Mu Xiaokui is the final boss of the Village of Lu. She is found near the Lakeside, just outside the Smugglers Tunnel.
Mu Xiaokui is one of the more unique bosses in the game because all three of her phases play almost like completely different encounters. Phase 1 is a straightforward sword fight, Phase 2 completely changes her moveset to aggressive Hand-to-Hand combat, and Phase 3 turns the encounter into a duo fight against her summons.
Because of this, learning one phase does not necessarily prepare you for the next.
This guide was written and tested on Hellwalker difficulty.
Boss Mechanics Phase 1
Phase One is by far the simplest part of the fight.
Mu Xiaokui starts with her sword drawn and relies mostly on short, readable attack strings. Her parry timings are relatively forgiving, making this phase a good opportunity to preserve resources for what comes later.
Sword Combos
Most of her melee strings are short and have very consistent timings.
She only has a small number of Red Flash and Blue Flash attacks in this phase, and both generally appear at the end of recognizable strings.
This makes them easy to anticipate once you have seen them a few times.
Rather than attacking in the middle of her combos, let the sequence finish, counter the Flash attack, and use the opening afterward to damage both her HP and Sha-Chi.
Projectile Waves
Mu Xiaokui also has two attacks that send blue energy waves toward you.
These can be either parried or blocked, and they are not particularly threatening compared to what she gains in later phases.
Parrying is preferable if you are comfortable with the timing, but simply blocking them is perfectly viable if you want to play the phase safely.
Phase 1 Strategy
There's little reason to take unnecessary risks here.
Her attacks are slow, her strings are short, and her counters are predictable. Focus on clean parries, and take the obvious Red and Blue punish windows.
Most players should be able to clear this phase quickly once they understand her basic sword timings.
Boss Mechanics Phase 2
Phase Two is where the difficulty increases dramatically.
Mu Xiaokui sheathes her sword and switches entirely to Hand-to-Hand combat. Her attacks become faster, her strings become considerably longer, and her Red and Blue Flash timings are much tighter than before.
She also begins incorporating her summons directly into her combos, which creates additional attacks that can appear in the middle of an already long sequence.
Hand-to-Hand Combos
Her melee strings become much more aggressive during this phase.
Instead of the short sword combinations from Phase One, she now uses extended fist and kick sequences with several different timing changes.
Do not assume every hit follows the same rhythm. Some parts of her strings are deliberately delayed, while others come out almost immediately after the previous attack.
The safest approach is to learn each sequence individually rather than trying to parry purely on instinct.
Summon Attacks
Mu Xiaokui can call her summons into the fight during her normal combos.
They can perform both short and extended attack strings, and some of their moves are grey attacks that deal enormous Sha-Chi damage if you attempt to block or parry them.
These attacks are particularly dangerous because they can overlap with Mu Xiaokui's own pressure.
If you see a summon entering the sequence, pay attention to the attack itself rather than focusing entirely on Mu Xiaokui. Dodging a grey attack is far more important than forcing another parry.
Red Flash Attacks
Mu Xiaokui gains three different Red Flashattacks in Phase Two.
These are much more dangerous than the Red attacks from Phase One because they can appear suddenly and have less forgiving timings.
Several of them can also come out with very little warning during longer Hand-to-Hand strings, making them easy to miss if you are concentrating too heavily on the normal combo.
Stay ready to react throughout the entire string rather than assuming the dangerous attack will always come at the end.
Blue Flash Attacks
Her Blue Flash attacks also have tighter timings than in Phase One.
However, landing them remains one of your best opportunities to heavily damage her Sha-Chi and regain control of the fight.
Because Phase Two is so aggressive, these counters are especially valuable. A successful Blue counter gives you a rare moment where Mu Xiaokui is not constantly pressuring you.
Returning Projectile Attacks
She retains some of her sword-phase abilities, including the blue projectile waves.
These are much less dangerous than her new melee attacks, so treat them as an opportunity to stabilize the fight.
If you need a moment to recover mentally or rebuild your rhythm, the projectile attacks are generally much easier to deal with than her Hand-to-Hand strings.
