Zhiyi

“	Yusupov: You... How could you... Zhiyi: How could I not? I've sacrificed years of my life studying and reflecting to prepare myself for this position, and in the end I even had to poison my own teacher. You really think I'd put myself through all that just to become your little puppet? I don't want to bow down to anyone ever again, and that includes you. Yusupov: You imbecile! It's the Fatui who got you to where you are, do you understand? ...If I disappear with no explanation, the embassy will come after you... They'll get to the bottom of this, mark my words! Zhiyi: Do you see the haystack in the corner? Underneath it is a pile of explosives. And next door in the darkroom are the three undercover agents you sent to infiltrate the Blackcliff Forge. I'm gonna stay here till I see you slip into unconsciousness, then I'm gonna set this on fire. Once the flames burn through the hay, they'll ignite the explosives, the ruins will collapse, and everything will be buried. Yusupov: Wh—What do you hope to... Zhiyi: I took the liberty of leaving some evidence of your contact with the undercover agents at the Blackcliff Forge. It won't take long for people to join the dots... Two missing-person cases will become one as the "truth" gradually reveals itself. The Fatui planted undercover agents in the Blackcliff Forge to steal their signature ruin-grade explosives. Their plan was to blow through the solid floor tiles in the dead of night and seize the treasure of Qingxu Pool. (Zhiyi sighs) ...But things didn't quite go to plan. Mistakes were made that led to the accidental deaths of the entire crew. Faced with the overwhelming evidence, the embassy won't investigate this any further. In fact, they'll be only too happy to blame it all on a rogue operation by you. It explains why you acted alone, while exonerating the rest of the embassy of any liability. Of course, none of that will have anything to do with me. When all of this comes to my attention, I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to cancel the Qingxu Pool Redevelopment Plan immediately. I guess then, I'll be Tianshu in my own right, with a clean record and well out of the Fatui's reach.	„
	~ Zhiyi revealing his plan to Yusupov after betraying him.

Zhiyi is a minor antagonist in Genshin Impact, serving as the main antagonist of Yelan's story quest "Calculated Gambit". He was one of the 3 candidates chosen by Uncle Tian to succeed him as the Liyue Tianshu. Initially appearing as a friendly and professional nominee, in truth he was working with the Fatui and secretly poisoning Uncle Tian in order to receive funding for his campaign.

He was voiced by Brandon McInnis in the English version.

Personality

On the surface, Zhiyi appears as a well-mannered, professional, and respectful young man who never held a grudge. Even after being shunned and disrespected by others, especially his neighbor, he never retaliated and simply returned the gesture with kindness.

Underneath it all however, Zhiyi is extremely paranoid and insecure about his reputation and holds a sort of inferiority complex due to his poverty-stricken upbringing.

Biography

Past

Zhiyi's parents both died when he was a child, leaving him orphaned to live a life of destitute and ostracism by Liyue Society. Despite this, he still treated the people of Liyue with kindness. Even once helping his neighbor with finances when they went bankrupt.

Without parental support, Zhiyi had to work for himself. His earnings all went to his travels, studies, and father's debts. He was a fast learner and gifted student. Later, he would meet Uncle Tian while they were fishing, and get taken in under a mentorship from him. As they spent more time together, he would come to see Uncle Tian as a father figure.

Candidacy

With his age catching up to him, Uncle Tian began to consider stepping down as Tianshu, and therefore chose 3 of his students as candidates for the position. Zhiyi was chosen alongside other students Qianwei and Mingbo.

Zhiyi was then contacted by the Fatui who offered to secretly support his candidacy, providing him finances in exchange for taking up tasks. Having come from a background of poverty, Zhiyi accepted the offer. Now colluding with the Fatui, he was tasked with ordering an expensive wine while also covertly poisoning Uncle Tian by offering him fish soup.

Yelan's investigations

Per Uncle Tian's request, Yelan and the Traveler assessed all 3 of his chosen candidates. Zhiyi initially managed to deceive the Traveler and Paimon, earning their support for his succession. Yelan however, believed he had ulterior motives and continued to investigate him.

The next day, Yelan declared Zhiyi as the winner. Zhiyi humbly accepted the position and went off to make celebratory plans. However, the announcement was in truth, a trick used to reveal Zhiyi's base of operations. After leaving, he was pursued by Yelan's subordinates, yet managed to elude them. Later that night, the subordinates discovered a Snezhnayan ambassador, Yusupov, heading in the direction of Qingxu Pool, the location mentioned in Zhiyi's manifesto. Yelan, the Traveler, and Paimon trail him to the location and enter through the emergency exit to the underground ruins which Zhiyi had been using.

The 3 arrive to witness Zhiyi and Yusupov celebrating their plot's success. While they were talking, Yelan secretly took several pictures of their interactions. After taking a drink of the wine Zhiyi bought, Yusupov suddenly collapses. Zhiyi revealed to him that he never intended to become a puppet of the Fatui and was planning to betray them all along. Yusupov threatened that if the Fatui discovered he was missing, they would come after Zhiyi. However, Zhiyi then revealed a bunch of explosives which he intended to use to destroy the ruins, and with it any evidence of his involvement with the Fatui.

Before he could light the explosives, Yelan fired an arrow and knocked the torch out of Zhiyi's hands. She, along with her subordinates and the Millelith, then came out to confront him. Upon being found out, Zhiyi attempted to hide his treachery by stating that he found a Fatui operation in Qingxu Pool and joined them in order to covertly bring them down. Yelan quickly refuted any of his statements by pointing out that the poison he used on Yusupov was the same one used on Uncle Tian.

Realizing there was no way to prove his innocence, he offered a deal to Yelan that if he became Tianshu he would use the position to act in her best interests. Though admitting he used underhanded and unethical methods for his candidacy, he attempted to justify himself by pointing towards his poverty stricken upbringing. Yelan began to guilt trip him by stating that Uncle Tian had never looked down on him and was like a father figure and teacher, yet he chose to repay his kindness by poisoning him. She then declared that Uncle Tian would have given him the opportunity anyway, yet he chose to betray the one person who trusted him. Influenced by her words, Zhiyi turned himself over out of remorse.