The Heavenly Strike is a Mythic Tale in Ghost of Tsushima.
Synopsis[]
Jin Sakai encounters a peasant who tells him that the musician, Yamato, told him a tale at Komatsu Forge about the myth of the Heavenly Strike. When Jin meets up with Yamato, the bard is surrounded by dead bodies, saying a fearsome warrior demanded to know the tale and killed innocent bystanders when Yamato didn't give him the answers he sought. Jin asks Yamato to tell him the tale, so he knows what this warrior is seeking:
When Tsushima was first settled, a strange and terrible thunderstorm swept across our island. Wherever lightning struck, beasts of lightning appeared. These violent creatures tore through villages, causing death and destruction. Moving too quickly to be stopped. The people knew only one man who could possibly stand against the lightning beasts – Shigenori, the fastest swordsman in all of Tsushima. Shigenori never lost a duel. With years of practice, he had created the Heavenly Strike, an attack that struck quicker than the eye could follow. Shigenori lured the creatures to a desolate beach in Komatsu, where the sand would slow their movement. Their clash turned the sand to ash and bleached the leaves of trees white. Shigenori's Heavenly Strike cut through them faster than they could move. As the final beast fell, the storm cleared and Tsushima was safe again. Shigenori began a life of seclusion. Few students found him, and only the bravest and most skilled proved worthy of learning the Heavenly Strike. When a storm approaches, a sword is placed at Shigenori's Rest by a student who knows of its location to ward off attacks from beasts of nature. -- Yamato, the musician
Jin tracks down the murderer, a man named Yasuhira Koga, who was a retainer for Clan Yarikawa. After their rebellion was crushed, the clan was dissolved and the retainers dismissed. He had left Tsushima but returned after the invasion and was working with the Mongols. Jin comes across his lodgings at a watchtower and discovers Yasuhira has been collecting documents about Shigenori A that lead Jin to find a white-leafed tree next to Plum Blossom Shrine at Shigenori's Peak. In turn, this leads Jin to survey Shigenori's Rest below, where Shigenori is buried near an old dueling ring.
Upon his arrival, Yasuhira explains revenge has been his only goal for the 15 years since the rebellion – that he has dreamed of cutting Lord Shimura "to the bone." Jin and Yasuhira enter a duel, and in using the Heavenly Strike against Jin, he actually teaches the technique to Jin, who turns it back upon his opponent.
Objectives[]
- Find the musician in Komatsu
- Search for the bridge
- Search for the weeping woman
- Speak with the woman
- Investigate Yasuhira's path
- Follow Yasuhira's horse's tracks
- Defeat the Mongols
- Speak with the villager
- Search the watchtower
- Speak to the woman
- Look for the white-leafed tree
- Travel to the white tree grove
- Rescue the hostage
- Travel to Shigenori's Rest
- Search for Shigenori's Rest
- Enter Shigenori's Rest
- Defeat the Mongols
- Investigate Shigenori's Rest
- Duel Yasuhira Koga
- Bury the man killed by Yasuhira
Journal entries[]
Was that I musician I heard? He could be in trouble.
― Jin's journal entry before starting the Tale, if he encounters the musician with no prior knowledge.
There's a musician in Komatsu telling the tale of Shigenori's Heavenly Strike. I thought that katana technique was a myth… but maybe I should hear him out.
― Jin's journal entry before starting the Tale, if he hears of the musician from a peasant.
I found a musician surrounded by bodies—the victims of a warrior seeking to learn Shigenori's Heavenly Strike, a katana technique that would be disastrous in the wrong hands… if it even exists. I need to find this murderous warrior—and stop him.
― Jin's journal entry after starting the Tale.
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