Popular novelist's new fantasy comes to life online

On the heels of Rattan, a hit online series adapted from popular novelist Wei Yu's tale, another fantasy drama also adapted from a story written by the author has headed to the streaming giant iQiyi.

Teaming up actress Zhang Yishang and actor Darren Chen, the 32-episode drama Yu Zhao Ling, also known as No Boundary, tells the story of a female celestial being sent to the human's realm to seize evil spirits and monsters.

After stumbling upon a "bukuai", the ancient title for police officer-like officials, the heroine joins hands with him to jointly solve a string of mysterious cases.

No Boundary is adapted from author Wei Yu's online novel Kaifeng Zhiguai (The legends in Kaifeng), which blends creative imaginations with several characters originally known in the influential ancient novels Investiture of the Gods and Three Heroes and Five Gallants.

Although the drama, which was released on March 30, is set in ancient China, producers said they sought inspirations from contemporary social issues to be relatable to modern youngsters.

For instance, the first episode follows a climbing plant spirit, who relies on hunting humans to help her maintain her looks as a beautiful, young woman, which the producers reveal is inspired by many women’s constant worries about appearance.

So far, hashtags about the drama -- ranging from interesting scenes to characters -- have accumulated more than 330 million clicks on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo.