THE BEGINNING: The Cai’xia Temple (Demo)

Level by Jackie Wu

Walkthrough by G & D Productions


As this is actually the third level of a series, the start and end will be somewhat abrupt.

The level is non linear, we thought this was the most efficient route.

Compass, the white needle is the true one.



Go around the corner down the steps, follow past a shallow pool to a crossing, go either R or L and come to some red doors, they will open and a cutscene will show the Temple surroundings.

The Temple.

Go left to the passage (N) and inside to the left, up the stairs to the Dead Tree valley.

Dead Tree Valley.

A flyby will show an underwater opening and a closed gate up in the SE corner.
Dive into the water below and swim into the opening W, follow to an underwater lever that will open up that SE gate, swim back and climb up on a ledge just over the underwater tunnel and jump up SW twice so you end up onto a waterfall.

Climb up W and now jump up to the NW, one more run jump N to land on the other waterfall. Slide down to the branch of the tree on the N waterfall (just over the entrance of the valley). Walk E to the highest point of that branch and face SE, do a run jump over the branch and around the tree to land on a sloped ledge in the corner of the tree and rock, jump again to bounce onto the rock.

On that rock in front of the gate you can get the Ingram Ammo. From the same rock you can just run jump back W to the S side waterfall and jump to the N fall, take a jump to the N wall and shoot the statue that is nearest in the alcove. Jump there for a Small Medipack. Jump back SW, stand close to the waterfall and face SW. Take a running jump up to the rock SW. From there hug the wall and go S to the open fence.

Sneaky Lever Walkway.

On this walkway overlooking the Temple is a lever that will open the gate on the other (S) end, but you can’t walk there as there’s a sneaky trigger tile that will close the gate before you reach it, just walk slowly to the part where the fence is broken and as soon as possible drop/hang from the side of the walkway, shimmy all the way L to the end and pull up at the gate which will now stay open (at least until you’ve entered the new area).

“Geisha” Temple.

Once inside go to the second alcove on the left, shoot a statue and get the Shotgun ammo. Then go to the right (W square) a guard is roaming around, so only thing to do is kill him.

Then go around the “Geisha” Temple to the far SE corner and get a Small Medipack on the R hand ledge. Return to the square and enter the “Geisha” Temple. Go all the way to the back, swim through and behind the second statue is ladder.

Timed Attic Runs and 1st Prayer Wheel.

Climb up to just under the gates and back flip. Make your way over the rafters to the lever on the right. It is a timed lever that opens a door at the end (on top of the ladder where you came up). Take running jumps all the way over the rafters. Inside is another lever, flip it, roll and take running jumps back to the other side and get the Prayer Wheel # 1 (savegame). A gate opens, jump back to the rafter with the lever and safety drop down into the water through the now open trapdoor.

To the Roofs.

Go out and into the Buddha building NW. Climb up the corner of the higher floor and turn around, run jump and grab the ledge, go into the opening and you are now on the rooftops. Jump straight ahead and from there to the left on the roof SE, go all the way to the E end and then jump into the building N, turn around and jump up and grab the balcony and hoist up.

Go over the balcony to the other end. If you like some extra Ammo, jump over the balustrade to the roof on the right (S). Shimmy around two corners and drop off at the rooftop of the Buddha building. Jump over the W and get Shotgun and Uzi Ammo there. Easiest way is to jump back to the flat roof and a back flip over the roof, grab the edge and safety drop down. Back into the Buddha building and take the route up onto the top balcony again.

Go to the W end and L to where a block in the wall will go down. Go in and slide to the top of the Lever House roof. Jump down S and turn around you’re at the lever house.

The Lever house.

You’ll be back here later, because when you use either of the two levers inside, a trapdoor will open under the second lever (so it won’t be accessible now) while you see a block rise in a floor somewhere. Pull one lever, it’s not important which of the levers you do first.

Go out and back to the front (E) of the Lever House, just dive down into the pool below and go up the ledge E, go jump up the tree trunk NE and from there pull up to the entrance ledge. Look W and do a runjump/grab into the entrance of the Temple, there are 2 Incense Shrines and depending on which lever you pulled in the Lever House, one of them can now be move to a Tile W over the block you raised.
Shoot the right hand statue in the alcove of the S wall and get the Ingram Ammo.

