not stop at merely ringing the Bell or collecting Baishan Stormswords if the investigation is still unfinished.

UNSURE boss prerequisite: All Things How says the Backplate can be collected without fighting Yubi; the other walkthroughs present it after her defeat, and the same pipa article later loosely calls every part a boss reward. No safe bypass route is established here. Follow the documented post-fight building route, while protecting the Baishan tale first.

Do not confuse the two Training Grounds

Location	Useful landmark	What it leads to
Mandate Encampment	Yubi, Backplate, Training Grounds Depths	Hero or Heretic investigation and a Herald's Illusion portal.
Mirage Estate	Yuding and Opera Ticket	Later opera-house progression, not a substitute Backplate location.

The nearby Herald's Illusion portal is another quest objective. PowerPyx directs you to enter it from Training Grounds Depths; this does not establish that the portal, rather than the Backplate, fires Who Can Judge?. Record those interactions separately if checking an unrecorded unlock. Phantom Blade Zero The Four Freed trophy separates Yubi and Yuding, while Phantom Blade Zero Cleave in Two guide covers the estate's Crescent Blade reward.

Steam-only relative to the retained PS5 catalogue. Base game, single player; no online step described. First playthrough, Hizzle difficulty estimate 4/10, time and exact trigger/recovery UNSURE. PC 1.0302256 reviewed. No Hizzle in-game testing or Verified claim.

Sources we checked

UNSURE marks what this guide hasn't established. Hizzle Guides research from public sources; we don't claim in-game testing unless a page says so.