Xia Zhiyi

Biodata

Background / History

Family and First Life

Xia Zhiyi grew up with his older sister, Xia Wanyi. He originally studied martial arts because of poor health, receiving systematic training at a Taoist temple. After their parents died in an accident, Xia Wanyi supported the household while continuing her education. Xia Zhiyi severed ties with their paternal relatives after overhearing cousins planning how to spend the inheritance they intended to take from the siblings 9 113 121 124.

Their mother came from the Song family but had left its wealthy household to marry their father. The siblings were direct relatives of the Song Group’s founder, whose reported will allocated them a combined ten percent of its shares. This inheritance became a suspected motive behind the truck incident that endangered them 5 121.

In his first life, both siblings were injured in that incident. With little compensation available, Xia Zhiyi entered entertainment to earn a living and signed with Huanyu. The company controlled and exploited him, eventually forcing him to abandon university. Nevertheless, he discovered a genuine love of acting and drew encouragement from his small fanbase 4 5 8.

Only after his death did he learn that his world was a novel. His death helped drive Xia Wanyi—the original story’s third female lead—into entertainment and a destructive revenge campaign. She achieved her revenge but lost herself in the process; neither sibling received a happy ending 1.

Other Worlds and Return

After death, Xia Zhiyi undertook missions in other worlds, living through numerous identities and acquiring skills far beyond his original experience. He served as a minister, chancellor, and emperor, and repeatedly confronted forces that controlled people through predetermined plots. Those years were often unpleasant, and he chose not to burden Xia Wanyi with their details 3 5 289 308.

He eventually received compensation that allowed him to return to his own world before signing with Huanyu. His memories of the original timeline were imperfect, but he retained enough awareness to anticipate danger. His priorities were to protect his family, bring deserving enemies to justice, and finally live a life of his own 1 84.

Appearance

• Youthful face: Initially has a cute, baby-faced appearance that contrasts sharply with his combat ability 73 306.
• Features: Delicate, refined, and nonaggressive; his looks readily put people at ease 211.
• Family resemblance: His eyes resemble Xia Wanyi’s closely enough to help Xia Zhen feel safe around her 109.
• Later appearance: Three years later, most of his baby fat has disappeared. His appearance becomes more finely handsome, with restrained elegance and a more authoritative bearing partly influenced by Fu Chi 308.

Personality

Xia Zhiyi is approachable, patient, and unusually composed. While teaching Wang Chengran, he remains calm even after explaining the same material ten or twenty times. Xu Chen values his emotional stability, while Xu Zixu finds his private gentleness comfortable and sincere 73 217.

His mild manner does not mean he is submissive. He deliberately presents himself gently to reassure people concerned about his strength, but privately warns Xu Chen that his temper is actually very bad. Old Master Fu later observes that much of his apparent good temper comes from not taking other people’s provocations to heart 135 305.

Family is his strongest attachment. Xia Wanyi initially serves as his emotional anchor after returning, but he recognizes that she deserves an independent life rather than permanent responsibility for him. His relationship with Fu Chi gives him another source of belonging and support 159.

Despite knowing the original story, Xia Zhiyi refuses to judge people solely by their assigned roles. He investigates protagonists’ actual character before deciding how to treat them and distinguishes between people acting freely and people manipulated by the plot. He prefers not to achieve his goals by harming innocents, though he has used lethal methods against protagonists in other worlds 267 289.

His competence also has emotional limits. Discovering that someone else has suffered the fate he escaped brings his buried anger to the surface. He acknowledges that he is human, not omnipotent, and seeks comfort in Fu Chi rather than pretending he can solve everything alone 299.

Abilities & Skills

Martial Arts and Physical Combat

Xia Zhiyi’s abilities extend well beyond his original health-oriented martial arts training. By the later side stories, he is widely recognized as the leading figure in Xia Country’s martial arts circles 9 313.

• Defeats university military instructors while deliberately holding back 120.
• Has physical combat ability described as S rank even without internal force, compared with the training base’s usual B-rated personnel and occasional A-rated fighters 186.
• Controls sparring exchanges closely enough to feed opponents moves rather than immediately defeat them 126 186.
• Kicks an out-of-control car several meters away, caving in its front to prevent it from hitting the shop behind him 293.
• Is proficient with swords, sabers, spears, staffs, clubs, fists, kicks, and obscure weapons, rather than displaying one identifiable school’s style 313.

