Why was " The Condor Heroes " said to be a sequel to " The Legend of the Condor Heroes "?

The Return of the Condor Heroes was widely regarded as a sequel to The Legend of the Condor Heroes because they had many similarities in terms of plot, character setting, and background. The Legend of the Condor Heroes told the story of Guo Jing, Huang Rong, and others in the war against Jin and saving the country, while The Condor Heroes told the love story of Yang Guo, Xiao Longnu, and others. The storyline and character settings of both novels contained many elements of traditional martial arts novels, such as chivalry, loyalty, love, power struggle, etc. In addition, the background settings of The Condor Heroes and The Legend of the Condor Heroes were very similar. They all took place during the Northern Song Dynasty, and there were some plots and settings about politics, culture, and society. Therefore, many readers thought that The Return of the Condor Heroes was a sequel to The Legend of the Condor Heroes because they were closely related in terms of storyline, character setting, and background setting.