The other Shrines will be moved later (notice the Prayer Wheel receptacles up NE and SE, so you have to collect 6 of them) Go back and runjump back over the pool to the entrance ledge E.

Go right (N) and into a passage, inside go right this time and left at the next crossing, climb up to the bridge above and head N to come to a square with a waterfall W and a beautiful rainbow. Drop down onto a rock below and get the Shotgun ammo from the pool, get back on the rock E and grab back up to the top ledge.

Go along the S wall and jump over the ledges to the opening under that rainbow. Follow in to where you can drop down 2 cascades and go S to a structure where the water flows out, head down E and come to a block puzzle, you have to raise a timed pillar on the floor W and the clue is on the blocks on the wall NW, take a note of the 2 animals on the blocks (Pigeon looking right and a Fish) and go to the blocks near that water structure E, careful some of the blocks are deadly when you climb on.

Timed Jumps for the 2nd Prayer Wheel.

Stand on the 2nd block from the S (Fish) and face NE (screenshot), the pillar will rise L of you, and you have to runjump past the next blocks to the N, then a running jump/roll onto the block with the Pigeon (looking right, behind a tree trunk), run off and jump over the water to the E, run to the spot behind the rock pillar (screenshot) grab up to the W rock behind the rock pillar so you can backflip and then a backflip/roll from the rock pillar, to land on the first of the 2 timed pillars, do a running jump to the second and then back up for a jump/grab to the ledge in the roof W (savegame), where you can see the 2nd Prayer Wheel (a gate opens somewhere).

Drop down from the roof and for a Medipack you can do that timed run again, at least to the first timed pillar, turn NE and jump to grab the pillar there, get the Medipack and get down safely by jumping to the rocks.

Go W, through that central stream to the structure and dive into the small tunnel under the structure, swim through a low tunnel to a shaft up and face the roof S, pull up and backflip to a slope ledge behind and jump/grab the roof above, pull up and backflip onto a ledge with that opened gate in front of you S. Jump there and go in, follow down a big staircase to where you look out over the entrance ledge. Go left and climb up to the walkway W, go right and climb up through the open trapdoor to the Lever house.

The Lever house.

So you’ve returned…, throw the lever you did before back up to close the trapdoor behind you and throw that second lever to raise the other block in the floor at the Incense Shrines in the Temple below.

The 3rd Prayer Wheel.

Go out N and jump over the lower roof to the N wall with the red gate, turn right and head into the opening W to follow to a waterfall dropping into a lower courtyard, drop down into the water below and follow to the N end, drop down and go S to an opening in the wall, hop in and climb up L to find the 3rd Prayer Wheel.

The room shakes as the courtyard crumbles, go back out and to a block that has fallen N, climb back up to the upper floor, go to the SE corner and run jump to the exit.

Get back to the roofs and go E, hop down into to the pool E. Up the ledge E and again climb up at the tree NE and go to the left (S).

Timed Run over the Walkway.

Go either R or L to climb a ladder to the upper floor, there’s a lever on the S wall and N is a closed gate that will open by throwing the Timed lever. Pull the lever and roll and sprint out, you can jump onto and run over the roof left to avoid the spikes and keep jumping and enter the door on the other side (savegame).

Just inside to the left is a Small Medipack, then find the passage NE and follow through a passage with statues to a water hole, dive in and the current will guide you to a small courtyard with some houses. Climb out on the backside (E) of the root sticking into the water left and turn around to climb onto the walkway.

“Three Lever” Courtyard.

There are 3 levers W and 3 gates in the W side of the courtyard, make it to the levers around the N side with a jump over the NW corner (The lever combinations I’ll give are the ones that worked for me, if in your case the gate doesn’t open, throw the levers till it does).

N Gate, Spike block and the 4th Prayer Wheel.

Use the L and R hand levers to open the N gate (Down,Up,Down). Go jump back to the N ledge and into the gate. Follow into a block with Spikes all over and on top is the Prayer Wheel. Go to the room N and runjump onto one of the sloped pillars either right or left and jump/grab the next N of it, immediately jump again and land on a ledge under the lever ledge, go up and throw the first lever for the Spikes. Jump/grab up to the MS ceiling above and follow it around the room to the second lever for the Spikes on the block. Now use the MS ceiling to get back to the entrance ledge S and go back to the block room, jump onto the block to get the 4th Prayer Wheel (camera shot of a gate opening up). Go back out to the courtyard and to the levers.

