The story revolves around Wu Chengxiu, who befriends the title character, a young hunter, and the series of unfortunate events they experience thereafter.

Liaoyang resident Wu Chengxiu (武承休) hears, in his dreams, the name of the one who "can share your trials and tribulations",[1] and he rushes to enquire about Tian Qilang.

Tian feels he had shortchanged Wu, because the hides were of inferior quality, and he bags "a perfect tiger specimen"[2] and presents it to him.

The Censor's brother is in the middle of bribing a magistrate when a woodcutter enters the court office to deliver some firewood.

[6] Critics including He Shouqi (何守奇), Feng Zhenluan (冯镇峦), and, more recently, Alan Barr have written that Pu Songling was greatly influenced by Sima Qian and his Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji).

"Tian Qilang" is predominantly based on the Shiji biography of assassin Nie Zheng (聂政); however, Pu "updates and re-shapes the story in such a way as radically to alter its character".

[9] On the other hand, the character Wu Chengxiu in "Tian Qilang" is compared with Yan Zhongzi (巖鐘仔), who hired Nie Zheng to assassinate his rival, the Han Prime Minister Xia Lei (俠累).

[3] A reason offered for such an omission is that Nie's elder sibling dies while attempting to retrieve the slain assassin's body,[8] and such a heroic feat "comes close to upstaging her (brother's act)";[3] Pu did not want Tian Qilang's actions to be overshadowed, and preferred that "justice is seen to be done in a more conspicuously satisfying way".

[3] Additionally, Pu "characteristically" arranges "his intricate plot in eight distinct stages" with a "series of dramatic fluctations" – the third-person narrative found in Shiji is replaced by a more limited viewpoint in "Tian Qilang", which allows for more suspense.

[16][17] The plot of An Unsung Hero (丹青副) by nineteenth-century playwright Liu Qingyun is based upon "Tian Qilang".

[5] A 74-episode Liaozhai television series released in 1986 includes a two-episode story arc titled "Tian Qilang".

Directed by Meng Senhui (孟森辉) and written by Liu Jinping (刘印平), it stars Yao Zufu (姚祖福) as Tian and Wang Xiyan (王熙岩) as Wu.