Shi Lai

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Shi Lai is a sixteen-year-old who has just entered his second year of high school. About twenty days before meeting Xia Yi, he begins entering the Saint Soul Continent through his dreams. When he closes his eyes to rest, he can choose to experience another life there 8.

Initially frightened, he becomes convinced that the continent is a game and regards access to it as his personal cheat ability. Although leveling does not make his real-world body superhuman, it improves his mental sharpness, memory, and grades. He keeps the experience secret because he fears being dissected 8.

On the continent, he settles in Zhou Family Village. Within a little over twenty days, most villagers already consider him one of their own 3.

Appearance

• Features: Xia Yi describes him as a delicate-featured youth who looks somewhat dim-witted 49.
• Injured appearance: After Feng Mo’s retaliation, his right leg hangs limp and bloodied; he later uses crutches and wears bandages 20 21.
• Tournament appearance: His injury-heavy fighting style leaves him almost entirely wrapped in bandages by the end of the group matches 34.

Personality

Shi Lai is enthusiastic about cultivation and persistently pursues quests, experience, and new Saint Souls. He readily skips Holy Academy classes to run errands for Xia Yi, reasoning that the older man offers better rewards. He also adapts modern resources to his adventures, researching ancient residential compounds online before searching for a house 28.

His early belief that the continent is only a game makes him reckless and sometimes cruel. He considers killing an insulting applicant “for fun” before reloading, and tortures house brokers in discarded attempts to obtain accurate prices. Condensing Tianshu Star intensifies his anger, while his confidence in resetting events removes much of his restraint 22 23 24 28.

He nevertheless helps villagers, intervenes when he believes Feng Mo is harassing a woman, and protects the wounded Chen Guang. The settlement report of a dead player frightens him enough to stay away for a week. When he returns, he acknowledges that the continent is no longer merely a game to him: he values both the life it offers and the friends he has made 5 21 44 48.

Abilities & Skills

Reloading a Save

Shi Lai can reverse recent events while retaining his memories, allowing him to retry encounters and change his actions 4 34.

• Combat learning: Memorizes Feng Mo’s swordplay across repeated attempts, then anticipates his hidden substitution technique and defeats him 34.
• Information gathering: Uses discarded attempts to obtain examination answers and interrogate house brokers before restoring events 28 32.
• Survival: Reloads after fatal injuries, including the poisoned arrow that strikes him during the attempt on Zhao Yu’s life 48.
• Power-gap limit: Cannot overcome Song Ziyu even after repeated attempts; his opponent simply changes techniques and defeats him again 35.
• Use penalties: Shi Lai understands that a time penalty begins at seven uses. He later discovers that cumulative reloads also affect his trial rating 24 45.
• Save-state limit: Logging out and reloading the next day does not repair his already-broken leg 20.
• Uncertain range: Xia Yi suspects a distance limit after failing to perceive a reload performed while Shi Lai is elsewhere; this remains a hypothesis 20.

Detection Art

Detection Art probes another person and displays information such as name, age, faction, level, and threat assessment 4 6 48.

• Information is restricted by Shi Lai’s level; powerful targets can appear largely as question marks 4 48.
• Detects Zhou Lizhu’s change to the demon faction and his rapidly rising level during demonization 6.
• Identifies the levels of Shi Lai’s four tournament group opponents 33.
• Is not undetectable: both Xia Yi and Tian Qi notice the probing 4 48.
• Xia Yi has him perform it one thousand times as part of their early arrangement 5 6.

Sword Scripture

Shi Lai’s first Saint Soul is the two-star Sword Scripture, learned from Xia Yi’s recitation and sword demonstrations 21.

• System notifications register incremental understanding even while he struggles with the classical text 21.
• His mastery remains below stronger academy students during the selection tournament; aggression and remembered movements compensate against some opponents 34.
• His recorded mastery reaches tier 1, level 9 by the Novice Trial settlement 45.

Medicine Scripture

Taught by Physician Hu, Medicine Scripture lets Shi Lai treat wounds through bandaging and Saint Soul power 34.

• Rapidly stops bleeding and begins healing his tournament injuries between matches 34.
• Enables him to treat Chen Guang after Feng Shuhu gravely wounds him 44.
• Does not immediately eliminate every injury: spectators note that even with Medicine Scripture, a severed wrist tendon would normally require a month or two to heal 34.

Player Interface and Pain Settings

Shi Lai has access to levels, quests, affinity readings, Saint Soul slots, and adjustable pain settings 4 5 21.

• Pain reduction: Usually operates at 10% pain, helping him continue fighting despite severe injuries. By the encounter with Zhao Yu, he discovers that the setting has changed to 50% 5 34 50.
• Quest rewards: Can gain experience, cultivation opportunities, and relationship changes, but completing a quest does not force its issuer to honor a promised reward 20 28.
• Affinity readings: Xia Yi demonstrates that the readings can be fooled by thoughts planted through the Deception Scripture 28.
• Soul capacity: Initially has seven Soul Apertures and seven unlocked slots. Equipping the two-star Sword Scripture leaves five stars of available carrying capacity 21.