E Gate Push Puzzle and a timed run for the 5th Prayer Wheel.

Throw the R hand lever back up all to open the gate W (Down,Up,Up). When you turn around and look up E you can already spot the next Prayer Wheel, go over to the E gate and follow in to a room with a Incense Shrine standing on a symbol tile, push it all the way to another one of those tiles in the far E room and you’ll see the room shake, push the Shrine from the tile so it will not be in your way later. Go back to the previous room and find a block that has risen so you can access the lever on the back of the statue.

Timed Run, one route with a Secret and the Second route without.

With the Secret: Save there as it is timed. It will open the gate E of here, so pull, backflip/roll from the block and jump up onto the next ledge E, jump and grab over where the Incense Shrine was into the open gate behind it, sprint through the passage and run turning L into the wall L in the end, so you can do a sidejump R into the upper gate that opened above the lower gate (savegame) (if you don’t make it in time the lower gate will open up and the route from there will be described in the paragraph after the next).

Drop into the hole in the floor, follow to a ladder and climb up. In the next room is an opening up E, a cutscene shows a Boulder coming down and Spikes pop up everywhere, standjump to the first pillar and look down the Spike slope. As soon as the first Spikes went down, run in and slide till you can jump/grab to the ledge with the lever in front and up (savegame).

Save and throw the lever to release the 2nd Boulder. It will come down to where you stand, so sidestep next to the lever and jump/grab up to go up the ladder over the lever before the Boulder hits you. Wait till it dropped into the pit and go down, turn around and jump grab the grey wall in the shaft above the other Boulder, climb to the top and pull up on the S ledge where the Spikes at the lever are now gone, the lever will open the gate NW.

Hop over there and go into the gate, draw some weapon as there are Ancient Warriors roaming around here. After the fight you can claim your prize, Secret#1, the Gecko Ivory Seal and some Shotgun ammo. Go out of this room through the E passage and drop down to where the 5th Prayer Wheel is (cutscene of a gate opening up).

Route through the lower gate (without the Secret): Go through the lower gate and follow the passage up (couple of Ancient Warriors there) around a couple of bends till you are on the walkways over the Incense Shrine room.

Jump from the last rafter to the W and get some Shotgun ammo. Jump back and continue W. Take a running jump to the ledge left or right and go up to the 5th Prayer Wheel is (cutscene of a gate opening up).

Go E a bit and drop from the walkway to the ground floor, go out W and back to the courtyard. Go to the levers and throw the levers so they are all down to open the gate S (Down,Down,Down). (Could also be Up,Down,Down)

S Gate UW puzzle, 6th Prayer Wheel.

Follow in to either the right or left and in the next room is a pool (the statue NW is shootable, but nothing underneath) with closed underwater gates, swim into the tunnel NW and go up to a room with a lever that will open the NE underwater gate back in the pool (Lara looks at the gate on the right).

Now swim back to the pool and go into the NE underwater gate, follow the winding tunnel to an underwater lever, throw it and swim back to the pool.

I know you think you have to go in right away, but it’s better you gat some air first and then swim into that SE gate to follow the tunnel to an underwater room under the pool.

The gate drops shut and you’re closed in, quickly throw the 4 underwater levers and the entrance gate opens again, so does the underwater gate to the Prayer Wheel, but I think you need air first.

Go for the 6th Prayer Wheel SW (screenshot of the last gate opening up and an Ancient Warrior will come out) and swim into the NW tunnel again to climb out where the Warrior is, shoot him or just run for the open gate right (S) of the lever. Follow the dark passage to where you’ll slide down into the passage with the shallow pool at the start of the level, go W and back through the red doors to the entrance ledge of the Temple.

Placing the Prayer Wheels.

Runjump/grab into the entrance of the temple again and now move the second Incense Shrine to the E Tile, watch the cut scene to see blocks go up that will give access to the receptacles, go up and place all Wheels, water will start to flow from an upper level into floor gratings and the water level of the pool will rise. Go down from the ledges and to the E.

The End