Qinggong and Internal Cultivation

His Qinggong enables movement that witnesses repeatedly mistake for flight 2 12 38.

• Ascends trees, surveys terrain from above, and lands safely after jumping down 38.
• Can travel through the air with a freedom his trainees cannot reproduce; he remarks that he could cross the Imperial Capital using Qinggong 186 237.
• Explains that conventional Qinggong training requires suitable talent and aptitude, normally beginning before approximately twelve or thirteen 43.
• Develops an accelerated course for older trainees, while warning that ordinary learners have a much lower ceiling than his own 147 237.

Martial Arts Instruction

Xia Zhiyi adapts instruction to each learner rather than relying on a single routine 147 186.

• Teaches Wang Chengran and allows interested production staff to learn basic movements, with warnings about flexibility and injury 44.
• Designs individual regimens using tests, medical reports, and changes in physical condition 147 186.
• Produces trainees whose weakest long jumps reach ten meters after several months; the most talented begins demonstrating genuine airborne movement 237.
• Arranges martial arts training for Xia Zhen once her health improves. Xia Wanyi’s constitution prevents her from learning his methods, so he instead arranges bodyguards for her 214 273.
• His screen performances help spark a martial arts boom and create work for traditional practitioners 313.

Hacking and Technology

Under the identity A, Xia Zhiyi possesses technical knowledge surpassing his world’s contemporary level. He chooses information security partly to provide a credible public explanation for his abilities 113 167 307.

• Recruits the hacker M, Mo Huayan, after defeating him online 111.
• Stops a major cyberattack against Li Jing, traces the attackers’ base, destroys it, and upgrades Li Jing’s firewall 167.
• Keeps his emergency contact untraceable even to Li Jing’s colleagues 167.
• Uses digital investigation to uncover hidden motives, including a relative’s plan to exploit Xia Zhen’s inheritance rights 204 205.
• Invites an entire workplace to attack his defenses, offering to grant a request if anyone succeeds 297.

Medicine and Recovery

His medical knowledge includes acupuncture, childbirth assistance, and physical assessment 80 130 186.

• Uses silver needles to relieve Old Master Fu’s discomfort, earning the old man’s praise as a “miracle doctor” 130.
• Offers acupuncture to Fu Chi and incorporates health information into his disciples’ training 130 186.
• Initially avoids advertising medical skills because he cannot produce the license required in the modern setting 80.
• Returns with an exceptionally healthy body and faster-than-normal healing, though wounds do not close instantaneously 193.

Acting and Historical Knowledge

His acting draws on experiences in which maintaining a convincing role could determine whether he survived 250.

• Impresses Director Li sufficiently to secure a weekend-only filming arrangement for Chasing the Front Line 159.
• Performs action scenes without wires, allowing productions to demonstrate that his movements are genuine 306.
• Draws on firsthand experience as an official and ruler when preparing to portray Huo Zekang throughout his life 308.
• Passes historical-drama training assessments so convincingly that he is recruited to teach etiquette himself 313.
• Provides Director Min with information about a newly discovered tomb during a historical production 327.

Practical Crafts and Cooking

• Carpentry and carving: Makes furniture, including stools with intricate carvings. He distinguishes his solid grasp of basics from the creativity of a true master craftsman 63 80.
• Cooking: Takes over a second wok when the cast’s meal preparation falls behind 87.
• Knife work: Cuts vegetables rapidly into evenly thick slices, treating the precision as a basic extension of blade training 87.

Awareness of the Power of the Plot

Experience across worlds lets Xia Zhiyi recognize plot interference as a rule-bound force rather than an unknowable destiny 40.

• Understands that recognizing manipulation indicates a person is beginning to escape its control 40.
• Has confronted a high-martial world’s plot power that approached the Heavenly Dao; his own modern world’s version is comparatively weak 267.
• Remains vulnerable to direct interference: it causes a brief lapse during Chen Yun’s attack and later immobilizes him for five seconds 40 304.
• Treats protecting people caught in the plot—not simply overpowering it—as the central difficulty 267 289.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Practice sword: Uses it during morning exercise; unlike his original fitness routines, the swordsmanship he now practices is intended for killing 11.
• Silver acupuncture needles: Brings them to the Fu residence to treat Old Master Fu and Fu Chi 130.
• Computers: Works through both his own available resources and borrowed equipment, including Fu Chi’s computer during Li Jing’s emergency 167.

