Halcyon Days At Taoyuan – Walkthrough Part 2

Halcyon Days at Taoyuan starts as a very easy-going farming simulator, but as you keep progressing and start to learn more about the village, you’ll find that it holds some secrets. In Part 1 of the walkthrough, I was only doing introductory quests and learning how things work in the village. However, in Part 2, I’ll be going through some advanced quests, as well as exploring the cave and uncovering the mysteries behind this isolated village. For more information on the game, don’t forget to visit its official Steam page here.

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100 Copper Ore

After giving 30 copper ore to Sheng Wuqiang in exchange for a Copper Axe, he’ll ask you to gather an additional 100 copper ore. This can take a lot of time, but luckily, things are also going quite slowly in the village, so you can just focus on farming and doing mining at the cave.

You’ll have to do multiple runs for the cave in these days to gather a total of 100 copper ore. However, if you go too deep, you’ll encounter Dankang, a fiery and challenging boss. You can check out our guide on Dankang to learn how to defeat it.

After being defeated for the first time, you’ll wake up in Li Yong’s clinic. He’ll teach you how to gather herbs, and you’ll also receive basic tonics for free, which will be essential in defeating Dankang.

You don’t need to defeat the boss to gather 100 copper ore. Just return to the entrance after encountering the statue, and return the next day to gather some more copper.

After you’ve gathered enough copper ore, go and talk to Sheng Wuqiang outside the mine. He’ll ask you to choose one tool to upgrade.

It’s recommended that you pick the copper pickaxe here, as it will allow you to mine tin ore in the Wood cave, instead of a copper bucket or a copper hoe.

You can also get your other tools upgraded to copper by giving around 100 copper ores each to Sheng, alongside some Contribution Vouchers.

A Mysterious Dream

Once you’ve defeated Dankang, you’ll unlock the Wood cave. You’ll also unlock a cutscene when you go to sleep after defeating the boss, where you’ll meet a familiar figure.

This is the same figure from the intro cutscene that revived you after you accidentally fell into the cave. The figure will reveal itself to be Taoling. However, they forbid you from mentioning their name to the villagers.

Taoling asks you to repair the shrines around the village to repay them for their efforts. They’re also grateful to you for defeating Dankang, as it allowed them to reconstruct their form.

You will then have to head to the Ancestral Hall to talk with the village elder to progress this quest.

Dealing With The Beasts

After so many trips to the cave, you would’ve tamed a few beasts so far. If not, you can tame the boars, goats, and monkeys using peaches from the fruit trees with ease. Once you’ve tamed at least three beasts, you’ll be met with Chu Youfeng inside the cave.

Chu Youfeng will give you a contract or a blueprint for a beast house, where you can keep your beasts. Youfeng will also ask you to go and talk to Yue Hongdi, who you can find at the bamboo grove, to purchase the feed for the beasts and to get livestock.

You can return to your farm and clean up the area with a sickle and an axe to place the beast house. Now, go to the bamboo grove to talk with Yue Hongdi. The beast house will be completed by itself in two to three days.

Note that if you’re having trouble finding a certain NPC or their shop timings, you can open the map and check the NPC location and Trade Timing box to reveal where they currently are and when they’re open to trading.

Building A Chicken Coop

He’ll refuse to help you at first, asking you to build a chicken coop first before obtaining any livestock. He’ll tell you to go and talk to Lu Zhen in the forest.

You can find the forest by going south from the bamboo grove. You’ll find Lu Zhen inside the building there. Lu Zhen will ask you to plant 20 trees in exchange for building you a chicken coop.

You can choose to decline her offer, but if you accept, you’ll have to purchase the tree seeds from Lu Zhen. Buy 20 tree seeds, and then go out and plant the seeds in the area around the building.

Once you’ve planted all the trees, you can come back and talk to Lu Zhen again. She’ll give you the contract for building a chicken coop.

Return to your farmstead and clean the area before placing the chicken coop. It will take around two to three days to complete. Once the coop is ready, go and talk to Yue Hongdi again, and he’ll give you a free chick. You can also purchase animal feed from him.

Tending To The Livestock

The beast house is for mounts and pets, while the chicken coop can house chickens. You’ll have to place feed and water in their respective buckets in the structures.

Keep in mind that if the animals and chickens go without food and water for three days, they’ll escape. You can add the animals to these structures by interacting with the tiny board near the entrance gate.

