Phantom Blade Zero · Character
Peng Meng
Peng Meng, the Axemaster, is the eldest of the Four Axes, four sworn brothers with an ugly name in the Wulin. You meet him in Chapter 1 as a Maskwalker held in chains behind the Weeping Creek Valley Outpost, and the papers scattered round the valley tell how he got there.
- FactionMaskwalkers, The Four Axes
- Where you meetWeeping Creek Valley
- Quests3 in the quest log
- Boss fightFight page
Who is Peng Meng?
The Four Axes were four sworn brothers who drank deep, ate heartily and settled every debt by the Wulin’s rules. They did deeds of chivalry, and their axes also took countless innocent lives. The Wulin feared and reviled them, but the dagger they swore their brotherhood on tells a fuller story: their bad name was built on slander the Mandate spread after one act of justice, years ago.
Peng Meng is the eldest. His three brothers were murdered through treachery, and Mandate squads hunted him. While he was being moved in a prison cart he broke free and slaughtered more than a dozen Mandate fighters; scouts later reported that he had holed up somewhere remote and put himself through a crude Transcension with abandoned equipment. It made him huge, hard and immensely strong, and it took the last of his reason. Several Mandate elites fell to his axe before a squad in the valley pinned him down and drove thick chains through his shoulder blades.
You meet him in Chapter 1. The captain at the Outpost warns Soul that a vicious Maskwalker is chained behind it and that the chains will not hold for long, and his men dread the day the Axemaster breaks loose. The papers round the valley, the three-part Four Axes Rebellion among them, are where his side of the story begins.
Who Peng Meng is to the others
Sworn enemy
The Mandate officer who drank with the Four Axes as a friend and then seized them. Peng Meng’s last letter calls him Old Ming’s lapdog and says he slaughtered three of his brothers.
Sworn enemy
By Peng Meng’s account, the Four Axes once caught Sect Leader Ming violating and killing a woman, and Ming twisted the truth and turned the accusation on them.
Keeper of his last wish
Peng Meng left his silver and the Blood Oath Dagger with the Child of Insight in Pangzhen, for whoever brings him the proof that the Four Axes were framed.
“Anyway, the Axemaster entrusted this to me. Whoever brings me this evidence may claim the silver he left behind... along with the Blood-Oath Blade.”
In-game dialogue
Every quest with Peng Meng in it
Tales
Four Fierce Axes
His last letter, The Axemaster’s Final Request, asks someone to gather proof that Gu Lingran and Sect Leader Ming conspired against the Four Axes and take it to the Child of Insight in Pangzhen to clear their names. The quest also asks you to give the Maskwalker he has become a clean end. Collect the papers around the valley (where each one is: Four Fierce Axes) and hand them over in Pangzhen for the Blood Oath Dagger, which Soul Tempers the Dread Axe.
How this quest turns out
The papers leave little doubt. Gu Lingran himself proposed luring the Four Axes with a false plea for rescue; Sect Leader Ming told “Nephew Gu” to handle the matter and burn the letter. Fourth Axe had eight teeth pulled and still would not sign a confession. A frightened disciple at the Outpost admits the rest: they tortured Peng Meng, executed his three brothers and buried them in haste in the stables, and Master Gu stamped the memorial tablets Peng Meng had carved for them into the mud.
Tales
Festering Secret
The yard behind the Outpost is sealed with chains that only Peng Meng’s Dread Axe can cut, so this quest opens once he is down. What you find inside leads back to the officer who put him in chains, Gu Lingran.
Story
Against the Flow
The story quest runs through the Outpost. Peng Meng is held just behind it, and the Dread Axe he drops is what breaks the chain barrier blocking the way on up the valley.
In the game’s own words
The game’s bestiary note on each form you fight. They are folded shut because some of them give away what happens later.
Peng Meng, the Axemaster
Eldest of the Four Axes, Peng Meng underwent Transcension to avenge the other three. His body grew massive, his flesh hardened, and his strength became immense. His great axe could split stone and sunder mountains. Several Mandate elites fell beneath it.
In the valley, a Mandate squad subdued him only at terrible cost. Thick chains were driven through his shoulder blades, binding him behind the Outpost.
Once, the four brothers drank deep and feasted heartily. They performed deeds of chivalry, yet their axes also claimed countless innocent lives amid the Wulin's bloodshed. In those days, every debt was still settled by the Wulin's rules.
Then three brothers were murdered through treachery, and Mandate squads hunted the last. Cornered and desperate, Peng Meng surrendered his final shred of reason and sank utterly into Transcension.
What happens to Peng Meng
The end of the story for this character
Soul kills him. His last words are for his brothers: “Brothers… Let us meet again in the next life!” His great axe becomes the Dread Axe, and the Outpost’s men are left divided over him: one says he got what he deserved for slaughtering their brothers, another that it was all Gu Lingran’s doing.
The brothers seem to get one more scene if you finish Four Fierce Axes. On the way to the last battle, a vision of the Axemaster raises a cup to Soul with his three brothers: “Come, let’s toast this master!”
“Brothers... Let us meet again in the next life!”
In-game dialogue
Keep reading
How to beat Peng MengThe boss fight page- QuestFour Fierce AxesTales
- QuestFestering SecretTales
- QuestAgainst the FlowStory
- MapWeeping Creek ValleyWalkthrough for this region
- FactionMaskwalkersWho they are and who leads them
- FactionThe Four AxesWho they are and who leads them
- Phantom EdgeDread AxeThe great axe he leaves behind
- AllEvery character in Phantom Blade ZeroEveryone who appears in the story or a quest
Frequently asked questions
Was Peng Meng framed?
Over the old story, yes: eleven years ago the Four Axes caught Sect Leader Ming in a crime and were slandered for it, and the papers you gather prove the plot against them. His axe took innocent lives, and when he broke out of the prison cart he slaughtered more than a dozen Mandate fighters.
What does Peng Meng drop?
The Dread Axe, a Phantom Edge that breaks shields and, even when not equipped, cuts through the heavy chains that block paths in the valley. Beating him also earns the achievement The Axe’s Grudge.
What is the Blood Oath Dagger?
The dagger the Four Axes swore their brotherhood on, left with the Pavilion of Knowledge as proof of their bond. The Child of Insight gives it to you at the end of Four Fierce Axes, and it Soul Tempers the Dread Axe.
Sources for this page 1
- Phantom Blade Zero Official Phantom Blade Zero launch build: the game’s own dialogue, documents, bestiary, quest log and loading screens, read 3 November 2026. Quotes are the game’s English text, unchanged.