Relationships

• Xia Wanyi — Older sister and former guardian. She raised and supported him after their parents’ deaths; he conceals his rebirth and the original plot to spare her pain, while supporting her right to choose her own future 3 121 124 223.
• Fu Chi — First boyfriend and principal emotional partner. Fu Chi respects his boundaries, supplies connections and influence during the struggle against the plot, and gives him somewhere to be vulnerable. Xia Zhiyi later proposes to him 104 138 299 303 319.
• Xia Zhen — Younger sister welcomed into his household after he rescues her from traffickers. Though he identifies her as the likely future Song Zhen, he treats her as an injured child rather than a destined villainess 108 109 111.
• Fu Yunyi — Variety-show colleague, admirer of his martial arts, and an intermediary for acting opportunities. Xia Zhiyi’s relationship with Fu Chi turns their former peer relationship into a recurring joke about uncle–nephew seniority 43 136 154 159.
• Xu Chen — Agent who respects his competence and manages his growing career. He trusts her enough to explain that his gentle public manner is not the whole of his personality 73 135 209.
• Ming Taotao — Assistant with whom he quickly establishes an easy rapport. His occasional absentmindedness creates extra trouble for her, including forgetting her during travel arrangements 113 209.
• Li Jing — Hacker ally and contact within the authorities. Xia Zhiyi helps him during emergencies and later agrees to meet his superior 167 266.
• Old Master Fu — Fu Chi’s father, whom Xia Zhiyi treats with acupuncture. The old master welcomes him into the household and recognizes that his gentleness does not make him easy to bully 130 288 305.
• Xu Zixu — Colleague and sworn older sister. Their close interaction generates dating rumors, which her studio counters by publicly explaining their sibling relationship 217 220 222.
• Gu Miaomiao — Original female protagonist whom he assesses independently of the novel’s account. He helps her, works with her against the prescribed course of events, and saves her during a vehicle attack 110 263 291 293.
• Huanyu Entertainment — His former exploitative company and a deliberate target of his hostility. After returning, he rejects recruitment by his former agent Chen Yun rather than repeating his first-life contract 4.
• Song family — Estranged maternal relatives. He exposes concealed wrongdoing after they interfere with him, helping bring their affairs into chaos while keeping his sisters away from them 111 187.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Return and Entry into Entertainment

After returning, Xia Zhiyi carries Xia Wanyi out of the truck’s path and demonstrates his movement skills near the hospital. Footage spreads online, attracting public attention and recruitment offers. He rejects Huanyu, resolves to attend university rather than sacrifice his education again, and enters a livestream variety show through its non-celebrity recruitment 1 2 4 5 8.

His martial arts, practical skills, and interventions against wrongdoing make him stand out during filming. Fu Chi invites him to consider Tianhuan Entertainment, and Director Gong becomes interested in developing a traditional-culture program inspired by him 21 50 68 80.

Rescuing Xia Zhen

Xia Zhiyi notices a battered girl hiding from a woman claiming to be her mother and contacts the police. After officers confirm her abduction, he stays to help. Four days later, he brings her home under her newly registered name, Xia Zhen 108 109.

He subsequently investigates attempts to reclaim her for financial advantage. Recognizing how closely these events resemble the original villainess’s prescribed future, he resolves to prevent the plot from forcing her back into it 204 205 206.

University and Cooperation with the Authorities

At University A, Xia Zhiyi combines information security studies with acting and martial arts instruction. His victories over the military instructors lead to teaching arrangements, while his technical abilities bring him into closer cooperation with Li Jing and other officials 113 120 121 147 167.

He preserves his freedom to pursue acting despite officials’ interest in his exceptional abilities. His capacity to protect himself makes it difficult to justify imposing protective restrictions on him 272.

Breaking the Plot’s Control

After Fu Chi is hurt, Xia Zhiyi abandons a slower approach and acts more directly against the Power of the Plot. He coordinates with Li Jing, secures Fu Chi’s support, and works with Gu Miaomiao rather than treating the original protagonists as expendable enemies 263 266 267 303.

The plot retaliates through escalating accidents and manipulated encounters. When it finally disappears, it uses its remaining strength to hold Xia Zhiyi still for five seconds during a knife attack. He protects his vital areas and suffers only a flesh wound, surviving the final attack and gaining freedom from its control 294 304.

Career and Later Life

Notable Quotes

“Plots are made to be broken, aren’t they?” 206

“My temper is actually very bad.” 135

“I just have a few more skills than other people.” 212