The chicken coop will also produce manure, which can then be turned into a fertilizer using a compost bin. You can also get eggs from the chickens, once they’ve matured.

For mounts and pets, you can put them in the community chest after they’ve fully matured, and they’ll also produce their respective goods. However, once the animal reaches old age, they won’t be producing goods anymore.

Netting In The Sea And A Legendary Fish

At the completion of his previous quest, Xiao Dalan asked you to wait two days, and then he’ll take you to the sea to show you net fishing. Once two days have passed, you can head to the beach, and it will trigger a cutscene.

Xiao Dalan will take you to the sea on a raft and show you net fishing. He’ll also give you a few fish as well. Once he returns, he’ll ask you to get at least a B rank in the net fishing mini-game.

To get a B Rank in net fishing, you’ll have to correctly get to the score of 30 in the mini-game. Return to Xiao Dalan after that, and he’ll give you all types of bait, including premium ones, and ask you to catch a legendary fish.

According to the in-game information, you can get a legendary fish by using the premium-quality bait, but I was unable to catch one for the day.

Repairing The Shrines

After seeing Taoling in a dream, you’ll have to head to the Ancestral Hall to meet with Zheng Wenchang, the village elder. You’ll then express your desire to repair the shrines.

In your responses, you can also mention Taoling, but since they asked us not to use their name, I refrained from using that option.

Thunder-Struck Wood

After that, Zheng Wenchang will speak about a piece of thunder-struck wood, saying that Lu Zhen might have it. You can then head to the forest and find Lu Zhen inside the building.

Lu Zhen will say that she has passed down the piece of thunder-struck wood to her grandson. Her grandson, Zhang Huilong, will come and be willing to give you the piece of wood for the sake of the village.

Return to the Ancestral Hall to give Zheng Wenchang the piece of wood, and then he’ll say that he’ll notify you once the shrine has been repaired.

It will only take a day, and then you can return to the Ancestral Hall after checking the letter in the mail box. This time, you’ll have to look for a five-colored stone.

Five-Colored Stone

Zheng Wenchang asks you to talk to the Sheng brothers near the mine, as they might have a clue about the five-colored stone.

If you go and talk to them, Sheng Wuqiang will reveal that he doesn’t have the stone and doesn’t even know if it really exists. However, his brother, Sheng Wenxiu, will tell you that he has seen the stone in the tavern, and it’s currently being used to pickle vegetables.

Head to the tavern. It’s the first building near the entrance to the farmstead from the village. After an awkward conversation, Ma Yao will willingly give you the unique stone, and then you can bring it to Zheng Wengchan in the Ancestral Hall.

He’ll then repair the second shrine in a few days. However, for the next shrine, you’ll have to head deeper into the cave. You’ll need an ebony root, which can only be found in the Wood Cave. I wasn’t prepared enough to head that deep into the Wood cave, so I stopped right here for now.

Mysterious Journal

After defeating Dankang, head to Zheng Wenchang’s house in the village. You’ll then tell him about how you heard a mysterious voice in the cave after defeating the mythical beast.

Zheng will then ask you to head to the Ancestral Hall to find some books, as they might contain some answers.

Now, if you head to the Ancestral Hall, you’ll find Li Jie’er here. Li Jie’er will help you look for any ancient books, but you won’t be able to find anything.

She will then reveal an ancient fragment of a journal, asking you to gather more of them from the cave. You’ll have to return to her once you’ve gathered at least five journal fragments to uncover more secrets about the village.

The Golden Crop

After you’ve grown some crops, you’ll receive a letter from Jiang Zhengyan, the seed seller, asking you to come and talk to him.

When you go and visit him, he’ll tell you about golden crops. Whenever you grow crops, there’s a small chance of obtaining a golden version of that crop, which is of extremely high quality. Jiang will also give you a compost bin.

The compost bin allows you to convert manure into fertilizer. Return to your farmstead and keep growing more crops until you manage to grow a golden crop. Using fertilizers increases your chances of producing a golden crop, but you can also get one without them.

Once you’ve got a golden crop, return to Jiang Zhengyan; he’ll be very surprised. He’ll also give you an option to choose between a Millstone or a Compost Bin blueprint. I picked the Compost Bin blueprint because fertilizers are definitely more useful than a millstone, and we can easily access the one outside Jiang’s house for all our needs for now.

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This concludes Part 2 of the walkthrough for Halcyon Days at Taoyuan. For more guides and walkthroughs, please visit the game’s main hub here.