The cover of the second book of Little Mu Ke series, entitled Kepade Yuyan.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Xiong is a fan of stories in classical Chinese works, and he says he believes that figures such as the Monkey King or Nezha are already known to the world, so he has picked fresh images and stories from even earlier and harder-to-understand Chinese myths for his stories.

Each figure also has its own image. Xiong worked them out in his mind after creating them with his pen. He also wrote a biography for each figure in the whole series to help him and his team better understand the whole story and paint accordingly.

Xiong, who has been a fan of martial arts novels since young, also has a habit of drawing each new character from the books he reads.

The author, who was born in July 1975 in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, began studying traditional Chinese ink-and-wash painting at an early age, and has had his own studio since the age of 5, thanks to his father's support. "My father gave me a personal space, and he still has the images I drew for each martial arts novel I read long time ago."