Phase 2 Strategy
Phase Two is likely the hardest part of the encounter.
Do not try to match her aggression with your own. Let her finish her strings, pay close attention to summon attacks, and prioritize preserving your Sha-Chi.
The most dangerous moments come when you lose the rhythm of a combo and begin blocking multiple hits in succession. Once your Sha-Chi starts collapsing, Mu Xiaokui can keep enough pressure on you that recovering becomes difficult.
Stay patient and treat every successful Red or Blue counter as your main damage opportunity.
Boss Mechanics Phase 3
After Mu Xiaokui has had enough of fighting you herself, she retreats and sends her two summons forward instead.
Phase Three becomes a duo encounter, with both combatants attacking simultaneously.
At first, this looks significantly harder than Phase Two, but in practice it is usually more manageable once you understand how the two enemies work together.
Focus One Target
Your priority should be to remove one combatant as quickly as possible.
I recommend focusing the Jade Dancer first. She tends to be the more annoying of the two if the fight drags on, while Iron Fist should already feel familiar if you encountered him earlier in the Crimson Forest.
Removing either enemy immediately reduces the amount of combined pressure and eliminates many of their strongest coordinated attacks.
Do not split your damage between both targets unless you have a specific reason to do so.
Their Individual Sha-Chi Is Lower
Both enemies have considerably less Sha-Chi than Mu Xiaokui herself.
Their Red Flash attacks also have very forgiving timings, which means successful counters can quickly create full Sha-Chi breaks.
This gives you plenty of opportunities to burst one target down before the duo fight becomes overwhelming.
The important thing is to capitalize on those breaks immediately.
Watch the Second Combatant
Even while focusing one target, never completely ignore the other.
They will continue attacking and can interrupt your punish windows with normal attacks or even Red Flash attacks from behind.
Keep the second enemy within view whenever possible and avoid becoming tunnel-visioned during long punish strings.
Positioning matters far more here than it did during the earlier phases.
Combined Attacks
Many of their most dangerous attacks are coordinated sequences involving both combatants.
This is another reason why killing one quickly is so effective. Once one target is gone, most of these combined attacks disappear with them.
The remaining opponent becomes dramatically easier to manage as a normal one-on-one encounter.
Best Weapons for Phase 3
Certain weapons work especially well during the duo fight because of how Phase 3 is structured.
There are two approaches I recommend:
Forward Mobility Weapons
Weapons with strong forward movement, such as Sanguine or the Tianxuan Bronze Sword, are excellent for keeping pressure on one target.
Once you break an enemy's Sha-Chi, you want to keep moving forward while attacking rather than giving them space to recover.
The forward momentum also naturally creates distance from the second combatant. This limits their options and often forces them to rely on longer-range attacks or Red Flash interruptions instead of immediately joining the melee exchange.
This makes mobility weapons particularly strong for isolating and quickly eliminating one target.
Heavy Cleaving Weapons
A heavy weapon such as the Outlaw Warblade is another excellent option.
Its wider attacks make it easier to hit both enemies when they group together, allowing you to apply pressure without completely ignoring the second combatant.
The Outlaw Warblade is especially useful because of its lifesteal, which can help offset some of the unavoidable chip and incidental damage that comes with fighting two opponents simultaneously.
If you prefer slower weapons and are comfortable with their commitment, this can make Phase 3 considerably less punishing.
General Strategy
Mu Xiaokui is effectively three fights packed into one encounter.
Phase One is the preparation phase. Play cleanly, learn the basic sword timings.
Phase Two is the real test. Her Hand-to-Hand strings are faster, her Flash attacks are harder to read, and her summons can insert dangerous grey attacks into her pressure. Stay patient and prioritize Sha-Chi management over aggression.
Phase Three is about target priority. Pick one summon, preferably the Jade Dancer, and commit to removing it as quickly as possible. Once the duo becomes a one-on-one fight, the final stretch becomes significantly easier.
The biggest mistake you can make throughout this encounter is trying to play all three phases the same way. Each one rewards a different approach, so adapt your aggression and defensive timing as the fight changes.
