Hit online novel brought to life in new micro-short drama

Born to Defy Heavens, a micro-short drama adapted from a hit online novel, is streaming on the popular social platform Douyin since Friday.

The original novel, titled Zhe Tian (Shrouding the Heavens), had topped the rating chart for 32 consecutive weeks on Qidian, one of China's most influential online literature platforms, thanks to its captivating blend of science fiction and martial arts.

The story begins with a visually stunning discovery — an outer space monitor captures images of nine colossal dragon corpses, each 100 meters long, drifting through the cosmos. Their tails are bound by iron chains, pulling a massive bronze coffin. This mysterious phenomenon sets off a life-altering journey for Ye Fan, the founder of an adventure company dedicated to investigating the unknown.

Sun Kai, chief executive officer of IReader Technology Co Ltd, a major producer of the drama, said that the fast development of artificial intelligence has largely benefited the production of micro-short dramas, enhancing the visual effects and speeding up the postproduction process.

The opening scenes of Born to Defy Heavens, featuring monsters and outer space spectacles, were mostly generated using AI technology, while the live-action parts were performed by actors.

Despite AI contributing significantly to the rapid creation of many visual effects, Sun said that accurately bringing the original plotline to life still relies on the crew's work, enriched by their unique understanding of the novel from a human-interest perspective.

Miao Xiaoyu, chief scriptwriter of the drama, said that the novel, first serialized online in 2010, has been etched in the minds of a generation, making the drama a nostalgic draw as it re-creates the epic scenes and iconic characters from the original story.