Market District Sidequests

For the sake of conciseness (ha), we'll throw in the Black Leopard School and the Lord Lao's Furnace quests in this section. Besides those, all of the quests in this section are given to you by NPC's in the Market District. Note that some of these apparently don't become available until you've met up with Silk Fox in the Scholar's Garden, or perhaps not even until after that, so don't fret if you can't find the questgiver immediately upon arriving in the Imperial City.

The Black Leopard School

If you head into the Black Leopard School area, you'll immediately be accosted by a group of students who are about to fight amongst themselves. With your appearance, though, they'll decide to gang up on you instead, so defeat them all to impress some of their brethren. Shortly thereafter, you'll be invited to join the school, which will give you the opportunity to learn new styles from the Masters there. There are two, oddly enough, Master Smiling Hawk and Master Radiant, who walk different Paths, thus creating an at-odds atmosphere at the school.

In order to join the school, though, you'll have to defeat all of the Brothers, who are second in power only to the Masters. You'll have to work your way up through the ranks, from the Sixth Brother to the First. Feel free to question them about the goings-on at the school before you challenge each of them to a fight. It appears that there's some tension between the two Masters, and that the Second Brother, a vocal opponent of Master Smiling Hawk, was sent by Hawk on an errand into the city and never returned. Hmm....

After defeating Fourth Brother, you will be escorted in to speak with Master Smiling Hawk himself, who has a bit of a proposal for you. He admits to killing Second Brother, and ask you to kill both First Brother and Master Radiant in exchange for wondrous power, new training; the usual deal. Your choice of Path will obviously dictate your response.

Open Palm: If you refuse to help Smiling Hawk assassinate Radiant, then you should tell First Brother of your conversation, then challenge Third Brother, who waits in the cafeteria. Like the rest of the Brothers, he's not too difficult to beat, although he does use a style that will allow him to Disorient you, which will prevent you from attacking. The key to beating him, as in most other one-on-one fights against human opponents, is to combine Storm Dragon with whatever martial style you prefer. A single hit from Storm Dragon will paralyze Third Brother for a short while, allowing you to pound him with your martial style, then flip back to Storm Dragon and start the cycle over again. He'll go down after a minute of this.

Great. Just great. Now everyone will have to eat on the floor because you can't keep your fists in check.

With Third Brother out of the way, First will take you to meet Radiant, who's actually a ghost! He was killed by Smiling Hawk some time before, who stole his style and killed him in his sleep. He'll ask you to attack and defeat Smiling Hawk once and for all!

To start this fight, head to Smiling Hawk's room and confront him. Soon enough, he'll be kicking you through walls, threatening you with imminent death, etc. The fight that ensues can be difficult, but if you want a cheap way out, just spam out Storm Dragon to paralyze Smiling Hawk and beat him while he's defenseless.

For your role in cleansing the Black Leopard school of Smiling Hawk's evil taint, you'll be well-compensated. You'll receive the Rote of the Endless Mind technique (+5 Focus, +5 Chi), the Paralyzing Palm style, the Gem of Inner Genius (+10 Mind, -5 Body and Spirit) and the Heaven's Blessing Gem, which surrounds you with a shield that will damage anyone who strikes you in combat.

Even though he's not entirely human, Master Radiant is still vulnerable to Storm Dragon shocking.

Closed Fist: If you agree to Smiling Hawk's demands, you'll have to kill both First Brother Kai and Master Radiant. First Brother isn't difficult to take down; just Storm Dragon him to insensitiveness and beat him down. Before you can take on Master Radiant, though, you'll have to defeat Fourth Brother and a Novice. Dispatch one of them quickly, then use Storm Dragon and Spirit Thief to completely restore your health and Chi before finishin the other one off.

Master Radiant himself isn't so difficult to take on, either. Even though he's a ghost, the Storm Dragon style will still affect him, but be careful, as he uses it himself, although his style won't paralyze you when it hits. With Storm Dragon, you can lock him up and beat him down with your martial style. For defeating him, you'll learn the the Hidden Fist support style, as well as receive the Gem of Black Flame (Mind and Spirit +3). If you search Radiant's rooms, you'll also obtain the Warrior of the Inner Eye technique (Focus +7, Intuition +1).

Whichever path you take, you'll polish off the Black Leopard School sidequest by siding with one of the masters against the other.