Brains rather than brawn is the key to unconventional hero's popularity, Xu Fan reports.

When veteran scriptwriter Liang Zhenhua read novelist Fang Baiyu's best-selling franchise Qianmen (A Thousand Doors) in 2018, he was fascinated by the unconventional hero amid a world of swordsmen.

Traditionally, Chinese martial arts novels feature protagonists who possess unparalleled fighting skills. However, Fang's franchise has shattered the traditional mold by introducing a unique character whose most formidable weapon is wisdom.

Liang got assistance from two co-writers and dedicated three years, between 2018 and 2020, to adapt the books into The Ingenious One, a popular TV series that has recently garnered a rating of 7.3 points out of 10 on the influential review aggregator Douban.

The series comprises a total of 36 episodes, each discreetly representing one of the 36 strategies derived from The Art of War, written by Sun Tzu, a prominent military theorist and strategist during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC).

Starring A-list actor Chen Xiao as Yun Xiang, the most highly regarded disciple of a mysterious sect that excels at using strategy, the series follows Yun as he embarks on a quest to investigate the truth behind a decade-old massacre that claimed the lives of all his family members. During the tumultuous journey, he forges friendships with several martial arts heroes, encounters a woman who will capture his heart for a lifetime, and ultimately foils a conspiracy that poses a grave threat to the emperor's regime.

"I have been a passionate fan of wuxia (martial arts) tales since childhood and, during my pursuit of a doctoral degree, I delved even deeper into the study of wuxia literature", recalls Liang.

"However, I had never been approached by television production companies to write a martial arts script before The Ingenious One. It was a dream that I had nurtured for decades, and finally, it became a reality", he adds.

A native from Shaoyang in Hunan province, Liang, also a professor of Chinese literature at Beijing Normal University, started to write his first television series, the espionage-themed Mi Zhan (The Secret Battle), at 30 years old. With the show garnering 8 points out of a total 10 on Douban, Liang quickly rose to fame for his captivating storytelling, despite being a newcomer to the television industry at the time.