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Overview
Guqiu City (古丘城, Gǔqiū Chéng, literally "Ancient Mound City") is a main-story region in the S0 launch build of Honor of Kings: World. It appears in the and launch walkthroughs as the setting of the "Guqiu City Trial" (古丘城试炼) chapter, which has the Yuange Puppet (元歌傀儡) boss encounter. Guqiu City is listed as one of the confirmed overworld regions inside the Jixia cluster HoKW collection and chest guide, placing it geographically within the S0 playable area rather than as a standalone test dungeon.
Region Placement
collection guide lists Guqiu City in the region sequence after the early-Jixia zones (百鸣港 Baiming Harbor, 鹤鸣馆 Heming Pavilion, 青戈遗径 Qingge Trail, 溯洄营地 Suhui Camp, 春幽水潭 Chunyou Pool, 迷津洞 Mijin Cave) and before 春潭湿地 (Chuntan Wetlands). This position makes Guqiu City an early-to-mid Jixia region rather than an endgame zone.
Guqiu City Trial Chapter
The "古丘城试炼" (Guqiu City Trial) chapter is part of the 27-chapter S0 main story, confirmed by current community data. The trial format implies a gated dungeon experience where the player faces the Yuange Puppet boss as part of progression. The chapter title also names the boss, which is a common convention in walkthrough listings.
Kun-Tour: Voice of the Puppet
Guqiu City contains at least one named Kun-Tour dungeon instance: 鲲游：傀儡之声 (Kunyou: Voice of the Puppet), confirmed by current community data. The Kun-Tour prefix is HoKW's label for its challenge-dungeon series, and Voice of the Puppet is paired with a second Kun-Tour instance (鲲游：昔影流歌) located in a different region (凄莫林地 / Qimo Forest Land).
Yuange Puppet (元歌傀儡)
The boss of the Guqiu City Trial chapter is the Yuange Puppet (元歌傀儡). Yuange is a puppet-master hero from the base Honor of Kings MOBA, and the HoKW developer diary explicitly discusses Yuange's puppet as a special creation in HoKW's launch content. Yuange himself is not in the 11-Resonance launch roster, but his puppet appears as a boss encounter in this chapter. For the current HoKW playable roster, see Heroes.
Not Publicly Confirmed
The following details about Guqiu City were not found in the accessed Chinese launch sources and should not be added without verification: level range of the trial chapter, specific visual or architectural style beyond the "ancient mound" literal translation, named NPCs or quest-givers beyond the Yuange tie-in, fight phases of the Yuange Puppet boss, and whether the outer region of Guqiu City is freely explorable or gated to the chapter.
Verified Chapter 1 Trial Details
Guqiu City (古丘城, literally 'Ancient Mound City') is a ruined city sub-region of the Springbrook Plainsserving as the finale location of Jixia Chapter 1Dreamspring Plains. It is one of the first 'dungeon-style' interior maps a new player encounters after leaving the open wetlands of the starting zone.
Story Role: Trial of the Puppet
In the main story, Guqiu City is framed as a trial ground that Jixia's faculty use to test incoming students. The chapter-one quest 'Guqiu City Trial' (古丘城试炼) sends the player, alongside Dongfang Yao and Xi Shithrough the ruined city to face the Yuange Puppet (元歌傀儡), a large mechanical-marionette boss that tests the Resonance and combat basics players learned earlier in Chapter 1. The boss fight doubles as a graduation exam, requiring correct use of dodge, parry, and Flow System mechanics introduced during the run-up quests at Suhuai Camp. Successful completion of the trial unlocks Xi Shi as a playable Resonance.
Environmental Narrative
Beyond the main story, Guqiu City hosts the Kun-Tour (鲲游) task 'Puppet's Voice' (傀儡之声), which expands the lore around the Yuange Puppet and suggests that similar puppets are scattered throughout other regions as leftovers from an ancient puppetry art. This sets up Yuange himself as a recurring thematic figure across the launch's narrative content, even though Yuange is not a playable Resonance at S0 launch.
Visual Design
Guqiu City presents as a partially collapsed walled settlement overgrown with wetland vegetation. Broken streets, tilted stelae, and hollow watchtowers imply a prosperity long past. Interactive elements include puppet-workshop leftovers and carved inscriptions that tie the city to the same pre-Jixia civilization that scatter ruins across Springbrook Plains and Springbrook Ancient Battlefield. The color palette leans muted with occasional gold highlights on ceremonial puppet hardware, giving the interior a haunted-exhibit feel.
Post-Chapter Access
After chapter completion, players can revisit Guqiu City for collectibles (treasure chests, 赋神令 Fate Tokens, and shrine offerings) and for the Kun-Tour repeatable. Its waystone becomes a standard Springbrook travel anchor.