A poster of the 1995 TV series Sister Gan 19. [Photo/The Paper]

"I came to realize that the breakthrough lies in the depiction of the human nature. As long as you observe carefully enough, breakthrough in writing is at hand," Shiao once said in an interview.

Shiao once said that the so-called wuxia spirit, or chivalrous spirit of the wuxia world, is the great sympathy towards the world and all the creatures, as well as the fairness and the courage to guarantee the fairness of the world. He emphasized that it is the spirit that could never be omitted in wuxia novels.

Shiao's death has triggered another round of deep mourning in the Chinese literary world, especially among enthusiastic wuxia novel readers.

"I was amazed by one of his novel while reading it in high school. It depicted a different wuxia world to me. Rest in peace," a Weibo user wrote.

"It's like they've discussed their departure date, without any signs beforehand…They left us with a bunch of classical works, and yet what we love more is them being there, not just their works," a reader took to his Sina Weibo account, in deep mourning.

For many Chinese readers, the mourning is not only for the death of the writer, but also for the memories of reading wuxia novels, the wuxia world that is retreating from its golden era, as well as their own youths.

"All the wuxia novel masters have gone. We are getting old, so does our dreams of the wuxia world," said another Sina Weibo user.