The quick answer
Learn Unfettered Rope Dart by Skill Theft in Li Zi Xing Yun Secret Cellar, west of Ghostlight Market’s Boundary Stone in Kaifeng. Speak to Tianyan and pay 999 Coins to enter. Reach the blue observation circle beyond the cellar’s water passages and complete the theft interaction.
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Prepare before paying Tianyan
Unlock Touch of Death through The Realm Endures so you can perform the stealth takedowns along the route. The named Coin payment is the cellar entry interaction; do not look only for a generic Dragon Key gate.
Learning the Martial Art and owning a rope-dart weapon are separate checks. After the theft, you will need both the weapon and the correct equipped moveset to use its skills.
Follow the water route to the master
- Turn right at the first fire pit. At the lantern, dive and swim ahead; take the right fork to progress. The left branch contains optional loot.
- Surface, follow the right path and eliminate the guard below the ledge. Wait for the bridge patrol to face away, then pass the corridor using the boxes as cover.
- In the large room, cross via the bookshelves. Separate the stationary guard from the patrol before descending. Leave through the next exit.
- Turn right into the water, swim left underwater and surface behind the guards. Continue to the next fire pit, cross the gap and dive through the waterfall.
- Swim right towards the torch-lit stairs. Deal with the two patrols separately, then head south towards the large tree and small bridge.
- Climb the tree and continue beyond the guards. Find the stairs to the left, swim across and climb the stone steps to the blue circle. Complete Skill Theft there.
Learn the status setup before the finisher
Soul Sweep applies the rope dart’s Soulbound enchantment and builds Soul Loss towards Soulbreak. Burn and Bury is the finger-snap follow-up for enemies carrying your Soul Loss or Soulbreak. That condition explains why the special skill is not a substitute for setting up the target first.
Our first practice exercise is to use Soul Sweep on one target, confirm its status, then use Burn and Bury. Repeat until you can recognize the setup without staring at every icon. Add the charged stance and weapon swap only after that basic sequence is clear.
Everspring Umbrella is its Bamboocut Dust partner. Unlocking the two arts gives you access to the pair; it does not by itself provide all of the Path’s Inner Ways or their breakthrough tiers.
Check the result rather than the chest count
The success check is Unfettered Rope Dart appearing in Martial Arts after the observation interaction. A chest opened earlier in the cellar is not proof you learned it. If the wrong rope-dart skills appear in combat, check which Martial Art is equipped on the weapon.
If an update temporarily closes the cellar, follow the entry NPC’s current message. Do not try to force entry through map geometry.
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Common questions
Is this the same as Mortal Rope Dart?
No. They are different Martial Arts with different skills. This route unlocks Unfettered Rope Dart.
What confirms that I finished the unlock?
Complete the observation minigame and check the Unfettered Rope Dart entry in Martial Arts, then equip it on a rope-dart weapon.