And how to find the NPC near the Squall Hideout Shrine
Looking to free the man trapped in the rock in Chapter 2 of Black Myth: Wukong?You’ll first meet the Man-In-Stone (as the character is called) in the Fright Cliff region ofBlack Myth: Wukong, inChapter 2of the game. He’s stuck in a rock, and needs help escaping, simple as that.
The Man-In-Stone questline is a fairly short one, but it’s well worth completing properly. Black Myth: Wukong follows thesoulsliketradition of adding some rather convoluted questlines which you must puzzle throughout without the help of a journal to track your progress.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to complete every step of the Man-In-Stone quest in Chapter 2 of Black Myth: Wukong, including exactly where you can find the NPC near Squall Hideout.
Man-In-Stone quest steps
We’ll go over the entire quest in more detail below, but first: here is a quick summary of all the steps you must take to complete the Man-In-Stone questline in Black Myth: Wukong.
The Man-In-Stone is a character who you’ll meet about halfway into Chapter 2 of Black Myth: Wukong. So the first step in order to start this questline is tocomplete Chapter 1. Chapter 1 is fairly small and linear compared to the others, so it shouldn’t take you too long to get through the3 required Yaoguai King boss fightsin order to start Chapter 2!
Your first major milestone in Chapter 2 is found at the end ofSandgate Village, where you begin the chapter. Once you’ve fought your way past the various Rat enemies patrolling the area, take the right-hand path through the large clearing where thetwo-headed Rat Captainscan be found. There are also several Rat Archers looking down on the area, so be careful.
Proceed to the double doors at the end of the area, and open them to begin your first boss fight against theRat Kingand his son, theSecond Rat Prince. There are two ways to go about this fight:
The second option is considerably easier, but whichever option you choose, you’ll need to defeat this boss encounter before you can reach the Man-In-Stone.
After defeating the Rat King and Second Rat Prince, feel free to rest at the"Valley Of Despair"Keeper’s Shrineon the edge of the arena. After that, the path splits before you. Take the right-hand path over the bridge, and follow it all the way until you enter theFright Cliffregion. A short distance in front of you will be the"Squall Hideout"Shrine where you can rest if needed.
Again, the path before you splits at Squall Hideout. To find the Man-In-Stone, you must turn right, and around the corner you should see several paths, one of which is a lower path that cuts through the rock, like a miniature ravine. Take this lower path, and at the very end of the path you’ll see a strange rock formation.This is the Man-In-Stone, and the starting point of the questline.
Interact with the Man-In-Stone to speak with him, and he’ll tell you that he’s beentrapped in this rock by a spell, and he needs your help to release him.
Your next step, then, is tohead into the cavefurther into Fright Cliff, and discover the source of the spell holding the Man-In-Stone prisoner.
The cave in question can be accessed fromeither path left or rightof the “Squall Hideout” Shrine, but from the Man-In-Stone’s location the easiest way is to just go back to the start of the lower path, and instead take the raised path just to the left of it. You’ll pass aBuddha headwhich you can interact with to obtain aBuddha’s Eyeball. After that, you can either take the first left (for a chest and a longer path into the cave) or the second left (which leads directly into the cave).
Once inside the cave, deal with the two rangedBlazeboneenemies on the wooden platform, and then head past them as if to exit out into the open once more. But instead of heading out of the cave fully, turn left at the cave mouth and you’ll see a path curving upwards and to the left. Take this path up towards an elevated area of the cave.
At the top of the slope you’ll see a stone plinth on the right-hand side, where a unique Poisestone enemy is waiting. This isn’t related to the Man-In-Stone quest, but while you’re here you can feel free to defeat the Poisestone in order toobtain its Spirit. Beware though, as it’s tougher than ordinary Poisestones, and it’s also helped out by a couple of ordinary Poisestones as well.
Proceed further into the cave’s upper level and you’ll come to a cavern. At the end of the cavern is a large rock creature with crystals embedded in its front. Attack the creature to begin the boss fight against theMother Of Stones.
The Mother Of Stones doesn’t do much at all herself. Instead, she sits there and attempts to distract you by spawning stone enemies that attack you from behind. But if you do your best to kite them and evade their attacks while damaging the Mother Of Stones, you’ll find this is a fairly easy boss fight. Defeat the Mother Of Stones, and you’ll receive a unique item:Stone Essence.
As an aside: you can turn right and exit out of the cavern onto a walkway whereanother Buddha headawaits you!
Once you’ve dealt with the Mother Of Stones,return to the Man-In-Stone, who is waiting patiently where you left him at the end of the lower path in Squall Hideout. Interact with him to deliver him the Stone Essence.
Upon delivery of the Stone Essence, the Man-In-Stone will triumphantly burst out of the ground, taunting you for your gullibility. Turns out all he wanted was a pawn to fetch the Stone Essence for him. Bastard.
You can keep talking to him, but he’ll give you short shrift. So the only logical thing to do is…
You may have noticed that after the Man-In-Stone emerges from the ground, he becomes targetable with your lock-on, just like an enemy.Attack him, and you’ll prompt a miniboss fight against the Man-In-Stone - if you can call it that. He doesn’t have much health at all, so it’s very easy to force him to submit.
After he loses all his health, he’ll retreat back into the ground and plead for mercy. He’ll also return the Stone Essence to you to help make amends, and you’ll receive a new Spell:Azure Dust, a transformation spell that turns you temporarily into a rock guai which is immune to status effects.
The Man-In-Stone also states that if you return to him later, he’ll offer you his treasures in exchange for a payment of Will (the main currency of Black Myth: Wukong).
The final step in the Man-In-Stone’s questline is toreload the areaby fast-travelling to (or resting at) the nearest Keeper’s Shrine. After that, simply return to the Man-In-Stone and speak to him. He is now a certifiedvendorwith a shop and everything, so you can return to him whenever you like in order to purchase his items.
You can purchase the following items from the Man-In-Stone’s shop:
Of these, I recommend purchasing theGoldflora Hairpincurio, as it increases the Will gained from defeating enemies when equipped - so essentially, it just allows you to level up faster. I’d also recommend purchasing theIron Pellet, because it is a fantastic soak for your Gourd which prevents you from being interrupted by enemy attacks when using the Gourd.
And with that, we’ve reached the end of the Man-In-Stone questline in Black Myth: Wukong. While you’re here, you can make sure you’ve found everything so far with our guides on theChapter 1 bossesandall Black Myth Wukong bosses, as well as thebest Skills to unlock first. We’ve also got guides on thePC requirementsandhow to absorb Spiritsas well.
