Author's note: wuxia theme is rather odd in the nowdays drama production, but after the release of several good dramas, I suppose my creation can provide a great source for a new tv drama. It is hard to create a good script, and I believe some production team out there is now looking for material.
This trivia might contain spoilers, but also an insight into my novels.
The earliest script of the first novel was created during the nineties, and the concept of the trilogy was created in 2012. The Horizon Star and The Eight Descendants were originally two separated story, only later the author planned a possibility to connect the characters, and completed it with the final part.
The Horizon Star was first created in 2005, under several different titles, and the final revision was done in 2025. The Eight Descendants was first created in 2010, and the final revision was finished in 2021. The final story was created in 2018. Meaning it took 20 years to create the whole trilogy.
The inspiration of the novels came from classic wuxia such as the work of Jinyong and Gulong, but over time, they were modified to keep up with the changing eras.
The Real title for The Horizon Star is Tian Bian Zhi Xing 天边之星, The Eight Descendants, is Ba Hou Ren 八后人, while the last story will be titled The Young Martial Hero, as the translation of the original title Jianghu Zhixiong 江湖之雄.
The Eight Descendants is 35 episodes long, The Horizon Star is the shortest with only 30 episodes + 1 extra, while The Young Martial Hero will be the longest with 38 episodes.
The total of 3 novels consists of approximately 1 million words.
The author has a bachelor's degree in English Literature. The English version of the novels was created using simple English and simple sentence structures to make it easier to be translated into other languages.
The story is told from the point of view of the main character. The main characters in The Horizon Star are Gu Qiongnan and Bai Qiuyi. The main character in The Eight Descendants is Jinshui, and only a little part is told from Xu Qiao's point of view. Meanwhile, in The Young Martial Hero, the story is told mostly from the main hero's point of view, with only a few parts told from certain side characters' points of view.
In the earliest script of The Eight Descendants, Xu Qiao was Huang Yu's girlfriend, and there was no Jinshui. Since the character of Huang Yu was more of a sidekick, Jinshui was created as the main lead.
It was the first original script in which Xu Qiao left her parents' home to wander alone in the martial world when she was merely 14 years old, just because his father took in a new wife, and she simply didn't like her new stepmother. No, the author didn't base this on real life.
The author didn't create any events or characters in the trilogy based on her real life. Everything is purely imaginary and unrelated to the real world.
The earliest script of The Horizon Star was a total drama wrapped in a slight martial story, and it was way more devastating. Bai Qiuyi was originally outraged after Xiayi told her about her pregnancy, and this was later toned down several times. The word pregnancy mentioned by Xiayi is deleted in the English translation version, but it is kept in other language versions.
The relationship between Xi Junhao and Bai Xiayi was revealed from two points of view. Xi Junhao stated that he married Xiayi and intended to have her as the last woman, but Xiayi stated that she gave Xi Junhao a chance for a formal proposal, but in response, she was given a harsh choice to share with other women in Qingxiang Gu.
In the original script of The Horizon Star, Guo Shenzhao was the long-lost son of Gu Qiongnan, but it was later revised into a sworn brother.
The wedding scene of Gu Qiongnan and Bai Qiuyi in The Horizon Star was held on the ship owned by the Bai Family. In The Eight Descendants, the same ship was later used to hold Jinshui and Xu Qiao's wedding.
The name Yumen Sect was mentioned several times in The Horizon Star, but no one from that sect appeared throughout the story. Yumen was still a real heretical sect during that time; it only had its heretical teachings taken by Liu Songqiao later, as explained in The Eight Descendants.
The appearance of the imperial family in a wuxia story often created unnecessary conflict and an unrelated political mess. The author kept it minimal to make sure the stories are pure wuxia.
Although each story seems to have a happy ending, the untold ending of The Horizon Star is actually a tragic one. Bai Qiuyi was separated from Gu Qiongnan after being together for only two years. Gu Qiongnan went to war, promised to return to Baiyu Shan when the war was over, but he never actually did until he died years later. The additional scene showed young Gu Chenhui, who wanted to see her father, but Gu Qiongnan never came.
Another tragic couple is Xi Junhao and Bai Xiayi in The Horizon Star. They could have been a happy couple, but Xi Junhao's reputation and Bai Xiayi's insecure nature made it impossible for them to trust each other.
The name Baiyu Shan was just fictional. The one you find if you Google it will be completely different from the one described in the novel.
During The Eight Descendants, the name Baiyu Shan was first mentioned by Shuiyao when she gave instructions to Jinshui and friends, as she was the only guardian left tasked to guide the descendants to their designated path.
The name Gu Qiongnan is transcribed as Ku (sorrow), Qiong (poor), and Nan (hardship). He adopted this name after years of devastating war and decided to join the martial world. His original name was never mentioned.
Gu Qiongnan came from a military family. His father and uncles held important positions in the imperial army. However, their names and works were never revealed. The author is thinking about adding a war to the beginning of The Horizon Star, but it will be a lot of hard work, complicated, and it would reveal everything. In the final revision, the military part was added in several paragraphs.
There is no mention of Gu Qiongnan's mother in the novel.
The manual created by Zhang Zheliang was named yin shou yang zhang 陰手陽掌. The yinyang represented the yin (broken) and yang (solid) lines in bagua (hexagram), indicating the techniques in the manual consisted of complicated broken and solid moves designated to deal with complicated techniques in the wuqing xue manual.
In episode 16 of The Eight Descendants, when Zhang Zheliang first met Jinshui, he stated that he didn't know that Wu Youwei had a son, but in a later episode, when he thought he was Wu Yaowei, he said that Moying already told him that he had a son. Although this was actually an error, since Zhang Zheliang's mind was messed up, the first statement can be considered as he simply didn't remember.
In The Eight Descendants, Yue Songdai was said to be injected with leiying hua poison during the rebellion in Wansui Gu, but he didn't suffer any effects. It remained open whether or not he was exposed to the poison, or if there was a soldier who could cure the poison.
The Young Martial Hero, as the final part of the trilogy, has not yet released on any platform. The author is waiting for the response to the first and second novels.