 It is said that when the Kangxi Emperor went on six inspection tours to the Jiangnan region throughout his reign, his true purpose was to search for Wei Xiaobao.In the epilogue, Jin Yong wrote that his intention in writing the novel was to reflect societal and cultural realities instead of encouraging readers to imitate a cunning and evil protagonist.He considered modifying the ending to make Wei Xiaobao get his just deserts, but dropped the idea and retained the original ending after receiving negative feedback from readers.