Equipment / Items

• Sword — His principal weapon; an early sword breaks when he tries to strike the weakened Zhou Lizhu’s head 7.
• Bandages — Used with Medicine Scripture to treat his own wounds and Chen Guang’s injuries 34 44.
• Crutches — Temporary mobility aids after Feng Mo’s men break his right leg 21 24.
• Mobile phone — Used outside the continent to research desirable features of ancient residential compounds 28.

Relationships

• Xia Yi — Cultivation mentor, quest giver, and the person he calls “Grandpa.” Xia Yi initially experiments with his player abilities and withholds rewards, but also teaches him Sword Scripture, defends him from Luo Ti, and promises further Saint Soul instruction. The temporary “Romantic love” affinity reading results from Xia Yi’s deliberate deception experiment, not an established romance 4 20 21 22 28 50.
• Zhou Xiaoxian — Village acquaintance and academy senior who helps bury the Ox Demon, offers him a recommendation letter, and accompanies him to registration 6 21 22.
• Zhou Lizhu — Shi Lai acts as his matchmaker with Zhou Xiaoxian. Their failed proposal conversation provokes Lizhu’s demonization; Shi Lai later attempts to take the finishing blow against him 6 7.
• Physician Hu — Medical instructor who teaches him Medicine Scripture after Xia Yi brings him to the clinic 20 34.
• Feng Mo — Enemy who orders his leg broken. Shi Lai eventually defeats him in the academy selection by learning his attacks through reloads 15 34.
• Luo Ti — Holy Academy deputy dean who cripples him in an erased sequence, having deliberately waited for his violent outburst as a means of targeting Xia Yi 22 23 24.
• Song Ziyu — Senior academy student who decisively defeats him despite multiple reloads 35.
• Chen Guang — An older acquaintance whose history Shi Lai investigates and whose injuries he later treats. Shi Lai vows to avenge the wrongs Feng Shuhu inflicted on him 28 38 44.
• Lü Ying — Fellow academy student with whom he exchanges teasing remarks. Without reloading, he is no match for her greatsword 45.
• Zhao Yu — Second Prince of Great Zheng; recognizes Shi Lai’s tournament achievement. Shi Lai becomes caught in assassination attempts targeting him 48 49 50.
• Tian Qi — Zhao Yu’s protector, who detects Shi Lai’s probing. Shi Lai offers to use Detection Art on him one thousand times in exchange for a powerful Saint Soul 48.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Zhou Family Village and Demon God Uprising

Shi Lai saves villagers during the Ox Demon incident but dies repeatedly, including from a broken sword tip lodged in his throat. His reloads alert Xia Yi that time is reversing. Their first negotiations establish Shi Lai’s pursuit of sword instruction and Xia Yi’s interest in testing his unusual abilities 3 4 5 6.

His conversation with Zhou Lizhu then unlocks Demon God Uprising, a main quest connected to the surviving aura of Kui, the Ox Demon God. The first objective is to investigate the truth of events 503 years earlier; it begins at 1% completion. He also receives a side quest to kill two cattle undergoing demonization 6.

Journey to Lieyang City

After logging in to collect his promised lesson, Shi Lai learns that Xia Yi and Zhou Xiaoxian have already departed. He chases them toward Lieyang City but cannot catch their enhanced traveling speed 11.

In the city, his intervention against Feng Mo ends with a broken leg. Unable to erase the injury by reloading the next day, he eventually finds Xia Yi, receives medical attention, and finally begins learning Sword Scripture 14 15 20 21.

Holy Academy Selection

Newly condensed Tianshu Star aggravates his murderous impulses. After he slashes a mocking applicant, Luo Ti abolishes his cultivation; a reload erases the confrontation, and Xia Yi prevents a repeat 22 23 24.

Shi Lai subsequently uses reloads to pass the written examination and enters the martial selection. He wins all four group matches, defeats Feng Mo after three attempts, and reaches the top four. Song Ziyu stops his advance, but Shi Lai still secures a place among the Four Little Talented Scholars 32 33 34 35 45.

Chen Guang’s Protection

During Xia Yi’s conflict with Feng Shuhu, Shi Lai helps move Chen Guang and the others before enemy soldiers can capture them. He treats Chen Guang’s wounds, receives Xia Yi’s praise, and later carries him to see Feng Shuhu’s corpse 41 44 45.

Novice Trial Settlement

At the end of his first month, Shi Lai is abruptly instructed to leave combat and find a safe location for settlement 45.

All settlement records are displayed in the same assessment 45.

The announcement reveals other players, separate worldlines, and a Main Worldline associated with the activated main quest. It also reports one dead player. Shi Lai is shaken by the possibility that death may be real rather than another reversible setback 45.

Return and Zhao Yu’s Assassination Attempts

Shi Lai stays away for a week, partly to prepare for school examinations and partly out of fear. Improved comprehension helps his studies, but his attachment to the continent and its inhabitants draws him back 48.

Soon after returning, he is killed by an arrow aimed toward Zhao Yu. He reloads, intercepts the arrow, and survives. After learning Zhao Yu’s identity and the danger posed by his siblings, Shi Lai becomes eager to strengthen himself. Xia Yi agrees to teach him another Saint Soul and invites him on a mysterious outing that night 48 50.